Cherry Blossom - Seattle (Dexter Avenue N.)

The inaugural review is for one of my local sushi places.

Cherry Blossom is apparently something of a chain, with outposts in Everett and Mukilteo. Their Seattle location is just north of Mercer and Dexter, ostensibly on the eastern-most corner of lower Queen Anne, but really on the fringes of southwest Lake Union.

Happy Hour: Cherry Blossom offers all of their appetizers for 1/2 price between 3-6. Most of these appetizers are tempura-based, ranging from $5-9 regular ($2.50 to $4.50 during HH), although they put out a decent sized edamame for $2 ($4 regular). Their well drinks, draft beers, and wines are also half price during happy hour.

I tried the seafood tempura sampler ($4 during HH, $8 regular). The tempura batter is competent but not particular memorable, but the fish inside is fresh, substantial and utterly delicious. The dipping sauce is nearly perfect: not too sweet, not too salty, not too heavy, and utterly complementary. Although I don't go to sushi joints for tempura, it is worth at least one order during happy hour.

Along the lines of that subject, their miso soup (I didn't specifically order it, but perhaps it comes with a meal ordered at happy hour?) is better than average, if for no other reason than they serve it scalding hot, and it has all the right flavors of a good miso soup. Their edamame, which I did order, is likewise hot, capable, and well seasoned, which is exceedingly rare for some Seattle sushi joints. I know a lot of people think it impossible to screw up edamame, and others who, like me, think of it as the chips and salsa, or bread and butter, before a (Japanese) meal. I am in the "you can screw up edamame" camp and, having spoken to many sushi chefs, know exactly how this is done (usually overcooking in old, dirty water), so I tend to appreciate a fresh, hearty, well-seasoned bowl.

I ordered the Spider Roll sushi combination, which nets you six pieces of sushi (all day price of $17), including the ubiquitous Spider Roll, and salmon (sake), tuna (maguro), albacore tuna (shiro maguro), yellowtail (hamachi), "white fish" (usually striped sea bass) and shrimp, although they granted my request to substitute fresh water eel (unagi) for the shrimp.

The Spider Roll, while tasty, had both the hot, deep fried snow crab and the cold crab found in California rolls. Cherry Blossom doesn't use the krab (imitation surimi) version, but the roll would be better without the cold crab, and also should lose half of the sweet sauce. Many people order this roll for the contrast in texture, but don't want the distraction of a sweet mouthful when eating it with sashimi or nigiri.

As for the sushi, the salmon (sake) at Cherry Blossom is fantastic - fresh, thick, buttery, melt in your mouth goodness, with just the right amount of texture. Likewise, the yellowtail is fantastic - another sizeable and fresh, well executed cut, as is the strangely alluring "white fish" (striped sea bass with a dollup of black fish roe). The unagi is also of a substantial cut and expert preparedness, with just the right amount of sweet drizzle on it. The only disappointment here was the tuna, whose texture was just shy of frozen and wasn't well cut or seasoned.

All told, Cherry Blossom is the kind of place that I both love and fear. Love because I can get in there any night of the week and get served immediately, and fear because it might not find its customer base, given the strange location and lack of accolades. They have parking, happy hour, fresh fish and great prices, but no high powered publicist, and I don't know if they have cultivated the power of word of mouth.

Here is hoping (and fearing) that they do.

The Rules on Reviews

While I am not a Rules girl, I am going to adhere to a few essential guidelines, and also qualify my opinions.

First, I won't post an opinion for a free meal or any other consideration. I love a free lunch more than the next girl, but I am not looking to jump into the business of professional restaurant reviews. Quite frankly, I am not qualified. Also, I won't post an opinion without having been there at least three times.

I am not a chef - I am in an entirely different profession, and one that also required years of education and experience. I learned to cook about five years ago, and that remains a very generous description of my competence as even a home cook. But about three years ago, I discovered the fun of experimentation, both at home and as a seasoned restaurant orderer, and suddenly, all those things I would never buy at the grocery story or order at a restaurant became intriguing.

I worked in Seattle restaurants for seven years as a server, in dining establishments ranging from a neighborhood deli, to Ray's Boathouse, to Daniel's Broiler. In all of that time, I never paid much attention to the work of the kitchen. They were the bane of my existence - long wait times, screwed up platters, seemingly indifferent and hostile to the hard work of the front of the house.

I wish like hell I could revisit all of those years and see it from the other side. I wish, just once, I had gone in early to watch them prepare their mise en place. I didn't even know that term during all of the years I worked the front of the house. All I saw was stale, dried out parsley in a tin container. Most of my executive chefs were aloof, arrogant and again, hostile to the front of the house. It is only now, after seven years in an entirely different profession, but still with the love of eating other people's food, that I realize how ignorant I was.

I wish that I had eaten the chef prepared special of the day - given to servers so they could sell it - with a mind to what was really on the plate. I never did - I was usually hungry for a bite and just wanted to be able to describe it with a modicum of accuracy. This place is where I sort of atone for that. Maybe you can't have it all at once, but by the time I am fish food or, preferably, annoying ashes on some ski slope, I will have understood the profession that sort of defined my defining years.

Final word about my preferences. I was the pickiest eater as a child, and although I have excised most of them, some habits die hard. I like condiments as complements, not additives. I have a list of food I don't like, which I am trying to overcome. This list includes most common mushrooms (they were fungus as a kid and are still troublesome to me now), olives (love the flavor, not the taste of them whole), most vinagered or pickled things (many exceptions here and more coming), and, this one is big, I don't particularly like sweet things.

There is probably a whole other post coming about what certain food likes to be (e.g. potatoes like to be hot, fruits like to be cold), but I am serving up this disclaimer because opinions are indeed like assholes, in that everyone has them, and if you are someone who loves teriyaki chicken with fried pineapples and sauteed mushrooms, with a side of pickled pickles, I am not your girl. If you look at the dessert menu first, I am not your girl. Also, an English major with a strong aversion to the occasional run on sentence? I apologize to you and your mental health for future offenses.

But mainly, if you are someone who would never go to a restaurant (or movie) by yourself, I am absolutely not your girl. I am oddly empowered by going to someplace by myself, and worse, I don't even notice your judgmental eyes.

This is the inaugural post of this here humble blog.

I have several motivations and intentions, but I am going to start with restaurant reviews. In particular, I am going to chronicle my visits to happy hours in Seattle, probably starting with the sushi joints as a jumping off place.

Not many people go to bars alone, let alone women, and let alone during happy hour. Think of it as a very obscure independent film, and we'll see if it gets a larger audience.

I also have pretty strong opinions about Seattle, its politics, and our place in the country, and I also occasionally overshare about unrelated personal shit, but I'll keep the latter to a minimum. If I start posting dog pictures, I am having a bad week, or just had some truly shitty sushi.