Maybe you've seen the sign in the window? (srsly, that sign actually says "Maki" now :-). Maki, your favorite roll-your-own sushi vendor, is opening up a new location downtown at 2nd and San Antonio Street. Look for an early March opening.

I've been waiting weeks, nay, months to bring my dear Austin Sushi readers a depressing tale of woe -- some fallout from the Great Recession. Perhaps it would be news of a sushi establishment on the verge of bankruptcy or a drunken sushi chef inadvertently hit by a car.

Instead, I'm sad to report that this is one of the biggest single sushi months that Austin has seen in a long time, and the rest of the summer hasn't been too shabby either.Piranha Sushi opens their first Austin location at 207 San Jacinto in "mid-August". You can keep calling them at (512) 473-8775 until they tell you when.

As mentioned in the article below, San Antonio-based Sushi Zushi opened their first Austin location at 1611 W. 5th Street, Suite 105 (just east of Mopac in the "5th Street Commons").

Proving that sushi comes in many styles and places, the folks at Deli Bento opened Austin's first sushi trailer, Sushi-A-Go-Go in July.

And finally, we don't want to overlook Simon's Sushi which has opened sushi joints in Barton Creek Mall, Highland Mall, and Lakeline Mall. They appear to be expanding service at their Barton Creek Mall location.

As mentioned in last month's edition of Austin Sushi News, the old 14,000 square foot Salvation Army location in the Lamar Plaza shopping center (home of the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar) is being completely re-done. However, it will not be named "The Palace," but instead, "The Highball." You can follow the progress on their new blog. For more extensive details, see the recent Austin Chronicle article.

"Choice" was the rule as the AustinSushi.com team descended on Sushi Zushi Monday night. With waiters sporting "Sushi is Going Weird" t-shirts (a riff on the "Keep Austin Weird" non-slogan), the sushi bar seemed upbeat. This is the 6th location for the San Antonio-based sushi bar chain and the 1st Austin location (4 San Antonio locations and 1 in Dallas).

In case you haven't heard, the old 14,000 square foot Salvation Army location in the Lamar Plaza shopping center (home of the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar) will soon become The Palace, complete with retro bowling alley and extensive karaoke facilities. From the recent Austin Chronicle article:

[Alamo Creative Director] Henri Mazza and I [Alamo owner Tim League] are both absolutely obsessed with karaoke, and I promise you we are going to have the most badass private karaoke rooms in town. Each of the rooms will be themed to a different style of music, so there'll be a punk room, a metal room, what have you, all of them with a superhuge song selection.

You can tell by my hip use of jargon (e.g. "Bull") that I've got a freshly minted business degree of some sort and am preparing to create a publicly traded company that will eventually tailspin itself into a nugatory enterprise. Yes, nugatory.

Until then, we can all count on one thing: more sushi in Austin. Case in point: a recent memo from the owners of swanky Piranha Sushi indicating that they are moving full throttle on their new 207 San Jacinto location. They even have a help-wanted Craigslist ad (screen capture). Estimated opening: end of Summer, 2009.

There are also details now on the prophesized North Austin Uchi location. It will be named Uchiko and will reside in the old Seton Medical building at 4200 N. Lamar which will be remodeled by Michael Hsu. Estimated opening: Spring, 2010.

Austin is selling sushi at both the top and bottom ends of the price spectrum, but the pricey sushi bars are clearly being fueled by the wave of immigrants that came to Austin in the past 3-4 years (especially last year when census reports show that Austin was the #1 or #2 fastest-growing metro area in the country, depending on how you slice the stats). By immigrants, of course, I mean Californians who have sold their over-priced real estate and are now sitting on too much extra cash.

It's not clear who came up with this concept, but if there's a Facebook page about it, it MUST be true, right? So, tomorrow (Thursday, June 18th) is International Sushi Day, and you are all hereby directed to consume sushi.

It's been almost exactly five years since the unpleasantness, and, I have to say, that Silhouette Sushi is now truly back, and in a good way. More laid back than Kenichi or Uchi, Silhouette has good sushi, a convenient Congress Avenue location (718 N. Congress Ave), and even the occasional DJ.

What's doing well in the current economy? Just about anything that's cheap. Case in point -- buffets! There's nothing more deeply American than a gluttonous all-you-can-eat buffet. And, I think all Americans need to rally around our traditions during this troubled time and just pig-out. Don't let the down economy keep you from that third or fourth belt-loosening trip to the buffet! Austin's got two new additions to the sushi landscape that are perfect for such feasting, and at everyday low, low prices.

Just North of Austin in Georgetown, Texas is the Ichiban Sushi Buffet located at 1103 Rivery Blvd, suite 210. Go stuff yourself!

Now, if you'd like some some novelty in your porcine pig-out, consider the newly renovated Korea Garden which now offers a conveyor belt buffet (called kaiten-zushi) that is common in Japan's low-cost sushi joints. Korea Garden, by the way, has changed it's name to "K.G. Sushi Train" (the "KG" stands for "Korea Garden," I suppose). The "train" is a conveyor belt, not a train. But what's important here are their prices which definitely ranks it as some of the most affordable sushi in Austin.

Quality Seafood has changed a lot since the days when it supplied 99% of all the seafood to Austin area restaurants and grocery stores. It still has its wholesale seafood business, but it's now a live music venue with some rather fun weekly events. In particular, Wednesday night is Sushi Night and there's usually live music to go along with that.