Sushi
 

Alright I have lurked in the Good Eats forum long enough without chiming in on my absolute favorite food in the world... SUSHI!

Ok Sushi lovers, this is the thread to talk about your favorite types of sushi. Good places to eat and just general information about this wonderful type of cuisine.

I love all types of sushi; sashimi, nigiri, maki etc etc. I am a big supporter of traditional style nigiri sushi and eat it most times when visiting a Japanese restaurant. Not a big fan of a lot of the "Americanized" rolls hitting restaurants (sushi should never contain cream cheese IMO) but will try anything once :)

My favorite sushi order contains Maguro, Hamachi and Unagi Nigiri sushi as well as Tako and Hotetgai. I will try many types of rolls but generally shy away from anything containing the words "spicy salmon" or "mayo/crm cheese".

So.... let's talk SUSHI!

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/i...75e100134e.jpg

Re: Sushi
 

The best sushi I ever had was the Toro tuna in Tokyo... unbelievable!!

I still love tuna sushi, but also like some specality rolls. The place near me make a roll called "sexy girl" its a roll filledwith spicy tuna, shrimp tempura, surrounded by rice with lobster tempura on top... drizzled with this spicy sauce.

Its arranged on the plate so that the two shrimp tails stick out of either end and looks like a girls side ponytails and then they draw a face with the sauce

I think tomorrow night is a gonnna have to be sushi.

Re: Sushi
 

Sushi freaking rocks. Still, the two that I can't stand are uni and natto. Bleh, natto just makes my skin crawl. I try it roughly once a year, but still :pu

Re: Sushi
 

I'd do sashimi twice a week if I still worked near a good sushi place.

Unagi, maguro tuna, and hamachi are always ordered. Then I check out what else is available. There isn't a lot of sashimi I won't eat.

Re: Sushi
 

When we going? :D

Re: Sushi
 

My wife and I just got into sushi...we love it! We're now on a mission to find the world's best. :D

Re: Sushi
 

I love Unagi http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/med...tion-sushi.jpg

Im with you XXX I prefer traditional sushi over what ever they try to pass as sushi now a days.

Re: Sushi
 

I've done sushi a couple of times - need to have it a few more to see how much I actually enjoy it. I've had one good, one bad experience. so here's to more good experiences.

Re: Sushi
 

I'm drooling, unagi is absolutely the best!

Re: Sushi
 

Once a week for me. I stay away from the rolls with ton of **** in them, but I have a soft spot for spicy tuna/salmon with avocado. That said, some places make their own spicy sauce and others mix hot sauce with mayo. There is a huge difference. Some places also include the little red fish eggs in the spicy sauce which I believe is actually traditional! So go ahead XXX, eating spicy tuna does not break the rules:tu

Re: Sushi
 

sonic_mike,

what place is that you have pictured?

Re: Sushi
 

I eat strictly traditional sushi, and usually once every other week or so.

Re: Sushi
 

Veggie 4me. I can't eat fish ):

Re: Sushi
 

me too..My favorite is Escolar..Straight up.

Re: Sushi
 

hmmm ... from wikipedia:

These wax esters may rapidly cause gastrointestinal symptoms following consumption; however, these effects are usually short lived.

The gastrointestinal symptoms, called "keriorrhoea", caused by these wax esters may include oily orange diarrhea, discharge, or leakage from the rectum that may smell of mineral oil. The discharge can stain clothing and occur without warning 30 minutes to 36 hours after consuming the fish. The oil may pool in the rectum and cause frequent urges for bowel movements due to its lubricant qualities and may be accidentally discharged by the passing of gas. Symptoms may occur over a period of one or more days. Other symptoms may include stomach cramps, loose bowel movements, diarrhea, headaches, nausea, and vomiting.

Re: Sushi
 

That would translate into an embarassing "oops!"
:r:r:r:r:r:r

Re: Sushi
 

There is absolutely no better food than sushi and I am lucky to have a place close to my house in Martinez/Pleasant Hill border in the bay area called "Jo's" I just tell Jo at the bar to hook me up and I'll tell him when to stop. My current favorite right now is a kelp marinated halibut and Washu beef nigiri

Re: Sushi
 

Sushi (good sushi) is one of my great vices. Living in Los Angeles gives you access to so many good sushi restaraunts, only if you're willing to wait/go out of your way. My local "hole in the wall" back in Cali was this place called Omino Sushi. I went there every weekend and the owner knew me on sight. He'd give me samples of new dishes he'd be working on and wanted my opinion on them. Awesome place, I miss it so much.

