Eat This Now: Ippo Roll at Ippo Sushi

Taylor Weik

As a college student who spends her nights studying or working on group projects, I'm not a big fan of dining out all the time. Going out to eat requires you to drop everything you're doing, and students with deadlines can't afford to take that risk. And there comes a time where you can only take so much order-in pizza before you start to hate it. So what is the thrifty, enterprising UCI student to do? Enter the Ippo.
Ippo Sushi is a delivery service--not a restaurant--that caters exclusively to UCI students and areas surrounding the school going up to the Costa Mesa border. Started in 2011 by two UC graduates who know all too well the vampire-esque eating habits of college students, Ippo delivers fresh sushi seven days a week from six in the evening until two in the morn

During one of my late-night study sessions, I took up Ippo on its convenient offer and order miso soup, edamame and their signature sushi, the Ippo Roll. I didn't have high expectations to begin with because...well, late-night delivery sushi? Sounds sketchy.

But lo and behold, the Ippo Roll was fresher and lighter than I imagined, a welcomed contrast to the heavy cheese and greasy toppings pizza delivery services provide. Stuffed inside the fresh rice roll is a refreshing mix of eel, salmon, cucumber, masago and Ippo's special house sauce. Coated with crispy tempura flakes and doused in a dark sweet sauce, the outside provides enough saucy flavor to balance the fresh ingredients on the inside. And $9.25 for eight rolls delivered to your dorm room is reasonable for any broke-student budget.

Healthy late-night snacking? Count us in!

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