sushi

Is that made-up TV meaness (or is it eek unagi)? Eek is what we said when we watched it!!

(My cellphone says "shazam" on the rare occasions when I turn it on these days [Bloomington buildings are made out of cellunite, which prevents the usage of cellular phones]. It's my favorite word that ends in -zam.)

When I lived in NH, there were no sushi places. There were three kinds of seafood: clam (strips or chowder), lobster (boiled or roll), haddock (stick or cake).

When I lived in western Mass, there were no sushi places. There was no seafood.

When I lived in New Orleans, the only sushi place that wasn't way the hell across college-tourist traffic for me was a Korean place that happened to also sell sushi -- this was the first place I tried sushi, and since I split up with my ex soon after finding it and she moved in with a guy who can't stand the smell of sushi places, I didn't get to go very often.

So now I'm in Indiana, of all the damn places, and there's a sushi place every time I trip (because my superpowers are arbitrary beyond the ken of man). I've been ordering at random, new things every time I go. Before, I'd had the usual obvious things -- shrimp, tuna, salmon, cucumber, roe (don't like it as sushi, maybe in a roll with other things), etc.

Since moving here, I've tried eel, crabstick (eh), this roll with deep-fried crabmeat and scallions, and negimaki and gyoza. I'm not crazy about rolls with avocado in them, which limits me on roll selection, and if I'm getting a roll I'd rather get something with multiple things in it -- otherwise I much prefer the sushi.

Recommend stuff to me? If it's obscure or esoteric, assume it isn't available to me. Is sea urchin good? I was going to order it yesterday, but it was the most expensive sushi on the menu.

My favorite sushi is mackeral. It is common and usually the cheepest fish, but if its not absolutely fresh its garbage. Other than that, try any kind of fish - its all good if its fresh. Squid is also good as is baby octopus (which is marinated). Adult octopus is tough and bland. If you haven't had sweet (raw) shrimp, try that - its a whole other thing than cooked shrimp. I don't know if you have the veggie sushis there, some places carry it and some don't. Those can be good. There are the "spicy ____ rolls" which can be good, the _____ is mixed with japanese mayo and hot sauce and scallions.

There isn't that much more basic sushi that hasn't been mentioned already. After that, you are left with all these exotic rolls that vary regionally in name and ingredients. Some can be good, some are wrong.

Uni is a love/hate thing, you just have to try it and see.

I enjoy rolls but real sushi is king of kings. There was a place in Monterey that did a $15 all-you-can-eat buffet deal with revolving floats (little wooden otters) and we used to stuff ourselves every weekend at that joint. Eventually they stopped doing the buffet on weekends and upped the price - too many thugs like us piling up 23 empty dishes a sitting I suppose. I always drink warm sake or asahi super dry with my sushi. Plenty of wasabi, always, and ginger between each type.

Roll-wise I'd have to say the spider is my favorite (crab with legs sticking out at each end) - other than that I think ahi and eel are king. Man, I miss that place.

Eel & Cucumber
Yellowfish & Scallion
Belly tuna (you usually have to ask if they have it in, but if they do, it's worth the price...mmmmmmmm)

_____ is the ingredient made spicy, most commonly tuna or scallop.

>sushi is rolls, sashimi is raw fish, understand

Sushi is anything with vinegared rice actually. Plain sashimi is usually cheeper than sushi if all you want is a raw fish fix.

I think I'll try the sea urchin and sweet shrimp next time I go (Monday if not before, friends are visiting). I'm sort of determined to do my sushi exploration this summer, because I'm wary of getting seafood anything, especially raw, out of season this far north (and this far inland).

Pity me, Millar, I've moved in with a non-smoker, and through some weird quirk of ventilation, any smoke in my office scents the entire apartment. I've been smoking outside until we can pick up some kind of filter thing. But I may manage the spicy-roll-wasabi-ginger-cigarette combo anyway. (Back when I dated a smoker -- she has since converted, too -- we called the smoke-after-spice effect "zeeep zeeep zeeep," cause that's the sound of electric chairs in your mouth.)

