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A Sampling of Items from the Sushi Menu

This page is just a table. The thumbnail images are links to larger (640x480, typically 50-90kb) versions of the same images, and the accompanying text describes the topping.
If a picture appears to be missing, it's because I haven't had a chance to order and photograph the item yet. I can eat only so fast...

The Safe Stuff (No Surprises), for Introductions

The California roll is so-named because of the avocado in it. It can also have cucumber, crab (cooked), and be decorated with a dusting of flying fish eggs or toasted sesame seeds (pictured). This is a very popular starting dish, with good reason - it's yummy! Friend Vicky has heard and relayed that it was developed in Vancouver, British Columbia. (I forgot to take the picture until only this piece was left.)

Green-lipped mussels are a cooked import from New Zealand. They're large and have quite a lot of refreshing sea flavor that wasabe won't hide. This is also fairly rich - order it early on. There was a mayonaisy sauce in the pair picture that you may not care for (ask Chef how he serves it - you can ask to have it altered to your taste).

Kappa is cucumber, and is a refreshing, inexpensive filler. Since there isn't a great amount of flavor, you can use this to test your wasabe dip mix.

Smoked salmon is a smoked salmon, probably cold. Here in the Pacific NW, this is nearly dry, and has a strong smokey flavor. Perhaps this is lox when served on the east coast, where it might be served as a maki, typically with cream cheese and/or avocado as the complement; Yiddish sushi, anyone (safe, but somehow wrong)?

Ebi (cooked shrimp) has a very delicate flavor, and is usually sweet (I'm not sure if that's species or taste). Use wasabe very sparingly, or you'll get none of it. But tempura shrimp roll is very flavorful, made with not sweet (regular? jumbo?) shrimp.

Tamago is a sweetish omelette, made in-house. Its flavor is not enhanced by dipping it in the wasabe (so please don't). My wife saves this for desert. Since it's usually made in-house, it can be a point of reference between your and the chef's tastes, because sugar content can vary widely.

Tempura shrimp can come in a futo-maki roll, and has a lot of flavor (mostly from the tempura). As such, it can take a healthy dipping of wasabe.

Unakyu is a hoso-maki with unagi (cooked eel) and sometimes avocado, or (pictured) cucumber. You might think the eel would place this dish in the "Rewards for the Adventurous" section, but the ratio of rice to eel brings the richness and content down to a good, safe introduction to this delicious item.

Rewards for the Adventurous

Raw fish

Albacore is a tuna, and I haven't seen the Japanese word for it yet - it's called albacore on the menus. It appears to be seared, and my friend Brian (who ordered it) appeared quite happy with it.
Bonito is a kind of tuna, of a lower grade. In Japan, it is commonly dried and shaved into thin slices to add accent and flavor to dishes, or used as a soup stock. For sushi, it is often seared and served as nigiri.

Hamachi - Raw yellowtail (a south Pacific fish) is my favorite sushi. It has a buttery flavor, and nearly the texture. It acquires a powerful fish flavor that is not on my good list. The flavor grows both with age and, Vicky tells us, proximity to the tail - try to gets cuts from nearest the collar (head end).

Hiramasa is raw gold-striped amber jack, or yellowtail kingfish, a type of tuna. Its flavor is very delicate, and somewhat refreshing. I've only come across this once so far. That was at Mashiko.

Hotategai is a red clam. The red part is the tip of the digging foot. It's drier and a little tougher than you might expect, but holds no other surprises.
Hotategai are scallops. To quote Justin, "They have live scallops that they kill when you order it at my favorite place, and it's SOOO good. Ruined me for cooked scallops." Before you start going on about how horrible it is to eat something freshly killed, remember that we do the same with oysters.
Ika is raw squid. Like octopus, it's chewy and with very little flavor. I prefer it smoked, barbecued, fried... anything but raw or boiled. The cross-cuts you see pictured are Chef's art.

Maguro is the raw red meat of the yellowfin tuna - the most commonly caught variety. Beware: this can be a cheap cut, marked by a red-dyed look, and a metallic taste. In general, I'm not a fan of this.

