Where to get all the sushi you want:

        When I saw that Benihana, downtown, was advertising a $17.95 all-you-can-eat sushi deal, I had mixed feelings. It seems like an inappropriate meeting of a rather crass American concept with a refined Japanese dish.

        On the other hand, I really love sushi. I love lots of sushi at one time. And, it seems to me, if you're going to pig out on something, sushi is actually a pretty good choice. In its purest form, it's just rice, a little fish or a bit of vegetable, some pickled ginger and wasabi (and even if wasabi has calories, which I doubt, you can't eat enough of it to matter.)

        Of course, there are those modern variations, such as fried soft-shell crab roll and Philadelphia roll with smoked salmon and cream cheese. Still, it all comes in such little pieces.

        The deal is offered all day, so I tried it with a friend at lunch. We were given a special menu, which lists 20 kinds of nigiri (a small piece of fish on top of a mound of rice) and 18 varieties of roll. The more expensive ones, like sea urchin, aren't included.

        There are a few rules: You can't just eat the fish off the top; you have to eat the rice, too. You can only order at one time two rolls, one roll and six nigiri or 10 nigiri. No, you can't get sushi to go, and you have to finish your plate before you order a new one.

        The deal comes with miso soup and one of those Japanese steak house salads of iceberg lettuce and sesame dressing.

        I had red snapper, hamachi, shrimp, scallop, tuna, mackerel and squid nigiri sushi, which were generously sized and fresh. The smoked salmon was kind of salty, and the kani, or crab, was really crab sticks.

        We tried spicy tuna roll, spicy crab roll (not as good) and a shrimp tempura roll that's wrapped in a pink skin and gets a little texture kick from the fried shrimp.

        Cincinnati roll is eel with cream cheese and some cucumber and avocado, which I liked even though I don't really approve of cream cheese in sushi. Altogether, it was two plates' worth, and that was plenty for me.

        I figured, at $1.50-$1.75 per nigiri piece, and $4.75-$6.50 per roll ($9 for soft shell crab roll) we each ate about $30 of sushi for $18.

        Benihana is at 126 E. 6 St.; 421-1688.

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