Meal: Chef's Choice Sushi
and Sashimi, Spicy Tuna Roll, Spicy Beach Roll, Banzai Roll
Restaurant: Haiku Sushi,
Chesapeake, Virginia
Last night I had dinner
with my good friend Marcus, his business partner Steve and my corporate big
brother, James Q.
Marcus and Steve run a
collections firm based in New York and think of Hampton Roads as a bit
backwater, or maybe that's tidewater, but in any event seem to spend a good
deal of time in the area and always go to the same restaurants. So, we
decided to try a Japanese restaurant I had not explored before, looking for
both sushi and entrees. What we wound up with? Well, read on.
We ventured to Haiku
Sushi, a restaurant in Chesapeake described by reviewers on Yelp as
follows:
I love this place. They have the best sushi prices in town
and the quality is awesome!
I would recommend Haiku to anyone who really
appreciates good Japanese food.
Too bad this seems to be an unknown...it's a hidden gem, with
great service, creative rolls, and the freshest fish.
Reviewers at the local
newspaper, The Virginian Pilot, gave glowing reviews too,
including:
Outside of Tokyo itself, I have never had better Sushi/Sashimi.
Decor is plain, but you go for the food.
I
have had sushi all over the country, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago
and DC. This place ranks at the top of my list, and it's right around the
corner. The sushi is always fresh and excellent. The kitchen dishes are fantastic
also.
In
fact, there was not a single bad review on either site or anywhere else I
looked, so I figured it was worth a try.
About my dining companions: I used to work with James, (he
likes to think of himself as my older brother) and we try to catch up, usually
over lunch, every couple of months. Marcus is a good friend (the kind of
friend who takes you to opening day at the New Yankee Stadium) and we both
share a love of good local food, grass fed beef, maritime law and the New York
Yankees - not exactly in that order...and Steve is a really funny guy, though
truth be told, I don't know him as well but always enjoy a good meal with him.
Anyway, Marcus and I get competitive from time to time about obscure
facts and he regularly enjoys besting me - wasting no time to whip out his
blackberry to prove me wrong (he usually does!)
During
dinner, we discussed the fact that Marcus and Steve drove down via Rt. 13 over
the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. For those who never heard of it, the
CBBT is a 23 mile long bridge-tunnel road with two "cuts" or tunnels
allowing for shipping traffic to pass overhead. It is fairly incredible,
the first time you go across to come up from the first tunnel and feel like you
are driving in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay with ocean going ships passing
behind and in front of you. I happened to mention that the CBBT is often
referred to as the 8th Wonder of the World. Marcus retorted - "You mean,
8th Wonder of the Modern World". I explained that I never heard the qualifier,
which seemed to me equal to an asterisk, a la Roger Maris. My good and well
intentioned friend pulled out the handy blackberry and proclaimed that there
was no reference to the CBBT as the 8th wonder of the world, because it was not
in Wikipedia as such.
I
am a huge fan of Wikipedia, and in fact, I often turn to it for information but
I do not think of it as dispositive on any subject including the bestowing of a
title. So, please let the record reflect that Google Books has digitized
a copy of The Chesapeake Bay bridge-tunnel, the eighth wonder of the world, written
by Robert White Hill and published by the John Day Company in 1972! However, in fairness to Marcus, in the 1965 the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel was recognized by the American Society of
Civil Engineers as one of the "Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern
World." So it seems that more than
one title may apply.
I
know that this has been engrossing (snore) but frankly it ranked as one of the
more thrilling aspects of the evening because the food was...well not exactly bad, but not exactly good either. In
fact, it was pretty ordinary and certainly not amongst the best sushi
restaurants across the country, and the kitchen dishes - basically non-existent
aside from udon noodles and typical teriyaki fare.
The one bright spot was the Spicy Beach and Banzai rolls which were extremely good. The multiple layers and combinations of those rolls (for example: Banzai - shrimp tempura, crab, eel and spicy tuna) hid the lack of freshness present easily detected in the sushi and sashimi. This is not to say the fish was old or otherwise a health risk, but rather that it lacked the "freshness" that I tend to associate with really top notch sushi. I will not be going back anytime soon.