The rainbow is a takka roll, and has several different types of fish on the outside. It's a sort of tubular nigiri, but the bed of sushi is stuffed with things like avocado, cucumber, crab, and/or tobiko. Order this with friends, and make a game of identifying the different fish.

(Shime) Saba is raw mackerel fish. As nigiri, I avoid it. It's usually verrrry fishy, even when fresh. However, I was surprised when I ordered this (just for getting a photo) at Osaka, in Lacey, WA. I tried it, and it was delicious! But that has so far been an exception.

Sake (not the wine), but fresh salmon, perhaps cured. I still prefer it smoked or barbecued, but my office mate, Rich, thinks Musashi's version is the best sushi there is.

Toro is the raw, fatty, tan-colored belly meat of the tuna, and should almost melt in your mouth. It sounds gross, but it's wonderful. This is not an easy thing to find. You might ask for it, if you don't find it on the menu. I've tried it and it's good, but I don't think it's better enough than yellowtail that it warrants the extra cost for this treat. You should try it at least once, if you can.

Exotic Rewards

Anago is cooked marine eel, and is a benchmark, if they have it. It's drier than unagi, and should have a sauce that's prepared in-house. If they use a commercial sauce, it may mean the chef simply doesn't have a lot of pride in his/her own cooking, or time. If they do make the sauce, it's one gauge of whether you agree with the cook's taste or not. Your wasabe dip shouldn't be allowed to corrupt this dish's flavor, either.

Geso has a lot of visual excitement going on: it's squid, legs and all. It's fun to look at, but the flavor, like tako and ika, is very subtle. You can easily overpower it with the wasabe dip.

Ikura. Salmon roe is without a doubt my absolute, all-time, second-favorite food gift from the gods, but I just don't think the flavor goes with rice. It belongs served on crispy, hot toast with butter. As sushi, it's served gunkan style. If you're health conscious, beware: the folks at work tell me it can be packed with PCBs, because PCBs attach to fatty tissue, salmon are fairly high up on the food chain (therefore aggreagate PCBs from their prey), and dump all their fat (energy) into the eggs.

Oshinko - If you want just a rush of heat, order the pickled daikon and soak it in your wasabe dip. Since it's horseradish, the wasabe complements the flavor and teams up to pack a wallop - make sure you have a tissue at the ready!

Tako is boiled, thinly sliced octopus: it has a hint of a sweet flavor and little else. It's chewy though, if you're looking for texture. I prefer octopus smoked, but Justin and some friends say this is really tasty.

Tobiko, the flying fish eggs (the fish fly in life, not the eggs on your sushi) have a subtle flavor that is noticeable only if you order it as a sushi proper, and is served gunkan style. It's fun and noisy to eat - lots of crunchy popping going on!

Unagi is freshwater eel, and sounds scary ("Eeeee!! Eel!"). It's cooked, and it's all made in Japan, or Korea, then shipped around the world. It's therefore standard everywhere, but don't equate "standard" with "blasé". It's just wonderful stuff, and doesn't need to be dipped in the wasabe. Be prepared, you might find a thin layer of fat on one side, which can give it a slimy feel.

Uni are raw sea urchin eggs, and should have a sort of condensed milk with sea flavor. I don't care for it, but some folks claim this is God's gift to sushi. Hm. There are some things to look for. It should have a surface texture that makes it look like a frilly tongue, with those little buds (eggs) all over. It must be kept very cold, because it loses its proper flavor very rapidly, and even melts as soon as it's served (you can see some melting in the enlarged picture). This is either really good at a good bar (if it's your taste), or it gets very horrible to downright evil, quickly.

Things not ubiquitous

Kazunoko is herring roe. I've had it as spawn on kelp, rather than loose or in the skein. Perhaps it was the milt, but I found it rather bitter, and think I'll pass on it in that form.

Natto is made from fermented soy beans. I hear tell that wayfaring samurai used to carry soy beans in pouches. If they couldn't find a meal at an inn on the way, they'd consume this stuff. It's not horrible, has a fairly strong flavor a lot like blue cheese (which I happen to not like either), and a slimy texture like boiled okra guts.

Spicy scallop (raw) is made as a giant or hand roll, with the heat coming from a spicy mayonnaise, and some crunch and texture from tobiko. This is very rich, so order it first, or at least early on. You might not enjoy it when you're full.

