Week 8 :: Appetizer (The Fidelity of the Roll)

I consume Japanese food more frequently than I had ever imagined I would. I never tire of the cornucopia of options available at any given time; the subtle differences in maki rolling techniques; the surprising delicacy of nigiri; the comfort of gyoza; the refreshing tang of sunomono; the soulfully healthy and tantalizing mouthfuls of goma-ae.

At this point, I can't count the number of places I've gone to eat sushi since the year began - there are three wonderful restaurants in downtown Port Coquitlam alone (Koi, Sushi Café, Asahi); Sake Maki and Isshin Sushi on Commercial Drive; L A Sushi and Take Sushi in Burnaby...the list includes more, I'm sure...and I've yet to go to the much-adored Toshi's on Main Street.

What I love the most, however, is going to a sushi restaurant with a new friend in a new part of town. There is a staunch fidelity to one's local, oft-frequented sushi nook that makes even the most novice sushi eater puff up with pride when they bring you into their homebase. I love when they eagerly point out the restaurant's signature rolls, or comment on the buttery smoothness of the sashimi, or rave about the quaint décor, or this, or that.

It's heartwarming to see the prescence of that kind of loyalty in an age where the price of many restaurants excludes the possibility of frequent eatership - and the dull quality of fast-food restaurants does not make one generally proud or excited to be frequenting those sorts of places. And there's a certain sadness, too, when you move away...or when a sushi restaurant closes...there's a sense of grief for the familiarity that you treasured, the sort of lingering sense of comfort that you derived even if you popped in only briefly to pick up some take-out.

But for now, given that I am staying put, I can't wait to re-visit some of my favourite places in the next few weeks, with that sense of homecoming that envelops you after you've been away for a little while.

Arigato!