A new Sushi/Japanese place opened in town, and we checked it out last night. They seem pretty good, but how do I tell a good place from a not-so-bad. I mean, the food was good, and the waitresses were cute; but is there anything else?
First off, look at the chefs. Are they Japanese? Did they go to school for sushi? In japan, sushi is art. The chefs study it for years. A good joint will hired trained chefs. Most trained chefs are Japanese, but sometimes chefs from other places go to study in japan. It's pretty rare that Korean, American, Chinese, or vietnamese study sushi in japan, and often the not so good sushi joints will put Asian sushi chefs behind the counter to create the effect. I'm not sure why they do this. Sometimes I wonder if they do it because they think most Americans can't tell the difference between people of Asia. I can tell. I'd like to think this isn't the case. Out here in California this happens a lot with Korean owned sushi joints.
Still with all that said, that's not to say that there aren't non Japanese joints with good sushi, they're just rare that's all.
Let's say you don't have a trained chef. Then you need to look at the ingredients. A good chef often shops for the fish personally, or at least knows where and when it was purchased. A good chef will also talk to the fishermen, or at least know where the fish originated. A bad place will only have partial information, and might have older pieces of fish. They key to sushi is the history of the fish and freshness. It matters.
Also look at the rice. Is it hard? Too soft and starchy? Did they use too much vinegar, or too little? What about the seaweed quality? Does it taste good? Is it too tough to chew? You can tell fresh seaweed. It tastes good and it doesn't distract from the ingredients of the roll. California rolls, caterpillar rolls, crunchy rolls and all that are mostly American inventions. Although you're starting to see it in japan a little bit now.
With all that said, most Americans will order California rolls. A good joint will have the option to get real crab instead of imitation crab. I like California rolls, but only with real crab.
Talk to those waitress chicks. Take them out. Some of the sexiest Asian chicks I've ever had the honor of hooking up with have come sushi joints. My two cents.