Spicy tuna (or other meats). It's bonito with pepper sauce and/or flakes for heat. The seasoning allows for cheaper cuts of meat. You may soak this in wasabe, too - but keep an eye on your shoga pile! This can come as nigiri or (more commonly) maki.

Ume shiso is a pickled plum (or a derived sauce) with shiso leaf. This has a sort of sweet/sour flavor with the shiso. I'm not a fan of this, but my wife thinks this is a treat. It's certainly unique, and tuned to specific palettes. The roll pictured here has cucumber, too.

Items most often used as flavor enhancers or secondary ingredients.

Avocado provides a surprisingly noticeable quality of richness to sushi. If you're hungry and vegetarian, look to get things with this in it.

Cucumber is also a surprise. It's very refreshing and cool, and will lend a nice crunch to mushy dishes, and cut the richness if needed.

Masago, smelt fish eggs are a lot like flying fish eggs, but smaller, orange, and less expensive. I hear they can also have a strong and fishy flavor. They're pictured here on the outside of a California roll, but they're also offered gunkan style (click here for a photo).

Negi refers to scallions, and the term is usually a part of a title with some other ingredient's name. Negihama is scallions and hamachi, for instance.

Radish sprouts are decorative, and have a real radish flavor, with some heat. They're most often found in hand rolls. So pictured here are the sprouts in an inner roll. Click on the picture above, for the tobiko, to get a temaki view.

Shiso dishes have the jagged, broad leaf from the perilla family as the secondary flavor ingredient. It is a strong and deeply aromatic flavor like a cross between mint, basil, and nettle. It's not a flavor I care for, but my wife likes it, so you might, too.

Uzura is raw quail egg, usually offered as an add-on. I'm sure it's safe from salmonella, but the taste and texture of raw egg aren't in my book of "good things". But, I know a couple of folks who really enjoy these.

Yama gobo, the pickled burdock root. It's sometimes snuck in as an "enhancement" for some other thing, like the oshinko. There's not enough wasabe in the world to mask this flavor. The nearest I can come to describing it is as carrot compost, preserved with superconcentrated hypersalt.

The Safe Stuff (No Surprises), for Introductions
	The California roll is so-named because of the avocado in it. It can also have cucumber, crab (cooked), and be decorated with a dusting of flying fish eggs or toasted sesame seeds (pictured). This is a very popular starting dish, with good reason - it's yummy! Friend Vicky has heard and relayed that it was developed in Vancouver, British Columbia. (I forgot to take the picture until only this piece was left.)
	Green-lipped mussels are a cooked import from New Zealand. They're large and have quite a lot of refreshing sea flavor that wasabe won't hide. This is also fairly rich - order it early on. There was a mayonaisy sauce in the pair picture that you may not care for (ask Chef how he serves it - you can ask to have it altered to your taste).
	Kappa is cucumber, and is a refreshing, inexpensive filler. Since there isn't a great amount of flavor, you can use this to test your wasabe dip mix.
	Smoked salmon is a smoked salmon, probably cold. Here in the Pacific NW, this is nearly dry, and has a strong smokey flavor. Perhaps this is lox when served on the east coast, where it might be served as a maki, typically with cream cheese and/or avocado as the complement; Yiddish sushi, anyone (safe, but somehow wrong)?
	Ebi (cooked shrimp) has a very delicate flavor, and is usually sweet (I'm not sure if that's species or taste). Use wasabe very sparingly, or you'll get none of it. But tempura shrimp roll is very flavorful, made with not sweet (regular? jumbo?) shrimp.
	Tamago is a sweetish omelette, made in-house. Its flavor is not enhanced by dipping it in the wasabe (so please don't). My wife saves this for desert. Since it's usually made in-house, it can be a point of reference between your and the chef's tastes, because sugar content can vary widely.
	Tempura shrimp can come in a futo-maki roll, and has a lot of flavor (mostly from the tempura). As such, it can take a healthy dipping of wasabe.
	Unakyu is a hoso-maki with unagi (cooked eel) and sometimes avocado, or (pictured) cucumber. You might think the eel would place this dish in the "Rewards for the Adventurous" section, but the ratio of rice to eel brings the richness and content down to a good, safe introduction to this delicious item.

