Week 28: Bento Nouveau - Sick Kids Hospital (1.1 km)

I'd like to begin this week's Sushipalooza entry, if I may, with a brief discussion of the Rules of Sushipalooza.

The Official Sushipalooza Rule Book (a handsome leather-bound copy of which is beside me on my desk as I write this) states that in order to qualify for Sushipalooza, an establishment's primary line of business must be sushi and related cuisine. Other places that happen to sell sushi but mostly sell other stuff -- such as supermarkets -- don't count. Sure, you can get little trays of sushi at Metro, but Metro is not a sushi place. The same goes for branded sushi counters colocated in grocery stores... but standalone kiosks in mall food courts and whatnot are fair game.

And that's why the Bento Nouveau location in the atrium of Hospital for Sick Children is included on the Sushipalooza list, but the Bento Nouveau location inside the Valu-Mart at Manulife Centre is not. It may seem silly and arbitrary, but hey, those are the rules, and without rules there is only chaos.

So I went to Bento Nouveau at Sick Kids yesterday after work, around 6:30. The counter was empty, and the staff were busy cleaning up and cashing out. Drat. Just missed 'em. Today I ducked out of work as early as I reasonably could, and got to Bento Nouveau around 5:45... and the staff were busy cleaning up and cashing out. On my earlier mission to case the joint and take pictures during midday weekend hours, they were also closed. Clearly they had no intention of being open when I was in the vicinity... and yet they weren't ambiguously out of business like Sushi-Q. I had to find a way to include them.

So I decided to cheat like a mofo. Rules are made to be broken, right?

I hiked up to the Bento Nouveau at Manulife Centre (which, incidentally, is almost the exact same distance from Sushipalooza home base as Sick Kids is) and picked up my sushi there. Nevertheless, the sushi place of record for this week remains the Sick Kids Bento Nouveau. I figure all the sushi came from the same Bento Nouveau factory this morning anyway, so what's the difference?

Well then, that story was so long, I'm pretty much out of time and inclination to talk about the food. I got something called a California Sushi Combo, which included 3 different types of maki of varying similarity to California Rolls. They were all perfectly decent, though there's nothing earth-shatteringly original here. And I got some shrimp nigiri, just because it's been a while.

Although, speaking of originality, one thing they did have (I should have taken a picture!) was some sort of weird sushi/sandwich hybrid: looked like smoked salmon and a slice of bread, rolled up into a vaguely maki-like presentation. So don't let it be said that Bento Nouveau doesn't think outside the bento box! (har.)