ninja express sushi

Brillat-Savarin once said "Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are." Well if this is true, then I should be a 5'2" walking slab of raw fish. I've been eating a lot of carry-out sashimi and sushi lately. If anything, this new diet has only increased my craving for the raw stuff, not quell it.


My sushi supplier is currently at the top of my all-time-favorite people list. Soft-spoken and kind, he believes in high quality ingredients. No, this is not an upscale Japanese restaurant, but a small "sushi corner" located in the prepared foods area of Lotte supermarket. The small venue is called Ninja Sushi. Operated at most by 2 chefs at a time, the small 3-seater restaurant is easy to miss. There's an easy to follow order-by-picture menu posted above the wall, but since the chef is so accomodating, he can usually make whatever you want, depending on the availability of his ingredients, of course.

We ordered carryout last week for dinner- the 18 piece sashimi entree ($14.99) with salmon, tuna, and white tuna (escolar).

We were happily surprised to find not 18, but 25 glistening pieces of sashimi in our box! The chef had thrown in a few extra slices of salmon and hamachi, and seaweed salad. The rolls are standard fare, but very good, and again, he doesn't skimp on the ingredients. (My mom always orders a special warm and crispy salmon skin roll.)

My favorite is the white tuna sashimi, though that is a misnomer, since the fish is actually escolar. It is extremely buttery, yet clean tasting, supple and soft on the palate.

Interestingly, escolar has been banned in Japan since 1977 because in some individuals, it has been known to cause bad digestive issues and diarrhea. There's a high level of wax esters in escolar flesh, very much like Olean (in fat free Pringles) that just passes right through you. In some people though, it can cause some transient, but nonetheless, nasty GI issues. Luckily, not me!

There's no website for Ninja Sushi, but I have posted their menu here. (click on the image below)

toro!

An interesting little side article in the Wall Street Journal today- the average price of two pieces of toro sushi around the world. In case you've been living in seclusion somewhere and have no idea what toro is, first let me preface the description by mentioning that toro means "to melt" in Japanese. And that is precisely what this cut of meat aims to do, in your mouth. Toro refers to the fatty belly portion from the bluefin tuna. Depending on the degree of fat marbling through the flesh, sushi chefs will grade toro into 2 categories: chu-toro and o-toro.

Chu-toro is only moderately fatty, and is the more affordable of the fatty cuts of tuna. It is light pink, and the marbling resembles webbing throughout the flesh. O-toro is the fattiest part of the belly, and on a cross-sectional cut, looks almost like a light pink bacon, with it's heavy striped marbling runny along strips of flesh. (Looks like a candy cane.) Because of the highly prized degree of fat, o-toro can really tear a hole in your wallet at good sushi restaurants.

pure fatty delight: o-toro

I've not been fortunate enough to have tasted o-toro, but by the looks of it, I'd have to pay about $20 for 2 pieces in New York. If I jet-setted over to Singapore, I'd have to fork over $35, but the ultimate deal would be dining in Manila, where 2 pieces cost a mere $8! What a steal!

An interesting fact about tuna fat and why, from a physiological standpoint, it's so special. Tuna fat is not at all like the fat on nearly all other fish, which tends to be concentrated only in one area of the body. Instead, tuna fat marbles the whole section of the tuna where it's found. Chu-toro, for instance, is a whole layer of fat-marbled flesh that wraps around the inner musculature of the body, twice. Because of this, tuna have the unique ability to raise their body temperature up to 18 degrees above the temperature of the water around them. And because of this structural quality, toro tastes oh-so-wonderful...

toro image from visualhistory.blogspot.com

i love new york (no, not the show)

Oh, New York City at Christmas time, especially when it snows, just makes a girl glow with happiness. What a workout for our feet, and not to mention our wallets. Mr.S and I hit the city two weeks back for some holiday mayhem, and catching, just in time, the first snow of the season. At the end of the day, we rode the train back to Baltimore, tired and sore, only to be faced with 4 inches of ice and snow piled up on my car! No matter, since we returned with a fine collection of loot, treasures from our favorite stores...here is a quick rundown of what's on our NYC hotlist:

For a small space, Kid Robot packs a big punch. It's a unique toy store that carries vinyls and collectables, figurines and imports. We always walk out with a bagful of blind-box toys. I love the Ugly Dolls. Celebrity sighting #1: Timothy Roth.

French clothier A.P.C. is minimal with clean and classic silhouettes. Mr.S raves about their durable and well-fitted denim. I have my eye on a navy wool capelet and a belted white trench coat. Their Soho store is their first in the U.S.

I am in awe of Uniqlo, a Japanese H&M-like, but more upscale store. They are not afraid to use color and bold shapes, and are always on the cutting edge of what is trendy, with this season being skinny tapered jeans (of all sizes and washes) and oversize cashmere sweaters. The best deal ever: FREE tailoring and alterations, ready for you within an hour!

Mr.S adores Japanese import MUJI, a lifestyle store (once only available at the MoMA Store) that boasts a simple, minimalist design in the truest Japanese ways on everything from stationery to housewares to cotton tees to furniture. Everything is simple and functional, with clean lines. Check out the porcelain noodle bowls and soy sauce dispensers, perfect for a dinner of hot soba soup.

Next door to Muji is CB2, otherwise known as Crate and Barrel 2, a younger, hipper, even more affordable version of its original counterpart. Adorable design meets functionality, meets well, damn cheap pricetags! I walked out with olive platters, crescent-shaped appetizer plates, and simple porcelain oblong trays.

