ok, I’m writing about food, and specifically about sushi, yet again. Specifically because I had a sushi craving tonight that was not only unfulfilled, but the attempted salvation backfired.
The Jewel location in Highland Park used to make pretty good supermarket sushi. They had a sushi chef onsite, and it seemed like he was always there (like 7 days a week always, which probably wasn’t so much fun for him). They seemed to be doing a pretty good business.
One day, it disappeared, to be replaced with prepackaged, made-days-ago-a-thousand-miles-away “sushi”. Two kinds only, “California” roll (with no cucumber nor avocado) and a shrimp tempura roll. Yuck.
The stated reason for this was “sesame allergy”. Apparently, someone on staff (or a customer?) complained of sesame problems, and OSHA or whomever shut the sushi bar down. This makes no sense to me — there are dozens of other sushi bars in the area, happily using sesame seeds and sesame oil in their sushi, but I digress. The Jewel insisted they would be returning to their regularly scheduled sushi program, but it’s been months, with no change. Other nearby supermarkets offer alternatives — including the great new Garden Fresh Supermarket along the Edens Expressway just south of Lake-Cook Road.
So, instead, I’m stuck. If I go in there, or for that matter, Trader Joe’s, I have to deal with this crappy, tasteless, mushy, imitation sushi. But sometimes, you get so desperate, you’ll take anything that has rice in a black vegetative-like wrap. Which is what happened today — but won’t happen again. Vote to ban fake sushi at Chicago-area supermarkets, vote now!