When Out of Control Is the Best Control
Sushi has to be one of my favorite things. Those delectable morsels of rice, seaweed and raw fish go down so easily that I can eat them until I am stuffed to the gills.
There’s an order to sushi that has always appealed to the control freak in me. The ideal proportion of fluffy rice; the little dab of wasabi in just the right place; the dash of rice vinegar to hold it all together from soy sauce to my mouth; the cool tenderness of the fish – all of it happens in a uniquely controlled environment that takes years to master. In Japan, some trained sushi chefs spend a year or more just making the rice, nothing else.
Control is a big deal for lots of people: control of friendships; control of career; control of destiny; control of the remote; control of the steering wheel; control of life. Control used to be an issue for me, too, chasing a thousand directions at once just to feel “in control” of the various situations in my orbit.
At my apex, I’d never felt so out of control, careening from disaster to disaster in an effort to stave off the ultimate “bad thing” that I was trying to control out of my life. Control in life is a twisted joke, something that can be annihilated in one trip on the stairs, one grumpy phone call gone awry, or one unfortunate e-mail where “Send” was selected instead of “Delete.”
Sushi is one of those things most people want to control, perusing the menu and selecting the mixture of rolls and pieces that engage and ultimately sate the palate. In Japan, that isn’t how it’s done, though. The chef decides what the diner gets in every course, knowing what fish is the freshest, the most delectable of the day. It’s called omakase, and there is no control.
I knew I’d conquered my control fetish when I ordered sushi at Anzu over the weekend. I scanned the menu and then looked up at the chef and asked for the surprise sushi, a combination of whatever he wanted to make for us. It was obvious that he didn’t often get that request, and he set out to impress, serving up a tasty tuna and seaweed salad; one of the most beautiful rolls I’ve ever seen; orgiastic pieces of nigiri; ball sushi, something I’d never, ever tried; and a seaweed bouquet that was heavenly. I’m convinced omakase is the only way to have sushi for the remainder of my life.
Control, whether it’s in life or in sushi, is overrated. Sometimes, it’s best to just let go and experience life, even if the experience goes something like the video below.
(Note: Anzu did not pay me anything or give me anything free to write this post. I thought it was great, and I’m happy to write about my experience here for nothing.)
The look on your face at the end of your dancing shrimp is hilarious, don’t know if you’re ready to laugh, scream or run away.
I’ve never tried to do the omakase, probably a bit too timid when it comes to sushi. I’ve always liked whatever I’ve eaten and most of the time I don’t know what I’m eating. Guess that would be called skeerdy-cat omakase.
Most of them will ask you if you have any dislikes. The dancing shrimp guy didn’t, though. It will mark the only time in my life I will ever try dancing shrimp. MTM didn’t even try them when he lived in Japan.
We should go have sushi with you and TK sometime.
would love to do sushi with you guys, TK is not a big fan, but, does go for the Calif rolls.
MTM makes some mean sushi. It’s fun to do at home.
None of my sushi is mean…not like the alive’n'kicking shrimp in the video. But a sushi night would be fun, and we can keep it a little less adventurous for TK….but who wouldn’t love Bacon Sushi?
You can make all of mine bacon.
I’m still craving more sushi made by Trevor. Just could not get enough. LOVE the message about letting go of control. Something not so easy to do, yet so necessary.
Aren’t you glad he didn’t give ys the live shrimp, though?? I don’t think I can do that again…..
Was that shrimp still alive? Really moving?? I LOVE sushi and I’m an adventurous food eater. Beautiful presentation! How did it taste?
Dancing shrimp are called that because they are still moving when presented on the plate. The sushi chef believes that killing the shrimp right in front of you shows you that it is fresh. He kills it and prepares the tail for consumption, and then serves the head with it so that you can see how fresh it is.
It was really hard to eat, but I did it. And, it tasted very good.
I’m sure you could get dancing shrimp and some really awesome sushi in the city. You’ll have to let me know if you find any good places.
Back home there were several chinese grocery stores that had live fish in tanks. You pick one out, they grab it, club it on the head, scoop out all the innards and wrap it up for you. Most places did this in the back so you didn’t have to watch.
Several years ago the ex and i were in LA visiting her west coast relatives for Christmas. We decided to do a salt-domed sea bass (saw it on Good Eats), and managed to find a chinese grocery store that sold fish. We picked a nice looking fish out of the tank, they took it out, bashed it on the head and scooped out all the innards. All right in front of us. I carried the still twitching carcass (on ice) to the cash register. It was a little freaky.
I was kind of hoping it would still be twitching, so that I could hand it to her cousin while I grabbed the other groceries, just to freak her out
. sadly (for me) it had stopped moving by the time we got back.
Eugene, I truly don’t think I could do that one. Maybe if they did it in the back room, but not right in front of me. How did you eat it after that?
It is really freaky that they twitch. The whole “don’t eat me” thing gets to me in a massive way.
Thank you for sharing this story. It is so much better than the shrimp one. They just rip the tails off the shrimp.
Hmmmm…interesting. Although I’m still not sure if I want to say “Yum” or “Yuck,” but I would definitely try it!
One of my favorite places to eat sushi in NYC is Natsumi http://www.natsuminyc.com/media/dinner.html.
The location is great (near the theater district and you can take a stroll down to Times Square).
Cool. Thank you! And, they do chef’s creation! I’ll have to try it next time I’m there.
Sushi _might_ be ok if it was breaded and deep fried. And, of course, thoroughly dead.
I try sushi every 3 to 4 years thinking that I must be missing something. Never fails that I just don’t like it.
Maybe sushi is my cilantro?
We should have a tweet up at a sushi place. We could get you to like it. Really. I’m having tweet ups now at a cilantro place, after all………..
Nope, you see cilantro is one on many ingredients that the food may or may not have at Zia. If we go to a sushi place that is about all they have. And it smells funny…
If you go have sushi, you can get other things. Usually, they have an entirely other menu there to select from with an array of foods that are mostly cooked.
hey, i’m up for a sushi tweetup
Shi Ki on East Bay St and Osaka at South Windemere do pretty good sushi
We should make Michael Carnell do that, Eugene.
I’m evil. I know.
I am a huge fan of omakase everywhere, sushi joints and otherwise. I love it when a chef considers a whole meal the way he wants to do it and presents it start to finish, much like listening to a whole album as opposed to just a single.
And I am a sushi fanatic (I literally just ate some). By the way I told Carnell there were tons of non raw sushi out there. Hell, anago/unagi is some of my favorite stuff and it is always cooked. And his comment about “if it was deep fried,” well, they have deep fried americanized sushi as well so no more excuses!!!
Let’s do it! Shi Ki is great for Carnell because if he isn’t feeling brave they have other great dishes as well! Some awesome noodles for one.
I’m all in. It should be our next lunch.
Michael, don’t kill us.
I wont kill you. But I will make sure there is lots of sake. Or a happy meal…