Japanese Fast Food

Our local mall food court has a Japanese restaurant that I have been to a few times to have the veggies and rice. They are pretty good as far as fast good goes, with food made fresh right in front of you on the grill (veggies separate from the meat). They are also incredibly cheap. I can get the Vegetarian Delite for about $3. Granted, it's not the greatest in the world, but still. Well they have recently added a few more menu choices, such as sushi and a couple more vegetarian choices. One day I took Grace to the mall and decided to get us some food there. Naturally, I had to ask several annoying questions before ordering. The teenage girl working there was oh so helpful.

"Is there any meat in the avocado cucumber roll?"

She turned to ask the man who was stirring a big tub of sticky sushi rice. He shook his head no.

I looked at the menu some more. "How about the maki roll? Is that vegetarian?"

"Yes."

"I'll take some miso soup and a maki roll," I said, finally ready to order something.

The guy shook his head. "We're out of miso soup until Tuesday."

Big sigh. Grace was getting hungry and impatient, sitting on the counter playing with some chopsticks. Now to deal with her food allergies. "OK, what kind of noodles are those? Are they rice noodles? Or are they wheat?"

She looked suddenly perplexed. "Uh..." She went over to them and scooped up a bunch of noodles so I could see them from a distance.

"But are they made with wheat?" I asked.

She looked at the sushi guy again and asked him. He looked at me. "No, no wheat. Only flour."

Okay....

I ended up getting the noodles and veggies for myself, and getting Grace a hamburger and french fries at the A&W. Bad choices.

Another time Todd and I were there and I decided to order sushi. I had tried some vegetarian sushi before and liked it, so I ordered the avocado cucumber roll, a maki roll and some miso soup.

The guy, the same one, stirring the sushi rice, shook his head. "No miso soup until Tuesday."

I am not making this up.

I watched as he made my sushi, and it was absolutely fabulous. Sushi is one of the most beautiful foods. He pressed the sticky rice down on a sheet of seaweed, sprinkled sesame seeds on it, then flipped it over. He sliced the avocado and cucumber into little sticks and placed them on the rice, rolled it up and cut it into six pieces. He arranged them on my to-go plate, then placed the ginger and wasabi in the corners. Wa-la, a work of art. Not as beautiful as the rainbow roll the lady in front of me ordered, but that had dead fish and I don't do that.

The first few pieces I ate were wonderful. I was so thrilled. But slowly the fishy taste of the seaweed started to annoy me, and I didn't even eat the last piece. I would like to go to a real Japanese restaurant and try some different kinds of veggie sushi. I think it would be a lot better. And maybe they would have some miso soup.