At seven o'clock we headed out the door to Wadley's house and then headed off to the Olive Garden in Salt Lake City. When we arrived we were informed it would be a 30-40 minute wait! Well, no one wanted to say it was too long but I'm sure we all felt that way. (actually I didn't feel that way too much, after a two hour wait at the Cheesecake Factory, half an hour was nothing) I knew that Jameson a pretty impatient guy but we sat down and started talking.Wadley brought up that he thought we were going to go to a fancier place (apparently Jameson and I didn't get the right range we were going for). When he brought that up I tried to persuade him that we were fine by joking about Grand America and La Caille. Well it sorta worked but then he mentioned shushi. He found out that I had never had sushi. I quickly informed him of the reason I never have had sushi. I don't like fish. Cooked. Let alone raw. Well he said that one of his favorite Sushi places was only a block away if we wanted to walk a bit... I consented. (Honestly it didn't take much to persuade me. I was in for adventure and actually had to convince Wadley that I was ok with it.)
We walked up about a block and headed into Mikado. We were seated right as we walked in. I couldn't help but point out that there was no wait... and probably with good reason.
Well we sat down and got our menus. And then were asked if we'd like to see the liquor menu. Jameson and I said at once "Of course!" Then we both looked at Wadley to see his reaction (I promise we had no intention of drinking alcohol, we just wanted a reaction and we got the one we expected. Both Wadley and the waitress could tell we were joking. Oh... Wadley told us not to tell anyone we were offered the liquor menu, but I think you guys can handle it).
Wadley had us each get a traditional American entree and then he ordered four rolls of sushi and edamame. I got ribs (note to self... I don't like ribs as much as I used to... too messy... and no one can beat the Bar J when it comes to ribs...) The entree came with a salad and soup. They were pretty good. I liked whatever was on the salad and the Miso Soup had cubes of tofu in it. I felt exotic already.
Then rolls came. We got four different rolls. (I know I already said that but just reiterating) One was a Rainbow Roll. It had snow crab, avocado and sesame seeds in it, surrounded by rice and then had an assortment of raw fish on top such as tuna, salmon, shrimp and some other weird fish... One was a connect roll which had albacore (tuna), cream cheese, chili sauce, crab, and then was deep fried with a J sauce, it was riceless. Another roll was had was a sunset roll which had Unagi (eel), smoked salmon, and avocado. I don't remember what the last roll was but I remember it was mostly crab and rice.
When the rolls came they looked really colorful and exciting. I wasn't' fooled. I knew what they were... Anyway Wadley decided to show us how to eat sushi so when we get into the corporate world (yeah, right) we would know what to do when we went out for sushi, because apparently it's a popular thing to do. We got our little dishes filled with some soy sauce, and got some spicy green stuff mixed it with it. Then he pointed to a roll and said "That one's cooked, you probably ought to start with that one Andrew."So I picked it up with my chopsticks (by the way I totally beat them all with chop sticks. I had the best control and dexterity with the wooden utensils. It's not too surprising really... I've always loved chopsticks) I popped it in my mouth and started feeling the flavor. It wasn't half bad. Then I bit down and there was something really crunchy. When everything is soft in gooey in your mouth and all the sudden there is this thing that crunches in your mouth... eew... I just had to swallow at that point. I swallowed and Wadley congratulated me on eating my first bit of eel... eew... I started thinking about the crunchy thing... eew... was it an eye? Well I picked another piece from that roll up and looked at it. Then I found something I felt was relieving. The crunchy thing? Cucumber... that's it... *whew*
I went on to the connect roll and it tasted like something you could get at McDonald's (Ok, not exactly but it didn't feel exotic enough... If I was eating fish I wanted it to be fun and exotic!) I moved on to the crab roll thing and It tasted the most "normal" to me. Not this deep fat fried thing, but not eel. It was nice. Then I moved on to the California roll. I thought I could handle it. I have eel right. Well this one was the worst. I picked it up, dipped it, and then it was in my mouth. Actually the roll itself was fine. it was that raw fish on top that disgusted me. It wiggled around in my mouth and was incredibly slimy... eew! I couldn't get a good bite out of it to swallow so it would be out of my mouth, it kept wiggling away! Well I finally swallowed it was fine.
I definitely want sushi again sometime. The taste? Not my favorite. The experience? Definitely worth it!
