Food Porn Bonanza

What's up, suckas? You know I'm here to talk about food ... again. It seems I don't have a whole lot else going on in my life beyond food, glorious food, marvelous food. I love my food.

Anyhow, it was Lady's birthday last night, so Hot Buns Murphy and I went downtown to take Lady to Bob San. While I feel decent, tasty sushi is available every ten yards in the greater metropolitan area, I have to say, Bob San is consistently awesome. We tore it up.

We started with the classic appetizers, edamame and seaweed salad. To the uninitiated, edamame are soy beans served in the pod, steamed in salt water. You just pop them out of the pod into your slobbering, slavering mouth and yum. Delicious. Careful, though, guys--don't hit them too hard. Soy beans have estrogen-mimicking phytogens in them, and I'd hate to see you grow some tits over dinner.

I know seaweed salad sounds gross, but dudes, it's awesome. The texture is singular--toothsome, al dente strips of tangy seaweed marinated in sesame and rice wine vinegar, served with thin cucumber discs, garnished with strings of daikon radish and sprinkled with sesame seeds. We also got the rainbow roll, a sushi classic, but we got ours with real king crab. I refuse to eat Krab Stik in any seafood restaurant. Ever. That shit is nasty. We also got the House Crunch roll, which is a spicy mayo roll rolled in Panko crumbs. I forget what kind of fish was in it, probably tuna, but who cares? It was delicious.

Our sashimi was perfect. We got our standard tuna and salmon sashimi style, because rice only gets in the way of the divine goodness of raw fish that has the consistency of buttah. We finally convinced Lady to try the ama ebi, that is, shrimp sushi with the heads served seperately--deep fried and delicious. Raw shrimp requires the rice, so get it nigiri style. The rice helps offset the slightly slimy nature of the shrimp while allowing you to enjoy the raw shrimp flava.

Eating the heads is the most fun. The eyeballs stare at you from their little dried out stalks, seeming to say, "Whyyyy? Why do you want to eaaaaat meeeee?" But the crunch is not to be missed. I will only eat shrimp heads when deep fried. That is my standard. But get 'em while they're hot. The antennae get mad sharp once they cool off too much. Get those down quick or it's like swallowing needles.

I finally got the guts to try salmon roe, those big, globular orange eggs. I love most caviar, when it's crunchy and little, like the flying fish eggs used ubiquitously on sushi, but those salmon eggs are so big and juicy...I only tried one, but it was as I suspected. A salty, juicy pop, too viscous for my liking--salmon roe truly is the tomato of the sea, and henceforth, not for me. It was ok. I didn't gag. But I didn't love it. It joins sea urchin roe as the other item in sushi that I won't eat. Oh, and makerel. It tastes too fishy. I know, raw fish that tastes fishy? Go figure. But I think it's nasty and I won't eat it. Besides, raw fish is supposed to neither smell nor taste fishy. It's supposed to smell clean and oceany. If your fish smells fishy, something fishy is going on. So there.

Anyway, that was the third seafood dinner I had this week. Monday, Slippy and I hit Tin Fish for her birthday. I introduced her to oysters. You know how I feel about oysters, right? Well, she loved them, too. Another addict! I knew I could turn her out ... Tuesday, the Mr and I went to dinner and I had substandard fish at the Limestone City Grill. Overcooked and boney. But whatever. No biggie. Last night was sushi and tomorrow ... Tomorrow Luke Baggins and I are taking on the Calumet Fishery for "Fish Crack". Smoked chub (best food item name EVER!), smoked shrimp and more. Stay tuned. We're getting down and dirty on the East Side, bitches, and we'll have the pictures to prove it!