Rewards for the Adventurous
Raw fish
	Albacore is a tuna, and I haven't seen the Japanese word for it yet - it's called albacore on the menus. It appears to be seared, and my friend Brian (who ordered it) appeared quite happy with it.
	Bonito is a kind of tuna, of a lower grade. In Japan, it is commonly dried and shaved into thin slices to add accent and flavor to dishes, or used as a soup stock. For sushi, it is often seared and served as nigiri.
	Hamachi - Raw yellowtail (a south Pacific fish) is my favorite sushi. It has a buttery flavor, and nearly the texture. It acquires a powerful fish flavor that is not on my good list. The flavor grows both with age and, Vicky tells us, proximity to the tail - try to gets cuts from nearest the collar (head end).
	Hiramasa is raw gold-striped amber jack, or yellowtail kingfish, a type of tuna. Its flavor is very delicate, and somewhat refreshing. I've only come across this once so far. That was at Mashiko.
	Hotategai is a red clam. The red part is the tip of the digging foot. It's drier and a little tougher than you might expect, but holds no other surprises.
	Hotategai are scallops. To quote Justin, "They have live scallops that they kill when you order it at my favorite place, and it's SOOO good. Ruined me for cooked scallops." Before you start going on about how horrible it is to eat something freshly killed, remember that we do the same with oysters.
	Ika is raw squid. Like octopus, it's chewy and with very little flavor. I prefer it smoked, barbecued, fried... anything but raw or boiled. The cross-cuts you see pictured are Chef's art.
	Maguro is the raw red meat of the yellowfin tuna - the most commonly caught variety. Beware: this can be a cheap cut, marked by a red-dyed look, and a metallic taste. In general, I'm not a fan of this.
	The rainbow is a takka roll, and has several different types of fish on the outside. It's a sort of tubular nigiri, but the bed of sushi is stuffed with things like avocado, cucumber, crab, and/or tobiko. Order this with friends, and make a game of identifying the different fish.
	(Shime) Saba is raw mackerel fish. As nigiri, I avoid it. It's usually verrrry fishy, even when fresh. However, I was surprised when I ordered this (just for getting a photo) at Osaka, in Lacey, WA. I tried it, and it was delicious! But that has so far been an exception.
	Sake (not the wine), but fresh salmon, perhaps cured. I still prefer it smoked or barbecued, but my office mate, Rich, thinks Musashi's version is the best sushi there is.
	Toro is the raw, fatty, tan-colored belly meat of the tuna, and should almost melt in your mouth. It sounds gross, but it's wonderful. This is not an easy thing to find. You might ask for it, if you don't find it on the menu. I've tried it and it's good, but I don't think it's better enough than yellowtail that it warrants the extra cost for this treat. You should try it at least once, if you can.
Exotic Rewards
	Anago is cooked marine eel, and is a benchmark, if they have it. It's drier than unagi, and should have a sauce that's prepared in-house. If they use a commercial sauce, it may mean the chef simply doesn't have a lot of pride in his/her own cooking, or time. If they do make the sauce, it's one gauge of whether you agree with the cook's taste or not. Your wasabe dip shouldn't be allowed to corrupt this dish's flavor, either.
	Geso has a lot of visual excitement going on: it's squid, legs and all. It's fun to look at, but the flavor, like tako and ika, is very subtle. You can easily overpower it with the wasabe dip.
	Ikura. Salmon roe is without a doubt my absolute, all-time, second-favorite food gift from the gods, but I just don't think the flavor goes with rice. It belongs served on crispy, hot toast with butter. As sushi, it's served gunkan style. If you're health conscious, beware: the folks at work tell me it can be packed with PCBs, because PCBs attach to fatty tissue, salmon are fairly high up on the food chain (therefore aggreagate PCBs from their prey), and dump all their fat (energy) into the eggs.
	Oshinko - If you want just a rush of heat, order the pickled daikon and soak it in your wasabe dip. Since it's horseradish, the wasabe complements the flavor and teams up to pack a wallop - make sure you have a tissue at the ready!
	Tako is boiled, thinly sliced octopus: it has a hint of a sweet flavor and little else. It's chewy though, if you're looking for texture. I prefer octopus smoked, but Justin and some friends say this is really tasty.
	Tobiko, the flying fish eggs (the fish fly in life, not the eggs on your sushi) have a subtle flavor that is noticeable only if you order it as a sushi proper, and is served gunkan style. It's fun and noisy to eat - lots of crunchy popping going on!
	Unagi is freshwater eel, and sounds scary ("Eeeee!! Eel!"). It's cooked, and it's all made in Japan, or Korea, then shipped around the world. It's therefore standard everywhere, but don't equate "standard" with "blasé". It's just wonderful stuff, and doesn't need to be dipped in the wasabe. Be prepared, you might find a thin layer of fat on one side, which can give it a slimy feel.
	Uni are raw sea urchin eggs, and should have a sort of condensed milk with sea flavor. I don't care for it, but some folks claim this is God's gift to sushi. Hm. There are some things to look for. It should have a surface texture that makes it look like a frilly tongue, with those little buds (eggs) all over. It must be kept very cold, because it loses its proper flavor very rapidly, and even melts as soon as it's served (you can see some melting in the enlarged picture). This is either really good at a good bar (if it's your taste), or it gets very horrible to downright evil, quickly.

