Whether you happen to be a spineless shell of a human being or a gluttonous foodie who hasn’t yet met a well-prepared dish he wouldn’t eat, waffling about what to eat when dinner time comes around is never fun—especially if you’re with other people. It’s not that you don’t care—everybody cares about something they will chew in their mouth and let slide down their throat—but you definitely have a problem making decisions—be it that you can’t make one, period, or that there are too many great options from which to choose.

Ninety-five percent of the time, I fall into the latter category. Given the number restaurants in Long Beach that I frequent (for take-out and dine-in), saying “I don’t know,” when asked “Where we going?” is more a cry for help than just me being difficult. Which is why a lot of the time, we end up at Aki Sushi/Bai-Plu. And lest you confuse this Aki Sushi with Aki’s Sushi on Redondo and Seventh, you’ll want to know a few things up front: Aki Sushi/Bai-Plu is on Seventh and Walnut (roughly), and is actually two separate restaurants under one delicious roof. There. Confusion solved.

Upon arrival at the restaurants, the first thing you’ll notice is that there are two doors—no dividing wall between the restaurants, just two doors. Enter through the left, and you’re at Aki Sushi, a pleasant sushi joint with a friendly sushi bar and tasty menu. Enter through the right, and you’re at Bai-Plu, home to some of the best Thai food in all of Long Beach. But feel free to walk through either door—at Aki Sushi/Bai-Plu, you can order Thai on the sushi side and sushi on the Thai, although I always sit on the sushi side. I’m boring like that.

Until recently, a typical night out at Aki Sushi/Bai-Plu would go something like this: I’d start with some miso soup ($1.50) and edamame ($2.50), sharing the edamame with my boyfriend. Then, he’d order something from Bai-Plu (typically either the Pad Thai or the fried rice; $5.95) while I went with the simple-but-nummy cucumber roll ($4.60) followed by one of Aki Sushi’s special rolls, such as the Aki roll, with tuna, halibut, masago, cucumber, avocado and radish sprouts wrapped in cucumber ($13.50). And that was that: he’d eat his food, I’d eat mine, and ne’er did the two plates touch.

That all changed a few weeks ago, however, when I took some friends out for dinner to Aki Sushi/Bai-Plu—friends who most definitely fall under the gluttonous foodie category. Perusing both menus (we sat on the sushi side, of course), I could hear mumblings of “Sweet Jesus” and “Good lord” as they read from the extensive lists of dishes. “I can’t make up my mind,” said one friend, finally. “We’re going to have to order both.”

But Thai food with sushi? We were all a little bit scared, to be honest, but we forged ahead anyway: miso, edamame, potatoes croquette ($1.95), the sunset roll ($9.95), baked scallop roll ($13), vegetable roll ($4.60), toro sushi ($3.95) and lastly, since we’re difficult, something off-menu from Bai-Plu: pad kee mau, or “drunken noodles.” Miso and edamame were up first—great as always, with the edamame extra hot and salty. Then, potatoes croquette, three of them, filled with peas and carrots and served with a sauce that tasted a bit like HP sauce. These stuck to our ribs so tightly they almost necessitated being chased by a steak dinner.

Except the sunset roll came next, with spicy shrimp, crab and avocado inside topped with tuna and a creamy sesame dressing, followed by the pad kee mau, by far my favorite of the night (goes to show). Piggybacking on the heaping plate of pan-fried flat rice noodles was a generous serving of chili, basil, green beans, garlic tofu and peas. So spicy! We fought over the remaining peas.

Which left, let’s see, the toro (“Tastes like the tide pools,” remarked a friend, which means it tasted like ocean water and butter—fantastic, if you’re in to that) and the hearty vegetable roll with cucumber, carrot, pickled gourd, mushrooms and avocado. Alarmingly, it all went together incredibly—our only disappointment was the baked scallops, served over a slice of lime and an avocado roll. The lime was overwhelming and the scallops uncomfortably goopy.

Then again, it’s always good when you stumble across something like that—it makes it that much easier to make up your mind the next time around.

AKI SUSHI/BAI-PLU 1626-28 E SEVENTH ST | LONG BEACH 90813 | 562.436.8180 OR 562.436.3123 | AKISUSHIANDTHAI.COM | DINNER FOR TWO, $20-$50

Tags: aki sushi, bai-plu, Food, Long Beach, sushi, thai