There was another sushi place in Old Town Pasadena that my friends and I were notorious at. The sushi chef there got to know us and came up with a special roll for us: the "911" roll. The story goes is that one night we were eating, predominantly, a lot of spicy tuna cut-rolls and we kept on telling him to make it hotter and hotter. By the end of the night he ran out of stuff to throw in to make it hot enough. Next week, we returned back to the place and he came prepared. He made us a special cut roll, and placed it infront of us. The spicy tuna center was an unnatural color of red.. think bright, BRIGHT red. On the outside was alternating pieces of grilled unagi and avocado. The roll was delicious, but FREAKING HOT. Come to find out, he went out during the week and bought a bottle of Dave's Insanity Sauce and decided to unleash it on us. Mwhahahaha. I miss that place, too.

Not a sushi place, but that has an awesome unagi donburi is Tokyo Lobby. The menu is a picture album, and if you spend enough time going through the album you'll find menu combination are cheaper ordering one way than another way!

Most often I'm a pretty traditional guy, my order usually consists of:

maguro
inari (throwback from growing up in Hawaii)
aji, otherwise saba
unagi
ankimo (rare, but Omino had it all the time)
uni (only if it's FRESH.. have had bad uni and it's not a good experience)

Also, a well done chirashi is a thing to behold. Mmmmm..

:dr

Re: Sushi
 

its sunnyside Tokyo on Santa Rosa, I have 2 more pics here as well as the address to the place http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...alifornia.html

Re: Sushi
 

mmmm, I LOVE sushi and almost all of its related variants. I'd do it every day if there was a place near me.....

Best sushi I ever had was a few years ago, with some friends. One of them knew the chef. we didnt order anything, he just pulled out the special stuff for us :)
to this day, I dont know what all I had... but it was GOOD.

happiest sushi time in my life was when I was studying in London one summer. Right across the street from me was a cheap sushi place. I mean, REALLY cheap. sushi for lunch EVERY day :tu

Re: Sushi
 

Never happened to me but im sure if you eat too much of any kind of raw fish you would get those symptoms..Ive heard of it being a good laxative though..Still the best Tuna ive ever had.

Re: Sushi
 

I love sushi and the other foods associated with it. I love the raw fishes and Japanese salads that are available at sushi bars. Seaweed with sesame is delicious. The rice gets to be a little too filling for me so I try to stick with sashimi.

For all you sushi lovers, a great book is Trevor Corson's The Zen of Fish.
(That's the hardcover title.) The paperback version is out and is titled The Story Of Sushi. I covers all the aspects of sushi, rice, soy sauce, fish, etc. told alongside of the adventures of students at a Sushi chef school.
Reading this book will really make you hungry and make you appreciate what a great thing sushi is.

Re: Sushi
 

I love sushi and wish I could eat it every week. Unfortunately, not a lot of good places here to eat it.

Re: Sushi
 

Down there you should be able to get all the catfish and gar sushi that you are able to eat.:r:r

Re: Sushi
 

I'm a new fan of sushi. Found a place around the corner from me that seems to have a pretty good menu. The only problem I have is that I always order the chef's choice sashimi so I generally have no idea what I'm eating. Nothin' better than a piece of good fish, dash of wasabi, slice of pickled ginger, and a dip in soy sauce. Now I'm hungry...

Re: Sushi
 

I am all about some sushi!!
I used to go to a place called "the sushi dog".
It was in a custom chopper shop called "Krooners"
The moto was "ride American,eat Japanese"
but the hard times have closed both:(

Re: Sushi
 

The reason behind it for me is that as a general rule restaurants will use fish that is not fresh enough to serve as Sashimi or Nigiri to make the spicy tuna mix. And while its not bad tasting for my own personal tastes I try to stay with the freshest fish available. It also doesn't help that I live in AZ so I'm leery of Sushi restaurants that I'm not intimately familiar with :D

Re: Sushi
 

Friday night - XXX goes to Happy Sushi. :D

Re: Sushi
 

Havin takeout sushi for lunch.

Pay by the pound. I get like 4 lbs for 3 bucks!

