Sushi with Al

Al and I had lunch at MF Sushi today. He had never been, I always crave sushi, and I owed him lunch.

It was good! Mike and I went there on our first date, and it was very romantic. And expensive! Be prepared for the prices if you go for dinner. For lunch, however, it's quite reasonable. Al and I concluded that that's how they rope you in. You go once for lunch, and when you find out how good it is, you go for dinner, and then they get you!

I digress.

They have sushi lunch specials that range from $10-20. And each one comes with a bowl of miso soup and a generously-sized ginger salad. I loved the salad -- the ginger dressing is very salty and yummy. The miso soup was typical.

The fish itself it very fresh. No complaints. I will definitely come back here for lunch.

Oh, one other thought: I tried, at an earlier date, to order takeout from here, and was unsuccessful. I called their number twice, and both times, was disconnected. Strange.

Back in Charlotte

I'm in Charlotte again this weekend. I was supposed to go last weekend, but came down with a nasty flu, so Mike and I had to postpone our Valentine's plans until now. I left the office at 5:15PM, and arrived at Mike's at exactly 9:15PM. With it being a rainy Friday afternoon, I think that four hours is pretty good timing!

Mike and I went over to Nikko's for dinner, and boy, was it a party over there or what! I expected this place to close at 10 or so, but it was open until midnight. We attempted to order something that we saw someone else order last time we were there. We chose poorly. What we ended up getting was some sort of salmon roll that was deep fried. It wasn't very good at all. The rest of our meal was the basic stuff we've gotten before. Nothing much worth mentioning again. Except that I thought our first time there was better than this time. This time wasn't bad. Just not as good.

This morning, after being abruptly awoken by a construction worker continually making a banging noise, we decided to grab bagel sammies at Owen's Bagel & Deli. The guy making our sandwiches was really nice and helpful. There are about 10 types of bagels -- and they call "everything" bagels "combo". Whatev.

Mike got a bacon, egg, and American on an onion bagel. I got a sausage, egg, and Meunster on a combo bagel. Verdict? The sausage wasn't very good at all, and I found myself enjoying my bagel more when there wasn't a bite of meat in it. Mike's was great. The bacon is definitely the way to go.

Oh, and the bagels are steamed! It's good. They're not mushy like I was expecting them to be. They're good! Just don't get the sausage.

I had to get the bad Rusan's out of my brain.

Update (03/05/2008):
Just wanted to update that I had RuSan's again recently -- not sure exactly when -- and they were back up to their normal standards. Phew! I was nervous that I had lost my local, cheap sushi!!
***

I ordered sushi for a second time this weekend. I know, I know, it's obsessive, but I just couldn't shake the disaster that was Rusan's last night. I forgot to mention in my Rusan's post that they did a terrible job cleaning the fish: some of the skin was showing on more than one type of fish, and I actually had a fish scale on one piece of sashimi. Ick.

So, this time, I ordered from Zuma. It's a bit pricey, but I was desperate. Sushi is one of my favorite things to eat, and I had to get my previous night's experience off the brain.

Zuma did not disappoint. The food was ready when I showed up, and when I got home, I was surprised to see so much! I ordered two different types of sashimi, and on the menu, they said that it would be 3 pieces each. Not only were they large pieces, there were 5 pieces of each! Whoa! Note to self: they hook you up here!

I also had the spicy tuna roll. They put a small amount of a creamy sauce on top, but it was totally unobtrusive. Could take it or leave it.

The meal was delicious. All the fish tasted fresh, seemed clean, and looked good enough to eat.

So I did.

Rusans, that was just sloppy.

Update (03/05/2008):
Just wanted to update that I had RuSan's again recently -- not sure exactly when -- and they were back up to their normal standards. Phew! I was nervous that I had lost my local, cheap sushi!!
***

I am finally back in Atlanta, where 37 degrees now feels balmy. I decided to pick up some sushi for dinner because I have no food in the house. Rusan's, of course.

I typically just order one of their sushi samplers, which has nigiri and a random roll. This time, I decided to order a la carte: four different types of sashimi and a spicy tuna roll.

Oh, Rusan's! Bad job this time! Ordinarily, my ratings of Rusan's are high! I mean, it's not top-notch sushi, but it's decent enough, especially since it is so cheap. First, the fish this time just didn't seem as good as usual. Second, and this more of a note for myself for next time, they put a bunch of spicy brown sauce over the spicy tuna rolls. I could do without that. Finally! They forgot to pack any wasabi! Boooooo.

The wait was also a bit long. I ordered from the Midtown location, across from Ansley, and they said it'd be ready in 15-20 minutes. I arrived 20 minutes later, and had to wait another ten. I know it's not a huge deal, but it's out of the ordinary! Just because you are busy does not mean I should have to wait for medicre sushi with no wasabi!

Another note to self: you don't like red snapper. Don't order again.

I am not writing this place off. I'm confident that this incident was isolated. But I feel it's worth noting. Maybe Friday night is not the night to go to Rusans...

Aloha Sushi

I forgot that I wanted to comment on Aloha. This is a restaurant really close to my house that offers sushi. And when I am feeling super lazy, I order sushi delivery. They have a sampler, which is what I get, that comes with miso soup and a ginger salad.

The sushi isn't the best in the world, but it's good considering it's brought to my door. They put several nigiri in the sampler that I can't identify, but other than one rancid one, I like them all.

Welcome to Charlotte! (Sunday & Monday)

Update (03/05/2008):
The deli, I figured out, is called Just Fresh. I gave it a pretty poor review on Yelp.
***

On Sunday, we tried out a deli that was in the Harris Teeter parking lot --can't recall the name: will have to ask Mike. It was just so-so. It felt like a chain, and the food was sort of cafeteria style. I got a dill chicken sandwich, which was okay considering dill isn't really my favorite. I got a cup of chicken chili on the side -- again, just so so.

I can't recall what Mike got -- Oven Roasted Sandwich? He wasn't impressed.

We won't be returning.

There's a coffeehouse in this shopping center called Dilworth Coffee House. Mike seems to really like it. I will have to try their chai tea when I visit again.

We went out for sushi on Sunday night. We ate at Nikko's Sushi, which is walking distance from the apartment. It was so good. As in, one of the best sushi meals I've had in a long time. We will definitely be back. The vibe inside is very trendy. We sat, of course, at the bar, and our waitress was very helpful. She suggested several things, and the item we got was good! We also had the tempura --not a usual for us-- and that was good too.

Monday morning, I drove back to Atlanta. There's really nothing to report, other than I stopped by Martin's Restaurant, based on some friends' recommendations. It totally hit the spot. I had a sausage biscuit that was so yummy. They recommended the pork tenderloin biscuit, so I will get that next time.