Sushi is often a spendy dish, but it doesn't always have to be that way. According to Peter Hermann you should be able to drop in for lunch and eat two rolls—and a cup of soup and a side salad—and get out by paying no more than $13.

That “Choose Two” lunchtime-only program is definitely at the tip of his game plan when he and his business partner, Jesse Sweet, open the fast-casual sushi concept Fish & Rice over on Northwest Westover by the end of July—and maybe even sooner if the final stages of permitting go quicker than expected.

Hermann and Sweet are Michiganders who helped open fast-casual sushi joints in the southern part of the state, and they think Portland’s in need of its own fast-casual sushi shop that can serve quality rolls and sides without breaking our individual banks. The idea, Hermann says, is to take the money saved on labor and apply them to things like handmade plates spun by a ceramist friend and real glasses in lieu of plastic cups.

As you can see, nothing on their menu costs more than $13, with some items, like miso soup, costing as little as $2. Hermann says that while the restaurant’s menu specializes in familiar rolls (California, Philly, and spicy tuna rolls that cost between $6 and $8), it also serves squid salads ($5), ceviche ($13), salmon tartare ($11), poke bowls ($10 to $13), and specialty rolls like the “Miss Piggy” ($13) comprising crab, cucumber, asparagus, soy paper, toasted nori, eel sauce, garlic aioli, a housemade condiment called “wonder sauce,” and, as the name implies, smoked bacon.

Beer, wine, and sake rounds out the menu, which also saves room for a small collection of spirits for whiskey-soda highballs and mezcal, gin, and vodka mixed drinks.

When it opens, the bright, roomy, and modern Fish & Rice will keep daily hours of 11 am to 9 pm, with that “Choose Two” lunch special lasting from 11 to 3:30 pm.

Fish & Rice: 2332 NW Westover, 503-954-1270