Thank you. That proves that sushi is officially over. Kind of like Cajun food when it was perverted into blackened anything or anything with a bunch of spices dumped in.
Never saw frozen maki in the Bay Area. There might be a riot.
On the other hand my three-year-old grandson’s favorite restaurant just north of Indianapolis does very good ramen. So move on, people.
Nihari is beef. Those who try and use other meats deserve the firing squad. :mad:
Hahahaha. That reminds me of a quote from American Dad. We get everything last here.
I haven’t tried many ramen places, I don’t know if you mean Kizuki in carmel.
Lifelong midwesterner - never noticed a shortage of sushi around these parts. They just used to brand it as “bait”! 
No, not a fan. Howdjaguess?
Heck as a kid I remember pizza being exotic in the Midwest!
[QUOTE=Broomstick;21511610DO NOT THAW IN REFRIGERATOR (it doesn’t say WHY not, so I dunno, maybe it explodes or turns to kryptonite or something)
…
Room Temperature Method:
Take desired number of pieces and place on plate. Cover and thaw for 2 hours.[/QUOTE]
Curious. I thought thawing anything at room temperature was a big no-no in terms of food safety.
And a microwave is the worst tool possible for defrosting-- I have no idea how defrosting things in the microwave became so common.
And yeah, you can get sushi all over the place now, but that doesn’t mean it’s good sushi, and with sushi, the difference between good and bad is a lot more significant than with most foods.
It’s fast. Besides the convenience factor, it’s also good for food safety because the food spends very little time in the “danger zone” (temperature range that promotes bacterial growth).
For two hours, it’s not a problem. The general food safety rule (which is conservative) states not to leave food in the temperature between 40 and 140 for more than two hours. If you want to be safe, you can take your time and defrost in the fridge, but even by USDA standards, the rule is not to leave food out of refrigeration for more than two hours (and one hour if it’s 90F or above.)
I’m think the “Don’t thaw in the fridge” rule is too prevent people from putting in the fridge, waiting too long, and then going “Oh it should be fine, it’s been in the fridge.”
I would just contend that everything is mainstream now. Transient populations have essentially made all of America one big glob. Regional and ethnic specialties confined to a small geographic area have largely either spread everywhere or they aren’t particularly good. There isn’t any food that you can get in say New York that you can’t get pretty much anywhere else. The day I saw ramps being the new ‘in food’ I knew that the world had died a little.
I’ve had the Aldi frozen sushi a few times. It’s OK, but a step down from grocery store sushi. I think the Philly Roll was my least favorite. I’ve also had a spicy crab roll and some kind of tempura roll, maybe shrimp. They are handy for a day when I don’t want to prep a lunch for work. Just take one out of the freezer and it’s thawed by lunch time. It seems to me that they get the sushi a couple times a year, and I’ve been getting it there at least a couple years now.
That’s the place. I’ve been there with them, pretty good. Especially for Indiana.
BTW, speaking of Cajun food, if you are near Carmel drop in to Mudbugs on Main Street. I go every time I visit my daughter. The owner is from Lafayette Louisiana, and the place is authentic. It is possible his wife was one of my students the one term I taught there. Maybe the best Cajun restaurant I’ve been to outside of Louisiana.
I haven’t tried mudbugs, but I’ve heard people recommend it. I tried Papa Roux but they closed down.
If you go tell him the guy who went to USL (University of Southwestern Louisiana) sent you. I suspect I’m his only customer who ever lived in Lafayette. The Louisiana one, that is.
Well, there’s sushi and there is sushi.
I’ve seen lots of 80s cookbooks and interviews with Japanese chefs who founded Canadian sushi restaurants. The fear of raw fish was real and widespread.
Most sushi restaurants here offer a wide variety of Japanese food, but the only decent sushi or sashimi is made with salmon. The worst tuna that I had in Japan was far better than what people eat here. The fatty tunas I had in Tokyo were the tastiest food I have had. If you could buy it here it, most people wouldn’t pay the high prices.
The “sad but true” fact is that most fish used for raw preparations of sushi are previously frozen before being thawed and used…and yes, even at high end restaurants.
But whole frozen rolls? Meh. I would think freezing would ruin the accoutrements flavors or textures, like the rice, any veggies, the seaweed sheets, etc.
Freezing fish that is to be served raw is an FDA recommendation in order to ensure any parasites are sufficiently destroyed. I, for one, am glad as anisakiasis doesn’t sound fun.
It is there, in Fayetteville Arkansas.
That is actually a legal requirement in some areas to prevent the spread of parasites in raw fish. Federal regulations, in fact, stipulate that raw fish served in the United States must undergo freezing. If that impairs the sushi experience, well, purists can just fly themselves to Japan. Or find someplace that ignores the law (but then you have to wonder about what else they might be ignoring…) To my mind it’s rather like people who claim pasteurization “ruins” milk - maybe, but getting a nasty disease from raw milk, which used to happen far too often, can ruin your entire life. Does there exist safe raw milk? Yes - but you have to do a lot picking and choosing and there’s still a non-zero risk (well, that’s true of food in general). Does there exist safe raw never-frozen fish? Yes - but the same rules apply.
Professional, commercial grade freezing techniques are as far removed from your kitchen freezer as modern racing car is from your 10 year old sedan you use to put-put around your neighborhood.
Even in Japan sashimi might have undergone freezing at some point.
Were they as wonderful as freshly made Philly rolls in a good restaurant? No. But neither was the frozen steak merlot I had last night as wonderful as a freshly prepared version of the dish, either. That doesn’t make either terrible.
I wouldn’t say they were “ruined”, but they weren’t spectacular, either. Then again, they were a lot cheaper than what you’d get freshly prepared in a restaurant, too. Whether or not Aldi’s frozen sushi is worthy your time/money is up to you, as always YMMV.