Sushi Shocker

Photo of Sushi Takahashi from EverywhereMag.com


I was amazed to find out the other day that Kristen never knew about conveyor belt sushi joints until she stumbled across one in San Francisco. There are NONE in New York -- how can the epicenter of international cuisine and food gimmicks not be home to at least one of these?? Not being a huge fan of sushi, I only went to my first one last summer with a former co-worker, where I got a kick out of picking only the cheapest color-coded plates, which also happened to me my favorite Japanese restaurant staples: edamame and gyoza. There are so many of these places in Portland I can't even begin to name them all (what's your favorite?). Jeez, there's even one in our newly remodeled Hawthorne Fred Meyer! Which I admit made me laugh out loud since it's looks so randomly out-of-place in the middle of a grocery store deli. (Side note: Entertaining to read the Twitters about the remodel, and it appears I'm not the only one who was surprised by the sushi boats.)

Anyway, this whole shocking turn of events got me thinking about the unique little features of Portland and New York that the two cities don't share. This blog is loosely about trying to figure out how exactly to define the common energies of the two places. But since I'm trying to choose between them, maybe I should examine what each offers that the other can't. Starting with conveyor belt sushi. Stay tuned for an ongoing old-school Excel spreadsheet to examine this further.