Family shit means family sushiya
Not my best opener, but the point holds. We were in the Upper East Side – aka the home of Constance Billard – for the familiest of family shit: a children’s birthday party.
This one was at a kid’s gymnasium. There was a trampoline, a pummelhorse (no way that’s spelled right), the works. Turns out I don’t “still got it”. I left with a strained groin and a commitment to add stretching into my once-a-fortnight leg day (94 days later and haven’t stretched once).
That sort of old-as-dirt activity makes you hungry. So we settled in for that other sweet nectar of family life: a 4:45 pm dinner at the first sushiya we could find, Ikyu II.
Inside Ikyu II
What about Ikyu 1?
No clue, Timmy. We skip straight to the sequels on this blog.
And I’m glad I did, because I found something you may want to sit down for:
A spicy maki that I enjoyed.
Yam tempura (off menu – $8ish)
A brief history
In North American sushi lore, spicy rolls are like California rolls; they’re an affront to tradition, yet ubiquitous here for far longer than you might expect. To wit, one of my sushi books was published in 2006 and talks about spicy rolls being around for decades before that.
Most of these maki are prepared using the odds and ends of salmon and tuna. That makes sense; good seafood, maybe not the most appealing. Shove it in a roll, problem solved.
It’s dressed up with spicy mayo, usually dumped on top with some tenkasu (leftover tempura bits) added as well. That’s the crunch. Other times – usually in supermarkets – it’s tenkasu out, rice krispies in. That probably should be a federal crime. Crackleteering.
(crackleteering. still got it).
But there’s one version I enjoy
Some sushiya, like Ikyu II, take their spicy maki seriously. They chop up and prepare the filling at once; none of this ‘add a dot of spicy mayo’ garbage. And they add something that makes it a little sweeter.
I haven’t had anything like this since 2007
You read that right. 2007.
Years ago, a small sushiya in London (the capital of Ontario) named Gozen (appropriate name) also prepared their spicy maki this way. I can still taste the sweet and spicy dance 19 years later. If that seems insane, wait until you hear me recite the fall 2008 schedule at Rumrunners.
Gozen closed in 2009, so I posted a Instagram story offering Sushi Legend merch in exchange to anyone with pictures of their spicy maki.
Zero responses. Considered shutting down the blog.
This is the Spicy Scallop maki ($10) I just spent 200 words talking on. Tasted better than it looks.
OVERLOOKING
I was so happy to taste 2007 that I was happy to pseudo/sudo-ignore a few things.
First, I don’t need my negitoro getting stabbed by a soy sauce super soaker.
negitoro and the sushi moriawase -8 nigiri ($60 for all)
Second, sushi legends knick the Neta to make them more malleable and cradle the shoyu. Slicing this salmon made it fall apart.
another angle of the sushi moriawase. dark colour of the toro (up top) not great either. hamachi (bottom) was very good minus the caviar.
Third, lemon peels and truffle paste are for Tucci in Italy, not sushi (love that show by the way).
Madai with peel
Salmon with truffle
And fourth, the less said about this the better.
THE VERDICT
But ultimately, Ikyu II does the trick. We were in and out in 40 minutes, the way it should be.
Good pricing.
Average sushi.
Wonderful spicy scallop maki. Four words I thought I’d never say.
Recommended.
