[Yes, Austin sushi fans, we've been reporting on this beat for over ten years!]

The Austin USENET Guide to Sushi
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9/4/94 Release

**** NEW!! Sushi Happy Hour Info! Sushi at bargain prices!
**** Happy Hour specials vary. Call for details.

A friendly guide to raw undersea stuff served
on cute wooden trays. Send updates and comments
to me, xxxxx@cs.utexas.edu . Austin area WWW and Gopher
sites are welcome to post this list for public access purposes.
Some of the information in this guide was lifted from the
alt.food.sushi FAQ, written by Keith Cochran and others.

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Sushi Bars
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Korea House
2700 W. Anderson Lane
(Inside Village Shopping Center, not visible from street)
458-2477
SUSHI HAPPY HOUR: Sunday-Wednesday all day

Kyoto
315 N. Congress Avenue
(Upstairs from the Elephant Room)
482-9010
SUSHI HAPPY HOUR: Monday-Thursday 5:30-7:30pm

Kyoto II
4815 W. Braker Lane #580
(On the *south* side of 183, in the shopping center with
Brick Oven Pizza, just west of the Arboretum,
Circuit City, and HQ Fitness)
346-5800
SUSHI HAPPY HOUR: None

Mister Wasabi
215 E. 6th Street
469-0477
SUSHI HAPPY HOUR: Every Day 5:30-7:00pm

Musashino
3407 Greystone Drive
(Downstairs from Chinatown at the Mopac frontage road)
795-8593
SUSHI HAPPY HOUR: Tuesday-Sunday 5:00-6:00pm

Osaka
13492 Research Blvd
(In the shopping center at Anderson Mill Road)
918-8012
SUSHI HAPPY HOUR: Sunday 5:30-10:00pm

Seoul Sushi Bar
6400 S. 1st Street
(Between Stassney and William Cannon)
326-5807
SUSHI HAPPY HOUR: Tuesday all day

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Japanese "fast food" restaurants with sushi
====================================================

Azuma Express
2501 Parmer Lane
(In the shopping center at Parmer Lane and Mopac)
834-9304

Sakura (has drive thru service!)
220 E. Anderson Lane
(technically, 220 Research Blvd, Anderson and Research
are the same road at that point)
339-8566

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Other sushi sources
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Shogun (a Japanese restaurant that sells some sushi rolls)
1807 W. Slaughter Lane
(SE corner of Manchaca and Slaughter, next to Albertson's -- not
HEB!)
292-1580

Buffet Palace (just some rolls on buffet -- all you can eat)
5400 Brodie Lane
(In the shopping center with Home Depot)
892-2550

Some HEB's, like the one at Hancock shopping center,
have sushi. HEB's "Central Market" has a sushi counter.

Some Simon Davids, like the one in the Arboreteum,
have sushi.

Some Randall's, like the one in Westlake, have sushi.

Zorba the Bhudda (474-2247) caters vegetarian sushi.
Also, her vegetarian sushi is in the refrigeration
section at Whole Foods and Wheatsville.

SPECIAL NOTE FOR YOU HOMEBREW SUSHI ADDICTS: As far as I
know, all the sushi bars in town get their seafood from
Quality Seafood, 5621 Airport Blvd, 454-5827.

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COMMENTS (from our contributors)
====================================================
I ate lunch at Kyoto II the other day, priced like old Azuma used to
be, good large pieces, some of the California Rolls were missing the
sesame seeds though. We got there early, and that was real smart as the
place was completely packed by 11:45. Several people with me got some
of the cooked dishes and they were good, but the cold ones (non-sushi)
were small and sub-par.

The sushi at Seoul Sushi Bar was excellent and the Korean food was
outstanding. The guy who runs it is an ex-Motorola engineer.
Mister Wasabi is laid back but I don't like it as much as Kyoto.

I've been to Musashino several times since it's opened. In comparing
it to Azuma, it appears to be 30% more expensive, pieces 30-40%
bigger, and a lot fresher. I've noticed they've recently added new
variety into the "regular" and deluxe sushi. Big "fin" up.

