OH SUSHI YOU'RE SO FINE, YOU'RE SO FINE YOU BLOW MY MIND!

Hey Sushi! (Clap! Clap!)

Sushi used to be my favorite food. I discovered the delectability of raw fish and sticky rice in high school, before it was a ubiquitous lunch staple and readily available in supermarkets. I then entered an extended Sushi Period for about eight years, spending more time and money on uncooked sea creatures and malleable dabs of green wasabi than any girl ought to.

And then, one day, approximately 1 year ago, I just GOT SICK OF SUSHI. I'd overdone it.

But tonight I CRAVED sushi! I just NEEDED TO EAT IT!
So I did.
I am SO GOOD TO MYSELF!

I partook of my sushi dinner at a little place in my neighborhood called Ginger. It's on 1st Avenue between 6th and 7th Street, and while its ambience is all over the place and its proprietor appears to be an entirely caucasian middle-aged man, its sushi is ON POINT! In the interest of protecting my foodie integrity, I actually didn't eat any "sushi". I only ordered a couple of apps and some special "maki" rolls, but I'm not going to douche out on semantics on this blog, so I ask you not to, either.

Anyway, Ginger's special maki rolls are the tits and a half! I had one called The Dolce Banana, which is spicy tuna, crispy flakes, and BANANA! Believe me this is 100% delicious. Wowzers! I would never ordinarily combine tuna, banana, and mystery flakes, but when Ginger does it and charges $6 for it, I am ON BOARD. I also had the The Hot Wire, which is Yellowtail with jalapenos and tobiko. I don't remember what tobiko is, probably because it didn't seem to make an appearance in the roll. This roll really brought the HEAT, earning its nomenclature. Those were REAL jalapenos in there! NICE ONE, Ginger! Thank you for NOT UNDERESTIMATING my ability to take a little punishment with my pleasure. Next up, the S&M, a sexy-sounding and sexy-tasting spicy mango shrimp roll with an erotic dollop of pink mayonnaise...called tobiko. Right. That's what tobiko is. This roll made me feel dirty, but only because its shrimp was really very traif. I finished up the roll portion of the evening with the Red Head, an eel, avocado, and crispy flake roll topped with spicy tuna. This was probably my favorite roll, more due to texture than taste, as nothing beat the Dolce. I'm a mouth-feel gal; what can I say?

Will you be grossed out if I mention that I also had THREE appetizers before hitting those rolls? Well, I did. I started with something called a Wasabi Breeze, which tasted much more awesome than its name implies. It was julienned squid and cucumber in a perfectly spicy wasabi dressing, served in a cocktail glass. CLASSY, Ginger! THEN I cleansed my palate with some cold watercress in sesame dressing. A little heavy on the sesame dressing, but fresh and tasty nonetheless. The sesame dressing had a burnt nuttiness to it that was actually pleasant; sometimes when I get something that promises the taste of sesame I instead experience something sweet and cloying. AND THEN I had the piece d'resistence: sauteed mushrooms. Sounds simple, tastes INCREDIBLE! It was basically assorted mushrooms sauteed with plenty of garlic, wine, and butter, and served at the absolute correct temperature: HOT. I like my hot food hot and my cold food cold, except in the case of my maki rolls, which I like slightly cooler than room temperature. Raw fish shouldn't be cold -- it should have the heat of having been fondled by Japanese hands. Ginger gets this right. AGAIN!

And here's one final line from the mind of Ms. Captain Obvious: I really loved my dinner tonight!
Sigh...
I'm very lucky.