The Quintessence of Ham

Sarah and I first dis­cov­ered this place one after­noon while look­ing at real estate. “$1 Sushi,” read the neon sign. Who could resist? After a big day look­ing at lit­tle houses, we returned that night with a very hun­gry Veronica.

Once inside I imme­di­ately made a series of inter­est­ing discoveries:

1. Dol­lar sushi is only on Mon­day night.
2. It leans Okinawan.
3. “Maneki Neko” means “wav­ing cat,” Sarah’s all-time favorite piece of restau­rant decoration.

Maneki Neko makes its salmon skin roll by first deep-frying the skin with plenty of meat still attached. It’s not the most sub­tle prepa­ra­tion but very deli­cious and cer­tainly one of the best I have ever had. Veron­ica espe­cially enjoyed it. In fact, she enjoyed most every­thing, much to the shock of our neigh­bor­ing table, whose child list­lessly picked at some kind of teriyaki. My plan to raise a friande is working.

Maneki Neko always has one or two spe­cial items that are beyond the usual tuna-salmon-yellowtail line-up: e.g. live orange clam, live scal­lop, and rock­fish. They also have a sticky rice and banana dessert which was a big hit with V.

Now Veron­ica always wants to eat “Japa-sneeze” food.