Lite beer with your sushi?

[Robin Garr]

By the way, the photo absolutely does not encourage me to set foot inside. Any place capable of getting the beer so wrong -- can it be trusted to cook?

In fairness, Marty absolutely raved about the place and a truly glowing, uncritical review that sounded like it should have been rated four stars. I was impressed by the atmosphere, by the creativity and the preparation of some of the dishes, but that slighly past-it Otoro and considerably past it Saba was a real problem for me. So was spoiled iced tea and weird service.

I'm not dissing Marty, but I noticed that his review was based on going up to the sushi bar, befriending the sushi chef and calling for "omikase" selections. There's nothing wrong with this. It's a smart way to do sushi. But when I review something like sushi, I try to act like an average consumer in hope of getting what an average consumer gets. That result was less impressive.

I don't know Henry, but when we went in anonymously we were served a couple of sushi dishes that sounded great but lost their luster for less-than-fresh fish. I'll eventually give them a second chance, but this is a major, major issue for me with a sushi bar, where serious dedication to freshness marks the difference between applause and a big FAIL.

The quality of fish I received was top notch last Saturday. They even had featured a pricey fatty tuna which is not usually served at local sushi places because of the cost. I hope I am not disappointed on my next visit.

[Robin Garr]

The quality of fish I received was top notch last Saturday. They even had featured a pricey fatty tuna which is not usually served at local sushi places because of the cost. I hope I am not disappointed on my next visit.

That's the Otoro that we had. A creative tiradito display, but the fish in our case had that distinctly "fishy" aroma that denotes fish past its prime. My guess: Yes, the stuff is pricey - but certainly not unknown locally, that's hype - and they're not about to throw away any product that doesn't sell in the first day or two. We probably got Saturday's Otoro for lunch on a Wednesday.

Hops and Belgians.

The problem with "when in Rome" is that beer as we know it isn't a Japanese creation; beer was brought to Japan, which (until very recently) emulated the light-side German lager mode.

What this says to me is "anything goes." Jim Huie had it right at Maido: Hop bombs with lots of pine and grapefruit, and ales like La Chouffe.

What Roger said. I apply this to lots of asian cuisine, most especially spicy stuff. For spicy, a light lager wont do, you need something with some hops to cut thru the spicyness.

For sushi, Garrett Oliver (Brooklyn Brewery) in The Brewmaster's Table recommends weissbier, witbier and koelsch. Koelsch at least gets close to the light german lager side of things.

For Thai, he recommends weissbier, saison, APA, IPA, amber lagers and altbier. That doesnt look like the beer list at any of the thai places Ive been too.

I had Sapporo and cold sake with my sushi at Wasabiya on Saturday night. Friends had Kirin and Miller lite, ugh.