Sushi Tales

Love sushi. I can't pick a favorite fish, I like to try them all, and the more exotic the better. Best sushi I had was at Hiro Sushi here in Toronto, and the worst was at some cheap Korean/Japanese place where the sea urchin wasn't quite fresh. I was ill for two days. They have since closed.

One of my friends had a rude shock when he tried picking up his fish with a fork.

It actually jumped !!

Nice to hear I'm not alone with it cav
I think the best sushi I ever had was in Vancouver in a restaurant on Granville Street. But I recently went down to this one place in Austria and they got pretty good stuff, too.
I agree with you, the more exotic, the better. But I somehow seem to really like the one fish that got kinda brown flesh. It looks like grilled beef meat a little.

unagi. i love it. I wished I knew how to do eel like that.

sometimes i go just for mixed sashimi cuz I looove wasabi .
worst sushi---some joint in Delaware , everything smelled like a moldy dishrag


best sushi--2 places The sun yat sen hotel in tAipei and

close up there
SWUSHI HILL on Colfax avenue in Denver. I dont even know if its still there. The new airpost sends us a different direction. I think it was like 16th and Colfax. (Dys, Diane maybe know. It was not too far from the Tattered cover bookstore, which is one of the great bookstores in the world)

Unagi is one of my faves. Live eels are still availible in our Chinatown. Maybe one day I can show farmerman how it's done.

I also love sushi. When I was in Japan I was dared to try the Blowfish. It can be deadly if not prepared properly but is considered a savory delicacy if you survive the experience. I tried it and it was good but nothing I would risk my life for again.

Yeah farmer, wasabi. That's what the green stuff is called. I think wasabi is one of the amazing things about sushi.

Somehow I haven't had the bad luck to get some real bad sushi like you guys did. Sure I recently had some really bad rice. It was too watery.
But I never stepped into a restauarant that actually did smell like fish (the best sign for spoilt fish).

"Tasty fish, poison fish..."

I loved that Simpsons episode.

"Fugu me!"

Wasabi as we generally get it, is powdered, and then a little water is added to it. It starts it's life as a root, though, and is related to horseradish. However, fresh wasabi root is difficult to find outside of Japan, at least in these parts.

So how do you guys do it with the wasabi while eating your sushi?
This is one thing I had to figure out when having my first few dishes of sushi :-)

Well in the end I got myself the tactics of taking some wasabi with the chop sticks, grabbing the nigri or maki with the wasabi-holding sticks and giving it a soybath before putting it into my mouth.

That's about the way, I do it, hamster - plus some sliced ginger. Oh, man, I haven't had sushi in a while. Hmm I'd like someone to go with me (RP won't). Maybe me sainted mudder?!

I usually get the sliced ginger between the nigris and makis.
So it's like on nigri in the mouth, chew it, swallow it, and then sliced ginger to clear my taste before getting another piece of maki or nigri.

Yeah, jesp, ask yo mom out. She surely's gonna be happy about it.

Sushi is a subtle art. A proper sushi place will adjust the amount of wasabi in each piece to compliment the flavour of the fish. They will also make their own soy-based dip, not just serve you plain ole soy sauce. With cheap sushi, it is a common habit here to mix wasabi in with the soy, but at a high end sushi joint, this is considered insulting to the chef. The pickled ginger, which I love, is meant to be a palate cleanser. The traditional way to eat a Japanese meal of sashimi, sushi and maki is sashimi first, then sushi, then maki, with some handrolls inbetween if you want. The word 'sushi' actually means 'seasoned rice'. The word for plain steamed rice is 'gohan'. Pickled ginger is 'gari'.

Being born in Wisconsin, I am a "meat and potatoes" boy to the core. I never thought I would even try Sushi, let alone like it. Enter the beautiful Russian chick that absolutely positively will not stop nagging me about my limited diet. Finally I offer that if I try everything one more time; then she has to shut the hell up about that item from that day forward. We agree.

Naturally, the next place she wants to go is YOKO JAPANESE, a small little restaurant adjacent the Babies R' Us store. You would never even know this place was there unless someone told you. As soon as the automatic door slides open and we step in, I notice the place is extraordinarily clean (always a good sign in a restaurant). Being an ignorant hick I'm expecting this to be like a Chinese Restaurant so I'll just scan the menu for whatever seems to have the least vegetables. NOT. My darlin wants me to order a "Boat" and reminds me of our agreement. Now, I don't recall agreeing that I'd eat bizarre stuff exclusively; I thought I just said I'd try it. Besides, with raw fish there is a very real chance that this is going to make me sick. There is no way this is what I agreed to...

So my boat arrives and my darlin starts lecturing again. Sake has definitely warmed my courage so I grab the first piece of sashimi, squeeze my eyes shut and toss it in my mouth. Head bowed, upper body tensed I begin to chew. Oh my goodness; this is weird. This garbage (White Tuna) is quite possibly the very best tasting thing I have ever tried. It had the consistency of flaky fish with the flavor of a rare chateaubriand. Unbelievable.

Now this is a real nightmare because now my darlin is only going to be encouraged to make me eat other garbage. What have I got myself into?

Since then I have learned that I like 95% of everything. Truly, there are few exceptions and very little I can't at least tolerate with indifference.

Sashimi is the way to go. If I'm going to eat something raw, I prefer that nothing alter the sight or taste of it. Wasabi I can do without.

Since that historic, life altering day, I've eaten at dozens of Japanese and other Sushi restaurants that someone thought were the "best sushi anywhere" and I've reached a conclusion: Don't even bother to order Sushi unless you are at YOKO JAPANESE. Their restaurant is comfortable, the service is way above average and there food is beyond comparison. 1/3 of the things on their menu may not be available because they will only buy the very best or nothing at all. You can spend more money (a lot more), but you can not find a better sushi restaurant. Period.

I was married to a Japanese chick for 5 years. Naturally, I still have a taste for sushi - and Japanese babes.

Woosh hot taste that, Nick

Best sushi I've ever had was in a Japanese restaurant (whose name I've forgotten) in Seattle.

Around here we generally go to Sushi Island in Wakefield or Sake on Rte 1 in Saugus.

Side question: when I have miso soup in an East Coast (of the US) restaurant, a spoon is provided. But on the West Coast the restaurant did not provide a spoon. So, are you supposed to eat this with a spoon or not?

Surely without spoon:
East Coast is less culturally influenced by Asians, thus mixing up Japanese traditions with European ones happens pretty quickly.

Favorite sushi:

Mobo Sushi, Santa Cruz, CA. Cheap, ridiculously good. (Fell like I've typed this before...) Have tried to find its equal in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Seattle, with no luck. Three favorite roles at Mobo (none traditional): Corrupter (basil is the big kick), the MacRandy (salmon, cream cheese, and macadamia), and the Tsunami (eel, salmon, tuna -- just a mess of stuff).

There's actually a decent place here in Madison, W -- better than anything we found in Seattle, but kinda pricey. Mmmmm...

Absolute, bar none, worst sushi experience: some all-you-can-eat place outside of Seattle (Redmond). Terrible. The fish wasn't fresh, the rice was overheated and tasteless. Ugh.