i dream of sushi

Words can not begin to explain the epic dining experience Anders and I had last night. Let's start at the beginning, though. A few months ago, Anders and I watched the neatest documentary called Jiro Dreams of Sushi about an 85 year old sushi maker in Tokyo. Jiro is the oldest person ever to win 3 Michelin Stars even though his restaurant only has 10 seats in it and is located in a subway station. You learn all sorts of fascinating things about Jiro in this documentary including the fact that he has never taken a day off in his life except for national holidays and funerals. We also discovered that Jiro's restaurant is one of the top ten hardest reservations to get in the world. Phew! Anders and I loved this documentary and immediately put Tokyo on our MUST travel list. 

In a perfect world, Anders and I would leave for Tokyo tomorrow, but, unfortunately, that can't happen just yet. However, to our delight, we found the next best thing. His name is Shiro, and he is one of the greatest sushi chefs in the city of Seattle. Turns out, he studied under Jiro for eleven years. He has been making sushi for 50 years and is literally the person who brought sushi to Seattle. We arrived at his restaurant 15 minutes before opening and put a request in to sit at the sushi bar. Shiro only works three days a week, and he only makes sushi for 7 seats at the sushi bar. If you want Shiro to make your sushi, I recommend getting there early!

Anders and I tried almost every nigiri roll available...salmon, tuna, squid, mackerel ..you name it, and it put every single piece of sushi I have ever eaten before this moment to shame. His sushi made me smile every time I took a bite. I highly recommend this restaurant! I'm already planning our next trip back! And not only was the sushi good, but I learned a lot of valuable things as well. For instance:

1. You can eat sushi with your hands. It is 100% polite and much easier than trying to coordinate those chopsticks.

2. When Shiro is making sushi, you don't dip it in soy sauce. In fact, he begs you not to, and he's right. It does not need it at all.
3. Put the entire piece of sushi in your mouth. No biting it in half.

4. Even if you've eaten a salmon skin roll or octopus or squid and hated it at other places, try Shiro's. I thought I hated all those things, but when Shiro makes them it takes your breath away. He is the best. 

Here is the trailer for Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Anders and I highly recommend it along with Shiro's!