From: js@MINOS.NMT.EDU (John Shipman)
Newsgroups: ba.food
Subject: We Be Sushi, Sunnyvale (review)
Date: 17 Aug 92 23:45:45 GMT

Before I review "We Be Sushi," I would like to reminisce
about how I got my sushi education.  Please be patient, this
*does* bear on the review.

I was introduced to Japanese food at Azuma in Cupertino
(near the Sears end of Vallco, fronting on Stevens Creek) in
1972 by co-workers at HP.  This was a pioneering Japanese
restaurant (and still excellent).  Not long afterwards my
friend Falline convinced me to try their "nigiri sushi"
assortment.  My initial reaction, of course, was "are you
kidding?  RAW FISH?"  However, once I tried it I liked
everything...well, almost everything.

One day the waitress took my order for nigiri and asked me,
do you want regular or special?  The difference is that the
special nigiri had two pieces of uni (sea urchin roe) on it.
I ate the first one, then gagged down the second one quickly
before I could think about it.  As I sat there feeling a bit
green, the waitress came back and asked me how I liked uni.

"Uh, it tasted like low tide."

"Ah, very good, I am so glad you liked it!"

I was trying to tell her that I did NOT like it, but she
apparently took my reply as a poetic kind of compliment.  A
very interesting commentary on how aesthetics may differ
between cultures, neh?

But Azuma didn't have a sushi *bar* then, just the nigiri
plate on the menu.  Later on, about 1975, I started going to
real sushi bars.  There was an itamae-san (sushi chef) that
Falline and I met back then.  He seemed to have several
different names, but most of the older sushi chefs in the
valley will recognize the name Kaziyoshi-san.  We followed
him as he changed his place of employment more than once, to
two places in Cupertino and eventually at the newly opened
Fuki Sushi in Palo Alto, where he trained Toshi-san (who is
still there).

At that time Kaziyoshi-san had been cutting sushi for about
thirty years, and he introduced us to a number of dishes
that are not usually found on the menu.  For example, "saba
gari", a handroll made with mackerel and pickled ginger,
still one of my favorites.  Another was "usu zukuri", which
consists of shiromi (white-fleshed fish like halibut or
snapper) cut into very thin slices and served with ponzu
sauce (rice wine, rice vinegar, chopped scallion and minced
preserved red pepper), which is a nice change from all the
types of fish eaten with soy sauce.

Eventually Kaziyoshi-san left Fuki.  We heard that he was
working somewhere in the City.  We missed his expertise and
his sense of humor very much.

And now, back to We Be Sushi---remember them?  A friend
suggested this place because it was REALLY CHEAP and the
sushi was pretty good.  So last week I called up my friend
and partner in sushi snarfing, Falline, and suggested we try
it.

We walked in, and there, resplendent in his new skinhead
coiffure, was our old friend Kaziyoshi-san!  Of course the
fish was great.  The prices were not to be believed, either.
If Falline and I went to Fuki and pigged out on sushi, the
tab would probably run well over $80.  At Motomachi it would
probably be more like $55.  We have been to We Be Sushi
twice now and have yet to break $30---that's the total, not
per each.  (We drink only tea, so figure more if you like
sake.)  This is for a large meal of sushi, roughly a dozen
pieces each.

This is one of four We Be Sushi restaurants; the other three
are in the City.  I believe Kaziyoshi-san may be the owner,
or at least the manager, of this branch; his charming wife
waits tables.

There is a story behind the name of the chain.  They were
about to open under the name of McSushi, when McGuess McWho
shows up with a phalanx of lawyers claiming that they have
exclusive rights to McAnything-to-do-with-food.  So they put
up sheets of butcher paper and asked for suggestions from
passersby.  The back of the menu has some of the funnier
rejected alternatives, e.g., She Sells Sushi By the Seashore
and If You Knew Sushi.

Due to my longtime association with, and deep affection for,
the famous Kaziyoshi-san, I am particularly interested in
comments from anyone else on this place.  Please e-mail me
or post to ba.food if any of you try it.

WARNING.  You must pay COLD HARD CASH.  They do not take
plastic or even checks.

Directions: Traveling on El Camino in Sunnyvale towards San
Jose, turn right on Remington and right again into the
shopping center.  We Be Sushi is the second storefront on
your left.

John Shipman (john@nmt.edu)