Take Out: Sushi in a Box - Sustainable. Delectable. Possible.

I am now a lovah of sushi. I don't remember when exactly I went from tolerating sushi to "Damn, I want some more of that." It was somewhere in between Yakuza and Dragonfish. But anyhow, here I am. A sushi lovah.

Bamboo Sushi, the first sustainable sushi restaurant in the US, is in our fair city. What does that mean, sustainable sushi? Sounds a little buzz-wordy to me. Luckily, at the host's station in the entryway, there is a little business-card sized explanation. It lists Best Choices, Good Alternatives and Avoid types of fish, based on how they are caught or farmed. Buying or eating seafood in the Best Choices column or the Good Alternatives column "support those fisheries and fish farms that are healthier for ocean wildlife and the environment." Groovy. As long as it tastes good, I'm down with that.

When I called my order in, I asked the person on the phone what her favorite traditional roll was. She said the wild salmon and asparagus - because she hates salmon everywhere else, but loves it in this roll. I really appreciated her admitting that she hates salmon. That takes some guts in the Northwest.

It wasn't the best sushi I've ever had, but considering I ordered the sushi to pick up at 5:20 and I didn't get there until almost 6 and then I had to drive home while the sushi was hanging out in a box the whole time, well, it was pretty darn good. I had: Wild Salmon and Asparagus roll, Spicy Tuna roll, and The Green Machine, which included tempura fried asparagus, green onions, topped with avocado and a sweet chili cilantro aioli.

The sushi held up to the takeout box with moxie - the spicy tuna was spicy, with fresh crunchy jalepeno strips and the creamy aioli was such a perfect dressing on the Green Machine. The salmon/asparagus roll was mild and slightly sweet. All the rolls were prettily displayed in the box, which I appreciated. Take out is not always pretty. The host said that the Green Machine rolls might have gotten soggy waiting for me to pick them up, but I didn't notice that - the flavor was all there, there was no crunch, but I couldn't detect the absence of the crunch.

Bamboo Sushi's tagline is Sustainable. Delectable. Possible. I just can't get out of my head that scene from Singin' in the Rain, when they are coming up with taglines for the new movie: "Lockwood and Lamont: They talk!" Then, with perfect timing, Jean Hagen says, "Well of course talk. Don't everybody?" This is how I feel about this tagline. The first two words are great, but "Possible"? Of course possible, ain't everything? It feels.... tentative.

I'm guessing, though, that they were looking at it differently. More hopeful than tentative. Hopeful that they will be the first of many sustainable sushi restaurants in the country. And maybe a little proud of their accomplishment - And to that, I say good job. If you can make it taste good, and be sustainable, then by all means, do it. Which is what they have done. Bravo. Please pass the sushi.


www.bamboosushipdx.com

Saturday Sushi and Secrets Revealed

Michele and I met at Dragonfish on Saturday. We caught happy hour and some damn good sushi. Asparagus and goat cheese something or other. Creamy, crunchy, savory. YUM. We ordered the macadamia nut encrusted salmon with mashed purple potatoes, set on some luscious fresh pineapple, to share. Sweet, tangy, salmon-y, and purple. YUM. And I had like 6 diet cokes to get me through the evening. All of it. And I mean ALL of it - was extraordinarily tasty. The flavors were confident and not ashamed of their strength. I love that in food.

The service was excellent - very speedy and friendly. That waiter kept me in those diet cokes like he knew I wouldn't make it through the evening without them.

In an hour, Michele and I had caught up on all of my former co-workers, personal lives, family lives, love lives and work lives. It was an hour that included large amounts of this extraordinarily tasty food and lots of laughing, oh-my-dear-ing and a promise to not wait 6 months to talk again.

Like a sudden rainstorm, it was over and I was left wanting more. More conversation and more Dragonfish food. Note to self: Get more. Talk more.

I went and got in line for Mortified at the Someday Lounge, where I was meeting bunches of people for one of their three 1-year anniversary shows. Do you know Mortified? It's a show where people read from their real adolescent journals. It's so fun and is guaranteed to make you feel better about your childhood, if only for the camaraderie that you feel from hearing other screwed up kids read from their journals.

Sadly, I burned all my journals from adolescence. I was the spawn of Satan then, so it is just as well. All is not lost though. I still have those sticky memories that will not die. And this coming Friday, I am attending a strange, but intriguing event wherein I am going to read a true story about my adolescence. One involving a deep secret from my past: my mother used to pick up me and my sisters from middle school in the short bus. The one that said "Sullivan County Rehab Center" on the side of it. Yep. Me and my sisters. On the short bus.

Man, that sucked.

Holy Yakuza, Batman!

I've never ever been in a mood where I say, "Gee whiz, I am really craving sushi. I just have to have some." Now mind you that I have said that about probably every other kind of food, but just not sushi. It kind of scares me, sushi. I always get a picture in my head of someone doubled over, throwing up into the garbage can. "Bad sushi," they say, heaving away, their face pale and stressed. Don't ask me why. My head is a mystery.

I am on the email list for Beast (which I am totally going to eat at sometime) and a couple of weeks ago, they mentioned their next door sister restaurant Yakuza in their newsletter. They said that Yakuza, though formerly a full fledged sushi bar, was now more "Japanese gastro pub" with the best burger in Portland. Hmmm. Intriguing. I take the claim of best burger seriously. And I take it as something that I must investigate.

I got there before my friends did and ordered an appetizer. Fried goat cheese with caramelized onions and honey with grilled bread. I'm not sure that I really need to describe that any further because, hello! Fried goat cheese? Yeah.

I asked the waitress to surprise me with a drink. Muddled apricots, nutmeg and vanilla with soda water. Yum. So good. When Jeff arrived, we ordered the grilled asparagus with pistachio pesto. I so love asparagus. It was delicious and beautiful. I wish you could have seen it before we devoured it.

Kristin arrived and we ordered sushi. Now I can't remember the name of it, but it had Japanese eggplant and avocado in it. Oh my gosh - it was amazing - the flavors were strong and intense and melded together to be a kind of super hero sushi, saving my mouth from boredom. Oh and we also had sashemi. I really have no idea what kind of fish it was, but it was delectable. I quite enjoyed it!

Unbelievably, we then ordered entrees. I ordered the burger. Jeff ordered the duck. Kristin ordered more sushi. I was totally full, but when they brought out the Kobe beef burger, piled high with goat cheese, arugula and potato crisps, the smell alone made me almost cry at the work of art in front of me. I gripped firmly and took a big bite. The flavors really ignited my taste buds beyond anything I have tasted before. I really mean that. There was something spicy in the burger and the subtlety of the goat cheese, the crunch of the potatoes and the crispness of the greens - all together, this beat out Cafe Castagna's burger by a long shot.

The duck was good, too (I only had a bite) but I'm super glad I ordered my burger. All night, I just kept thinking about my fairly boring week and how it had turned out to be quite exciting after all. Sushi, sashemi, goat cheese (fried!), and an amazing rich burger in one night. Awesome.