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!