ArtisticPhotography wrote: I think you've confused it with "bait".
When I came home from the service, I was all excited to share the new wonders of the world I had discovered with my family. I LOVED Japanese food, and sushi in particular.
So, I took my dear old grey haired Mom out to a nice Japanese restaurant. I ALMOST sprayed my Sapporo all over the room when she looked me in the eye and asked me (with a serious look) "You mean you eat this bait RAW?"
MN camera wrote: I'm a real fan of chirashi (scattered) sushi as well. Slices of wonderful sashimi on a bowl of sushi rice.
As I said above, when alone, I just ask the chef to select for me, he knows me well, and he knows chirashi is my favorite way to indulge
Digital Photo PLUS wrote: In my case it depends more on a restaurant. Unfortunately there are no good sushi restaurants in the Washington, DC area. That I know of?
Some (hopefully) helpful hints -
If a sushi bar serves cocktails it's probably "Americanized," not very good, and very expensive. This is not always true, but 9 times out of 10 it will be.
Look for "dives" in the Asian hoods (if you have any). Poke your head in the door. If you see a lot of middle aged or older Asians **and** the place does not smell like a fish market, you very well may have found a winner. Quality fish does **not** smell like fish and the older folks are a lot more picky than the younger crowd.
Check out the menu prices. If they are lower than what you would normally expect, this can be a very good sign. Older Asians refuse to pay the inflated prices typically seen in "Americanized" sushi bars. They just won't do it.
Check out the fish case. The place itself my not be hospital clean, but the fish case will **always** be spotless (unless it is towards the end of the evening). Checking out a place when they first open is the best time.
While checking out the fish case, look at the fish. Are they serving real tuna (the really deep dark red stuff) or just the frozen crap (more of a pink color that comes in near-perfect rectangles). If they have both, that is fine - the frozen stuff is used for some dishes and works well.
If you make it this far, order some sashimi (salmon is generally the safest bet). The slices should be about 1/3 inch each (same with rolls). If they are paper thin, run away.
Take note of if people are sharing their sake or beer with the chef. Having met and worked with some really great chefs in places that give you value for your bucks, I can safely say that most are pretty buzzed by the end of the night
Anyway hope these "signs" help you find some really great fish. Good luck.
If a sushi bar serves cocktails it's probably "Americanized," not very good, and very expensive. This is not always true, but 9 times out of 10 it will be.
Look for "dives" in the Asian hoods (if you have any). Poke your head in the door. If you see a lot of middle aged or older Asians **and** the place does not smell like a fish market, you very well may have found a winner. Quality fish does **not** smell like fish and the older folks are a lot more picky than the younger crowd.
Check out the menu prices. If they are lower than what you would normally expect, this can be a very good sign. Older Asians refuse to pay the inflated prices typically seen in "Americanized" sushi bars. They just won't do it.
Check out the fish case. The place itself my not be hospital clean, but the fish case will **always** be spotless (unless it is towards the end of the evening). Checking out a place when they first open is the best time.
While checking out the fish case, look at the fish. Are they serving real tuna (the really deep dark red stuff) or just the frozen crap (more of a pink color that comes in near-perfect rectangles). If they have both, that is fine - the frozen stuff is used for some dishes and works well.
If you make it this far, order some sashimi (salmon is generally the safest bet). The slices should be about 1/3 inch each (same with rolls). If they are paper thin, run away.
Take note of if people are sharing their sake or beer with the chef. Having met and worked with some really great chefs in places that give you value for your bucks, I can safely say that most are pretty buzzed by the end of the night
Anyway hope these "signs" help you find some really great fish. Good luck.
This is how our joint was/is.
We would pig out and never spend over $50. The chefs would always give us stuff to try. For a while they served everything on paper plates lol. The service is slow and terrible but it's always fresh and they clean all their fish themselves.
It's far better than the super swanky spots we have. I have friends that won't eat there because it is in a dingy part of town so they swear it isn't clean. They've taken me to their spots but I hate them. The fish has no flavor and my friends don't understand that sushi has flavor.
There is this gem of a spot I found in Downtown LA though that was crazy and delicious. Some of the best baked mussels I've ever had. Far from looking like Nobu but it was delicious and full of Japanese business men.
Little Queenie wrote: This is how our joint was/is.
