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.)

Week 27: Ichimi Sushi (1.1 km)

For this week's super-late Sushipalooza entry, Ichimi Sushi at Bay and Edward acts as a last-minute replacement for the mysteriously absent Sushi-Q. Well all right, a real restaurant instead of a food court kiosk! Let's go!

My meal came with a free green salad, but I passed on it and ordered a wakame seaweed salad instead. Good call. Crisp and tasty. I also got some gyoza (not pictured, and not very exciting).

If there's one thing I like to see in a maki roll, it's crazy. So the Crazy Scallop roll was practically calling my name. A tempura shrimp and crab roll, each piece topped off with a breaded fried scallop. A little tricky to eat, but every bit as crazy as advertized.

Less crazy, but still good, was the Golden Roll, with mango and salmon. In fact, I think I liked this one the best. Mango kicks avocado's ass.

My only complaint with Ichimi was that it was a fair bit more expensive than many of the other places in the neighbourhood, without actually being proportionally better or classier. I mean, who do you think you are, Daio?

Anyway, for those of you keeping track, that is now 26 places that are better than stupid jackass Mariko

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Extra: Sushi-Q - Toronto Life Square

Well I think I finally figured out why I could never catch the Sushi-Q franchise in Toronto Life Square (a.k.a. Metropolis, 10 Dundas East, That Monstrosity at Yonge and Dundas) when they were open: it seems they never are.

Every time I dropped by, they appeared to be closed for the day. It didn't look like they were out of business; there was food in the fridge, papers on the counter, cleaning supplies by the sink, and a general air of "ooh, you just missed us, try earlier next time". I thought perhaps they were only open for lunch or something. But in my last attempt today, I noticed that everything was sitting in the exact same place it had been on Thursday. Closer inspection revealed a small stack of notices from the landlord, citing them for not being open during mall hours. They dated back to November 7, so presumably the owner hasn't even set foot in the place since then.

So it does not bode well for Sushi-Q. If by some miracle the owner returns from his/her vacation before the landlord evicts them, I'll pay them a visit, but until then I'm going to consider Sushi-Q to be kaput, which means once again we must carry on down the list to the next place... and quickly, it's already Saturday!

Update: Mariko

Some weeks ago (9 weeks, to be precise), I visited Mariko Sushi at Yonge and Elm. In my write-up, I mentioned a mix-up with the bill. If you'll indulge me, I'd like to expand on that story a bit now.

Here's what happened: we were given one single bill for our party, but two of us needed to pay with our respective credit cards, while a third was paying cash. Now I realize this is a minor pain in the butt for the staff, and we should have asked for separate bills ahead of time. But we clearly explained to the server: put $x on this card, put $y on that card, and we'll pay the balance in cash. She took our cards and our cash and went off. When she came back, I found that my card had been run for the amount of my meal plus the person who paid in cash. They had screwed up and double-charged us for one of the meals.

But whatever, screw-ups happen, and we had kind of made things complicated for them. I went up to the counter and pointed out the error, and after much confused discussion amongst the staff, they determined the correct course of action to be to re-run my card for the right amount.

It's important to note here that my card hadn't been charged for the incorrect amount, just pre-authed, so they couldn't (and didn't need to) issue a refund. In a restaurant, the funds aren't actually "captured" until you fill in the tip / total, sign the receipt, and give it back to them. I did not sign the receipt, of course, since the amount was wrong. They put a line through the un-signed receipt and set it aside. I kept my copy of the incorrect receipt on file, just in case. A few weeks later, I got my credit card statement, and only the correct bill had been charged. They hadn't captured the erroneous pre-auth. Good! I pitched out the receipt and promptly forgot about the whole thing.

Flash forward to today. I'm reconciling my October credit card statement -- the one after the one with the charge to Mariko -- and what do I see? Another damn charge to Mariko, that's what. It's that incorrect and un-signed pre-auth, posted ten days after I was actually in the restaurant, late enough to push it to the following statement. So the stupid jerkwads charged me for three meals, when I only ate one, and it wasn't very good.