I went to Musashino for the first time last night and was a bit
disappointed. The fish was tasty and fresh, the portions were
generous, but the sushi was rather poorly contructed -- the pieces
were so big and the rice was packed so loosely that they fell apart
when I tried to pick them up with chopsticks. I had to eat them with
my fingers, which was a messy experience. Also, one of the hamachi
pieces had an enormous chunk of wasabi in it that left my eyes
watering and my ears ringing. And the soft shell crab in the spider
roll I ordered was overdone.
It wasn't awful (I'll probably go back again someday), but it just
wasn't up to the level of perfection I usually expect from, say, Kyoto
or the old Azuma. Perhaps the chef was inexperienced. Next time
I'll be sure to get the guy who used to work at Azuma.

The food at Osaka is good. The service is a little slow (maybe they
are getting better at this by now), the sushi is medium quality (by
Austin standards).
The highest quality sushi in Austin is Musashino.
Korea House has a great deal (1/2 price), Sun-Wed.

The owner of Azuma Express, Mike Tanaka, died Dec. 21st, 1993.
He used to own Azuma. We lost a good man.

Sushi and food at Osaka. Two words : Very Disappointing.
Went out there last night and ordered some sushi and
Yaki Soba. The sushi arrived after I was finished with
my soup, salad and was half way through my main course.
The sushi was poorly constructed and the Yaki Soba
tasted like someone had sauteed a packet of Ramen noodles
and added some half cooked pieces of chicken.
On the plus side, the fish used in the sushi was fresh
and the service was good. BTW, if you are ever in San Antonio and crave
some good sushi try out Nikki's Tokyo Inn or Koi Kawa.

As a native from Japan I miss a chef, Okimi-san, who used to work at
Kyoto until two years ago. His sushi was state-of-the-art melt in your
mouth in a right size and with a right sensation of wasabi. When he was
here, even the most popular Japanese restaurant, Azuma, did not attract
me at all. Old good days are gone now.

Musashino, which is run by a chef who used to work at the old-
Azuma, drew lots of customers at the beginning partly because Azuma's
owner late Tanaka-san helped Musashino's grand opening invite lots of
his old customers of Azuma. Musashino probably uses the most fresh fish
in town. But unfortunately it lacks proper size that you would feel
comfortable eating with one or two bites. Gigantic sushi obliged me to
peel the raw fish off the rice and to eat it as sashimi! What an
embarassing moment.

The Japanese restaurant I like the best in town may not have been
visible to most of sushi lovers yet. It is Shogun. This restaurant
opened in mid-last year as a teppan-yaki restaurant.
It serves good teppan-yaki, tempura, and other
cooked Japanese foods in reasonable prices. You can also have sushi
rolls too. The owner avoids the high-margin sushis like hamachi, eel
and other normal fish-on-top-of-rice sushis. They use expensive rice
and the rice in the roll has the right taste. Try them.

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Austin-area contributors (not necessarily sushi lovers....)
xxxxx@cs.utexas.edu (Morgan Witthoft)
xxxxx@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Jonathan Wilner)
xxxxx@oakhill.sps.mot.com (Amy Moseley Rupp)
xxxxx@amd.com (Chuck Herrick)
xxxxx@devnull.mpd.tandem.com (Larry Wolfe)
xxxxx@cs.utexas.edu (David Gadbois)
xxxxx@apollo4.eng.sematech.org (Michael Duane)
xxxxx@sooner.ctci.com (Dewey Coffman)
xxxxx@evtech.com (Nancy Knickerbocker-Penick)
xxxxx@mcc.com (Chnag Kyu Kim)
xxxxx@poseidon.sps.mot.com (Snehanshu Shah)
xxxxx@cs.utexas.edu (John Joseph Medway)
xxxxx@devnull.mpd.tandem.com (Lindsey Durway)
=============================================================

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THE TERMINOLOGY
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Aburage - Fried tofu pouches prepared by cooking in sweet cooking
sake, shoyu, and water.

Aji - Spanish mackerel. Purportedly this is not actually a mackerel,
but some other kind of fish. It is small - about 6" in length - and
they fillet it and serve marinated in vinegar. Very tasty.

Akagai - pepitona clam, red in colour, not always available.

Ama Ebi - Sweet Shrimp. Sometimes served with the deep-fried
shells of the shrimp. Eat the shells like you would crayfish.

