In case you were unaware, I really love sushi. I’ve always loved sushi. When I moved from CA to NYC, I stopped eating fish because I didn’t like the idea of not knowing from where where it came. Responsibly-caught, fresh-from-the-Pacific fish, however, is ok by me. So now that I’m back on the West Coast, I’ve been more open to re-introducing fish into my diet. Kinda.
Sushi is currently one of the only ways I will eat fish. And although I can count on one hand the number of sushi outings I’ve had in the past 5 months, I’ve enjoyed it every time. And most importantly, I have had no stomach pain whatsoever.
The week before my wedding, my sisters and I went to a new(ish) sushi place in our home town called Kane (pronounced Kah-nay). It probably isn’t that new actually, but it wasn’t there when I was in high school. And since I’m in denial about how long it’s been since I’ve graduated, it falls in the “new” category by default.
At any sushi place, my favorite order is seaweed salad. I always get an order just for me. I am not keen on sharing when it comes to certain things. The exception to that rule is if a person has a preconceived notion about a certain food…then I will do my best to get them to try it, whether or not it’s my own order or a group dish.
Who has tried seaweed salad? Like? Dislike? Too scared to give it a go?
While I dug into my Sunomono (seaweed salad), Laura had some veggie tempura with sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, and zucchini. I tend to avoid tempura since fried foods leave me feeling a bit iffy (that’s the least graphic way I can put that). :)
Cultural risk taker that she is, Marie ventured into the world of soy sauce and white rice.
We also ordered edamame to share.
And then we got our rolls.
In my dream sushi restaurant, here are my must-haves:
- Avocado (lots)
- Brown rice
- Kani/Crab: Dungeness, Stone (sustainably speaking these are the best choices)
- Toro/Tuna: Bigeye, Yellowfin (ditto)
- Sake/Salmon (AK wild) (ditto)
- Tobiko
- Uramaki rolls
I used both the Japanese and English words above, in case you were confused. And for those who don’t know, Tobiko is roe, and it’s larger than masago. The best (greenest) choice for roe is uni/sea urchin roe from CA. Uramaki rolls are a type of rolled sushi where the rice is on the outside, rather than rolled up inside the nori (also known as “inside-out rolls”).
Do you like sushi? What are your sushi must haves? Do you know where your fish is from?
*For pocket guides to sustainable choices, click here. A separate guide for sushi is available here.
You sound so much like me- sticking to a vegan diet except for things like sushi and wedding cake. Vegan makes me feel good, but you gotta live a little sometimes 🙂 And I loooove sashimi- just plain old chunks of raw fish!
I LOVE sushi. Unfortunately, in this rural area, there are absolutely no sushi restaurants or even grocery stores that sell packaged sushi. I make it a point to find good sushi whenever I visit a bigger city.
Good point about knowing where the fish comes from. I try to be as responsible as possible when buying fish, but I never really thought about it in sushi. Thanks for the tip!
My fish is caught by my uncle or mom or me about a 10 minute boatride (or less) from my hometown. Which admittedly is not where I live (but not too far), but where I go to get my fish. We are allowed a small, personal quota (seven salmon) that is managed by our Aboriginal government.
Our other fish that we occasionally eat is from further away, but still within Labrador (where I am).
Oh my word, I love sushi. And despite all of the fresh, local fish here, we have no sushi joints. Truly, truly sad.
I love, love sushi! I crave it almost once a week. Whole Foods makes incredible sushi.
I love sushi! Lately, I have been grossed out by eating meat and I am sort of going back to my old vegan ways, but still keeping eggs (because i love ’em!) and lactose-free milk products, like veggie cheese. However, sushi is one way that I will eat fish without being grossed out. I don’t know why I am going through this phase, but i am not complaining! i actually feel REALLY good!
I would eat seaweed salad for breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack. And I have on several occassions.
Borderline obsession really. I am so glad that a local grocery store now sells it by the pound so I don’t go broke!
yay for fish! <3 haha and more importantly YAY for seaweed salad. um it's the go-to and sushi places barely give enough for one let alone sharing? forget about that haha.
can you say jets?
I love, love, love sushi but have yet to try seaweed salad. I know I need to try it though.
you are making me hungry. I could eat sushi every day.
