Sushi, Part Quatre

You might be wondering, where was sushi part deux and sushi part trois? Well, in the last week, I've had sushi three times. That is a lot, even for me. I went at the request of friends (and really, other than being rather pricey, I'm happy to eat Japanese food quite often). I did take photos all three times, but it was always for dinner and the restaurants were dark -- and not wanting to be rude, I don't use my flash -- so the pictures didn't come out great. I have to use Photoshop to get the lighting right. I didn't think the second and third trips (I'm counting my first set of sushi pictures, when I went to I Love Sushi for lunch, as part one) came out well enough to make a blog entry about, but last night's photos were fairly decent.

In person the sushi was so beautiful that I wish I could have really captured the quality and color on film. We were lucky because, apparently, on Thursdays the sushi chef instructor is at the restaurant (we went to I Love Sushi, and their lighting is better than at the other two places I went -- Wasabi Bistro and Kisaku), so the presentation was especially nice. Again, I wish I could have done the food justice with these pictures, but they came out OK considering the lack of ideal lighting.



Because I've been eating so much sushi lately, I opted to get a roll, some cooked fish, and a 'side' of nigiri instead of my usual sashimi. Pictured above is some of the freshest, sweetest, most delicious hamachi I've ever had. I wished I'd gotten the sashimi, or perhaps an additional order of nigiri.



Here's the cooked fish I mentioned -- hamachi kama, which is the "cheek" of yellow tail. I prefer it to be grilled and lightly salted, rather than have any teriyaki glaze. This actually was not on the menu -- salmon kama was -- but I asked the waitress if she could find out if they had any hamachi kama, and it was the very last one. Woot!



My friend ordered a rainbow roll and a paradise roll, which I'd also been eyeing. I decided not to get it because it had spicy mayo, but the fish looked so fresh that I think I'll try it next time and just have them not put in any mayo. Pictured above is the rainbow roll.



Here's a slightly different angle to the rainbow roll. Seriously, these pictures do not do it justice.



Here's the paradise roll, which includes tuna, salmon, yellow tail, and avocado. And it was big chunks of fish, too, not chopped up fish that I find rather iffy.



Close up of the paradise roll! I love the different-colored tobiko, it makes it look so festive.



One of our party (a coworker of my friend) ordered what I normally would have -- the sashimi dinner. I simply adore how artfully this was presented. The white fish was shaped into a rose, which is just so awesome. Yes, I love stuff like that!



I also ordered a standby favorite -- the caterpillar roll. I'm determined to get it until I get a sushi chef who does the thing where they use two salmon roe for eyes and sprouts for antennae; it's so cute!



A close up of the caterpillar roll.



Last but not least, we ordered bananas glazed with rum and served with scoops of ice cream. It was a very fitting coda to a fine meal.