Anago - Salt water eel, pre-cooked (boiled) and then grilled before
serving, less rich than unagi (fresh water eel).

Aoyagi - Red clam.

Awabi - abalone.

Bonito - Also known as skipjack tuna. See Katsuo.

Buri - Yellowtail. I think Hamachi is only young yellowtails and Buri
are the older ones.

Chirashi-zushi - translates as "scattered sushi", a bowl or box of sushi
rice topped with a variety (usually nine, nine is the japanese
luchky number) of sashimi.

Daikon - giant white radish, usually served grated as garnish for
sashimi.

Ebi - Shrimp. Not the same as Sweet Shrimp, as Ebi is cooked, while
Ami Ebi is prepared by "curing" in a mixture of juices.

Fuki - Blow-fish. Anybody got any more information?

Futo-Maki - Big, oversized rolls

Gari - Pickled ginger (the pink stuff) that comes along with Sushi.

Hamachi - Young Yellowtail tuna, or amberjack, worth asking for if
not on menu.

Hirame - Halibut.

Hotate-Gai - Scallops.

Kaibashira - large scallops, actually giant clam adducter muscle,
though often scallops are served, much like cooked scallops but more
tender and sweeter. Kobashiri are small scallops and like kaibashira
may or may not come from scallops or other bivalves.

Kaki - Oysters.

Kampyo - Dried gourd. Unprepared is a light tanish color. Prepared
its a translucent brown. It comes in long strips, shaped like
fettuccine.

Katsuo - Bonito, also knows as skipjack tuna. It is usually found in
sushi bars on the West Coast because it lives in the Pacific Ocean,
and doesn't freeze very well. [Note: You can get it in Denver,
Colorado usually.]

Kamaboko - Imitation crab meat. Generally used in california rolls
and other maki, it's not the same thing as "soft shell crab".

Kani - Crab meat. The real stuff. Always served cooked, much
better if cooked fresh but usually cooked and then frozen.

Kohada - Japanese shad (or young punctatus, it's latin species name).

Maguro - Tuna. Not Toro. Toro is the tuna belly (i.e. the fatty part)
and maguro is the leaner flesh from the "sides" of the fish.

Mirugai - geoduck or horseneck clam, slightly crunchy and sweet.

Maki-zushi - The rice and seaweed rolls with fish and/or vegetables.
Most maki places the nori on the outside, but some, like the
california and rainbow rolls, place the rice on the outside.

Natto - Fermented soy beans. (Not just for breakfast anymore) Very
strong smell and taste, also slimely. Most people don't like it. Order
it once, if for no other reason that to see the confused look of the
chef. >;)

Nigiri-zushi - The little fingers of rice topped with wasabi and a filet
of raw or cooked fish or shellfish. Generally the most common
form of sushi you will see.

Roe - Fish eggs. Generally, flying fish, smelt, and salmon roe are
available in all sushi restaurants. "Roe" is a generic name.

The roes are:

Ikura - salmon roe

Kazunoko - herring roe, usually served marinated in sake, broth,
and soy sauce, sometimes served raw, kazunoko konbu.

Tobiko - flying-fish roe, red and crunchy, often served as part of
maki-zushi but also as nigiri-zushi, commonly with quail egg yolk
(uzura no tamago) on top (uncooked).

Masago - capelin roe, very similar to tobiko but slightly oranger in
colour, not as common as tobiko in North America (though often
caught here). Capelin, shishamo, is also served grilled (after being
lightly salted) whole with the roe in it as an appetizer.

Uni - sea urchin (see below)

Saba - mackerel, almost always served after being lightly salted and
marinated for a few days, so really cooked. Raw mackerel is
sometimes served but it must be extremely fresh as it goes off quickly.

Sake - Rice wine. Served both hot and cold. Some people love it,
some people hate it.

Sake - Salmon. Prounounced differently.

Sashimi - Raw fish fillets sans the sushi rice.

Shiro maguro - Albacore tuna, white tuna, doesn't handle as well and
can change colour (though doesn't change taste or quality) so not as
common as other tunas. It will probably not be on the menu, ask for.

Spam - yes SPAM, a sushi you can get in Hawaii (maybe Japan too),
an acquired taste, perhaps.

