Tough times, literally

On our previous visit to Sushi ko we were quite impressed and enjoyed the experience immensely. We thought it a good time to revisit Sushi ko for dinner one recent evening.

Dad and I came early so there were only a couple other parties in the restaurant. It was clean and quiet and the service was prompt. My meal came with a miso soup, which came out promptly. The soup stock tasted great, but I was swishing around the bowl looking for the usual ingredients. There were only two very tiny cubes of tofu and a small piece of wakame inside. Miso is cloudy, so it wasn't as though they were trying to be decorative. When I finished the soup, the Chirashi Don that I ordered came out and looked gorgeous in its lacquer bowl.

The trouble began when I dipped my chopsticks down through the fish to grab a little rice. Clunk! The wooden sticks ran into something that wasn't giving way. There was a layer of nori (laver seaweed) on top of the rice. Putting sheet nori on rice in obentos (decorative lunchbox meals) is not uncommon in Japan, but they use TENDER nori sheets that are not a problem to break apart with your chopsticks. These were like old nori, where they've been kept in the cupboard too long and turned leather-like (yes, this is what happens to nori kept too long). Then, when I finally got to the rice, it was not sushi rice, just plain. I found myself obsessed with trying to taste the sweet sour vineagar and rice wine tang with every bite. Not a recipe for enjoying your meal. The only time I tasted a little tang was the small spot of rice under the ginger, and we know it wasn't because of it being sushi rice. The fish and seafood topping was fresh -- that's the only good thing other than the pretty appearance than can be said for this disappointing dish.

Dad had the Chicken Teriyaki entree which came with salad. Dad was obviously having a difficult time chewing the chicken. I noticed he had bitten into one end and was pulling hard with a fork on the other. The bottom line is that it was TOUGH. If you are squeamish, stop here. I kid you not, this is what happened next. I look down and when I look up, Dad is asking "Did I forget to put in my teeth?". My mind started racing as I see that his upper lip is sunk in, with no teeth to hold its shape! I was sure that he had his full set in when we left the house! Did he swallow them - oh no- oh he couldn't have, he'd be choking! I said lamely, "Are you sure that your uppers aren't in there somewhere? I mean really, how could a denture plate hide itself somewhere else in his mouth! Then he said, "Oh here, I've found them" as he puts his fork on the salad and pulls something toward him. Yes, there his teeth were, nested atop of the salad pearly side up with a stringy piece of chicken strip laying in the hollow! Oh the perils of eating out with the elderly! Someday I'm going to write a post on the traps that restaurants inadvertantly set, blocks to the ability of older people to enjoy a dinner out.

Now given our experience tonight, with my Dad muttering all the way home, "That's the toughest bird I ever ate", I can't imagine coming back in the near future. However, we had quite the opposite experience the previous visit, so all hope is not lost. I'll just have to get this visit out of my mind first...

Restaurant Inspection Results
Critical: 0
Noncritical: 3
Last inspected: 11/25/2008

Previously reviewed:
January 13, 2007