|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
|
|
|
What Other Small Town in America Has Three Restaurants Selling Sushi?
Sushi
is a pleasant, tasty bundle of Japanese tradition. Although Fairfield
has no Japanese food outlets, three Asian restaurants offer customers
the chance to broaden their palates with a variety of
maki-zushi--vinegared rice and vegetables rolled in sea
vegetable.
The basic ingredient of sushi is a low-acid vinegared rice--also known as sticky rice. Some varieties of sushi, known as sashimi, contain raw fish, often stuffed with or surrounded by sticky rice. Raw fish presents a safety issue, since the food must be carefully handled to prevent illness. No Fairfield restaurants offer sashimi.
The only fish-filled sushi in Fairfield is cooked imitation crab served at the Noodle House (59 North Court Street, on the square). The imitation crab at this Thai restaurant is actually pre-cooked whitefish.
The Noodle House also offers vegetarian maki-zushi stuffed with avocado. Bonnie's China Deli (51 North Second Street, on Highway 1) has a tightly rolled, tangier sushi. Ten-Ten, at 53 South 9th Street on Highway 34, offers a pickled vegetable sushi.
Sushi rice is really regular short-grain white rice with a few extra ingredients and prepared in a special manner. Recipes vary. During cooking, a small amount of sake (rice wine) may be added. Also, the cook may add strips of kombu, a sea vegetable, and discard them after cooking.
A dressing of low-acid rice vinegar, salt, and sugar may be added to the cooked rice. The rice is quickly cooled to keep the grains from sticking to each other. This enhances the flavor and chewy texture of the sushi.
Rolling sushi is easiest when one uses a bamboo mat, called a maki mat. The cook places a sheet of toasted nori, another type of sea vegetable, on the mat, shiny side down. Using a wooden or plastic rice paddle, the cook spreads rice over a large section of the nori.
Now come the fillings. To make crab sushi at the Noodle House, Kesone and Thile Sisomphane and their family lay imitation crab (whitefish) and seeded cucumber in a row on the rice. For avocado sushi, they use strips of avocado instead of crab.
At Bonnie's China Deli, owner Bonnie White lays out a colorful row of grated carrot, red pickled ginger, seeded cucumber, pickled white diakon (an Asian radish-like root vegetable), and avocado or spinach (in season). Bonnie likes to be creative with sushi. "You can put in anything you want," she says. Her mother taught her how to make sushi as picnic food. "Noodles are too messy for picnics. Sushi is much better. It's like finger food."
Ten-Ten makes the pickliest maki-zushi in Fairfield, due to a filling of pickled cucumber and two types of pickled diakon. Aiqun and Aiquong Liwu, two of the founders and cooks at this Chinese restaurant, also add raw carrot and sliced ginger.
Once the strip of fillings is arranged, the cook rolls up the bundle. If the ends need a little more filling, this is added. When the roll is finished, the cook cuts it into pieces approximately three-quarters of an inch thick, and the pieces are placed artfully on a plate.
To go with their sushi, customers are offered a choice of condiments, including soy sauce, wasabi, and ginger. Wasabi is a unique Japanese horseradish, made from the root of the wasabi plant. Pale green and tingling hot, this condiment is recommended only for those who are prepared for a zippy flavor experience, and only in small amounts. Wasabi can be mixed into a small puddle of soy sauce for dipping. Extra ginger can be placed on top of the sushi, or picked up with each piece.
By itself, a serving of about five maki-zushi makes a light lunch or dinner. About ten to fifteen pieces constitute a larger meal. Depending on the filling, each piece has about 80 calories--avocado and imitation crab add a few more calories.
How do you eat sushi? If the piece is small enough, it should be eaten whole. Alternatively, two bites may be taken, but the eater risks having the whole piece crumble into a disorderly mess.
The unique texture, taste, and appearance of sushi accounts for its popularity. The oblong, gummy grains of rice contrast with the flat, chewy nori. These in turn clash with the combination of crunchy and soft fillings of vegetables.
The vegetables run the spectrum of flavors, from tangy pickled diakon to oily avocado to sweet carrot to tart pickled ginger. The sticky rice is slightly sweet, with a hint of kombu, rice wine, and rice vinegar. The nori, if you are able to distinguish it, is somewhere between fishy and nutty--fishy from the sea, and nutty from the toasting. Sushi, by the way, is best when eaten fresh--refrigeration and time cause it to dry out.
Maki-zushi's spiral curves, punctuated with a grouping of vegetables in the center, appeal to our need for orderliness and symmetry. Each piece possesses an artistic quality one would rarely find in a pile of rice and vegetables.
With its synergy of texture, taste, and appearance, sushi is a whole package of appealing sensations. As such, it's not surprising that it has found popularity well beyond its country of origin.
Choosing among three restaurants that offer sushi is an unexpected luxury in a small Iowa town. Its proliferation in Fairfield is also a concrete example of the restauranteurs' dedication to their customers. Anyone who wants to taste how Japanese tradition can turn a pile of vegetables into a bundle of flavor is encouraged to try Fairfield's sushi offerings.
