Secret Spots - Sushi

-- Kat Moore --

Here we are, on the Pacific coast, in one of the best fishing spots in the world. Fish is the order of the day - catching and eating fish seems to be the local past-time. There are so many ways to cook fish, so many ways to eat it, that when something new or different comes up, you have to try it. For some of the best ways to eat fish, we have to look to the Japanese. The Japanese have sushi. For thousands of years they have been preparing raw fish in various ways, perfecting the flavor of the fish with added ingredients. Sushi is a Japanese dish consisting of thin slices of raw fish or seaweed wrapped around a cake of cooked rice. Actually to the Japanese, sushi means any vinegared rice dish, the fish is sashimi. I must admit, the best sushi I have ever had here was prepared by my friend Dave. But, since he will not open his own sushi bar, I head to Ixtapa to fulfill my sushi cravings, Senor Ito's. I know what some of you are saying, "raw fish...no way will I eat raw fish." But not all sushi is raw, and some raw fish is quite tasty, you just need to try it.

At Señor Ito's, they have many different pieces to sample, from national fish, caught here locally, to imported species of fish popular for sushi. Perhaps the best tasting is the tuna, caught fresh daily, it is some of the best tasting fish around. Among us Westerners, the most common way to eat sushi is hand rolled, called nigiri sushi. Which is a slice of raw fish pressed by hand onto a pad of rice, with a hint of horseradish or other spicy ingredients to enhance the flavor of the fish, then rolled up and sliced into small round sections. For hand-rolled sushi, try any of the maki sushis. There are many ways to prepare maki, with various ingredients such as carrots, cucumbers, chiles, mayonnaise, cream cheese and the seafood of your choice. At Señor Ito's, the California rolls with shrimp and avocado are very popular as well as the Philadelphia rolls, with tuna and cream cheese. My personal favorite is the futomaki....a thick roll chock full of tons of yummy ingredients and spices...delicious. You can also order hand-rolled cones, like ice cream cones of sushi. Rolled in dried seaweed with vinegar rice and whatever you want inside, they make a nice snack if you do not want a full meal of sushi.

There are other ways to order sushi. Try sashimi. It is fresh raw and chilled sliced fish elegantly presented, garnished with knot-grass and parsley. When it is sliced thick it should be served with a soy sauce and when sliced thin should be served with a ponzu sauce, a citrus flavored sauce.

There is a true etiquette to eating sushi and by briefing you here on a few no-no's you too can look like a seasoned pro while you eat. First and foremost - Never pass pieces of sushi with your own chop-sticks. Sharing each other's choices is all a part of the experience but allow your dining partner to reach over with his own, making sure he or she uses the end of the chopsticks not put in the mouth. As for the chopsticks, yes, you will have to use them to look like a veteran; never lay them down on the table or the sushi bar. Some real sushi bars actually have holding cups for them, here, use your sushi serving block. Oh, and if you are munching down, remember to eat the whole piece of sushi, just taking a bite is not only bad etiquette, it is considered an affront to the itamae-son (sushi chef). And, if you are sitting at the bar with the itamae-son, watching him work his magic, never hand him money for the bill; mixing money and fish is a bad bad thing in Japanese culture. Now, to the seasonings. You are presented with three special things for eating sushi. A bowl of soy sauce. Wasabi, which is the scoop of green paste on your sushi plate. And, last but not least, your gari. Gari are the light pink slices of sweet pickled ginger on your plate, too. As for the soy, it is really only used to season the fish, not the rice or the seaweed. The wasabi is to be used sparingly on top of your pieces of sushi; but beware, the stuff is really very spicy.....(coming from me, this means it is so '$#@&*^%$#" hot) The gari is to be eaten between different types of sushi in order to cleanse the palate. To the chagrin of many Japanese, many Westerners combine all three ingredients together in the soy sauce bowl. Try it both ways and see which one you prefer. Japanese or Western, it still is pretty good. A little vocabulary and then we can be done with our brief little sushi lesson. Anago is sea eel; ebi is cooked prawn; hamachi is yellow tail tuna; ika is squid; kani is crab; maguro is tuna; sake is salmon; tako is octopus; suzuki is sea bass.

So there you have it....branch out a little in your consumption of fish. Head to Ixtapa, next to Señor Frog's, to Señor Ito's. Order up what you care to try, and a little side of saki (hot rice wine) and enjoy.

Kampai - to your health - Buen Provecho

March 2001

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