From Pizza to Sushi

Fifteen years ago, people were making jokes about sushi being bait, and now, in parts of L.A. -- not in Japanese neighborhoods at all, especially on the West side -- it seems like there's a little sushi bar in almost every mini-mall. ~ Russ Parsons




Brian and I are pretty traditional when it comes to food. I am the more daring of the two of us. He generally won’t venture into Middle Eastern, Indian or Thai cuisine so I usually have to find another dinner partner when I want to try a new restaurant.

Coming from Colorado, we did not have a huge selection of good seafood so we were pretty much stuck with beef and chicken and pasta or even buffalo or elk when we were adventurous. Now that we are in California, the choices of seafood are endless. I was an East Coaster so I grew up on seafood but Brian, who lived most of his life in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, just didn’t have much fish in his life until now. He has discovered that he loves salmon – something I could never get him to eat in Colorado. We live right around the corner from one of the best fish markets in San Diego – El Pescador on Pearl Street in La Jolla. They have a fabulous array of fresh seafood and clam chowder and also cook lunches and dinners on their inside grill to eat in their small restaurant or available for take out. So, because of the proximity of this fish market and Brian’s new-found love of fresh fish, we are regulars at El Pescador.

The one thing we really have never tried is Sushi. It’s that weird fear we have of the unknown. Raw fish? Are you kidding me? We just never tried it. Until recently. At first we just tried the “rolls” – California rolls, shrimp rolls, salmon rolls…….and then finally even ventured on to eel rolls! So far, so good. And then finally, one night, we totally surrendered and ordered the raw fish – salmon, tuna and white fish. And to our delight, we loved it all! There are at least seven Sushi restaurants in our little La Jolla village alone. And some of them are really fancy and expensive. But we have found a great Sushi place just down the street from our house called Fugu's – which not only has good food at reasonable prices, but they deliver, too – Saki and all!

Anyway, my point is, you have to try new stuff. It’s fun and it’s good for you! We know there are millions of people who have already climbed aboard the Sushi train a long time ago and that we are latecomers, but better late than never.

We used to order pizza every Friday night and now we get Sushi. Not that we will ever give up pizza entirely. That just won’t happen. But we feel a little bit healthier since we have made the switch. And it makes the pizza taste so good when we finally indulge again.