Growing up my family went out to dinner a lot. It still surprises me to find out that this is not the norm.
We went to Chinatown nearly every Sunday night to eat at this hole in the wall restaurant called King Wu. It was down a very long, very steep flight of stairs, the type of place unique to New York's Chinatown, though I've been to similarly located restaurants in London--basement places.
We went to this seafood place called Lundy Brothers in Sheepshead Bay all the time. It was at Lundy's that I developed a taste for lobsters and steamed clams. I'm sure my dad is thrilled that I have had a varied pallette since a very young age.
As a teenager in LA, one of our regular stops was Little Tokyo. I always dreaded Japanese food night. I never developed a taste for sushi. Sure, I could get tempura, but everyone around me was eating raw stuff and I thought it was yucky.
In my mid-twenties a boyfriend and I went for sushi. I figured it was worth a go to try it again. We sat at the sushi bar at some funky Westside place. We got absolutely tanked on saki and Sapporo's and I realized I'd developed a taste for raw fish. That taste lasted about two weeks. We went to the same restaurant two weeks later. We sat at the same seats at the sushi bar and I started to slowly re-order the same kinds of things I'd had two weeks later. But this time--yuck.
So that was it for me with sushi for about 15 years.
About four years ago, as an anniversary gift to my husband I agreed to go to sushi with him. My husband, Mr. Meat and Potatoes, loved sushi. I would eat California rolls, and unagi (eel, which is cooked) and see if there was some tempura on the menu. I'd manage. It was for him.
But then I tried a couple of more items and found that once again I'd developed a taste for sushi. And this time without getting completely shitfaced, so I thought it might be for real. We went to sushi again a week or two later and the taste for it stayed with me.
Now I'm all about sushi.
We've been taking Zoe for sushi since she was a baby. We order her miso soup, edamame, sticky rice, and maybe some California rolls. She's been happy with this fare for quite some time. Besides, I didn't really figure it was such a faboo idea to be giving a small child raw fish. It's a parasite thing, ya know.
Well, last Thursday, Zoe and I went out for sushi with my dad. We went to our new favorite sushi place. I ordered Zoe her usual California roll, and her new fave, a Philadelphia roll, which is cream cheese wrapped in nori, with raw salmon around it. I'm a Jew. Raw salmon is lox without the smoking, so I wasn't having issues with this.
My dad ordered a spicy tuna crunch. This is a salad with chunks of raw tuna, chopped tomatoes, and smelt eggs, in a sort of spicy saucy concoction, with pieces of fried wontons sprinkled over it. It's Oh-My-God delicious. Zoe wanted a taste. (You just have to love a kid who is willing to try just about any food on the planet, at least once.) She loved it. She ate a good portion of it. She then ate some of my dad's tuna sashimi.
I guess the ban on raw fish is over.
When faced with what to have for dinner we found ourselves choosing between Cuban and sushi. Fifteen minutes later we were seated at the sushi bar.
Zoe ordered her usual California roll. I ordered the spicy tuna crunch thing which Zoe insisted was for sharing, and then she proceeded to eat half of and then order herself some tuna sushi, which the chef made for her without wasabi.
My kid is all about sushi.
She's a monster of my own damn making.
Posted by beth at August 31, 2003 08:01 PM