Sushi Bullies

Sad Seinfeld wannabees seeking justification through vinegar'd rice and raw fish. End stage capitalist worshipers kowtowing masochistically for gastronomic elitism.
They would be more honest kissing the vinyl toes of Ronald McDonald's shoes, but absolution will not be found in a Happy Meal. Thank you sir, may I have another?

Most places I go, the sushi is prepacked, next to the worms and crickets.

I can't imagine a 'sushi dictator' in Tokyo! 

First, seaweed salad in a sushi restaurant? Second, no Japanese would be so rude as to scrape wasabi off a piece of sushi.  (What the heck was the woman doing in a sushi restaurant if she doesn't like wasabi, anyway!!!)  Third, no Japanese chef would take notice the antics of a customer, as busy as he is creating perfection madly but precisely amid the crush of business.  Fourth, Japanese have a special place for the foibles of dogs, small children, and ignorant foreigners, and they are forgiven for being impolite and ignorant.  And finally -- though the Japanese can be very rude in some situations -- I can't imagine a chef (a) speaking that way to a customer (honored guest) and (b) having enough command of English to successfully communicate his displeasure to said customer.

Methinks that 'sushi dictators' are about as Japanese as California rolls, therefore either not native Japanese or (possibly?), apocryphal (?), or American-born Asians with some emotional problems. 

Contrary to rumor, you can get California rolls in Tokyo sushi joints.... the Japanese love foreign imports.  (Krispy Kreme just opened a second store in Tokyo after the first one had multi-hour lines circling the block!)  And there is the incredible number of little four-foot high plastic Colonel Sanders statues in front of the KFCs which fill the urban landscape along with MossBurger, McDonalds, etc. (In-and-Out Burger has not arrived there yet....)

And then there is mechanization.  I forget the Japanese word, but there are lots of sushi places where the sushi dishes are placed on a continuous conveyor that passes around the long sushi bar.  You take whatever small dish you want (each the size of a demi-tasse saucer) as it passes in front of you.  Each plate is a different color or pattern.  At checkout you present your stack of plates and the clerk totals it all up.  The average Japanese is very demanding in QUALITY of food, but also very amenable to any technological innovation (much more than the average American). This, remember is the land of robots!

I think I'll stay away from Chef Noboru Inoue's place and get my fixes either here in Houston or on my annual visits to Tokyo to 'visit the kids'.

Ah, what the heck... here's a link to my son's blog.  (He lives in Tokyo):  http://www.bugbread.com   .  I was hoping he'd posted something about sushi, but our conversations and his writings get all mixed up in my head, and apparently nothing on sushi (I could be wrong...)

Still, I think my kid's blog says a lot about Japan....

So, I'm getting the feeling that my long held wish to visit one of these places with my own hibachi, wouldn't go over too well. Best to know it now I suppose.

So if white wine goes with fish, do I drink Welch's with sushi?

NO SUSHI FOR YOU! 
COME BACK, ONE YEAR.
NEXT!

I love sushi.  And would relish visiting on of these Sushi Samari's Dosho.  Passion for your trade is a lost art in the States... I try to teach my young cubs to try life and see if you like it... you may even surprise yourself and expand your horizons.

 Side note: I love from that Seinfeld episode of the Soup Nazi, where Jerry chose the soup over his girlfriend.  Must be some good soup.

I'm thinking pumkin pancakes.

Have just returned from good sweat to purge Halloween wine/chocolate hangover.

Am now ready for round 2.

Am off to baby shower and must bring beverage and food.

How wrong would it be to bring wine and sushi as offerings to very pregnant woman?

Hurry back with answer. Am leaning toward 'not too wrong.'

If she tries to eat my spicy tuna rolls, I can say 'no sushi for belly.'

Peterlake,

Try this recipe. Really. A favorite in my home.

http://sandinmyswimsuit.blogspot.com/2008/09/pumpkin-pancakeswith-spice.html

Also have a great recipe for gingersnap waffles. Served with warm rum syrup.

Will post that recipe in December.

All things have a season, yes?

MissIve,

Thanks for the recipe, I can almost smell them.  Someone stole the second 'p' from my pumpkin.

All things have a season and are seasoned.

Sushi and ice cream at a baby shower would seem to be a perfectly balanced meal for the expectant mother.

BE well

p.s., I gots to get an apron pronto.

These places don't sound fun to me. I like to have a good time when I go out, and I'll forgive the food a little if the atmosphere and the company are agreeable.

That sort of place would never work here in the South, in my opinion, since manners are generally understood to be useful in public, and especially between strangers in commerce. Somebody called manners 'social lubrication', and I believe it to be true.

There appears to be a large potential clientele who enjoy paying to be treated in a domineering fashion, if this article is to be given credence. I've heard that there are websites for such ones. What, no links?

Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but whatever happened to 'the customer is always right'?

I'm with Peter-pancakes sounds good. Warm, with lots of syrup. And pecans. Must dash. I'm off to check the pantry for ingredients-ta!

hmm, I wondering which salt is best suited to enhance our pancakes?

Jonathan I always drink water at sushi restaurants, but my friends always order sapporo or hot sake.

Sushi isn't the be-all-to-end-all of Japanese cuisine.  As much as I like sushi, I also love tanpopo shops and shabu-shabu.  SB is addicted to Katsu.  And you haven't lived until you've fried octopus balls at your own table.

I would like to go to one of the sushi-nazi restaurants once to see if the food lives up to the chef's ego.  But Doc is right, most Japanese people would be horrifie to see their countrymen treating customers or guests that way, it just isn't done.  My Japanese friends are very willing and eager to experiment with food and try new things, they appreciate tradition but love innovation too.  They have also taught me that respect goes both ways.  Special ordering or asking to substitute dishes is considered rude, as is not finishing the food that you are served.

Damn, now I'm craving a big bowl of udon with a side of tempura.

Hmmm-Peter Pancakes. I'm liking the sound of that. Love to play with words.

Halloween hangover say pancakes on hold for now. Missy take British Army approach, I'm with Bertie Wooster. Back to bed. Later, Eyesters, I'm onna haf shell...

OMG, one more thing!! nachista, I have this vision of you neutering a poor little octopus dude to get the balls for frying. That is bound to arouse a general resentment among cephalopods. Must the demands of haute cuisine trump all consideration of their reproductive abilities?

I vote they keep 'em.

These patrons come close to those that salt their meal before tasting it.  If you are dining somewhere to experience the chef's "vision", you at least owe them the courtesy of trying the item as presented.  Only after that first taste should one amend the dish.  At a bar, one trusts the skill of their mixologist.  If an error is made, that's a different story.

The diners who are strictly of the "have it my way" mentality should limit their patronage to Burger King.

The following revelation will no doubt horrify the sushi purists among us, but the only place I've ever had sushi was the little cafe up by the "research library" on the north end of UCLA.  One day I walked in and thought oh-what-the-hell-how-bad-can-it-be.  I mean, after all, I've eaten stuff off the ground in East Africa.  A little plastic wrapped raw fish wasn't going to hurt me.  And I loved it.  I double up on the wasabi (say it with me... wah-SAAAAAHHHHHH-bee).  

I'd have thought that Nachista's neutering many tentacled creatures would put her first in line for the Democratic Presidential Nomination.  I'd sure as heck vote for somebody who would get that job done.

The only times I felt I "owed" courtesy to someone who prepared a meal for me was for every meal that my mother prepared or if I was a guest in someone's home.. . . . except for my oldest sister who's cooking could "mag a gaggot".

I've been taught and have always believed that to be paid to provide a service to anyone was a very noble endeavor and a privilege. With that said, I would never be rude to a cook or a chef, but at the same time, I would not pay to surrender my dignity in order to be their sycophant and stroke their ego.

While at our local sakery (formerly called Momokawa and now branded as Sakeone - an Oregon Company) I was advised that sake served warm in this country is often heated to help disguise the "lower quality" -  their Moonstone group includes sakes infused with flavors and all are served chilled in wine glasses.  The flavors are so delicate and refreshing.

My favorite is Raspberry, but other infusions include Asian Pear, Coconut Lemongrass and Plum.  The Raspberry is especially complimentary to chicken, pork and related salads. They also have another group of sakes named Diamond, Ruby and Pearl. Pearl is a favorite of the Colonel who spent two tours in South Korea and enjoyed its heavy opaque presentation with all manner of Korean delicacies.

If you take a friend to a sushi place, be absolutely SURE to warn them not to eat 'the green stuff' by itself... I speak from a near-miss, where I was able to (rudely) intercept the mouthful before it arrived at the waiting mouth!  Those who remember their early experiences with sushi or sashimi usually can bring up the unforgetable experience of eating a big blob of wasabi.  

If any here have not experienced this dubious 'delight' imagine something like 10 simultaneous 'ice cream headaches'; even better, imagine having a very thin knife stuck up one's septum, through the brain, and hitting the top inside of one's skull -- cubed!

Interesting that no one has mentioned 'gari'... hmmm.

Ha, I got that experience, Doc, and I even stayed in my own cultural milieu to do it.  As a child I lived in Munich with my mother.  One day, at a restaurant, the waiter put a giant bowl of "mashed potatoes" down in front of me.  Being the rude little boy that I was, a swift soup spoon sized scoop of those spuds was immediately in my mouth, only for me to discover how Müncheners like their horseradish.

