Bonus: Etsu (1.8 km)

Hey everybody, long time no see! I know I half-promised to go to Japango at some point, and I tried to go tonight... but it turns out you can't just wander in there on a Saturday night without a reservation and expect to get a table. In all my 30-odd Sushipalooza outings, I never once needed a reservation. Of course I usually went on weeknights, and often to places with more tables and less of a reputation than Japango. Oh well, I guess I'll have to go some other time.

In the meantime, Japango's loss was Etsu's gain. Etsu is a relatively recent addition to Baldwin Village's already rather vast selection of Japanese restaurants. Departing Japango, we had to pass no fewer than 8 other sushi joints to get to Etsu, but all things considered I'm glad we did.

There were 3 people in our party, and we decided to keep things simple and order the "Dinner for 3", which was basically all the stuff you'd get in a standard bento box, multiplied by 3. But instead of crummy "green salad", it comes with wakame seaweed salad, so we're off to a good start.

After the salad came some fairly standard miso soup and tempura vegetables and shrimp. After that was the sushi course, consisting of assorted nigiri and California rolls. They were pretty good California rolls.

The "main course" of teriyaki chicken came served on a sizzling iron platter. I'm a real sucker for anything served on a sizzling iron platter. Beats a plastic bento box any day.

OK, we didn't quite keep it simple; in addition to our set-course dinner we got a fried tofu appetizer (because tofo just wants to be deep fried) and a Black Dragon roll, because otherwise I wouldn't have gotten any BBQ eel with my dinner.

After our dessert we had a pot of "Blooming Tea", a clear tea of aloe, honey, and rose buds served in a transparent glass pot. It was bloomin' fantastic. Very sweet, with a nice floral fragrance. A good way to settle your stomach after overstuffing it with sushi.

So yeah, we didn't get to go to Japango like we planned, but it all worked out pretty well in the end. The waitress (after mentioning they'd only been open 3 months) asked us to tell our friends if we liked the place. So, hey friends: we liked Etsu!

(p.s. - Be sure to check out the bathrooms!)

Post-Holiday Leftovers

Sushipalooza may have officially wrapped up at the end of 2009, but that doesn't mean I'm out of sushi places. Heck, if it was summer I might've kept it going to a 2km radius, but that's a little far to walk in this miserable winter weather.

Below are what would've (theoretically, maybe) been the next Sushipalooza visits, if only I had more gumption.

Sushi Shop - Bloor & Church (1.0 km)

Hey, when did this happen? I went to the Yonge and Carlton location of Sushi Shop some months ago, and I've been watching for their second location to open, but obviously I'm too lazy to check every week. It looks like Sushi Shop II should've made the final cut and pushed Aji Sai to the grand finale spot. Oops!

Japango (1.4 km)

I hear good things about this place, so I kind of regret cutting things off right before I got to it. Not to spoil the surprise, but I may end up checking it out as a "bonus" trip soon.

Aka Sushi (1.4 km)

Well, I guess I wouldn't have made it to Aka Sushi anyway... I believe they closed up shop sometime in October or November.

Sushi-Q - Eaton Centre (1.4 km)

The Sushi-Q location in Toronto Life Square may be MIA, but across the street in the Eaton Centre they're still going strong. In my university days I used to occasionally go here for their end-of-day half price specials (though these days it's like 20% off or something similarly lame).

Sushi & Bento (1.5 km)

Right up the street from Kyoto House, this is another one that I totally would've gone to if the year was just a few weeks longer.

Yuki Sushi (1.5 km)

No sooner had Aka Sushi curled up its toes and died when Yuki Sushi popped up a block away (in the former Wimpy's Diner location at Dundas and University) to take its place.

Yamato (1.5 km)

Wait, is a Japanese Steak House anything like a sushi restaurant? Maybe this place would've been disqualified... I hope not, because it was personally recommended by a friend of mine.

Sushi Inn (1.5 km)

It's in Yorkville, so I'm sure that means lots of big Hollywood stars have sent their errand boys in there to pick something up. Of course we already know that Patrick Stewart prefers Tokyo Sushi.

Shogun (1.5 km)

I've been here before... they're right across from the Cumberland theatre, and you can get sukiyaki cooked on a hot plate at your table. Or is it shabu-shabu?

Sushi Baldwin (1.6 km)

The dense knot of restaurants at the east end of Baldwin includes perhaps the highest per-storefront density of sushi places in town, starting with Sushi Baldwin.

Kuni Sushi Ya (1.7 km)

A little further along Baldwin, Kuni Sushi Ya offers what I'm sure is a lovely little patio when it's not minus effing sixteen outside.

Kon-Nichi-Wa (1.7 km)

This place was closed on the Saturday afternoon I walked by, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that's not permanent. No menu posted outside, so I'm not sure if they're a "sushi" restaurant per se.

Etsu (1.8 km)

Man, going over this list is making me a little wistful for all the places I'll be missing out on. Maybe I'll check a few of them out anyway. Who's gonna stop me? You??

Fujiyama (1.8 km)

I think this is the only sushi restaurant on the Baldwin strip I have been to. I had a bowl of seafood tempura udon. The tempura was soggy, because it was floating in a bowl of soup. Duh.

Gallery Sushi (1.8 km)

If you can't find enough sushi restaurants on Baldwin, there's another mini-node around the corner at Dundas and McCaul, including Gallery Sushi in the Village by the Grange.

Just up the mall from Gallery Sushi are two Japanese-but-not-necessarily-sushi restaurants: Sakura in the food court, and diner-style Manpuku.

Sushi & BBQ (1.8 km)

Right across the street from Village by the Grange; I have no idea if this place is any relation to the Sushi & BBQ on Yonge St. Probably, though.

And that's as far out as I bothered to look. If you're counting (and I am), that's nearly 50 sushi restaurants within less than 2km of my house. Which is a lot of sushi! That was kind of the point of this whole enterprise, right? Wait, what was the point again?