Lol at this site for OTTO: OTTO & OTTO - We Hate Trendy Stuff I wish I could sledgehammer the sushi I had last month… I got food poisoning for three straight days. My tummy still gurgles every time I eat fish. Lesson learned about grocery store sushi.
Smellular, sorry to hear about you getting food poisoning. If you want fresh sushi you either have to make it yourself, go to a restaurant that serves fresh sushi, or go to a good store such as Wild Oats (Natural Food Store). I don't know if you have a Wild Oats in your area, but the Wild Oats store in my city always has fresh sushi when I go there to buy it for dinner or sometimes even lunch. I have not gotten sick yet from there. Here is their website: Wild Oats Natural Marketplace - natural and organic food for your healthy lifestyle.
The secret to not dying from grocery-store sushi is to only eat the cooked kind -- vegetable, California roll, eel or shrimp. Any sushi -- even at Wild Oats or Whole Foods -- that's raw and has been sitting out is just asking for it. The thing is, grocery-store sushi is to real sushi prepared by a trained itamae (sushi chef) as a McDonalds hamburger is to a USDA prime porterhouse steak medium-rare. There's just no comparison, they're completely separate beasts. I'm not saying to go blow $100 on a fancy sushi dinner, but have some freshly-made cuts or rolls at a decent sushi place, and NOT someplace that advertises anything "and sushi".
Good points, Zaphod. I usually eat either a California roll, Shrimp Roll, or Salmon (it's smoked) and avocado sushi roll. Also, I usually go to Wild Oats around the time the fresh sushi is put out in the chilled bins and therefore "fresher."
I don't have a Wild Oats around, only a Whole Foods (not that it matters, Whole Foods bought Wild Oats... soon all Wild Oats will be Whole Foods... unfortunately). I actually ate the sushi from a local high end market that has an on-site sushi chef that's pretty good - so I don't blame them. I think that's what I get - it's obviously not fresh... but it did suck. Still, watching that OTTO video a few times was pretty cathartic. I have a sushi mat but have only made veggie sushi at home because I don't trust myself with the raw fish.
There's a Wild Oats on like Wilshire and 6th in the People's Republic, just north of you. I used to walk there quite often when I lived in Santa Monica.
Hey, wait a minute. I thought only my fair city was lovingly or disparagingly referred to as the "People's Republic of Cambridge". Are you telling me that we're not unique? BTW, we are a Whole Foods stronghold here as well, ever since they bought our local organic/fresh/gourmet chain, Bread and Circus. I eat lots of their prepared food, but I have only tried the sushi once or twice, and then only if the chef is making it at that moment. I am always suspicious of pre-made sushi, even at Whole Foods where standards are high. It just seems to defeat the purpose of having fish that is so fresh you are happy to eat it raw. Hope you are feeling better, smellular. As Bart would say, "Smell you later!" SW
Right, but I can't walk that far. There's two other health food stores on the way that are half the price. (None of which gave me food poisoning, the place that gave me food poisoning was not health food). I'm not sure that even sushi restaurants really pay all that much attention. I had just gotten over my distaste enough to go to an authentic Japanese Izekaya the other night, but after I poked my head over the kitchen divider I realized that it's all a crock - not to be trusted. So I got nattou tofu instead.
