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Originally Posted by IcewindDude
However, I'd gladly slow down and have someone either explain to me what "good" or "bad" sushi tastes like or gives me an example of each. Such tastes have to be developed.
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The only "bad" I have encountered that was not simply a matter of an individual's taste preferences was when the fish was not as fresh as it should have been.... and the risk of dousing it with such strong flavors is that they can disguise what would otherwise clue you in that perhaps the fish should not be eaten.
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A chef being insulted by my tastes in food will get a strange look from me as well.
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I have insulted more than one itamae, and I tend to share your attitude up to a point. If I am paying for it, I will do as I damn well please with it before it goes in my mouth. If I appear stupid to the chef, so be it. But I also accept that a chef's guidance should be respected and I never season what one puts before me until after I have sampled it as the chef would prefer. Then I feel that my decision is at least better informed.
When I say I have insulted an itamae, there is a rather well respected one in north Texas that was peeved at me because I would not add his wasabi to my sashimi. I love wasabi, and his was the real stuff, grated as I watched. But his hamachi was also excellent and being a purist I did not want to disguise it in any way. I ate both - just not together. His response was an irritating, condescending, lecture about how to eat sashimi. I let him have his say, ate more of the wasabi (plain) and then finished my dinner without further interruption. I will not be back to his restaurant - not even for his wasabi, unless I am in a vindictive mood.