We would pig out and never spend over $50. The chefs would always give us stuff to try. For a while they served everything on paper plates lol. The service is slow and terrible but it's always fresh and they clean all their fish themselves.
It's far better than the super swanky spots we have. I have friends that won't eat there because it is in a dingy part of town so they swear it isn't clean. They've taken me to their spots but I hate them. The fish has no flavor and my friends don't understand that sushi has flavor.
There is this gem of a spot I found in Downtown LA though that was crazy and delicious. Some of the best baked mussels I've ever had. Far from looking like Nobu but it was delicious and full of Japanese business men.
Yeppers. Americans seem to go for the show. Others (Asians, Mexicans, Indians, etc) are far more concerned about the food - after all, you can't really eat the "show."
Some of the best Mexican food I've ever had were at mom & pop places in some pretty scary-looking hoods.
I've always figured if the natives won't eat there, it's probably not worth going to
I didn't like the raw sushi for the longest time... Growing up in Arizona, you don't really get the highest quality fish.. After taking a trip to Hawaii, and eating sushi with people that were 'pros' I realized that my problem wasn't raw fish, it was poor quality raw fish.
Yeppers. Americans seem to go for the show. Others (Asians, Mexicans, Indians, etc) are far more concerned about the food - after all, you can't really eat the "show."
Some of the best Mexican food I've ever had were at mom & pop places in some pretty scary-looking hoods.
I've always figured if the natives won't eat there, it's probably not worth going to
The Mexican place we go to sits 10 feet from the train tracks. The whole building shakes and all conversation ceases when the train rolls by. But it's sooooo good!
JessieLeigh wrote: I didn't like the raw sushi for the longest time... Growing up in Arizona, you don't really get the highest quality fish.. After taking a trip to Hawaii, and eating sushi with people that were 'pros' I realized that my problem wasn't raw fish, it was poor quality raw fish.
This!!!!
High quality fresh raw fish **doesn't** smell like fish (or the ocean for that matter).
Well, some of the oily fishes like mackerel will smell fishy.
Chuckles. I thought about adding that one because you are absolutely correct, but it is one of the very rare exceptions and I was trying to offer a general rule-of-thumb as it were. Good catch!
Chuckles. I thought about adding that one because you are absolutely correct, but it is one of the very rare exceptions and I was trying to offer a general rule-of-thumb as it were. Good catch!
One these days your going to put a comma instead of period after chuckles and some palooka is going to get offended.
If a sushi bar serves cocktails it's probably "Americanized," not very good, and very expensive. This is not always true, but 9 times out of 10 it will be.
Look for "dives" in the Asian hoods (if you have any). Poke your head in the door. If you see a lot of middle aged or older Asians **and** the place does not smell like a fish market, you very well may have found a winner. Quality fish does **not** smell like fish and the older folks are a lot more picky than the younger crowd.
Check out the menu prices. If they are lower than what you would normally expect, this can be a very good sign. Older Asians refuse to pay the inflated prices typically seen in "Americanized" sushi bars. They just won't do it.
Check out the fish case. The place itself my not be hospital clean, but the fish case will **always** be spotless (unless it is towards the end of the evening). Checking out a place when they first open is the best time.
While checking out the fish case, look at the fish. Are they serving real tuna (the really deep dark red stuff) or just the frozen crap (more of a pink color that comes in near-perfect rectangles). If they have both, that is fine - the frozen stuff is used for some dishes and works well.
If you make it this far, order some sashimi (salmon is generally the safest bet). The slices should be about 1/3 inch each (same with rolls). If they are paper thin, run away.
Take note of if people are sharing their sake or beer with the chef. Having met and worked with some really great chefs in places that give you value for your bucks, I can safely say that most are pretty buzzed by the end of the night
Anyway hope these "signs" help you find some really great fish. Good luck.
DC is not known for vibrant ethnic neighborhoods. It's suburbs even less so. If you want CSPAN on 60" TV screens in your favorite bar DC is the place for you. (For the MMers from other countries and the US South CSPAN cable TV channels are cable TV channels that have live feeds, instant replays, and commentary on the Senate and House of Representatives proceedings).
The only Asian "things" I'm aware of is the Chinatown gate on 7th and H St Northwest, the Koreatown in Annandale, VA (mostly stores selling Hello Kitty paraphernalia) and the Little Saigon near Seven Corners. There are some decent Korean and Vietnamese restaurants in those shopping centers but no good sushi.
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