The Bravohood

Hey guys, it's been a while, I thought I'd write a thread that I specialize in, there are over 300 threads about sushi on the Bravohood, so as a Sushi Chef, I thought I'd take the time to inform you all a little bit about sushi.

Sushi bars are a great place to pick up girls, dine and enjoy good food, build social proof, and more, I see it happen all the time, two strangers, guy and a girl, drinking sake together at the bar, slowly moving closer together. People exchanging business cards after talking, Girls joining a group of guys and getting drunk of sake bombs. Hell even being a chef, I get hit on regularly by girls.

First come the list of warnings:
-Conveyer belt sushi: OUT OF THE QUESTION, it's been sitting out for who knows how long, not kept at the correct temperature, over all it's bad sushi, it's very cheap product. They throw away leftovers at the end of the day, if they can afford to throw it away like that, it' has to be cheap garbage.

-All you can eat sushi/happy hour sushi prices, (not happy hour alcohol): If they can afford to serve all you can eat, the quality of the fish is probably very poor.

I'm sad to say it, but a lot of chef's/waiters are liars, they will claim everything is fresh. Sundays and Mondays are usually bad days to eat sushi. Most Sushi restaurants (I've worked at 3 and am friends with quite a few who work at others) usually get shipments of fish bi-weekly, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Frozen Fish: If your tuna is pinkish red, it's frozen and packed with carbon monoxide to provide it with that color and help preserve it, it's cheap and you can get it at 7/11 cheaper.

*Salmon is the only exception to the rule, it comes in fresh and must be frozen, due to salmon carrying certain bacteria.

Spicy anything: 9 times out of 10 Spicy Tuna, Spicy Salmon, Spicy anything, are usually parts of the fish you wouldn't serve, cavities, ligaments, or fish that is less than fresh they chopped up to make room for fresh fish. The other 1/10 times is it's fresh fish that was cut improperly and can't be served sliced.
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Sushi: First step, stop eating rolls start eating Nigiri. Most of the stuff that goes into rolls is as far away as authentic/traditional as you can possibly get, and is usually made with scraps, or less than fresh fish.

Nigiri Sushi, this is the original edomae style sushi, fish over rice, this is the good stuff!

Nigiri is finger food, if you are going to dip it in soy sauce, dip it fish side down. The rice should be lightly packed that it just breaks apart in your mouth, so if you use chopsticks or dip the rice in soy sauce, it should fall apart because you were eating it improperly. In some cases the chef will brush soysauce or add condiments to it in which case it doesn't need soy sauce at all.

Little scraps of knowledge:
In the older times, wasabi was used as an antiseptic to prevent food borne illness, but since fish is transported quickly, and the methods are more sanitary, it's become more of a condiment/compliment to the fish, HOWEVER 99/100 it's not real wasabi, it's a Chinese horseradish with green coloring, unless he pulls out a root and starts grating it infront of you, it's unlikely it's real wasabi. It's not for mixing in your soy sauce.

Ginger is used to clean the palate after each type of fish you eat, this is so you can enjoy the separate flavors, it's not a snack to dip in spicy mayo or mix in your soy sauce for flavor either.

ALWAYS ask, what's off the menu, what's fresh, do you have any specials, what do you recommend.

Keep in mind, most waiters are ignorant highschool/pre college kids, they aren't interested in working there much longer, so if you sit at the table, keep that in mind, if you sit at the bar, you know you're sitting in front of a chef who probably cares a whole lot more.

Thanks for posting this, glad that you did!

Guys, I hung out with Fame the other day, and he really knows his stuff when it comes to sushi and Japanese cuisine in general. This is good stuff to know in general, and especially if you take a girl out to sushi!

I have a question about the ginger. Once upon a time I was told that ginger works as an antibacterial substance too. So not only does it cleanse your palate but it also helps with not getting sick. Is there any truth to this?

Yeah, ginger tea has been used for a long time for nausea and stomach aches, so there are probably some

So I had nigiri for the first time last night... Rocked my world.

Thank you for showing me the light.

Bravo Recently posted this video on his facebook page: http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/l ... story.html

I fully endorse this video too, as Chef Yasuda is a famous Sushi Chef who worked in New York before returning to Tokyo, he is well known throughout the sushi community and has many unique skills and techniques, for example he freezes fish, but not in the same way it's frozen for mass production, meaning he doesn't add carbon monoxide to it and let it sit around forever. He also very skilled like removes the flesh from the collar of the fish, to get some of the fattiest parts out,

However in the article they mention you eat cut rolls with your hands, while this applies to maki style (rice on the inside) featured in the video.

I don't think it applies to uramaki (rice on the outside), Sushi rice is incredibly sticky, as a sushi chef, we constantly have to maintain damp hands whenever handling the rice due to it's stickiness.

Very happy you posted this, been wanting to go out and try real sushi(and not rolls) for the first time(as well as Ramen).

I have a question though, is nigiri sushi something you have to specially ask for? or is it normally an option given when ordering?

For example, if I see unagi on the sushi/sashimi a la carte menu, do I just say I want nigiri unagi?

Generally when listed as Sushi/Sashimi,
Sushi represents Nigiri

Your chef will know what you mean if you say I would like Ungai Nigiri though, but it doesn't hurt to say Unagi Sushi, but Nigiri is the technical term for the hand pressed sushi. Since technically a bowl of sushi rice with unagi on it would still be considered sushi.