Searching for Sushi

Big Red and I have been on a hunt to find good sushi in our steel city town for the past three years.When we lived in California, we found and fell in love with a little place called Fusion. It was a short drive, we're talking like 10 minutes, from our apartment and it was reasonably priced. The sushi was really good. It probably wasn't top shelf quality, I'm no seasoned food critic here, but it was well worth every penny we spent. And we spent many a penny there. We knew going into Fusion that the service would be forgettable at best and the ambiance mediocre. We also knew we could stuff ourselves silly with delicious sushi and get out of there for well under $100, tax and tip included.

Since we arrived in our steel town, we have yet to find something similar. A quick search reveals several places but the reviews are always mixed. After reading post after post about this place or that, I sent out an email to friends who are local, putting out an APB and a plea for some sushi referrals. One friend named a place we'd already tried but with which we ended up being dissatisfied. They didn't even serve alcohol for crying out loud! I'm no booze-hound, but Big Red loves a Sapporo when he's dining on sushi. I like a glass of wine myself. A couple other friends had some good suggestions and after cross-referencing their nominees with sites that offer extensive reviews, I narrowed it down to two places.

My last criteria: location. The winner would be the joint that was closest to us, because if we liked it, we wanted to know we could go in at the drop of a hat. The winner: Sakura. Wednesday, July 13, is our wedding anniversary. 4 years ago we said I Do in a glass chapel overlooking the Pacific ocean on a storybook day. We're going to give Sakura a try Wednesday night.

The picture above was taken at Shintaro, the restaurant where we dined in Las Vegas on our honeymoon. The meal was super pricey, but excellent. We're not looking for that. We don't need excellent on a daily basis. We need good. We need sushi that tastes delicious and doesn't bore a hole in our retirement portfolios. I've got two fingers crossed that Sakura will be our Fusion of the East.

I'll let you know how it goes.