More Than Fish and Rice
Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 12:00PM I cannot emphasize enough my love for Chicago cuisine. It's the top culinary city in the country. We have a top 10 restaurant in the world, Alinea; best new restaurant, L2O; the godfather of Mexican cuisine, Rick Bayless; countless other greats like Trotter, Tramonto, Kahan-- the list goes on. What we don't have, is great sushi. We have the best steaks (thanks to Gresh) and other land animals, but often struggle with creatures of the sea. We're not by any ocean, so proper procurement is difficult. There are still great places like Japonias and NoMI, but not much in terms of great, purist sushi for non-special occasions.
Too many sushi joints violate my three sushi sins: the integration of mayo, cream cheese, and/or deep frying. They try to be unique with various 'specialty rolls,' but like goth kids, when they all combat conformity in the same way, they become what they're fighting against. What's so special about a Philly or California roll? Every spider roll tastes the same to me too-- like fried.
I want more than fish, rice, and edamame. I found it at Mizu. Finally a great casual-nice place for sushi in Chicago.