Who doesn't love ultra-trendy sportswear with an 80's gym-like flair? Co-owned by actor Jason Lee, WESC stands for WE are a Superlative Conspiracy. You'll find many an urban-chic sweatshirt, logo-emblazoned, and filmy tees with geometric designs and textiles.

And next door to WESC is Supreme, a small skate and bike shop with hard to find designer Nikes and one-of-a-kind boards. Definitely a boys club of sorts. Mr.S had his eye on a pair of gold Oakley Frogskins.

Even better than Sur la Table! And that's saying alot. I love Broadway Panhandler mecca for an emerging young chef or baker. In my cart at the end of the night were French casserole dishes, an egg topper, a slurry of miniature fluted pastry molds, uniquely shaped for its amazing selection of everything-you-would-ever-need cooking and baking supplies. A true cookie cutters, ring molds, loaf pans, and gold and silver leaf. Next time, I will go back for the Global cleaver and magnetic knife rack....drool. Note: BP has moved from Soho to the East Village. We mistakenly went to the original location...but we did find Celebrity sighting #2: Willam Dafoe.

Think eclectic, homey, upscale comfort food. Prune is the mastermind of chef ... , a collection of meals and dishes from her childhood, radishes with butter, roasted marrow, golden merveilles. I love quirky, heart-warming eateries that are innovative without trying so hard.

I was cold and hungry, and Balthazar provided a warm haven for lunch. Alas, it was not to be, since the Wednesday lunch wait was 2.5 hours! We walked away sad and disappointed, with the lingering image of golden pan-fried skate with brown butter and hazelnuts, and warm frites on our minds.

And so we stumbled upon another little treasure around the corner, the French Culinary Institute Restaurant, a teaching restaurant for the students in training of the famed school. The menu changes daily, with traditional and contemporary French dishes. The amuse bouche was a bite-size crabcake with a nice remoulade. I ordered the poached cod with braised leeks and smoked cod cheeks. The technique was perfect, but overall the spices and salt somewhat restrained, as the fish was merely bathed in cream...how very French. Mr.S had the pan-seared pork chop with roasted tomatoes and wilted spinach. Good, but yet again, very much "culinary school"-esque.



My favorite bakery in Chinatown is Fay Da Bakery. I have an ongoing list of pastries to try, but some must-haves are chestnut buns, cha shao (roast pork) buns, flaky taro pastry balls, coconut and green tea mochi balls, pineapple kaya buns, and all the bubble teas.

For dinner, Mr.S took me to Haru, a popular sushi spot with a few locations through out the city. Celebrity sighting #3: The Apprentice's Carolyn Kepcher. The lychee cocktail is a classic. The crispy duck appetizer could have been crispier, but still quite good, with a flavorful teriyaki-hoisin sauce over soft pancakes. The generous cuts of sashimi are fresh and well worth the price. The wait staff is attentive and a trip, our server was a young Laotian man who went by the nickname Captain Jack Sparrow.

geisha sushi bar

Some of the best sushi spots I've had the pleasure of dining at in Tokyo were complete dives, many times subterranean refuges in an office building or dark alley. I have a theory. The deeper down you go, the better the sushi. Similarly, my descent into the newly opened Geisha Sushi started the same way. Located in the basement of an office building on Charles Street, Geisha tends to get packed for the lunchtime rush, but is overlooked in the evenings. It is presided over by chef Kim, who has over 26 years of extensive training starting in his native Korea, moving on to Japan, and here to the U.S. to open his first restaurant. Soft spoken and well mannered, chef Kim is focused and a perfectionist when it comes to ingredients and presentation. Every morning (and we're talking 4-5am), he scouts out the best cuts of fish at the Jessup fish market. The quality of fish truly spoke for its self- creamy, fresh texture and taste.

With our group of 4, we ordered the "Love Platter B," an impressive presentation of assorted sashimi and specialty rolls. Generous to say the least, the chef offered us 6 kinds of sashimi (salmon, tuna, white tuna, mackerel, red snapper, and yellowtail), salmon roe, 4 of his creations, an eel and avocado roll, and my favorite, fresh uni riding on the back of a "cucumber slug." It was amazingly sweet, with the texture of a soft peach.


Of the specialty rolls, the Imperial Shrimp (shrimp tempura, cucumber, avocado, crab, scallion, masago, and eel) and Green Tuna (generous portions of spicy tuna and tempura flakes, topped with avocado and more tuna) were my favorite. The New York roll (apple, crab, mayo, and masago) was nice and mildly sweet, but kept falling apart on my plate. The Bay Bridge roll (crab, cucumber, masago, wrapped in steamed shrimp and avocado) was also quite nice, covered in a light white creamy sauce.

Imperial shrimp roll

Holiday roll

Chef Kim was kind enough to send us a specialty roll, on the house. It was the Holiday roll, presented like a whole fish, with the asparagus poking out as the tail. It was delicious, except for maybe the cream cheese, which I am not a fan of...by the way, when and why did Philadelphia cream cheese ever find its way into sushi?

This was one of the most aesthetically pleasing sushi presentations I've seen in a long time, and really, ever in Baltimore. Chef Kim's knife skills are impeccable, and he has a real eye for color and balance. It's clear that he's all about the details; take this lovely edible rosette, for instance.

It's with a sad heart that I share this great new find of a restaurant...I want to keep it all to myself and my friends. But someone would have surely exposed this jewel soon anyway. I, for one, will most definitely become a regular here, as long as Chef Kim continues to offer me the highest quality of fish and his sophisticated, artistic presentation. And no doubt he won't.


Sushi Bar Geisha
201 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201