i will have one okinawa raw fish ball with "fishu" sauce.. "what do you mean they don't cook their fish? they can't serve raw fish!" that question started an education into a whole new continent of the gustatory atlas. one i had not known existed. i had just been pulled out of vietnam and was stationed at camp hansen okinawa, now a prefecture of japan, then a united states protectorate. their cultural heritage was eclectic with mixes of korean, japanese, chinese and every other culture that ever put to sea in the south east asian waters.
the dialogue above came about when a couple of marines in my barracks got lost looking for vice and debauchery ending up in a small town that did not have a lot of military in it and was a working port town. cities that the marines sought out; especially the ones that they sought for liberty, have four essential industries, eating, whoring, drinking and pawning. i believe there were establishments where you could do all four under the same roof and be billed on the same check. "here is your bill jar head-san; one short time, two orion beers and a champagne cocktail, stir fried rice with pork and you will be using your watch and a canned ham from the usa in payment. i will be back with your change and please visit us again." canned hams were gold in both vietnam and okinawa, but i digress.
upon further questioning, my barracks mates maintained they got lost and ended up in the town of heshikiya. they described a place that was not especially welcoming to marines, (wearing civilian clothing did not make us blend in), and they had maybe a hundred little street venders along the seafront selling everything from handkerchiefs to food and one of those little stands sold, "raw fish rolled in seaweed and dipped in soy sauce that tasted like hell". i later found out the sauce was fish sauce.
with a description like that who wouldn't want to rush to heshikiya and try some? as far-fetched as it sounds, i do not believe i had heard of sushi in 1970. i was born in the south and lived there until age seven. where i was born, the central cooking philosophy was, "if you want it to taste good fry it. if you want to make it better add bacon." then we moved to the central ohio area and i learned about corn-on-the-cob, cube steaks, cheese whiz and bridge mix. if you wanted oriental you went to howard johnson's and ordered the chow mein.
back in heshikiya, okinawa it took several trips to find this one little food stand, (even though there was no stand, just a blanket on the ground with bowls of different stuff including fish and a wooden board), that sold what i later learned was sushi. my friend and i tried some and it was not as disgusting as either of us expected. i don't know what it was but it was not disgusting. we toured the bustling waterfront and got a chance to see the industry of the waterfront while long, thin water taxi's unload people, chickens, turkeys and on one boat two huge bulls. those bulls were not caged, or in the special livestock section because there was none, but right in the isle between seats full of people, kids and your ordinary livestock. this was one of those times when you realize how far from columbus ohio okinawa is.
as we were getting ready to leave, we decided to swing by and try another "okinawa raw fish ball" and we lingered a bit and tried some of the different sauces, as there were four or five. one tasted very fishy and i asked using the universal word for fish, "fishu?" along with a wiggling hand movement, and the vender nodded the universal "yes" and held up a bottle that i could not read but had a picture of a fish and some crabs on it. i took that for the universal sign for "fish sauce".
that was my very first introduction to the sushi experience but not my last.
recently my wife and i and a couple we often go out with, went to ronin asian bistro for a mother's day celebration. this year has been a mother for all of us and we wanted to celebrate. we chose ronin because of a recommendation from another friend. we are happy we went there.
the bistro is located in dublin and is not easy to spot as it is tucked into the "elbow" of an "l" shaped strip mall near tuttle. it is a modern, open and clean setting and was well lighted. as i age, murky lighting is not so romantic as it once was. they serve liquor, wine, beer, (domestic and asian) and saki. there is a sushi bar, regular tables and booth seating, as well as patio seating. the service is immediate and attentive. it was obvious that english was not the primary language of the wait staff but with my proficiency in the "universal language" and speaking loudly, we had no problems. the ronin asian bistro has a full menu and it would be hard to imagine not being able to find something here.
as soon as we sat down we were served with edamame and the drink orders were taken. we took a long time going over the menu, as there are a lot of offerings and variations. we ordered eight rolls of which five were different. all were very good. my wife and the couple we were with had the vegetable spring rolls. they were served hot and crunchy and were flavorful. my wife had the sweet potato tempura that she rated as very good. it was crunchy on the outside and both sweet and savory inside. we had three different kinds of hand rolls; two california rolls, a vegas roll, and two funky rolls. each one was excellent, fresh and quite tasty. the presentation was superb.
i want to single out one menu item for special consideration. i had the tobiko. it is a roll with flying fish eggs (where i come from "roe") a piece of avocado, crab or fish, and heaped with flying fish eggs wrapped in nori (dried laver seaweed). i dearly love tobiko. when prepared well it is exquisite with crispness; a mild smoky and salty taste, with a crunchy texture where you can feel the little beads of roe pop under your teeth. it can also be a taste travesty and one of the worst sushi experiences i had was with tobiko. if not relatively fresh (almost 100% of tobiko is shipped to japan for processing and shipped back to the usa.), it will be sludgy, overwhelmingly fishy and even bitter. it is not a pleasant experience and in my case almost surely caused illness. but this was not a problem with ronin asian bistro.
their tobiko is crisp delicious and well presented. the nori is tightly wrapped and that is important when dealing with something as small and delicate as tobiko. the tobiko was in two colors, orange and black. tobiko is naturally orange but is often dyed with squid ink to make it black. the contrasting color, orange and black, adds to the presentation of the plate and does nothing to harm the taste. i heartily recommend the tobiko at ronin asian bistro.
this review has been great for my understanding of okinawa. when i checked to see what the sushi cultural tradition was on okinawa, i found that sushi is almost unheard of on okinawa even today. then i realized that heshikiya was the only place on okinawa that i ever saw one piece of anything resembling sushi. further investigation found that heshikiya is primarily a fishing port and the fishermen that put in there are the japanese fishing fleet. i was puzzled and just last night i suddenly made a connection. i wonder if that "food stand" was using the same business plan as the eatery in the capitol of okinawa, naha, that advertised "chicago pizza", or the place right outside the camp hansen gate that called itself "bergerking" (you may have to say it out loud to understand it) and offered a "hamberger" called the big whopper. serving tourists what they want is always a sound business strategy. go try them.