Even with the profusion of sushi restaurants that have sprung up around Fort Worth’s central city in the recent past, a mention of “sushi” to old-time Texans still provokes cries of “Eww! Raw fish!” Vegans who enjoy Japanese dishes know better – sushi is a genre, not a specific thing involving uncooked fishies. There’s veg-friendly sushi out there, delicious little treats of rice, seaweed, and fillings. It just comes down to your local sushi restaurant on whether they offer it or not.

Virtually every half-decent sushi place will offer at least the standard vegetable roll, with fillings like carrot and cucumber, and usually an all-avocado roll as well. Places that put a little more effort into things, though, will often serve up some truly creative veg-friendly rolls that will surprise and delight.

The uber-chic Blue Sushi Sake Grill, in the ground floor of the funky angled glass & concrete Museum Place Flatiron building at the big 7th/Camp Bowie/University/Bailey intersection in the Cultural District, is one such place. They’ve got several veg-friendly rolls, plus other non-sushi veg items, a few of which we’ll take a look at today.

Our recent trip to Blue saw us order Avocado roll and the Midori Maki roll. (Weirdly, Blue’s straight-up vegetable roll is not vegan, because it contains cream cheese. How about swapping that out for Tofutti vegan cream cheese, Blue?)

The Avocado Roll is a pretty simple thing, but Blue’s is tasty nonetheless. Everything at Blue has a fresh feel, and these simple concoctions of avocado, sushi rice, and nori are no exception. $4.50 gets you an 8-piece roll.

The Midori Maki sends things off into a more creative zone. It’s items like this that earn Blue some serious veg-friendly brownie points. The Midori Maki features tempura aged tofu, burdock root, sweet gourd, avocado, and red pepper, and wraps it all with vividly-colored soy paper instead of nori. The combination of ingredients creates a wonderfully flavorful roll that comes together beautifully, and the taste of the soy paper helps make this a great change of pace from the usual nori-based rolls. Blue’s Midori Maki is easily one of our favorite local veg rolls. It’s $7 for a 5-piece roll.

Other veg-friendly items on the sushi menu include the Crunchy Cabbage roll (spice aged tofu, tempura nappa cabbage, scallion – 8 pieces for $8), the Kappa roll (Japanese cucumber – 8 pieces for $4), and the Silly Rabbit roll (pickled radish, carrot, cucumber, bibb lettuce, olive oil, sea salt, and soy paper – 5 pieces for $7). As mentioned before, the regular veggie roll is not vegan due to its cream cheese, and the V.L.T. roll is also not vegan due to its inclusion of mayo.

Sushi’s not the only veg-friendly thing on the Blue menu. One of our favorite dishes anywhere in town is seen above – Blue’s rather insane Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps. These assemble-it-yourself wraps might sound like a mere appetizer, but there’s a reason they’re not on the “starters” menu – the plate is huge, crammed full of delicious veg treats and crispy lettuce wraps.

Your order of Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps gets you edamame hummus, green tea brown rice and Japanese cucumber salad, puffed glass noodles, cucumber sunomono, cilantro sprigs, sunflower sprouts, pickled carrots, and sesame rice noodles, plus three dipping sauces (skip the yogurt curry sauce – most yogurt is not vegan). Big, crispy pieces of lettuce allow you to pile on the fillings and sauce to create some surprisingly filling, extremely tasty wraps. Two people can easily make an order a meal – just take a look at the following photo:

Seriously – Blue’s Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps are just fantastic. That huge helping is your for $10.

Other veg items on the non-sushi menu include classic edamame ($4), spicy edamame ($5), and more offbeat, very tasty edamame hummus ($8), a yummy seaweed salad ($4), and vegetable tempura (featuring lotus root, sweet potato, shiitake mushrooms, asparagus, avocado, jalapeno, and dipping sauce for $6).

Fort Worth’s sushi field is quickly becoming quite crowded, but Blue steps up with some creative sushi rolls and the huge, tasty veggie lettuce wraps. Plus, the place is incredibly slick inside, with huge windows looking out on the Cultural District and crazy red & blue lighting, plus a large bar and lounge area (including the ever-popular Sake Bombs). Blue’s a great spot for some inventive veggie treats on the 7th Street corridor.

Blue Sushi Sake Grill 3131 W. 7th Street http://www.bluesushisakegrill.com/ Monday-Saturday: 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM Sunday: 12:00 PM – 10:00 PM