Friday, November 1, 2012.
Into The Mainstream Of Sushi.
If one could see into the future, the greatest benefit, I think, would come from the knowledge that urgent problems always seem to work out. The computer and website crises that had my blood pressure up as late as Wednesday now all seem to have played out.
Today was the last day this year in which the entire radio show got out on the circular daytime signal. At dusk every day, we are required by law to send very little power north. Trouble is, the transmitter is south of town. So we lose the North Shore, the Gulf Coast, and a few other choice listening areas. That starts cutting into my program when Daylight Saving Time ends, as it will this weekend. Fortunately, the most loyal listeners--all seven of them--can listen to the show online.
It was already dark when I arrived at the Independence Mall in Metairie. I haven't been to the Sake Café in a year or so. The Metairie location (there are three others) was the original. For a long time, it was one of the best Japanese restaurants in town. We held an Eat Club there in the 1990s, after which I heard raves. (Unfortunately, this was one of three Eat Club dinners I've missed in the nineteen years we've hosted them. I was coming down with the flu.)
The Sake Café is not the restaurant it used to be. Last time I was there, I asked for uni (sea urchin--I like to begin a sushi dinner with that), but there was none. None tonight, either. I asked the chef what he had that was offbeat or exceptionally good. It was as if he had never heard that question before. Going through the list of special rolls looking for those without crab salad or snow crab (two ingredients that have no detectable flavor to my palate), I found fewer than five.
But the meal started on a tasty note. In addition to the usual clear soup and miso soup, Sake Café also had gyoza soup--the meat-stuffed dumplings floating in the broth. I don't think I've seen this before, but I will look for it in the future. Delicious!
Next came a blackened tuna salad. I guess they're trying to get some local color onto a common sushi bar item--pepper-crusted tuna. It was good enough, but it was haphazardly thrown together. We've come a long way since every dish you'd get at every sushi bar was beautiful in its own special way.
The crab-free roll I found was called the Vets Roll. It was pretty, its colors reminiscent of a caterpillar. (Most sushi bars actually have a Caterpillar Roll on their menus). Inside the rice was spicy yellowtail. Across the top on the outside was salmon, tuna, and avocado. A wasabi dressing added more stripes and colors. Very good.
My intention had been to get a hot entree here. This is the restaurant that introduced me to beef negimaki, a dish I've comes to love. (It's beef wrapped around a bundle of either green onions or small asparagus, then grilled and served with teriyaki sauce.) But it wasn't on the menu, and the chef didn't know what I was talking about.
Oh, well.
