Week 33: Kyoto House (1.4 km)

Well, this is it: the Grand Finale of Sushipalooza! Yes, 2009 is drawing to a close, and with it we bid adieu to Sushipalooza '09. Stay tuned for a wrap-up post in a couple days, but right now let's get to our final Sushipalooza destination: Kyoto House at Dundas and Elizabeth.

This being a special occasion and all, I dragged every family member who lives within a 1000 km radius along with me to sample Kyoto House's all-you-can-eat menu. Of course I promptly lost track of what we ordered and what was what, so the following pictures and descriptions will be even more useless than usual:

I haphazardly ticked off most of the things on the order form and handed it in, and we were soon presented with a large platter containing at least 6 different types of maki, and as many varieties of nigiri. Some of the maki got mixed reviews, but everybody found something they liked and all the rolls found somebody who liked them, so it's all good. For an all-you-can-eat place, the rice-to-fish ratio was pretty decent.

That giant platter wasn't big enough to contain our entire first round: the overflow included a Tempura Shrimp Roll and a Spider Roll, along with various fried and grilled items (teriyaki chicken, beef ribs, tempura yam...)

Somehow though, we found room for a second round, anchored by a Rainbow Roll and supplemented unagi nigiri, crab-and-avocado rolls, tempura calamari rings, and Lord knows what else. I was starting to slip into a food coma by this point.

Oddly, while some AYCE sushi places seem to "forget" to bring you one or two of your more expensive items, the only things Kyoto House forgot were the cheapest things on the menu. We ordered bowls of steamed rice -- surely the cheapest and easiest item of all -- on two separate occasions, and they never did show up. Weird. Well, whatever. There was unanimous agreement that Kyoto House was far better than that crummy Mariko around the corner on Yonge St. All in all, it was a fitting and satisfying conclusion to the Great Sushipalooza Experiment.

The End! (Sort of).

Week 32: Aji Sai (1.3 km)

Yay, another all-you-can-eat sushi place! Boo, all my friends and/or family are either busy with the holidays or sick of joining me on sushi junkets! So once again, I had to go it alone.

The problem with solo AYCE sushi is that with fewer mouths to share the rolls, it's hard to get a decent variety. So my strategy was to skip the silly salads and appetizers and cram as much maki into my gullet as humanly possible. The menu didn't have any pictures or descriptions, so I did the only sensible thing: picked the rolls with the most interesting names.

Turns out the "Cowboy Roll" contains grilled beef. Makes sense. The optimistically named "Excellent Roll" was filled with tempura shrimp and avocado, and topped with slices of whitefish and spicy mayo. I guess it was pretty excellent.

As eponymous house-special rolls go, the "Aji Sai Roll" with crab stick and tempura bits isn't very elaborate, but it was pretty good nevertheless. And for some reason I can never resist the tamago (egg) nigiri.

I still had room for one more charmingly-named roll, so I went with the "Rock 'n' Roll": a salmon and snapper maki dipped in tempura batter and deep-fried. Similar in concept to the Fried Smoked Salmon Roll at Sushi Club, but with a much cooler name.

For dessert I ordered a fried banana with mango ice cream, which I promptly dug into, completely forgetting to take a picture. Oh well. It looked like a fried banana with mango ice cream. It tasted like a fried banana with mango ice cream.

Well, Merry Sushimas everybody! Peace out!

Week 31: Sushi on the Run - Cumberland Terrace (1.2 km)

Well hey, this sounds familiar, doesn't it? Yes, I've already been to a Sushi on the Run, 5 months and 0.8 km ago. This week's location is in the food court of the perpetually doomed Cumberland Terrace mall in Yorkville. As you can see, I didn't get a photo of the store, but it's not much to look at anyway.

Like its sister store down at College Park, the Cumberland Terrace Sushi on the Run seems to mostly focus on the lunchtime trade, and by the time dinner rolls around they're busy selling off their remaining stock at half price.

One of the few items remaining in the case at quarter to 6 was a nigiri + maki combo containing freakishly pink tuna, salmon, shrimp, and the other thing, along with some somewhat withered California Roll.

