Week 2: Kokyo Sushi (0.2 km)

Now this place I've been to a few times. They have a nice big patio facing a quiet side street (well, quiet except for the subway grate right beside it), which is lovely in the summer. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite summery enough today, so I had to settle for take-out. Alas.

The problem with take-out is that instead of getting your sushi served on a little boat-shaped wooden tray, you get it in a crappy plastic box. Well, I'm not an animal, so I decanted my sushi onto my own little tray before eating it. It's no wooden boat, but it's better than nothing.

I believe they called this "Sushi Combo B". It was about 14 bucks, including your run-of-the-mill green salad and miso soup. I'm sure you (whoever you are) can identify these at least as well as I can; in addition to all the things I personally didn't eat last week, it looks like we've got some calamari, some octopus, and some... fish. I dunno, probably talapia or something. Except I'm sure these all have Japanese names. Then we round it all out with some salmon and California rolls.

I also got some Tempura Tofu. On the scale of Enjoyable Ways to Eat Tofu, with 10 being those things you sometimes get in Korean restaurants with the red chilli sauce and 1 being the milkshakes your dad makes you drink when you're 8 years old and you break your jaw and can't chew anything, I'd say Kokyo's tempura tofu rates about a 6. Passable, but a little on the soft and bland side, as tofu is wont to be.

And that's that. Pretty good, all in all. Hard to fairly compare with last week, since I ordered different stuff and ate it in the iffy ambience of my kitchen, but whatever. This blog isn't about subjective comparisons and useful recommendations, remember? It's about wasting my time and yours. So mission accomplished!

Week 1: Omi on Church (0.1 km)

I just want to preface all this by saying that I am neither a restaurant critic nor a sushi connoisseur, so I'm not actually going to be writing reviews of these places per se. Just, you know, rambling, uninformative reports. To be crystal clear: this blog contains no information of any value. Thank you.

All right then. Let's get this show on the road!

Oddly enough, even though I'm practically right next door to this place, I've never actually been here before. Probably because I don't get out much. So I get to start the summer off with something new. Yay!

A few months ago, the original owner and/or chef sold this place and opened a new restaurant a few blocks away. Not very far at all, really, but far enough that I won't make it there for months, if at all. It may be interesting to see how they compare. I hear the new place is a lot fancier.

I expect most of my Sushipalooza excursions will be solo jaunts for take-out, but this being a special occasion and all, I brought along a dining companion... and not just any dining companion, but an actual Japanese person! Would she be impressed by the cuisine at this "Japanese & Thai" restaurant? We'll find out...

Not being one to break with tradition, I went with a standard "Medium Bento Box". Big pile of tempura (I love that stuff), some nice healthy fried gyoza, the usual cucumber and salmon rolls. Not too shabby for 10 bucks.

My dining companion's "Small Sushi Combo". Let's see here, we've got your tuna, your shrimp, your salmon, your yummy fake crab stick, whatever that red and white thing is that's in every single sushi combo. Hey, those cucumber and salmon rolls look familiar.

One of my favourite crazy maki varieties is the Spider Roll. It combines the goodness of deep-frying with the exotic look of little legs sticking out of your food. Fantastic! Unfortunately, the picture's all blurry, but you kinda can't tell if it's small enough.

So that's Omi! Not a bad start to Sushipalooza, I'm thinking. I'll leave the final verdict to our guest critic: "Out of 5 stars, I give it 3. Maybe 3 and a half". Sounds fair to me!

Update: Well, at least someone managed to get a decent picture of the spider roll!

Coming Soon: Sushipalooza '09!

It all started a few months ago, when the Sunset Grill on Yonge St. closed down, and was replaced with a "Coming Soon" sign for a new take-out sushi place. And I thought to myself, "Another one? This neighbourhood's already got like... say, how many sushi places are there around here anyway?" I figured you could eat at a different sushi joint every day for quite some time without straying beyond a comfortable walking distance.

Based on a suggestion from Karen, I decided to turn this into an actual experiment. The methodology goes something like this:

1. On Victoria Day, visit the closest sushi place to my house.
2. Each week, continue to visit nearby sushi places in increasing order of distance
3. On Labour Day, note my final distance from home

Of course I could easily determine the answer right now without actually going to all these places, but what fun would that be? Also, I'd lose the chance to answer some other important questions, such as: How long will it take me to get tired of sushi and abandon this ridiculous project? How long until I get food poisoning? Will all the places currently operating actually make it the whole summer before they buckle under their collective weight and implode?

Check back every week to find out the answers!