Live, from Peoria, Illinois, it’s Saturday Night starring this week’s host, Novu Sushi with special guest stars, Ben and Haley and featuring The Ready For Prime Vegetables Player, Marty Wombacher. Now please welcome this week’s host, located in Junction City, Novu Sushi!
Check it out, our ride is outside waiting for us, I love it when that happens! Inside the car are Ben and Haley who are driving and joining us for dinner tonight. It was Ben’s idea to try some vegetarian restaurants in the area and this is our third trip in a series of twelve vegetarian meals in a year! If you missed the first two, you can check them out here and here! And now we’re on our way to the third Saturday night vegetarian meal in this series, which is going to happen at...
Novu Sushi in Junction City. Wow, look at this place, I love the way it’s all lit up on this Saturday night!
As we stepped up to the boardwalk, there’s a sign announcing the Happy Hour here at Novu, looks like some decent specials, but we’re too late for that, but we’re still happy none the less! So let’s go in and begin our vegetarian Saturday night at Novu!
I really like the ambience and atmosphere in here. It’s elegant yet it’s also got an inviting and somewhat casual feel to it. As you can see there’s tables lined up against the wall, but there was one up front with a window looking out on Junction City, so we settled in at that one. I think it was a good choice!
Our waiter is, Matt, who it turns out we met a while back when he was bartending at Oliver’s and we were there for our 20th week of pizza in the MBIP Year Of Pizza tour. Great to see Matt again and he took our order, so I’m going to abandon Ben and Haley for a few minutes and get some photos of Novu on this fine Saturday evening.
I really like the bar in here. It’s nice and cozy and like the rest of the restaurant, it’s bathed in purple tones and hues. Too bad Prince is dead, he’d love it in here!
The sushi is prepared back here at this station and that’s Raphael hard at work making the evening’s sushi creations! He’s a real nice guy and I’m anxious to sample the fruits of his labor!
Raphael’s not working alone back here, That’s Valerie to the left in the top photo and Miguel is in the middle next to Raphael. Pierre and Carla are back behind the window working in the kitchen. Everybody here is really friendly and help add to the fun vibe in here!
Here’s a shot from the back of the restaurant, I think I see dinner being served up front at our table, so let’s get back there pronto!
I was right and here’s our appetizer for the evening, a bowl of Sweet Potato Frites and they are so crispy and delicious! There’s just a hint of sweetness from the potato which plays well with the salty seasoning. These were so tasty and a perfect way to start off our dinner!
Speaking of dinner, here’s Matt with our sushi order!
Novu has a nine different vegetarian sushi rolls to choose from and we each chose a different one for all of us to share. We got the Tempura Veggie Roll, Sweet and Spicy Veggie Roll and the Roasted Veggie Roll. They were all freshly prepared and really delicious. You can read more about them and the whole meal in the review below, but this is really great sushi!
After we were done eating, Ken, who owns Novu Sushi with his wife, Brooke came over and said hello to us. He told us that Novu Sushi just opened up last March and that business has been great here in Junction City. After that dinner, I can see why, they really serve up quality food and drinks and Ken told us that the fish here is shipped in fresh every day. Great to meet Ken, but now it’s time for...
Dessert! The dessert selections sounded so good, we decided to order two of them. The first one that came out was an order of Mochi, which is ice cream wrapped in sticky rice dough and served with fresh cream. This was really a different kind of taste and consistency, not really too sweet, but cool and satisfying.
The Mochi was good, but I still kind of was craving something sweet after the sushi and this order of coconut ice cream definitely satisfied my sweet tooth! The ice cream was topped with strawberries and served with hot fried won ton’s covered in a sweet cinnamon mixture. This was so good and a wonderful ending to a great Saturday night meal!
This is Sophia, who stopped by and said hello and she posed for this photo looking about as cute as someone can be and then she offered to take a photo of us and so...
Here we are! Cheers and thanks to everyone at Novu Sushi for a fun evening and a wonderful and tasty vegetarian meal! Thanks also to Ben and Haley for driving and for joining me for dinner, it was a lot of fun and I’m already looking forward to next month’s veggie meal! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
We started off with an appetizer of the Sweet Potato Frites and they were so good! I could’ve just eaten bowls of these and been happy! They’re fresh cut fries made from sweet potatoes and they’re prepared with rosemary and olive oil and tossed in a white truffle oil and topped with Parmesan cheese. They are delicious with a slightly decadent taste and it was a great way to start our meal!
There’s a huge selection of sushi to choose from here and there’s nine vegetarian selections to choose from. We ordered a trio consisting of Tempura, Sweet and Spicy and the Roasted Veggie Roll and they were all prepared to perfection and really delicious. The vegetables were crisp and the rolls were so fresh and tasty. I really enjoyed all of the vegetable sushi rolls, but my only suggestion would be to make the Sweet and Spicy rolls just a tad more spicier.
We tried two dessert selections off of the menu and the Mochi was a different taste and while I liked it, I really loved the coconut ice cream with the hot cinnamon won tons. A sweet end to a delicious sushi meal!
SN Rating
Three and a half Galloping Gourmets—If you’re a vegetarian, you’ll be happy with all of the delicious dining options here and if you’re not, the fish is shipped in fresh daily and in addition to wonderful and varied selections of sushi, they have a great cocktail and beer menu. And if sushi isn’t your thing, there’s also entrees here including Angus Filet, a Rack of Lamb and salmon and chicken. This is a great addition to Peoria’s restaurant scene and to Junction City and you should definitely give Novu a try!
Novu Sushi
Junction City Shopping Center
5901 N Prospect Road
Peoria
309-839-8433
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Related Posts: Saturday Night Vegetarian Series @ PV II and Po-Boys On Frostwood.
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My favorite veg-a-tables.
Surprise link...click on it, I dare you!
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Backward Triangle by B Löwd
B Löwd is Ben’s DJ/Musical Director’s pseudonym and he just put out a great and original new album called, “Backward Triangle.” You can get it for free or a donation of your choice by clicking right here. Ben sent me some information on the making of the album and thoughts behind the creation of it and here it is below!
Backward Triangle is my multi-purposed release for my electronic music project B Löwd. First and foremost, I knew it was finally time to make a lengthy selection of my own material, in a more serious way than before. Likewise, I started gravitating to my songs that didn't sound much like what I've been playing live, and didn't sound like anything local producers had done. Most importantly though, it was a leap of finally getting projects out that had been sitting idle, and shouldn't have! Backward Triangle fortunately also features a couple very unlikely, but great collaborations from Vincent Thomason "UpsidedownT," Stephen Redding "Gooru," and I was able to record some guitar work with my best friend Chas Eyster for Ressurection Blues (arguably my personal favorite). I've gotten lots of local support that I never expected this year, and I honestly chalk up all of my music to my closest friends who pushed me out of my shell in the first place! Lastly let me explain that a backward triangle is arguably an oxymoron. A contradiction, if you will. I see myself, and everyone as walking contradictions. Embrace it.