Things not ubiquitous
	Kazunoko is herring roe. I've had it as spawn on kelp, rather than loose or in the skein. Perhaps it was the milt, but I found it rather bitter, and think I'll pass on it in that form.
	Natto is made from fermented soy beans. I hear tell that wayfaring samurai used to carry soy beans in pouches. If they couldn't find a meal at an inn on the way, they'd consume this stuff. It's not horrible, has a fairly strong flavor a lot like blue cheese (which I happen to not like either), and a slimy texture like boiled okra guts.
	Spicy scallop (raw) is made as a giant or hand roll, with the heat coming from a spicy mayonnaise, and some crunch and texture from tobiko. This is very rich, so order it first, or at least early on. You might not enjoy it when you're full.
	Spicy tuna (or other meats). It's bonito with pepper sauce and/or flakes for heat. The seasoning allows for cheaper cuts of meat. You may soak this in wasabe, too - but keep an eye on your shoga pile! This can come as nigiri or (more commonly) maki.
	Ume shiso is a pickled plum (or a derived sauce) with shiso leaf. This has a sort of sweet/sour flavor with the shiso. I'm not a fan of this, but my wife thinks this is a treat. It's certainly unique, and tuned to specific palettes. The roll pictured here has cucumber, too.

Items most often used as flavor enhancers or secondary ingredients.
	Avocado provides a surprisingly noticeable quality of richness to sushi. If you're hungry and vegetarian, look to get things with this in it.
	Cucumber is also a surprise. It's very refreshing and cool, and will lend a nice crunch to mushy dishes, and cut the richness if needed.
	Masago, smelt fish eggs are a lot like flying fish eggs, but smaller, orange, and less expensive. I hear they can also have a strong and fishy flavor. They're pictured here on the outside of a California roll, but they're also offered gunkan style (click here for a photo).
	Negi refers to scallions, and the term is usually a part of a title with some other ingredient's name. Negihama is scallions and hamachi, for instance.
	Radish sprouts are decorative, and have a real radish flavor, with some heat. They're most often found in hand rolls. So pictured here are the sprouts in an inner roll. Click on the picture above, for the tobiko, to get a temaki view.
	Shiso dishes have the jagged, broad leaf from the perilla family as the secondary flavor ingredient. It is a strong and deeply aromatic flavor like a cross between mint, basil, and nettle. It's not a flavor I care for, but my wife likes it, so you might, too.
	Uzura is raw quail egg, usually offered as an add-on. I'm sure it's safe from salmonella, but the taste and texture of raw egg aren't in my book of "good things". But, I know a couple of folks who really enjoy these.
	Yama gobo, the pickled burdock root. It's sometimes snuck in as an "enhancement" for some other thing, like the oshinko. There's not enough wasabe in the world to mask this flavor. The nearest I can come to describing it is as carrot compost, preserved with superconcentrated hypersalt.

A Sampling of Items from the Sushi Menu

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