A bright green sign, nestled among the Subway and smoothie stations at Fusz food court, announces an exotic new dining option: sushi. Students venturing into Fusz for a bite to eat after returning to classes on Monday discovered the new cooler packed with colorful rounds of fish and veggies.

“We have been holding director’s dinner meetings with students, and we always ask students for suggestions. At a lot of the meetings people were asking for sushi,” said Tina Griffin, director of operations for Chartwells.

The sushi is provided by Advanced Fresh Concepts, a company that provides food service at other universities and local grocery stores like Schnucks. Popular on the east and west coasts, AFC’s sushi is prepared at Fusz by their own sushi chefs who prepare each meal fresh daily. AFC’s staff has been specially trained in the preparation of sushi.

The station, which is called Southern Tsunami, replaced Chartwell’s own barbecue concept, Austin Blues. “We have had people eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s addictive,” said Zach Jacob, manager of the Fusz food court. He said that, overall, the response from students about the new addition has been positive. “There are a few students, though, who’ve said we should have kept the old one, or they wish that we had come up with some other option.”

A Japanese food and ancient art form, sushi is seasoned rice formed in a roll with toasted seaweed and is usually combined with vegetables and seafood. Most of the seafood is cooked, smoked or pickled. Sushi is a healthy meal option, low in calories and fat. There is also vegetarian sushi available.

There are five different types of sushi, as well as appetizers and salads. The prices range from $1.95 for soybeans to $7.25 for the Shoreline Combo. The average entr?e costs about $4. Jacob said that the California rolls are among the most popular items. There are also party trays available for students to bring to events and parties.

During a break after the bustling lunch hour, several students are scattered throughout the food court munching on pizza and slurping their smoothies, but a few carefully lift nuggets of sushi into their mouths with chopsticks.

“It’s the second time I’ve had it today,” said James LaMear, a sophomore. “I was here earlier, and out of six tables, four of them had people eating sushi at them,” he added.

Chartwells is monitoring the sushi bar’s success, said Griffin, and will continue to evaluate student’s preferences and listen to their suggestions.

She said it was easy to convert the station into a sushi bar, and that there may be other new options in Fusz next fall.