Sushi

Instead of blogging play-by-play what I loved and hated about the sushi places, I thought that I would post once I was finished the entire category, but I've realized that that would be long and tedious. And it's taking a lot longer than I thought.

I'm not a roll person, so my assessment of sushi is probably skewed in comparison to the average sushi-lover's love of sushi. Don't get me wrong, I love sushi and eat everything but the rolls/maki. It's wierd because I like all of the separate ingredients of sushi; the cucumber, avocado and imitation crab in a calafornia roll seem really yummy in my books, but all rolled up in the rice and seaweed makes it all mushy and chewy. I think it might be the seaweed. It's not like I haven't tried! I have attempted to eat a piece of roll at almost every place on my list, the result is always the same and the other night was no different. I ordered one piece of real kani (crab) nigiri sushi, and it came like a really big maki piece with the seaweed on the outside. In retrospect I should have just picked the crab off the top and been happy at that, but no, I shoved the whole thing in my mouth and between choking spurts of laughter (thanks Naka) I managed to chew and chew and gag and chew and gag my way through it as the tears streamed down my face. Never again. That was my limit. I'm officially done in the roll department.

I'm still left with lots of other yummy sushi options, my favorites are: miso soup, edemame, all of the tempura varieties, beef/chicken terryaki, salmon sashimi (sometimes tuna), the eggy cones, and nigiri such as ebi, kani, inari, salmon, toro, and now tamago, the rice bowls, sometimes gyoza, the udon soups (except for the fishy ones), ramen noodles (which I've avoided until I get to the Japanese Noodle Category of my eat-a-thon), and the age dashi tofu.

My assessment thus far:

Kadoya
Local and staff favorite. Great, yummy, fast, close to work, very popular, I've never stayed to eat there and probably wouldn't unless it wasn't busy, just get take out. Great sashimi, avoid the sunomono. It's closed Monday's.

Yoshi

Gorgeous patio view, first experience of soba noodles, probably won't ever try them again. Went there for lunch. According to sushi experts I know, it's the best and a tad bit expensive, but the lunch menu is a good deal.

Downtown Sushi Bar
Sometimes I think that I go here because the service is so bubbly and consistently inconsistent, and it's the closest and most convenient. Don't eat the beef terryaki, I gave it two tries, it's gristly. They make very pretty rolls like the Davie Roll that I like to look at, or pick apart and eat the inner contents. Horrible decorations like year-round Christmas lights and mediocre sushi, but for some reason I keep going back.

Tanpopo and Kisha Poppo
Quality verses quantity in the all you can eat department. There is a science to mastering the all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant: Go there hungry, plan on spending a good couple hours eating, wear your stretchy pants, eat the rolls last so that they don't fill you up, avoid other ricey dishes for the same reason, at Tanpopo anyway don't order too much at once or they will forget half of the order, or you will get too much at once and be overwhelmed, eat too fast, and get full too fast. Take it slow, if you want to get the most bang for your buck, eat a lot of sashimi, it's generally the most pricey on the menu.

Tanpopo wins, even though it's more expensive and the service is not-so-smiley, there are more options, the view is nicer, and as a side-note they have a good happy-hour combo special if you don't feel in the mood for gluttony.

Azuma Sushi
I had salmon sashimi, inari nigiri, miso soup, and veggie tempura. Lovely orangey atmosphere, CASH ONLY IS BULLSHIT, lots of options, creative little twists on things. I'd go back.

Sakari Sushi
I had a beef terryaki bowl, miso soup, inari and real kani nigiri. We were the only people in the entire restaurant at 8pm on a friday night. Mind you it was blustery outside. Second floor, nice view, super-cute and polite server (she must be new and not-yet jaded), too many sesame seeds in the inari. perfect miso soup, lots of little tofuy bits.