Sushi - The sweetened, pickled rice. The fish is sashimi. Wrap the
two together in portions and sell it as sushi, and the name still
refers to the rice, not the fice. Sushi is indeed the term for the
special rice but it is modified, in Japanese, to zushi when coupled with
modifiers that describe the different styles of this most popular dish.

Suzuki - sea bass (of one species or another, often quite different).

Tai - porgy or red snapper (substitutes, though good), real, Japanese,
tai is also sometimes available.

Tako - Octopus, cooked.

Tamago - egg omelet, sweet and, hopefully light, a good test of a new
sushi restaurant, if its overcooked and chewy, go somewhere else.
In Japan it is the trademark of each chef. Often potential
customers in Japan will ask for a taste of the Tamago in order to judge
the chef's proficiency.

TDU - The Dreaded Uni[tm]. Uni (Sea Urchin) is a remarkable dish,
one that must be tried before a decision can be made about it.

Temaki-zushi - Hand rolled cones of sushi rice, fish and vegetables
wrapped in seaweed. Very similar to maki.

Torigai - Japanese cockle, black and white shell fish, better fresh but
usually frozen (and chewier as a result).

Toro - Fatty Tuna. There are several different types of tuna you can
order in a sushi restaurant.

Unagi - Eel (Freshwater) - grilled, and brushed with a teriyaki-like
sauce, richer than salt water eel.

Uni - Sea Urchin. If you are lucky you won't like it, if not you have
just developed an expensive habit. The sexual organs (gonads) of
the sea urchin. Sea urchins are hermaphrodictic (bi-sexual, AC-DC), so
you are getting both roe and milt (the other stuff). The most expensive
(start saving now) is red in colour, the least is yellow, luckily they
taste the same. Lobsters eat sea urchin as a mainstay of their diet.

Wasabi - Japanese Horseradish. This is the small lump of green stuff
that looks sort of like clay. Best done in extremly small doses.
Not related to American Horseradish except by name.


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MAKING SUSHI RICE
====================================================

Sushi Rice (Shari Rice)

Note: an electric fan is helpful in making this

3 cups short-grain white rice
3 1/4 cups water
1 small(3") bundle of konbu(dried rolled kelp)
{Editors note: I do not use the kelp.}

seasoning:
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt

Rinse rice well. Drain the rice and then add the 3 1/4 cups water,
the kelp, and the wet rice to the covered sauce pan in which you will
cook it. Bring to a boil. Remove kelp and discard. Reduce heat to
low and cover. Cook 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit
covered for 10 min.

While the rice is cooking, heat vinegar, sugar, and salt until
everything dissolves. Let cool. {Editors note: I do not heat it up to
get everything to mix in. I just stir it up.}

Place rice in a large pan(use glass so the vinegar doesn't react with
any metal.) {Editors note: I use a stainless bowl with no problem.}
Set the fan up to blow on the rice. With a wooden spoon or rice
paddle stir in seasoning a little at a time. Careful not to mush the
rice. Periodically dip the paddle in cool water to keep the rice from
sticking.

Keep at room temperature covered with a moist towel. Don't
refrigerate. Have a little bowl of 2/3 water and 1/3 vinegar to dip your
fingers in to prevent sticking while constructing sushi.

SOME OTHER THOUGHTS:
I use Nishiki branch rice. There is another brand I have used
happily called Kokuho Rose, or something like that. Any "medium" grain
rice should work. This is the grain which is shorter than long-grained
rice (like grocery store rice and Basmati rice) but longer than those
little round short-grained rice (like the Italian rice one uses for
Risotto). It is not always called medium grained.

I sometimes wash the rice, sometimes not. It doesn't seem to make
much of a difference, although when I get my rice from a bulk-food shop,
I wash it to get the dirt off. The big bags of Nishiki rice are clean,
but coated with a little glucose. I have a friend who swears that you
must wash the rice. He picks it up in his hands and rubs it together
under the running water and keeps washing until the water is very
clean. He is a very rigorous fellow.

I use a huge metal salad bowl like you can get at a cheapo kitchen
supply shop to toss the rice. I use a clip on electric fan to fan it.
I attach the fan to a cabinet door over my counter. Very convenient.

