Is this a burrito, or is it sushi?
Both answers are right. It's a wild caught salmon "lite" burrito at Sharky's Woodfired Mexican Grill.
Then why does it taste like sushi? Because it's wrapped in seaweed, just like norimaki sushi rolls. A sheet of nori lines the tortilla, which is not your ordinary white flour tortilla. It's made with whole wheat flour, mixed with a little soy flour.
There's rice inside too, not vinegary sushi rice but Sharky's poblano rice. That's brown rice toasted dry, then cooked in a "liquor" made with pureed roasted vegetables and chiles. The poblanos are roasted and ground, seeds and all. A powerful restaurant blender stick can do that without leaving any gritty residue.
Cucumbers tucked into the burrito give an Asian flavor. Other components are cabbage, avocado and chili sesame aioli. Healthy food like this is the focus of Sharky's, which has 21 outlets including the one in Chatsworth where I photographed the burrito.
Menu items are low in bad stuff such as fat and high in good things such as organic and/or local produce and natural ingredients.
Employees wear T-shirts with the logo "Feel Good About Eating." The food is Mexican-inspired, which means not your ordinary enchiladas and tacos but light dishes such as the stacked chicken enchiladas in the photo above, with tomatillo-cheese sauce and organic corn tortillas.
For vegetarians, there are tofu tacos. The rice and beans that accompany orders are organic.
The salsa bar isn't like any other. It's lined with fresh kale (above), but you don't have to dip kale leaves in the salsas because you'll get a basket of regular tortilla chips.
Thirsty? Sharky's has really good drinks, not "healthy" beverages with strange flavors. Look at the sangria bar (above). Red sangria has classic fruity flavor. It's made with a Cabernet Sauvignon-Cabernet Franc blend.
There's Chardonnay and a lot of fruit in the white sangria (above).
Sharky's has an active craft beer program. The day I was in Chatsworth, the blackboard list included Golden Road Brewing Hefeweizen, Lagunitas IPA and Blue Moon Belgian White.
If you want something like a Mexican agua fresca, ask for watermelon basil lemonade, which is sweetened with organic cane sugar (above). Or get pineapple lime lemonade. The red drink jamaica is called hibiscus here, and is flavored in a way you don't find in Mexican restaurants, with ginger and green tea. It's in the center of the sangria bar in the photo above.
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