The food is so good at Sushi Sushi, we named the restaurant twice.

The only dedicated Japanese restaurant inside Turning Stone Resort Casino serves up delicious sushi, including several rolls guests can’t get anywhere else. It won “Best Sushi” in the recent Casino Player Magazine’s “Best of Dining” Awards for 2022. And the menu is the brainchild of Adam Burten, sushi fanatic and Executive Sous Chef.

Adam oversees several different restaurants at Turning Stone, but sushi is his passion, and Adam has spent years perfecting some of the ideas and techniques he is using to create sushi here.

“I like to think outside the box,” he joked. “That means the Sushi Sushi menu has some rolls that are kind of a show. We torch some of them. We sprinkle them with colors you would never see anywhere else. We play with flavors. Really we’re just trying to have fun and keep it interesting—both for the guests and for our chefs.”

One example of Adam’s innovative approach is the Purple Eel Roll. This cut sushi roll has crab and avocado inside, and is topped with unagi, or eel. The Sushi Sushi team garnishes the roll with an eye-catching purple sweet potato powder that adds sweetness to the flavor mix.

Another fan favorite: the Coconut Shrimp Roll, which is topped with a coconut milk powder that adds coconut flavor without being cloyingly sweet. 

A third option, the Green Miso Roll, is unique in different ways. This roll incorporates cold sesame spinach, pea tendrils, and salmon inside, and is finished with ginger miso soy on the top. As Adam explained it, the entire roll is green, and it is bursting with an umami flavor that is simultaneously sweet, salty, and savory.

Finally, guests love the Salmon Taimatsu Roll, which has king salmon on top. Servers sear the salmon with a hand torch when they bring it to the table—a process that cooks the fish quickly on the outside.

“We’re taking familiar concepts and mixing them up to make them even more interesting,” he said. “The result is some of the best sushi you’ve ever tasted in your life—sushi you’ll remember until the next time you come back.” 

Adam joined Oneida Nation Enterprises back around the time of the Exit 33 expansion; he was brought in to run a modest sushi program at A Bar and Turquoise Tiger. Before that, he was rolling sushi in Rochester, at a now-shuttered restaurant named Nikko and Next Door by Wegman’s. He estimates he’s spent more than 20 years making sushi, studying and refining his technique all the while.

Though he’s never visited Japan, it’s on his list. And until then, he’ll continue to innovate here at home.

“What I love about sushi is that it’s simple, but it also requires great care,” said Adam, who grew up on Long Island. “Everything from nice cuts to the way you handle and break down fish must be on point. If you mess up any of those things, the fish is a disaster. The attention to detail makes a huge difference.”