California and Philadelphia rolls are, as their names suggest, as American as apple pie. But that was 32 years ago. Since then, in sushi bars from New York to Boston to Boulder, Yukiji has mastered the art of American-style sushi. If Japango's sushi list reads like an ode to America, it is a lovely, mouthwatering one, a page-long tribute to our freshest and finest. Yukiji shakes his head slowly and smiles.
Some people are kind of afraid.
That's why the cooked shrimp. I don't know why. His fingers are quick, nimble, unfaltering. They don't stop moving for as much as a half-second while Sakai delivers an impromptu account of sushi's long history. Surprisingly, the first sushi came from China and it wasn't raw, he says.