Sampling Bait.

Sampling Bait

When you are newly-married, usually money is stretched a little tight. When you are new parents, money is stretched a little tight too. When you are college students, money is stretched out like fishing line. A reasonable conclusion would be that when you are newly-married new parents who also happen to be trying to finish college, money is just something you dream about having “one of these days”. Of course, it doesn’t really matter how broke you are because sometimes you need to do something nice for yourself. Going to movies, going to concerts or just any kind of change of scenery will usually work but when you have a young child and work second shift, it’s all but impossible to find a sitter. No sitter means you get to scratch out the idea of a movie or a concert unless it’s the Backyardigans Live or Elmo on Ice. So realistically, the only places you can drag your kid out in public where you can get out of the house and have a reason to get dressed in something other than flannel pajama pants and flip flops are Wal-Mart and restaurants.

We’ve sampled dozens of hole-in-the-wall diners, greasy truck stops and more than our fair share of places where we really couldn’t afford to breathe too deeply. For the past two and a half years, our quest has been towards ethnic foods.

Our adventures with sushi started in Kingsport, Tennessee. We weren’t sure what kind of food we’d find in The Fuji House but we were up for something different! The outside of the restaurant was kind of plain. We got the baby out of the car and headed inside and found ourselves in the prettiest Asian restaurant I’d ever seen.

We looked over the menu that claimed offerings of Japanese, Chinese, and Thai food. I am not a Chinese food fan and I’d never had Japanese or Thai. The server explained that Thai food was pretty spicy and Japanese is traditionally a little salty. I have been known to suck on rock salt so I was immediately excited about the Japanese. We decided to try a couple sushi rolls since they were all under four or five dollars.

I was squeamish about the idea of raw fish. I’ve never been much for any fish that isn’t in nice deep fried little sticks the way God intended so this was a HUGE stretch for me. The husband was stoked that I was willing to try it so we ordered four different rolls. That first time, I tried everything to get a feel for it.

We got similar meals this second time and I discovered how great their shrimp sauce tasted. I was feeling more adventurous and sampled it. Then I decided to get a little more. Then I just asked the server to bring the bottle out. After she brought the bottle, I tried to figure out how I could get it in my diaper bag without their noticing. To this day, I crave that dressing. Thousand Island is okay in a pinch but nothing tastes as good to me on salad as cold Fuji House Shrimp Sauce.

I tried mixing the shrimp sauce with soy sauce and found Jasmine’s Zen of Japanese dipping. The shrimp sauce is sweet and slightly spicy and the salty of soy sauce make for what I guess to be the Japanese equivalent of sweet and sour sauce. With sweet and sour being my favorite thing in a Chinese restaurant for the versatility in dipping, I was glad to find a similar dipping sauce there!

Of course, the sushi tasted better the second time. I ate an entire Philadelphia roll by myself and wanted more but I knew I had an order of hibachi beef and chicken coming so I should stop. I ate what I could of my dinner and took the leftovers home but not before filling my box up with shrimp sauce and fighting the urge the lick the bottle.

Another half dozen trips and it got to the point that I wanted sushi and would beg my husband to drive to Kingsport just to get some. He really liked it too so it never took a whole lot of persuasion.

That fall, we moved. We got settled in and found ourselves familiar with the new town and went off exploring the new area.

We tried Bristol, Virginia’s Kobe Steakhouse first. Kobe has GREAT hibachi food and decent prices but the atmosphere lacks something. We liked Kobe’s food but they also didn’t have sushi so we were in search of some place better. I decided to try the phone book and saw an ad for Osaka Sushi Bar. So the next time we headed to Bristol, we decided to find it and see if it suited us.

Osaka was warm and cozy and inviting with candles on the tables like The Fuji House. They doted on our daughter like crazy and even rubber banded a set of kid-proof chop sticks for her so she could “eat with sticks like daddy”. They had a huge bar where you could sit and watch the chef making sushi.

They had more sushi rolls than I knew existed! They had all kinds of combinations that would leave your taste buds dancing for days afterwards. We tried sweet potato rolls, crunchy cucumber rolls, their version of Philadelphia rolls, two different kinds of California rolls and dozens of others. My husband and I both found new rolls that were our respective favorites. He loved two of the new ones. His favorite of the favorites is still their spicy rolls. His favorite that I will touch and enjoy is the dragon roll. The dragon roll was around seven dollars but is huge with almost a whole avocado on top of it with sweet and salty mystery sauce on top. It’s got crab, cucumber, cream cheese, salmon, tuna, and crunchy bits inside and that sweet sauce and avocado on top and its every bit as fabulous as it sounds. My favorite is the salmon skin roll and I do not know what is actually inside it other than salmon and I am content to keep it that way.

Well, the time came that we were not able to find a house to purchase in Virginia and we decided to move to my hometown. Evansville has tons of stuff to do after living in “the sticks” as we call that part of Virginia so we figured we’d find lots of places to eat and new adventures. We live on the east side of town and my husband works on Green River Road so we tried Zuki first and were not pleased. We went to Nagasaki for Father’s Day at my dad’s request and while the food was great, the tab for my family of three, my parents, and my three brothers was over three hundred dollars before a tip. That just isn’t something we can afford to do on any regular basis!

Recently, we decided to try Tokyo Japan. I had the same feeling I had at Osaka. Then I looked at the menu and I did a double take at how cheap things were. My family of three can eat there and walk out with lunch for the next day and not spend thirty dollars. Their sushi is fantastic and their hibachi is great too.

You really never know what you like until you try things. Sometimes it takes awhile to find exactly what you’re looking seeking. Most people are like toddlers and don’t want to try things that are new to them. I think we should all follow the rule I give my daughter. Eat one big bite of everything. If you don’t like it, I’ll give you a drink of my tea.