One book that I read suggested that instead of water to keep your
hands and knife damp, you use water with a little vinegar mixed in.
That way you have damp and tasty hands.

Sushi keeps okay overnight (if you use only vegetables and rice). If
you make makizushi, it keeps even better if you don't slice the rolls
but just wrap them up in saran wrap. You can make makizushi in
advance, and if you do, I recommend that you do not slice them until
just before you serve them.

Sushi, like bread, takes a long time to make, but not a lot of actual
work. You have to wait for the rice to soak. You have to be patient
while it cooks. Other than that, there is just a little slicing.

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MAKING SUSHI
====================================================

Maki-zushi:
Maki, or rolls, are sushi rice, fillings, wrapped with seaweed (nori).
Generally, they are done "nori-side out", so you have the seaweed
on the outside, with the filling inside. Some rolls, like the
California and Rainbow rolls, are done "inside-out", with the filling on
the inside, then the nori, then the rice.

Submitted By: Michael Golden (xxxxx@eecs.umich.edu)
Maki-zushi (rolled sushi)

All of these are wrapped in nori (sheets of seaweed) which you toast
by passing the shiny side over flame or heat until crisp. You need a
bamboo mat for rolling the makizushi. {Editor's Note: I do not toast
the rolls, nor do I use a mat for "regular sized nori on the outside"
rolls. For small rolls and for rice-on-the-outside rolls, I use a mat}

Put smooth, shiny side of toasted nori down on mat. Spread about
3/4 cups of Shari Rice on the nori to the ends A, B, C, but leave the
top part of the nori free of rice so you can seal the roll. Place
chosen filling in a line between A and C, then roll tightly. Moisten
margin with water and roll the rest of the way to seal. It takes some
practice, but you'll get the hang of it.

________ _________
|________| |_________|
|________| |_________|
mat--|________| |---------|
|________| nori--| |
|________| A--| |--C
|________| |_________|
|
B

Cut into pieces about 1 - 1 1/2 inch thick. You can cut two
ways.
_____________ ______________
| | | | \ |
| | | OR | \ |
|______|______| |_______\_____|

These are standard varieties as described in _Sushi_, by Mia Detrick.

Maki-zushi Fillings

Cucumber
Peel and cut into sticks 1/4-1/2 inch thick

Tuna
Cut in sticks about 1/2 inch thick

Shiitake Mushroom
2 oz. shiitake
2 cups dashi stock
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. mirin
2 Tbsp. sugar

Soak dried shiitake in warm water 1 hr., then drain. Blend all
ingredients in pan. Simmer shiitake over low heat, uncovered for 1
hr.
Let cool then slice into sticks.

{Editors note: Here is how I do the shiitake --

6 large dried shhitake, soaked in water until soft.
1/2 cup soaking liquid from the mushrooms
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp mirin

Simmer in a pan until the liquid is almost gone. Remove the
mushrooms
from the pan, let them cool, and slice into sticks. The liquid left in
the pan is very tasty. I am sure you will come up with something to
do with it.}

Kampyo(gourd shavings)
1 oz. kampyo
pinch of salt
2 cups dashi stock
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. mirin
2 Tbsp. sugar

Soak kampyo in hot water until soft, about 10 min. Drain and rub
with a pinch of salt. Rinse well and drain. Place in saucepan with
other ingredients. Simmer over medium heat uncovered for 1/2 hour,
then turn up heat until sauce is almost evaporated. Let cool and cut to
length.

Fishcake (kamaboko)
Purchase colored steamed fishcake, cut into pieces 1/2 inch thick

Vegetables
Carrots, steamed, cut in 1/4 inch thick sticks
Avacado, in 1/4 inch sticks
Pickled daikon, 1/4 inch sticks
Other pickled vegetables

Fried tofu (tofu cutlet)
Purchased and cut into strips 1/2 inch thick

Tekkamaki
fresh raw tuna

Kappamaki
julienned cucumber

Oshinkomaki
yellow pickled daikon

Unakyu
grilled fresh water eel
cucumber

Anakyu
grilled marine eel
cucumber

Umekyu(described as a good way to end sushi dinner)
cucumber
neri ume(tart plum paste)

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