Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, lobster tempura, onion, orange tobiko (fish eggs), mayonnaise

Preparation: Cooked, inside-out

Popularity: Feh.

Not an item found in many sushi bars, the lobster roll tends to be made using lobster tempura rather than raw lobster, simply because raw shellfish is often a bad idea.

The roll is made inside-out style, and though our default lobster roll recipe uses onions and mayo on the inside and orange flying fish roe on the outside (to give that orange cooked lobster look), there’s no hard and fast rules about what might make a good lobster roll.

Cucumber? Avocado? Nothing but meat?

Really, it’s going to come down to the ingenuity of the sushi chef at hand, but don’t be fooled by the presence of lobster into paying a ridiculous amount for the dish – you’re really only going to get a thin strip of lobby meat worth maybe $4 beyond the standard sushi roll price.

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, spicy tuna, salmon, white tuna, scallions, gold tobiko (flying fish caviar)

Preparation: Inside-out

Popularity: Small, but growing

This is one tasty piece of sushi roll, especially if you like yourself a little seafood in your diet.

The inner portion varies from restaurant to restaurant, but our default dish has two types of tuna (white and spicy, but you could use yellowtail or, really, any kind of flavorful fish), with salmon alongside for a flavor contrast, and the bite of the scallions giving it a little tang to finish.

The gold tobiko is more for looks than taste, but it does the job and completes a really memorable sushi roll menu item. We likey! 

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, spring roll paper, crab, egg yolk

Preparation: Prepared like a spring roll, only with rice and seaweed paper along the inside

Popularity: Minor

Another novelty sushi roll built for not-so-honed tastebuds, the Sushi Spring Roll is essentially a Crab Roll made with spring roll paper on the outside, dabbled with egg yolk to seal the roll, and then deep-fried.

What will you get out of it that you wouldn’t get from a stand-alone spring roll? Not much. But if you’re eating Japanese and the spring roll urge hits, and you spot this on the menu… why not?

Filler ingredients may vary, but we most often find the Spring Roll Sushi Roll containing crab. You may find it done with vegetables, fish, pork – whatever – but if you have a taste for the crab, you’ll generally find (a version of) it here.

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, bacon, lettuce, tomato

Preparation: Inside-out

Popularity: Not very

You know the feeling when you go to a Chinese restaurant and there’s cheeseburgers and steak on the menu, and you realize that more non-Chinese people than Chinese people come to this place and they’re covering every base as a result?

More a novelty dish than a legit sushi menu item (like much Americanized sushi), the BLT Roll is a good indicator of that kind of malaise. Frankly, this is one of those US sushi restaurant offerings that just smacks of, "Here, first-timer, this one’s for you. Look, no eel!"

Thankfully, the addition of rice and seaweed to a BLT isn’t something that particularly hurts it. Of course, it doesn’t help much either, but sometimes ‘not offensive’ is the high bar to shoot for, and the BLT Roll clears that bar easily.

A good sushi restaurant (if it even serves this dish) might throw a little mayo in there, or even a wedge of avocado, but let’s face it – if you order the BLT Roll, you’re looking for the contents of a sandwich that you can eat in a way that makes you appear cool. Extras not required.

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, smoked salmon, cream cheese, cucumber

Preparation: Inside-out

Popularity: Moderate, mostly because there’s no centralized recipe

As with many Americanized versions of sushi, it’s tough to nail down the New York Roll to one specific recipe. In fact, it’s tough to nail down one specific ingredient.

Some versions are made with smoked salmon, some are made with apple, some go with the contents of a bagel, some are close to a California Roll, only made in reverse. In fact, even finding a picture of a New York Roll is a hard thing to do.

For our money, the version of New York Roll that makes the most sense is a ‘bagelized’ recipe. We go with smoked salmon (add the skin if you like barbecue as a flavor), cream cheese, cucumber, and perhaps a little avocado thrown in so it’s not too cheesy.

Around the outside, sure, go with a smattering of sesame seeds, and maybe garnish with a thin slice of apple… since… you know… New York… ‘Big Apple’…

Sometimes schmaltz is a good thing.

Of course, you could always add steroids, in honor of New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens… 

Ingredients: Lamb loin and tenderloin, collard greens

Preparation: Standard (as far as such things go)

Popularity: Miniscule (so far)

The Lubbock Roll is something we came across searching on the net for weird and wonderful new sushi dishes.

I don’t know if anyone actually serves it yet, but here’s the basic idea – you take a lamb tenderloin, then you wrap it in collard greens. You then wrap that with another kind of meat – either another cut of lamb, or another meat altogether. 

Then you slice and serve. 

Couldn’t tell you if it should be cooked or served raw – all we’ve found on the Lubbock Roll is a patent application (seriously). But we’d be happy to try it…. next time we’re in Lubbock, Texas. 

Sidenote: There’s also a veal version… if you prefer your meat to be force-fed with grain through a tube for the entirety of its sad, sadistic life. 

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, smoked salmon, cucumber, avocado, cream cheese (optional), wasabi paste (optional)

Preparation: Standard

Popularity: Moderate to low

Depending on where you are, the recipe for a smoked salmon roll will vary. Most sushi houses will put smoked salmon together with cream cheese, to make a dish that’s almost a bagel in nature.