This is my favourite foodgroup. More yellowtail please

^OTM. They harvest yellowtail like half an hour from where I live, and it's like candy.

it is worth the extra fifty cents it usually costs. Sometimes a whole euro!

I love tamago so much. So simple, but so tasty.

I'm booked for a kaiseki dinner at Silk in Atlanta on the 29th. STOKED.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b75cl4-qRE

Hah! I saw that already. Sent it to my parents who live in Tokyo.

My fave is eel and Hawaiian rolls. :-)

Uh oh, we brought home leftovers from the sushi bar last night, and I'm not feeling very good after eating them this afternoon. It was some pieces of a roll with all cooked ingredients -- I thought they'd be okay!

http://foodsnobblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/urasawa-shima-aji-nigiri.jpg

best not-crazy-expensive sushi in LA??

i ate this the other day. it was awesome. a roll with no rice!

http://hphotos-iad1.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/296070_10150325284762011_507837010_8141599_1481068103_n.jpg

what is it around it?

looks like cucumber?

had a roll w/ rice paper a few months ago and hated the shit out of it

i thought it's onion?!

it is cucumber!
and there was a little bit of this very light (i think somewhat diluted) vinegary sauce underneath.

so fresh! so delicious.

and there was a little bit of this very light (i think somewhat diluted) vinegary sauce underneath.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzu

yeah the menu just said 'vinegar sauce'

so hungry, kinda hate you tbqh. dinner not til 8:30pm... blahhhh

i am kind of sad i can not have that roll for dinner like every night. or at least twice a week.

can londoners please list the best sushi places? i think i've only had proper sit-down sushi once the entire time i've been here.

Best best? Superlative? Not 'good enough'?

surprise me

asakusa in eversholt street do the best japanese food i've had in ldn

but i don't go to expensive places, it's possible they'd have better sushi

yeah asakusa is pretty amazing for the price

There was one right next to Goodge St tube that had the full-on sitting cross-legged on tatami mat experience, but I can't remember what it was called or find any reference to it ;_;

Ginnan on Rosebery Avenue is v good. All my other recs would be Tokyo Diner level.

for fancy stuff i've been to dinings in marylebone + would recommend

I have a bottle of ponzu on my kitchen shelf, it is a miracle sauce.

yeah, not really into paying the huge buxx for sushi, it's expensive enough when it's cheap. so -

- ginnan on rosebery ave
- asakusa on eversholt

i seem to remember going to some place in soho that was down a side street and very good but my memory eludes me now..

some place in soho that was down a side street

kikuchi in hanway street?

My mystery Goodge St place was Ikkyu and it is indeed closed, double sadface

it may have been kikuchi? it was fairly cramped but pleasant, speedy service, many japanese people there.

not that that really narrows it down..

I have a bottle of ponzu on my kitchen shelf, it is a miracle sauce.

― Occupy Kelly St (Trayce), Friday, October 14, 2011 4:02 AM (3 hours ago)

i hope that shelf is refrigerated!

Tracer:
http://www.sushiofshiori.co.uk/

that place isnt v cheap iirc

Tehresa, that roll looks great, but were the pieces difficult to pick up? The cuke looks a bit slippery.

Has anyone been to Yoisho on Goodge St? Not that they are specifically a sushi joint but w/vs - it is odd; no-one I know has ever been there and it's now sort of a Thing. I would like to go - gizzards a plenty.

Seconding the requiem for Ikkyu, that place was great.

Sushi of Shiori is a bit like wearing your coat inside if you spend under £50 - you don't *reaaaally* get the full benefit (or so I have heard from food bloggers)! I would still go, it is on my list for a special occasion meal! Sadly nothing ever happens in my life!

it wasn't too hard to pick up and i did a decent job of taking multiple bites without it all falling apart for the first two pieces, but on my third, i ended up with a mess. it still tasted amazing! btw everything was wrapped in seaweed and then that was wrapped in cucumber so the cucumber got a little traction from the sticky seaweed. if they'd tried to just wrap the fish in cucumber it would not have worked.