a go-go to tokyo-yo

After hearing people rave about Tokyo Go-Go for so long, I finally had to try it. Someone even dared say to me that the sushi there was better than that of Chin's, my absolute favorite sushi place in the city. Yeah, its stuck between a liquor store and a dry cleaner, in the middle of nowhere (6th and California), and the lights flash whenever a bus rolls by, but the sushi there is heavenly. Try the salmon sashimi, toro if its in season, the Dragon Roll, and absolutely the Sembei Roll if you go there.

So Brian and I headed there - by bus of all things! - last night for dinner. We were worried that it was going to be packed because its the Mission on Cinco de Mayo, but it was surprisingly mellow.

Before I go on, let me just say that Tokyo Go-Go is not your typical sushi house. Its like fusion-nouveau-schmancy sushi "dining". To make sure we got the entire Go-Go experience, we ordered food off of every section on the menu - Curry Calamari with Raita for our "Shared Plate", Truffle Hamachi for the "Specialty Sashimi", and this roll with seared asaparagus, grilled avocado, and kobe beef. We also got some wakame salad and nigiri, of course.

The Curry Calamari was pretty damn tasty, although Brian said he preferred regular calamari. But the Truffle Hamachi was disappointing - and expensive. Basically, its thinner slices of hamachi than your standard sashimi, drizzled with truffle oil and caviar. It tasted sort of like soy sauce, though, so I wasn't really impressed. Brian said he couldn't taste anything, but he also has a sinus infection and was on drugs.

The kobe beef roll - whose name escapes me - was pretty good, but I still am not a fan of meat in rolls. I don't know, its like too chewy or something. From the sushi standpoint, the hiragama (Australian yellow tail) was pretty good, and the salmon was tender, but not Chin-level impressive.

The best part of the evening was when I got Brian to try amaebi, the raw sweet shrimp. Personally, I love it because I think regular ebi is just too bland.

Brian started chewing it, making a funny/squishy face. Thinking he was finished, I told him how its prepared.

"So, the shrimp are still alive when they prepare the amaebi. What they do is they take off the heads and throw them in the deep fryer, and then clean and push the shrimp onto the rice. The shrimp is still squirming when it first goes on the rice."

Well, he wasn't finished chewing. No, he didn't like it, and apparently, "the story didn't help." I felt tremendously guilty as I watched him chew for the next 10 minutes, as he couldn't bear to swallow it. Finally he washed it down with some crab legs, and we bolted out of there.

Oops.

All in all, Tokyo Go-Go - ok, but, as with most nice restaurants I try, not worth the price. Sitting next to a table of hipsters didn't help, either. If you're jonesing for some good sushi, head to Chin's. And say hi to Herman for me while you're at it.