Nigiri Sushi
Shake (SHA-kay)
Fresh salmon
Some restaurants use smoked salmon; others offer it fresh and smoked. Eat it fresh if they have it.
Toro
Fatty tuna
Delicious but expensive; expect to pay up from $10 per piece
Kampachi
Japanese yellowtail
A bit hard to find; not every restaurant offers it
Waloo
Hawaiian angel fish
Incredible, melt-in-your-mouth texture and complex flavor; an excellent choice to try if you’re new to sushi
Tai
Red snapper
May appear in some menus as pargo or huachinango (Mexican names)
Binjo or Shiromaguro
Fatty albacore
Delicious when eaten with ponzu sauce and some green onion
Iwashi
Sardine
Delicate, melt-in-your-mouth texture and flavor; the itamae will usually deep fry the sardine’s skeleton and serve it alongside the iwaashi
Ebi
Cooked shrimp
Masago Capelin caviar Tiny, tiny fish eggs; do not confuse with tobiko, though the flavour is similar; tobiko eggs are larger
Tobiko
Flying fish caviar
Masago and tobiko are brighg orange and delicious
Mentaiko
Spicy cod caviar
Bright red, spicy with added pepper; originally from Korea, now part of every well-stocked sushiya
Katsuo
Bonito
A special kind of migrating tuna; delicious and a bit expensive, and available only in a few place throughout the summer
Hirame
Halibut
Don’t eat hirame from the San Francisco Bay; rumor has it that you get your yearly dosage of mercury out of a couple of nigiri pieces
Unagi
Fresh water eel
One of the most delicious fish you ever tasted; served grilled, with a bit of teriyaki sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds
Anago
Sea water eel
Similar to unagi; eat only if unagi isn’t available
Awabi
Abalone
Hard to find and expensive; if possible, eat in sashimi instead of nigiri
Hotate
Scallop
Eat it only if it’s fresh; ask the itamae
Ka-Kani
Hairy crab
Exotic and expensive; hard to find outside of Japan
Tamago
Hen egg omelette
Eat only if made in-premises; you’ll give your itamae a chance to show off; sushi chefs pride themselves on making good tamago, and each has his own “special recipe”
Amaebi no tama
Raw fresh shrimp (fresh = alive just seconds before being served) and its caviar
Seldom found; the roe is raw, unlike ikura or tobiko which always undergo some preparation
Engawa
Halibut fin muscle
Very hard to find. One of the most delicious fish you can order; some people find it a bit on the chewy side, although it’s not as chewy as takko (octopus)
Makisushi
All ingredients are listed from the inside out.
Tekkamaki
Tuna, rice, nori
Originally invented as a snack eaten at gambling parlors (tekka); think of it as a distant Japanese cousin of the sandwich
Kappamaki
Fresh cucumber, rice, nori
Named after Kappa, a water goblin in the Japanese mythology; Kappa is very fond of cucumbers
Umekyu
Cucumber, plum paste, rice, nori
Eat it as the last entree because of the pungent flavour of the plum taste
Walmartdotcomaki
Maguro, shake, suppo, hamachi wrapped in fresh turnip
Simple, delicious roll found in the last place on Earth where you’d expect to find amazing sushi
Special roll
Unagi, mango, avocado, rice, goma (sesame seeds), shake/maguro/hamachi, tobiko, two kinds of chef-made mayonnaise, a few bacon bits on the plate; shoyu and mayonnaise make the splash pattern on the plate
Nobody knows for sure what goes into this one; found at Sushi House in San Bruno, CA; one of the most delicious rolls ever; careful if you find it, though: it’s a meal in itself so don’t plan on eating much else if you order it
California roll
Crab, mayonnaise, avocado (some times), nori, rice, sesame seeds, tobiko
It’s okay if there are no other choices from this list
Rainbow rolls
All kinds of ingredients
Each itamae has his own recipe
Caterpillar or dragon roll
Similar to rainbow roll but the ingredients are on the outside
Both of these rolls usually involve avocado; avocados, not tomatoes, became part of the sushi tradition via its California newfound roots; avocados are now used on both sides of the Pacific Ocean
Spicy spider roll
Soft shell crag, organic multi-grain rice, nori, ink soy paper, and a fried river crab as decoration
Specialty from Juni in San Francisco – not found elsewhere
Tempura roll
Shrimp tempura, rice, nori
The wimpy version of the spider roll; order only if the spider roll isn’t available
