Sushi Technique

Bill over at Soundbites links to a fantastic page at Sushi Yasuda's website on how to eat sushi properly.  I didn't really learn how to eat sushi properly until I started dating a man who had lived in Japan.  It breaks my heart to see people drown their rice in murky wasabi shoyu, even when it's cheap sushi.  And doesn't it make so much more sense to eat sushi with your clean, hot-toweled fingers than to try and struggle with chopsticks?

I love Sushi of Gari for omakase.  It's less traditional than the midtown places, but the fish and rice quality are amazing.  Toro sushi is served quickly dipped in garlicky shabu shabu sauce.  King salmon tiles come topped with a thin slice of hot broiled tomato.  And the first uni I ever had was there, tempura, like a crisply housed burst of sweet jellied ink.  The tiny white ama ebi is to die for.  The kitchen also turns out wonderful dishes like mozuku slimy seaweed and little fried silver fish with a squirt of lemon. 

I'm dying to try Sushi Yasuda and $350 omakase at Masa (which may not happen in this life).  It's funny, actually, I was on a blind date a few weeks ago with a very nice guy, but we both knew the date was over when he said, "If given the choice between the three best pieces of toro in the world or a huge plate full of sushi, I'd rather get the huge plate."  Could he have said anything more antithetical to my worldview?  I'd rather hold out all year for one meal of incredible sushi than to eat cheaper grade sushi once a week.