The Quirky Chicago Spot Selling $1 Sushi Balls And Labubu Dolls

When you think of Chicago-style eats, perhaps it's deep-dish pizza that comes to mind, or the city's unique hot dog style piled with sport peppers, a tomato slice, and a pickle spear. But there's a quirky foodstuff in the Windy City that may one day become just as iconic. It's sushi balls from Bloop Bloop, a restaurant that opened in the summer of 2025 and sells these treats for only $1.

Sushi balls are exactly what they sound like — balls of rice with raw fish and other ingredients on top. The restaurant in the city's Lincoln Square neighborhood offers more than 20 different varieties of sushi balls, from tuna to octopus leg to mango. The restaurant bills itself as the first in the United States to specialize in sushi balls. While that could be true, this type of sushi, called temarizushi in Japan, has been popular in the country for years, likely originating in Kyoto and taking its name from folk-art Temari balls, which were cloth children's toys. Relatedly, Bloop Bloop offers a special sushi ball combo that comes with a viral Labubu doll, those ultra-collectible furry little monsters.

Besides its sushi balls, Bloop Bloop features a range of other fairly unusual eats as well. If you're familiar with Push Pops, those push-up lollipops, the restaurant offers a sushi roll version. The concept seems to have first taken off in New York City, thanks to Sushi Suki, but Bloop Bloop has its own take on the dish with three different choices of rolls for $11.99 each. They come in a tube that you can push from the bottom to reveal more of the roll as you slowly eat your way through it.

Another fun food at Bloop Bloop is its Lucky Sushi Bag, which starts with a fried tofu pouch that's filled with a variety of ingredients like spicy salmon, fish roe, or ramen. The restaurant doesn't lack for fun meal options. And that doesn't even include its long list of drinks — nearly 20 different choices, from a purple-hued taro cream latte to rose-petal lemonade. If you only have 24 hours in Chicago and you like boundary-pushing sushi, it should probably make it onto your food itinerary.