I love seaweed salad!! I order wakame rolls from my favorite restaurant all the time!
my favorites are kani, saba, and toro… and I love avocado and mango too…
living in Portland we have great access to fish, and there is a GREAT sushi place that uses sustainable sourced fish… and it is SO good.
Oh, I absolutely agree with you, Elise – brown rice sushi is a definite plus, it tastes exquisite! Especially with avocado – another must. Its kinda hard to find here in England, in fact I have only found it at one restaurant in London called Feng Sushi. I adored it though!
Last place I lived was just a stones throw away from an awesome and inexpensive sushi restaurant, which made the BEST ISO veggie rolls…heaven on a plate! 😛
Also love ordering salmon in restaurants, but I actually don’t normally eat fish in sushi/japanese places cause I’m all over their vegge options…avocado and veggie roll platter, with miso soup, edamame and seaweed salad, anyone?! 😉 yummy!
I’m 100% on board with your thoughts on sustainable fish – I try and purchase only salmon with the marine stewardship council’s sustainably sourced tick, its a symbol we have on fish here in England. I only ever buy salmon though and do limit it – the sustainiable wild salmon is SO expensive! :-/ makes it a lovely treat though 🙂
Have a great day!
Those rolls look killer. No one representing the miso soup! I always get miso soup with my sushi, love it
I saw seaweed salad somewhere the other day…. Mother’s Market maybe? Anyway, I was intrigued, and a little scared. I want to incorporate more sea veg into diet but all I’ve managed so far is a little dulse sprinkled in my salads. Looks and smells like fish food, but undetectable in salad FTW!
Do you worry about mercury and PCB content in fish? I love ahi tuna but gave it up because of mercury 🙁 good thing I love salmon rolls and wild alaskan salmon is super duper clean!
I loooove sushi! If I was deciding on my last meal before I die it would be sushi. Is that weird?!?! This post just made me CRAZE sushi and I”m still on the hunt for a good sushi place in London.
When I buy fish I like to do it at Whole Foods so that I can make sure it was sustainably raised, etc.
And I LOVE SEAWEED SALAD. I actually got a huge craving for it at work the other day and ran to the grocery store to buy some. Co-workers think I’m a huge weirdo.
Pregnant women aren’t supposed to eat raw fish, which totally bums me out. When I was in Hawaii last month, all I wanted was a bunch of Tuna Poke and it was torture to have to pass on it! My Mom always wants sushi when she comes to Portland (it sucks in Texas) – she’s coming in a couple of weeks, so I’ll probably have to have some generic california rolls instead 🙁
I wish I got to eat sushi more! i really like salmond + avocado with brown rice 🙂
Seaweed Salad is my favorite! Whole foods has an awesome one- more of the macrobiotic style (no sugar/sweetness).
I’ve tried to recreate it but always seem to fail- thinking maybe you can give it a go and pass along any successes 🙂
Holy cow, that sushi is making me drool – it’s been way too long since I’ve had it. Unfortunately, living in Colorado – a majorly landlocked state – I’m always a little skeeved by the thought of where my fish is from, but every few months or so, the craving for sushi is just so deep that I go for it.
If I were ever to incorporate any meat back into my diet, it would def be fish. As it is though, I am quite content with avocado rolls:)
Sushi is legitimately my favorite food. I’m 99% sure I could eat it everyday for the rest of my life and not get sick of it. I always get a vegetable roll, an eel and cucumber roll, and a shrimp or salmon avocado roll – with brown rice! Honestly brown rice sushi is sooo much better. East Rolls have been sounding really good to me lately too!
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I love sushi. But a few weeks ago I shared about 7 things of sake with 2 of my girl friends.. we were doing sake bombs and I don’t remember 72% of the night. I barfed lots. I haven’t been able to eat sushi since then. TMI? Sorry.
ANYWAY, dream sushi place would def have brown rice, I don’t know anywhere in SLC that does. I have a friend who manages the local fish shop which supplies everything to the nice sushi restaurants, so I go to sushi with him and always know what to order since he knows what is best that specific day. It’s great!
Oh and I love seaweed salad!
as an over-sharer myself, theres really no such thing as TMI. having a blog is dangerous because my personal boundaries arent very well defined in my head. my self editing process involves 3 proof reads minimum!
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