No sushi for you! NEXT!

I fear I was misunderstood.  Octupus balls are made from chopped up octopus, not their testes.  Just think meatballs...made from seafood. It really is very good.

Speaking of squid testicuticles. . . . .  Fresh Maket has a really nice calamari salad in their sushi department.

Nachi, we know, dear. We're just being SILLY!

Everybody remember to set your clocks back an hour tonight, unless you're in Arizona or...Alaska, is it? There's two states that don't do the Time Warp.

Doc Nolan said, "Methinks that 'sushi dictators' are about as Japanese as California
rolls, therefore either not native Japanese or (possibly?), apocryphal
(?), or American-born Asians with some emotional problems. "

Sorry, Doc.  You're wrong.  This behaviour is not limited to expatriate Japanese getting back at you Yanks for nuking 2 cities and running their country for 10 years after the war.  Read a book called "Atomic Sushi, Notes from the Heart of Japan" by Simon May for true sad tales of the Japanese mindset with some attention paid to "correct" manners in restaurants.  

Not only are the Japanese stranger than we imagine, they are stranger than we can imagine.  And I say this as someone who really likes the people but wouldn't eat fish if it was the last thing on the island. 

I really thought cephalopods had bits 'n pieces. 

I'm joining this conversation very late - long day (7 hours of travel, alone) being a chaperone for a dozen high school students...

I, too, thought of the Soup Nazi. I would not eat at a restaurant that made me feel intimidated, no matter how good the food.

A quick aside about the octopus. My son sent me this link and I enjoyed the antics of this octopus so much that I don't think I could ever think of eating tako again.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3328480/Otto-the-octopus-wrecks-havoc.html

Doc and Jonathan,

Oh yes, my wasabi deflowering was also one helluva mistake.  I was at a deli with a Mongolian barbecue in the back, looking at fascinating and unfamiliar salad bar ingredients.  There, before me was the grand container of bright green paste.  My eyes brightened as I said to myself, "Look!  Guacamole!" and spooned a large amount of it into my dish.  Later, at my table, I dipped a chip into the "guacamole" and devoured.  That is how, through the tears and sweat (and maybe even some blood, I don't recall) I discovered wasabi.

Belleball,

I have always preferred hot sake to cold.  I also heard, not long ago, that it is only second rate sake that is served hot.  When I asked the bartender "What does heat do for second rate sake that it doesn't do for the top shelf stuff?" he didn't seem to know.

Doc Nolan, I enjoyed reading some of your son's blog about his experiences in Japan. In one of them, 13 Oct 08 "Yet Another Cultural Difference", he talks about how the Japanese are basically non-confrontational. Has he read this story about "Sushi Bullies", and does he think this would ever happen at a sushi bar in Japan?

I lived in Hawaii, for 3 years, and never found anyone of Japanese descent to be the slightest bit rude. But, then, I was also polite towards them and certainly tried to eat their foods (no matter how unusual they seemed) the way they carefullly prepared them...it would have been rude to do otherwise.

On First or Second Avenue in Manhattan, the favorite bagel shop of daughter and her family is to be found.

The bagels are excellent and the service is, at best, impatient- taking as they do, the view that every customer should come in fully fluent in NYC coffee terms and bagelese. Most do.

I, having a mind that works at the speed of dusk, have struggled a little from time to time but not to a point where I did not get what I was sent for.

On several visits, my attention has been drawn to a boy who could have been no more than ten tops the first year I saw him. He is non-standard in every way.

He wears sturdy dark brown shoes with a high, done today, shine on them; pressed, flat front khakis; a blue oxford button down shirt; diagonally striped club tie in either navy and red or navy and green tied in a Windsor with a blue blazer.

His blond hair is neatly combed and his demeanor, distantly confident. He is almost always reading as he enters and quietly places his order: Coffee with, sesame top and peanut butter.

He is given tea with milk, the top half of a sesame bagel and one of those small restaurant plastic containers of peanut butter with a disposable spreader, which he takes to a small window table before firing up his wee notepad computer. It is not a Mac but, interestingly enough, its OS is. Who knew?

He earned his way into my all time, all age cool guy hall of fame by one day refusing the offered plate. Instead, he leaned forward computer and a book clutched in his arms and circling an index finger over the bagel, said:

"Listen, I'm not in all that big a hurry, If maybe you need an extra minute to knock ALL of the sesame seeds off- I'll wait ."

The counter guy, the most sarcastic of the lot, took it back, replaced the bagel top on its bottom, got out the seediest sesame bagel on hand, carefully made the horizontal cut and, more carefully still, slid it onto the boy's plate.

"Sorry," he said.

That boy sniffed as he handed the guy the money. Sniffed, that's all he said.