Thursday, June 3. Sun Ray Grill's New Sushi Bar. BP's answer to Sea Hunt--without, unfortunately, a hero like Lloyd Bridges to come in and save the day at the end of a half-hour--continued in the Gulf. The underwater photography was exciting today. I tuned it in constantly while I should have been writing and throughout the radio show. All the way to the bottom, the camera followed the cap that promises--if all goes well, which so far it hasn't--cover the wellhead and capture the leaking oil. Right now they have to land it right on top of the gusher and hope it stays in place, while pumping alcohol through all the holes to keep the water from freezing up. It continues to be as amazing as it is revolting.
A few months ago one of the disk jockeys on one of our FM stations told me how lucky I was to have so many restaurant sponsors. "I love doing restaurant commercials," he said. "I get to go over there and they treat me like royalty, and send out tons of food I don't have to pay for!" That is, indeed, typical in the business. Nut and Jeff--who were of the generation before me on my radio station--ate free all over town at their sponsors' establishments.
But they didn't work as restaurant critics, and the rules are different for me. The FM jocks are shocked to hear that I go to restaurants unannounced and pay the check out of my own pocket. But that's why I have so many restaurant sponsors, and why my show has survived eight format changes of the radio station over the years.
Sun Ray Grill just signed onto my show as a sponsor, but I haven't been to one in awhile. There have been some changes. The one in the Warehouse District, I knew, installed a sushi bar since my last visit. I took a seat at it and quickly learned that this is not a standard Japanese sushi bar. Not only can one order anything from the restaurant's entire Caribbean-inspired menu and have it served at the sushi bar, but the sushi selections themselves were much more limited than in a Japanese place. And they included some items I've never heard of before.
But a good meal came out of this. I started with the soup of the day, a chunky chicken broth with vegetables, much more substantial than Japanese clear soup. The main course was two large specialty rolls. I have been drifting away from these in recent months--most of them seem more designed to make the mind register "wow!" when you read about it, but become a mishmash of flavors in the eating. But somehow it seemed like a good idea here.
And it was. One of the rolls was called "blackened voodoo." I couldn't remember ever having had a blackened fish sushi roll, so why not? It was quite spicy (and I liked that), and the exterior fish was crusty and could have stood alone. Inside was spicy tuna and salmon, and thin slices of mango were under the blackened fish. A spicy mayonnaise striped the whole thing.
My other roll--with which the chef made an X with the blackened job--had the fanciful name Yellow Submarine. It was a yellowtail roll with crunchy vegetables and avocado inside, and spicy tobiko caviar on top. It made for a nice contrast with the blackened roll, and I went back and forth between them.
I wouldn't call this one of the better sushi bars in town, but as an adjunct to another, unrelated, full menu, it works. The whole meal with a beer came to just under $40. I duly paid it, of course.
Sun Ray Grill. Warehouse District: 1051 Annunciation. 504-566-0021. Caribbean. Mexican. Seafood.