The other roll I got didn't have a label on it, but it basically looked like a slightly thicker California Roll ("crab", cucumber and avocado) with rice and tobiko on the outside. It was alright.

After last week's deluxe feast, Sushi on the Run was obviously not very exciting. Then again, at $10.60 (not including the miso soup from my own personal stash), I believe we set a new record for Cheapest Sushipalooza. So that's something.

Week 30: Omi on Carlton (1.2 km)

Keen Sushipalooza readers (and other people with no life) may recall that my very first Sushipalooza trip, lo these 30 weeks ago, was a place called Omi on Church St. That was the "original" Omi, but the original chef departed a couple years ago to start a new restaurant on Carlton, also confusingly called Omi.

Compared to Old Omi, New Omi features a more stylish room and better, more inventive food. They also have an omakase option, which the waitress described as having "seven or eight" courses, though we ended up with eleven. Eleven! I present the highlights below, but you can see the rest in my Flickr set.

Like many Japanese restaurant meals, this one started with miso soup. Unlike many Japanese restaurant meals, it was really good miso soup. Creamy and tasty, with chunks of tofu, seaweed, and crunchy tempura bits.

But when I go out for sushi, what I'm really after is the wacky maki, and the Tempura Lobster Roll wrapped in thin-sliced cucumber was just the ticket. Very nicely presented with the emptied-out lobster tail, too.

The hands-down favourite of both myself and my dining companion was the Unagi Avocado roll. I always like BBQ eel, but this one was particularly nice, with a deliciously sweet teriyaki sauce. So good.

Of course it wasn't all sushi; other highlights included a grilled skate wing, breaded fried snapper (I think) served with 2 kinds of salad, and seared Hokkaido scallops atop little little rice croquette thingies.

By the time we made it through the first ten courses, we were pretty well stuffed, but you always have to make room for dessert. What would it be? A little bowl of green tea ice cream? Perhaps some tempura fried banana? No sir, it's an ice cream sandwich in the shape of a fish!

Omi on Carlton was by a fair margin the best meal I've had over the course of Sushipalooza. The priciest too, but the a la carte menu is quite reasonable, and at $70, the omakase is still a good value.

Week 29: Nijo (1.2 km)

This week Sushipalooza once again strays a few blocks from Yonge St., over to Nijo in the Greenwin Square mall at Bloor and Mount Pleasant. Despite a fairly well-hidden location, Nijo wasn't as devoid of customers as some other places I've seen, so that's good.

Many sushi places serve Sunomono Salad, but Nijo was the first I've seen to offer a Sunomono Soup. Basically a Sunomono Salad swimming in hot broth? An intriguing idea, but one that didn't really work for me. Plus the shrimp was overcooked.

Nijo's Sushi Pizza comes in both salmon and tuna varieties. My Tuna Sushi Pizza came piled with such a generous heap of chopped fish that I couldn't see the crispy rice "crust", which miraculously managed to stay crispy under all that topping.

If I were giving out awards for Most Oddly-Named Special Maki, Nijo's "American Dream Roll" would be a strong contender. The fillings -- tempura shrimp, crab stick avocado -- were not as original as the name.

The Fire Mountain Roll was my favourite part of the meal: BBQ eel, salmon, and more crab stick, shaped to resemble a mountain range and topped with red tobiko "lava". At least, I took it to be a volcano... maybe it was supposed to represent a California wildfire, with the tobiko flames laying waste to imaginary multi-million dollar homes perched on the nori slopes. Either way, it was a nice presentation, and tasted pretty good too.

So next time you're looking or sushi on Bloor East, look harder. Nijo's around there somewhere.

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

.

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.

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!

Week 24: Ichiriki (1.0 km)

For months now, I've been trying to drag one of my friends along on a Sushipalooza trip. Every week she'd say, "Naw, that place sounds boring. Wake me up when you get to Ichiriki". And here we are! So of course we both came down with swine flu^* at the beginning of the week. Well, no matter, I can put Sushipalooza off until Thursday. It's not like anybody's reading this thing anyway.