So now I feel like a chump for kinda pulling my punches in my original write-up. So let me set the record straight: Mariko on Yonge Street SUCKS. Some of the food was on the OK side of mediocre, but some of it was decidedly sub-par, and none of it stood out above anywhere else I've been to. And the place was disgustingly filthy. The table was all sticky and gunky; we spread napkins over it so we wouldn't have to touch it, and at the end of the meal they were all brown and gross on the bottom. We considered moving to another table, but it was just as bad. We may have considered asking the waitress to clean it for us, if we ever saw her. Which brings me to the service. Oh, the service. The best thing I can say about them is they weren't actively rude. But they sure were slow and incompetent. It took them forever to take our order, and forever to bring our food, and when they did bring it they brought the wrong thing or forgot something more than once. One member of our party waited 40 minutes for a damn can of pop. Another one finally got sick of being ignored and got up and marched over to the clutch of chatting waitresses to submit our order. Oh, and they triple-charged my credit card!

Heed my words, oh hundreds dozens couple of loyal readers: if you're looking for sushi on Yonge St., DO NOT GO TO MARIKO! I can recommend (so far) 25 better sushi places within easy walking distance. Oh, cruel Sushi Business Gods, why could you not have made Mariko on Yonge go belly-up instead of Mochizuki? I shake my fist at you in impotent rage, Mariko on Yonge! I will curse your opprobrious name with my dying breath!

So, I guess I have to call my credit card company tomorrow. Sigh.

(Disclaimer: there are other Mariko locations in town; they might not suck. But the one on Yonge St. sure does.)

[Photo by waferbaby, used under a Creative Commons license]

Special: Ikki Sushi (12.5 km)

I seem to be having some logistical difficulties getting to this week's Sushipalooza venue during their operating hours. So to tide you (or me?) over until I can work that out, I had lunch at Ikki Sushi, way out in the semi-hinterlands of southwest Scarborough.

It's tempting to scoff at the idea of sushi dining in a squat, vividly (dare I say garishly) coloured restaurant surrounded by strip plazas and auto repair shops... especially when the name sounds suspiciously like "icky". But I'm actually quite fond of Ikki Sushi; I've been there several times and find the quality and price to be quite reasonable. And let's face it, nothing about most of the sushi joints on the Yonge St. strip is any more gourmet. Except maybe the colour scheme.

To start with, I ordered some fried tofu, proving once again that tofu is in fact edible, if you deep fry it first. The coating was somewhat crispier than some of the similar dishes I've had elsewhere. Crispy == good.

Where downtown places often offer a "Yonge Maki" or a "Queen St Roll" or whatever, Ikki Sushi paid homage to its nearest major intersection with a Kingston Roll and a Midland Roll. I got one of each. I forget which was which.

My favourite of the two rolls contained crab stick and avocado, topped with slices of cooked fish and piles of tobiko and green onion. The other one was OK too, although being composed mostly of cooked fish and avocado, the texture was a little bit on the soft side. But overall, the Kingston and Midland stacked up just fine to a Yonge and Carlton.

And by the way, it's pronounced "ee-kee".

Week 26: Asahi on Carlton (1.0 km)

After that disappointing false start with Mochizuki, Week 26 of Sushipalooza is back on track, with our first significant departure from Yonge St... all the way over to Asahi Japanese Restaurant on Carlton between Sherbourne and Parliament. If that name sounds familiar, it may be because I already visited an Asahi, up on Church St. As far as I can tell, the two places are related in name only.

I was re-surprised to re-discover that Asahi offers all-you-can-eat sushi... I read that some time ago on BlogTO, but it had totally slipped my mind. Which is unfortunate, because it caused me to make a major AYCE sushi blunder: trying to go it alone.

I started out with some agedashi tofu, which I still say is reason enough to justify tofu as a foodstuff. I've had some ho-hum agedashi tofu, but this one was really nice, with a light crispy batter.

I haven't really ordered a lot of Sushi Pizza, but I think as Sushi Pizzas go, this one is pretty spartan. Kinda nice though, lets you enjoy the salmon and the crispy rice "crust" without being overwhelmed by a lot of other stuff.

Asahi's menu lacked any sort of description for their maki rolls, which is a good thing if you like surprises. I ordered a "sunset roll" and was pleasantly surprised to receive a kani / avocado / cucumber maki topped with salmon and a dollop of mayo.

