Dallas sushi restaurant chain The Blue Fish has a new spinoff: Called Blue Maki by The Blue Fish, it's dedicated to temaki, AKA hand rolls, a more casual version of sushi rolls, and it's open in Carrollton at the Korean Mall - Shops at Old Denton, at 2625 Old Denton Rd. #444.

The Blue Fish was founded in Dallas in 1998 by sister-and-brother Julie and Alex Lee, who opened their first location at 3519 Greenville Ave., after moving to DFW from Los Angeles.

At one point, The Blue Fish had nearly a dozen locations across DFW as well as Houston, but they're currently at seven including six in Texas, and one in Colorado. They also have a sibling concept called Temaki, located in Korea, which also specializes in hand rolls and serves as a kind of template for Blue Maki.

Hand rolls, in which the ingredients are placed more casually into a sheet of seaweed that is curved or rolled, have emerged as one of the bigger sushi trends around Dallas. For kitchen staff, they're less finicky to create; for diners, they're easier to eat without chopsticks.

The menu at The Blue Maki features "regular" hand rolls as well as "premium," with expensiver ingredients.

Regular temaki rolls are $8 each or 3 for $20, and include spicy tuna, California, dragon, spicy salmon & mango, "Rainforest" with avocado, shrimp tempura, salmon, spicy tuna, scallions, and spicy mayo, and a veggie with avocado, marinated carrot, cucumber, and asparagus.

Premium temaki are $9 to $13, and include lobster, kampachi, toro, and Wagyu with uni.

There are five old-school maki, aka regular old sushi rolls, including California roll and a "Sundae" roll with crab and shrimp tempura. They also have The Blue Fish tuna tower for $18. Starters include calamari, karaage chicken, crispy rice cakes, seaweed salad, and edamame.

The bar offers sake, soju, wine, beer, and cocktails such as lychee and espresso martinis.

One policy they follow is to wrap the seaweed in plastic sleeves, and this is being applauded by some who like the idea that the plastic sleeves keeps the seaweed "fresh." But it's terribly eco-unfriendly. Why add plastic to a food item? Why not just serve the hand rolls fresh and then you won't need to encase them in plastic?

According to a spokesperson, the Carrollton location is not the only Blue Maki in the works: They're opening a location in Dallas at the Shops at Park Lane, at 8180 Park Ln. #125, with an opening date still to be determined.