We started off with the special-of-the-day appetizer: steamed B.C. clams in a sake broth. They were clamtastic. We also had some shrimp-stuffed mushrooms... similar in concept to something I had at Natural Sushi a few weeks back, but a rather more artful execution. Thinner pieces of mushroom, fluffier shrimp cake, and a light tempura batter.

Appetizers dispensed with, I moved on to my sushi course. I can rarely pass up an unagi-based roll, and Ichiriki's unagi and cucumber roll was better than many. Full of eely goodness! The "dynamite roll" was a fair bit lighter on the fillings than some other versions of seen, but it was very nice nevertheless (and of course I didn't go away hungry). Finally, as I promised (or at least mused) last week, I decided to try Ichiriki's futomaki, to see how it stacked up to Mt. Fuji's. Answer: less colourful, but no less tasty. The tamago (in place of... I forget, maybe the carrot or something?) was a nice touch.

My friend opted to skip the sushi altogether and go for a big bowl of udon. It looked fantastic, topped with seaweed, egg, and tempura shrimp. I'm definitely adding it to my list of "things to eat on a cold day this winter". It cost nearly twice as much as a bowl of ramen from Kenzo, but it would make a great treat once in a while.

Ichiriki is decidedly more upscale than many of it's Yonge St. sushi brethren... must be the Yorkville influence. Anyway, it was definitely worth the wait!

(* - Or else a mild cold. Who can tell these days?)

Week 23: Mt. Fuji (0.9 km)

This week's Sushipalooza sees me returning to somewhere I haven't been in about 5 years: Mt. Fuji Japanese Restaurant at Gerrard and Bay. I haven't been avoiding it or anything, just, you know... there's a lot of restaurants in this town.

Due to previous TV-related commitments, I took my meal to go. Unfortunately, by the time I got all the way home, got all my food tastefully arranged on proper plates, and spent 10 minutes photographing it, the tempura appetizer had gone a little limp. But the sunomono salad stood up just fine with nice crisp seaweed and tasty bits of fake crab. A little light on the seafood, but not half bad for $3.50.

Mt. Fuji doesn't have quite the selection of oddball maki that I've seen in some places, but I did find a few interesting things, like a flavourful Teriyaki Beef roll. The Tempura Shrimp roll was pretty good too.

But my favourite of the rolls was the Futomaki, packed with colourful crispy veggies and of course the ubiquitous fake crab. It was mighty tasty. I should try Futomaki more often! Though maybe they're not all this good.

It's kinda too bad I couldn't stick around and eat in, because Mt. Fuji is a cute little place, staffed by a cute little couple. But what was I supposed to do, miss Big Bang Theory? I think not.

Week 22: Avocado Salad + Sushi (0.9 km)

I noticed something interesting today while walking over to Avocado Salad + Sushi at Bay and Charles: a surprising number of restaurants are closed on Thanksgiving Monday. Luckily, Avocado wasn't one of them, because I didn't really have a Plan B for dinner.

As the name suggests, Avocado Salad + Sushi offers a number of interesting salad options in addition to sushi. I tried the "Deluxe" salad, featuring grilled chicken, walnuts, and shitake mushrooms. They called it a "small", but it would've made a pretty adequate lunch on its own.

But I didn't stop at the salad. I also got some unagi (grilled eel) maki, and a "crunchy mushroom" roll: shitake mushrooms topped with tempura bits. It was quite nice; the texture of the tempura bits was a good balance for the tasty but mushroomy mushrooms.

The grand finale of my meal was the signature "Avocado Special Maki". It contained crab stick, avocado, cucumber, asparagus, and mushroom, wrapped in what appeared to be pink rice paper, and topped with a delightfully crunchy mix of tempura bits and spicy salmon. It made for quite an elaborate presentation, and all in all I think it was one of the better house special rolls I've seen lately.

Avocado's menu featured something I don't believe I've seen on any of my previous 21 Sushipalooza visits, or for that matter at any other sushi place I can remember: a "create your own maki" option. Is the Avocado Special Maki not interesting for you? Well then just pick out your own combination of fillings, toppings, and sauces! Salmon, cucumber, tobiko, and spicy mayo? No problem! Shrimp, asparagus, pumpkin, cheddar cheese, and chili sauce? You're the boss! Next time I go, I'll have to experiment a little!