But I didn't need a description for the BBQ eel roll. It was a pretty decent BBQ eel roll. Better than some, not as good as others. Fair to middlin'. But that's "very good" by AYCE standards.

The Spider Roll was a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, it was a tasty, generously sized roll, and I think the crab stick goes well with the soft-shell crab. But on the other hand, a spider roll without the legs sticking out the ends is not a freaking spider roll!

At $21, Asahi is not one of the cheaper AYCE sushi options around, but come on... that's still a lot cheaper than ordering a few things a la carte, and the food doesn't suck like some cheap AYCE joints. And I am freaking stuffed.

Extra: Mochizuki (1.0 km)

Oh noes! Looks like we have our first official casualty of Sushipalooza! Although Sushi Plaza and Sushi Train were already closed before I started my little journey, Mochizuki at Bay and Elm was alive and kicking as recently as a few weeks ago... in fact the eviction notice on the door is dated October 29. So close!

This was a real disappointment, because I was briefly looking forward to Mochizuki... from the time I started casually looking around at reviews yesterday until the time I stumbled on this Chowhound post today alerting me to its demise. I dropped by to check it out for myself, and yup, they're closed all right. I believe this makes Toko the only remaining "conveyor belt" sushi establishment in the Sushipalooza Zone. Boo-urns!

To commemorate the passing of Mochizuki, I went home and made myself some crescent dogs, then sliced them up and served them maki-style. Somehow, it wasn't quite the same.

But never fear, Sushipalooza is prepared for this eventuality. Everything just shifts up by a week and we carry on as usual. Later this week I'll go check out the next place on my list... I hope they're still open!

Announcement: A Sushipalooza Milestone!

Well, 25 weeks in, we've finally turned a major page here at Sushipalooza... as of Sushi Club, we have officially exhausted all the sushi places within a one kilometre walk of my house! I know, according to the distances I've posted, it may appear as though I reached the 1km mark a couple weeks ago, but those distances are rounded to the nearest 0.1 km... in fact Sushi Club was only 990 m. You know, give or take a couple. But definitely less than 1000.

Let's just pause a moment to reflect on that: there are twenty-five sushi restaurants within a 1 kilometre radius... and that's walking distance, not some as-the-crow-flies nonsense. That is a whole lot of sushi.

And yet, so much more sushi remains. What will the next kilometre hold? Let's find out!

Week 25: Sushi Club (1.0 km)

OK, I confess. When I do "extra" entries for not-actually-sushi places like Okonomi House, I don't bother to accurately measure off the distance. If I had, I probably would have left it for a week or two... I'm surprised it didn't occur to me that it was practically next door to Sushi Club, on Charles behind the Manulife Centre.

Oh well. Spilled milk... moving on then.

Tonight was a typical November evening here in Toronto, meaning chilly with an unpleasant drizzly rain. Yech. So I was immediately captivated by two glorious words on the sandwich board outside Sushi Club: Tempura Udon. Perhaps it was just a lingering coveting of my dining companion's udon from last week, but it seemed like the perfect warm-up meal. They thoughtfully served the tempura on the side so you could add it to your bowl one piece at a time and not have it go too totally mushy. My only quibble was with the tempura-battered slice of carrot. What's up with that? That's just weird, man.

But my totally made-up Sushipalooza rules require me to include some maki and/or nigiri in my meal, so I ordered some shitake mushroom rolls. I like mushrooms. I liked these mushroom rolls.

Here's one I haven't seen before: Fried Smoked Salmon Maki. Smoked salmon, cream cheese, bell pepper, and crab, all lightly tempura-battered and deep fried. Yeah, it's as weird as it sounds. But not half-bad, if you're willing to keep an open mind about such things.

I had quite a pile of food to deal with already when the waitress came by with a complimentary bowl of edamame for me. I'm not sure if this was as thanks for switching tables to accommodate a larger party, a (successful) ploy to get me to order a beer to drink with it, or because they saw me unsurreptitiously taking photos of all my food and mistook me for an influential food blogger and thought they'd get a better review if they plied me with free food. If it was the latter, the joke's on them, I get like 6 pageviews a day on this thing!

Oh, and Tokyo Sushi? Sushi Club will see your Patrick Stewart and raise you Christopher Walken!