From: Jeff Bone (jbone@jump.net)
Date: Fri Sep 22 2000 - 11:07:31 PDT
Woops, missed the list the first time around. Posting it because I
thought *maybe* somebody in SF might remember the sushi place I was
talking about: tiny, northish side of whichever street, narrow,
curved sushi bar to the right in front, a few small tables in front
and on the left side, more tables towards the back. It was called
something starting with a "K," I think. Near the Powell St. BART
stop. Bueller? Bueller?
jb
attached mail follows:
Funny (maybe) story on just that topic --- uni *uzura.* (sp?)
Years ago, right after college (this is 1989.) I moved to the Bay Area. I'd eaten
sushi before --- a little bit, maguro (tuna) and sake (salmon) mostly. I'd recently
tried unagi (smoked eel.) One of the first things I did after moving out there was
go looking for a kickass sushi restaurant in the City. Found one, it's no longer
there (I've spent *hours* combing the area for it, can't find it anymore) but it was
about 3 blocks from the Powell St. BART stop. I knew it had to be good, because
there were basically no "westerners" in there.
Went in, sat down at the bar. They didn't have the picture menus --- probably the
only sushi place I've ever been w/o them. I was trying to remember what this eel
thing I'd had recently was called --- remembered it started with a "u." Looking at
the menu.... aha! Uni! That must be it.
I ordered the uni. The sushi chef looks at me, raises an eyebrow, and says in his
best Shogun voice: "Uni? You like uni?" I was a little concerned, but tried to
play it off. "Sure, I love uni. Why?" He chuckles his best Shogun chuckle and says
"Most, uh, Americans, not like uni." I smiled a big, innocent, foolishly brave smile
and said "Love it." He says "Okay."
I get the uni. It's not what I thought. I go for it. It takes me about 10 minutes
to choke one down. The whole time, Shogun Chef is smirking at me. When I'm done
with the first one, he says "how you like that uni?" Smartass. "It's great. Best
uni I ever had." I attack the second one. Another 10 minutes of chewy,
holding-back-the-upchuck hell.
Takes me two years to work up the nerve to try it again. I'm more seasoned, more
knowledgable, ready to rumble. I'm back at the same place, and I see people eating
uni with a tiny little raw egg yolk on top. I say "those people, that, uh, urchin
with the egg on top, what's that all about?" Shogun Chef --- same guy, I'm now buds
with him --- says "that's *uzura,* it's, uh, quail egg. Only way to eat uni. You
try it?"
Sure.
And it was fan-fucking-tastic. The quail egg did something, I dunno what, but it
totally transformed the experience from one of licking fishy dog poo off the bottom
of a shoe to absolute culinary orgasm. I've tried literally every form of sushi I've
ever been able to at this point, and uni uzura has become my hands-down favorite
sushi of all time. We sometimes have problems getting good uni in Texas, so I'll sub
with tobiko uzura or similar, but it's really a poor replacement.
:-)
jb
Tom Whore wrote:
> On Fri, 22 Sep 2000 ThosStew@aol.com wrote:
>
> --]forgot to mention that the cactus and octopus salad also included quayle eggs.
> --]
>
> Try a quial eggg atop a piece of uni atop a schmear of wasabi atop a wad
> of rice wrapped in the finest of seaweed wraps.
>
> Sans the egg http://203.183.167.2/imaike_t/manpuku/susi_uni.html
>
> To find a restaurant near you that serves urchins, not just uni, head over
> to http://urchins.com/restaurants.shtml
>
> Now thems good eats.
>
> [---===tomwhore@ []wsmf.org []inetarena.com []slack.net===---]
> WSMF's web site ----http://wsmf.org
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