Re: Sushi
 

Sashimi for me please, nothing like the real deal!

Re: Sushi
 

i'll eat that chit right on the boat..

Re: Sushi
 

SUHWEEET!!!!! Better tell that Itamae to get his staff ready. I'm coming hungry :D

Re: Sushi
 

Here's the tip of your lifetime sushi lovers...

Every Japanese-trained sushi chef (far from all of them are) has a "signature" sushi that is his/her own invention...and they guard it very, very closely.

Your assignment is to befriend your local sushi chef, compliment them, encourage them and generally suck-up and kiss their a**, then pop the question. "Do you make a sushi that nobody else does?"

You will be surprised, amazed and astounded. ;)

Re: Sushi
 

I love sushi and sashimi. For me, the best way to experience sushi is the way of omakase.

Re: Sushi
 

I hit a sushi restaurant at least once a week. When the various specialty rolls first started appearing I wasn't too jazzed, but over the years I've come to accept and enjoy a few of them.

When I first moved into our city, it was still pretty rural. Urban spread hadn't reached quite this far yet. The old bowling alley still had a sign posted about not spitting juice on the floor. There was exactly one sushi restaurant operating here. Now 25 years later there's almost as many sushi joints as there are Starbucks. Fascinating how popular it's become over time.

The alley finally took the sign down too. ;)

Re: Sushi
 

When I lived in Sandy Ego (20+ years) we would take tubes of wasabi out on the charter fishing boats whenever we went out, which was often.

On the return to port, as the deck hands were cleaning the fish, we would ask them to slice some sashimi pieces for us, right off the live and kickin' fish. Add a little wasabi and mmmmmmmmmmm, the stuff was so fresh it would jump and quiver in the mouth from the live nerve reaction to chewing it.

Now THAT'S good eats. If you live near the coasts, try it some time! :dance:

Re: Sushi
 

Sushi’s great and there are plenty of good places in L.A. I’m not sushi purist or that adventurous, so I usually order tuna and salmon sashimi along with some of the house rolls or standards like spicy tuna/salmon. Unagi and ebi also hit the spot. :tu

Re: Sushi
 

I go for sushi once a week (usually Mondays) with some guys from work. I love the stuff.

Re: Sushi
 

You just had to go there, huh Dustin? :r:r

I've been eating sushi for 27 years, started up in the '80's as an 8-year old with my folks who often would introduce me to new & terrifying cuisines. We'd hit our local sushi bar at the time, me in my cubscout uniform and I quickly became known as the Sushi Scout. I even dabbled a little behind the counter at one restaurant, a gift my folks got me for a birthday.

I learned to love sushi early on and my tastes have definitely grown over the years. When I first hated it and was disgusted upon seeing my Pop eat it, I now adore

UNI!!! and I'm often disappointed if my joint doesn't have it fresh. And it must be fresh. I've learned that we're fortunate enough here in L.A. to be home to the WORLD'S best sea urchin (uni). They raise it up in Santa Barbara and even the best sushi joint in NY (arguably Sushi Yasuda) gets theirs from Santa Barbara, not Japan. Uni just reminds me more than any other item that I'm definitely eating something from the sea. The way it disintegrates and kind of liquifies in the mouth upon each bite....man, I can't have enough.

I've never ordered a special from my local sushi bar but they do a shooter with uni, oyster, quail egg and I guess sake. Sounds awesome and I'll likely try it soon.

Aside from Uni, I love hamachi (yellowtail) and sake (salmon). I have to get that every time for sure. Sweet shrimp (and it's different from regular 'ol shrimp) with the fried heads are definitely a favorite too. And I do tend to like the nifty unusual rolls too.

Club Sushi down in Hermosa Beach offers an amazing 1/2 price happy hour including most sushi, 1/2 off beer, wine & sake & apps. I love going there because the sushi is good, not amazing, but certainly good, a good value and all the sushi chefs are Hispanic and I've never seen that anywhere else. My buddy Efrem, the head chef, even won 'Best Sushi Chef' in the South Bay one year and I came on in and had him autograph our issue. He loved it.

Oh, so down at Club Sushi, they make a yellowtail roll with jalapeno, cilantro and some lemon juice and it's truly amazing.