But the more exotic sushi establishments will sometimes add wasabi paste to the mix – a hotter, but altogether incredible food experience, as the bite of the wasabi mixes well with the tang of the salmon. 

Variations on this theme sometimes include smoked salmon wrapped around the outside of the roll, while others still go with the inside-out preparation method, of rice on the outside, seaweed inside that, and the rest of the dish in the center. 

Not a classic Japanese favorite by any stretch, but I’ll have six to go!

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, barbecued eel, avocado, tempura shrimp, burdock root, cucumber, flying fish roe

Preparation: Inside-out

Popularity: Moderate in the US

Another in the long line of sushi rolls in which decoration on a theme is almost as important as taste, the Dragon Roll tends to come with a slightly higher price tag, but if it’s done right, it’s worth every penny.

The avocado is usually draped across the top of the roll to give a ‘dragon scales’ effect, with the bright orange roe going on top of that to give contrast.

Inside, it’s all good stuff – BBQ eel, crunchy tempura shrimp, and the burdock root/cucumber combo to fill things out.

The Dragon Roll is a bit of a fatty dish, due to the deep-fried tempura, and while some variations might include hot sauce, or chili, to give it a fire-kick, generally at most sushi houses it’s a very mild menu item.

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, sweet egg, burdock root, avocado, asparagus, crab meat, cucumber, shitake mushrooms, daikon

Preparation: Standard

Popularity: Low in US, high in Japan

Not a sushi dish for rookies, the Futomaki Roll is a Japanese specialty that combines a whole load of flavors in one tight package.

Even the names of the ingredients tend to get Americans a little fearful, with tamago (egg), yamagobo (burdock root), radish pickle (daikon) not exactly being staples of the Starbucks crowd.

But hey, you only live once – take a chance on a flavor you haven’t tasted before and mark the Futomaki down as something to try on your next visit to your favorite sushi chef.

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, yellowtail tuna, scallions, mayonnaise, sometimes lettuce

Preparation: Standard

Popularity: Low

A neat little dish, the Hamachi (Yellowtail) Roll is a creamy delight, with the scallions and mayonnaise combining beautifully, and the yellowtail (and sometimes lettuce) finishing it off with a taste explosion.

On occasion, shiso (sometimes known as perilla, beefsteak plant, or Japanese Basil) is added to the mix.

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, shrimp, cucumber, mayonnaise

Preparation: Inside-out

Popularity: Medium to low 

An east coast special, but virtually unknown on the other side of the US, the Boston Roll (sometimes known as the Ebi Roll) puts good old-fashioned New England shrimp in bed with Japanese mayo and cucumber to make a simple, yet tasty sushi menu item that is essentially a slight variation on the California Roll.

Some versions feature tobiko (flying fish roe) on top for a splash of yellow color, and a can’t-be-beat shot of flavor.

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, eel, cucumber, avocado, smelt roe

Preparation: Inside-out

Popularity: Moderate

No, it’s not actually made of caterpillars; the caterpillar roll is dressed up to look like an insect by virtue of the green avocado, sesame seeds, and bright red masago (smelt roe) laid across the top.

Inside, it’s unagi (eel) and cucumber, which is a pretty one-dimensional combo, but it’s the good stuff on top that makes this a sushi dish to remember.

Some restaurants take the caterpillar theme to extremes, adding octopus suction cups as eyes, and bizarre additions as legs shooting out the sides… but none of this helps make the dish more palatable.

Just forego the extras and enjoy the meal.

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, cucumber

Preparation: Inside-out

Popularity: Moderate

Pretty basic roll, really.

It’s your standard inside-out dish, rice on the outside, seaweed inside that, and thin sticks of cucumber in the middle.

Not overly tasty, but it’s cheap and it’ll fill an empty stomach… if you eat enough of the stuff.

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, cream cheese, scallions, smoked salmon, cucumber, avocado, sometimes onion

Preparation: Inside-out

Popularity: Moderate 

Named after the home of Philly cream cheese, this Americanized sushi dish would almost be an hors d’oeuvre, if not for the seaweed and rice.

Made inside-out (or in the Urumaki style, as such sushi is known), and usually topped with sesame seeds or flying fish roe, the cream cheese replaces the usual Japanese mayonnaise in this mild dish, with the flavor of the smoked salmon making its presence felt in no uncertain terms.

Ingredients: Rice, seaweed, tuna, mayonnaise

Preparation: Standard roll

Popularity: Moderate 

Essentially, Tekka Maki Roll is red tuna wrapped in rice and surrounded by seaweed. That’s it. Nothing beyond that is needed.

Well, maybe some Japanese mayonnaise… But that’s it.

The tuna is sashimi grade ahi, or ‘red tuna’, seasoned with wasabi and wrapped in nori (seaweed).

Unlike some of the more American-oriented sushi dishes, this one leaves the seaweed on the outside, which is the more traditional method of preparing – something that can make it difficult for less experienced sushi eaters to enjoy.

If you see a Spicy Tekka Maki Roll on the menu, the difference is that it contains spicy mayonnaise, so be sure to ask just how spicy the dish is before you order.