Totally agree. Ankimo for those of you who don't know or haven't tried it...it's Monkfish Liver, over rice, usually with a strip of seawood or packed atop like what they do to Uni. So good. Not terribly livery, if you're worried about it. I also like Chirashi but didn't know it was called that!

That's freakin' crazy Al! I'll be right over.

:tpd: If I go to a place I've never been and I've researched it on the net, I'll usually order Omakase and let the chef choose for me since I'll eat absolutely anything.

Sounds AWESOME! :tu

Re: Sushi
 

OK, I'm leaving for Japan on Friday Morning for a week and a half.

I will eat damn near anything, but have never tried sushi.

My question to Dustin and others that seem to have a sushi fettish.......
Where do I start?
I prefer spicy things.
I love all types of fish, but do not necessarily adore what some call a 'fish' taste.
My favorite fish plates include Orange Roughy, Tuna, Trout (Rainbow and Atlantic), Halibut, Sea Bass, Swordfish.....
So, you see I prefer most that are more steak-like.

Any help?

Re: Sushi
 

Kelly - Where do you usually go in our hood? There's a joint down the street from us called 'Asaka' that's quite good but not cheap and the service isn't great. I'll often order takeout but they've got a great patio with a 180-degree ocean view. I'd say that place is my usual place.

Re: Sushi
 

Stu - Man, you're gonna have a blast! I was only there as a kid but I do remember it was a little different. I'm sure others will chime in about their recent experiences but expect to see some strange things on the menu. One such strange item was horsemeat sashimi. Frankly, it tasted like a cooked steak. Not sure how. It was pretty darn good.

I'd start with sake (salmon). Very mild, buttery fish. The good stuff just kinda melts in your mouth. And if you like smoked salmon (lox), you're gonna love this. It's 10x better.

Hamachi (yellowtail) is also very tame. Same with Maguro (tuna).

I'd start with those. Have a great trip!

Re: Sushi
 

I'd strongly recommend toro (daisuki) tuna. I find it to have a meaty buttery flavor that's absolutely delicious. :tu

Re: Sushi
 

Absolutely....and even better....Bluefin Tuna!

Re: Sushi
 

That's what my immediate family use to when I was growing up in Hawaii. We'd go fishing, catch the fish, and slice a few up for sashimi. Shoyu and a bit of dry mustard (back then we didn't use wasabi) and it's "ono kine grinds" time while the other fish cook over a hibachi... :dr

Also tako (octopus) sashimi. Fresh or smoked. Plain, shoyu/mustard, or a miso sauce. Another great childhood memory.

Re: Sushi
 

Stu, you are going to have a great time I'm sure. Where in Japan are you going? I'm envious because Japan is one of those places to visit before I die and I've never been.

Anyways when I was first introduced to sushi I started with the traditional types. And I started with Nigiri Sushi (the fish on an oblong ball of rice) as Sashimi just seemed to exotic at the time. I started mild with Unagi and Ebi (Eel and Shrimp) as both had cooked fish on top of the rice. Kind of got me used to the format. Then I moved on to Maguro and Hamachi (tuna and yellowtail) which has the raw fish and then branched out into the more exotic Nigiri Sushi. I then made my way into rolls and then finally into Sashimi. By the time I reached Sashimi I had a very healthy appreciation for sushi.

I would suggest for your first order at a restaurant or Sushi bar you order an order of Unagi, Ebi and Maguro. Two cooked styles and one raw style. You will get a good sense of what Nigiri sushi is all about and it is an easy introduction. Then if you decide sushi is something you can enjoy as your traveling companions or the sushi chef for their recommendations on what you should try. A good sushi chef will steer you in the right direction and give you a greater appreciation for the art of Sushi.

Enjoy my friend, you will have a blast!

Re: Sushi
 

A different style of sushi that I thought looked interesting :)


http://www.pref.osaka.jp/koho/brand/...sushi_main.jpg

Re: Sushi
 

Maybe I'll make you some then........:hm

Re: Sushi
 

I do love me some sushi... mostly sashimi though!!! I had a roommate in college in the late 70's that was from Hawaii. He go me into it. I've been eating it ever since. I have never had anything I hated... but I am not a huge fan of salmon used in sashimi. I usually just tell the chef to start bringing it, to not back off of the eel and sea urchin, and to leave off the salmon.

Re: Sushi
 

OBDG style Sushi????? ;)