Chirashi Cravings

Despite living right next to a sushi restaurant, I can go for months without having sushi. Then, all of a sudden, I go on a sushi binge. This time, I didn't simply crave sushi, but chirashi. Do not confuse it with sriracha! Sriracha is the Asian hot sauce, and chirashi is a fish-and-sushi rice dish. The reason I love chirashi is that you get plain fresh fish without any sauces to hide its taste. If the fish is not the best quality, you'll notice it right away. And I prefer chirashi to sashimi or nigiri because you do get some fix-ins in terms of vegetables. Plus, there's plenty of rice to fill you up if you're really hungry.

In the last couple of weeks I had chirashi from two different places: Zuma at Toco Hill and Sushi Itto. I've been to Zuma multiple times, trying many of the rolls and the bento box, but this was the first time ordering chirashi. It came in a HUGE bowl with the sushi rice completely covered by lettuce and then the sashimi on top. The fish selection consisted mostly of tuna and salmon, with a few pieces of white fish mixed in. While the fish was fresh, eating it was a little challenging because of all the lettuce.

In contrast, the chirachi at Sushi Itto is exactly what I want from chirashi: mostly sashimi and rice, with a few vegetables for crunch. And look at how pretty it looked!! I almost didn't want to eat it. Almost ;) The fish (tuna, salmon, what I guess was tuna belly and white tuna) was sooooo good and fresh. It all just melted in your mouth. I don't love salmon, but I couldn't get enough of the salmon in the bowl. And despite it being sliced so thin, there was a substantial amount of fish in there. My only tiny complaint about this dish was that it was hard to squeeze the small lime slices. But who cares about limes when there's delicious fish to enjoy?!?!

So how exactly do you eat chirashi? I'm sure everyone has their opinion about what is THE right way. I say, stop worrying too much about being proper and just enjoy the dish. Unless, of course, you're trying to impress some native Japanese people for some reason ;) In which case, don't order the chirashi ;) Anyway, I like to mix all the ingredients, bipimbop-style. I also add some soy sauce to the rice. I don't spread the wasabi around the bowl because I can take wasabi only in tiny fractions. Instead, I add just a little bit of wasabi to a side bowl with soy sauce and use it for dipping any bites that might need a little more soy sauce. Another common way to eat chirashi is to alternate fish and rice bites, dipping each in a side bowl of soy sauce. Someone likened this way to eating Thanksgiving dinner: you don't shove turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes in your mouth all at once; instead you take a bite of each in turns. I guess I like the mixture of textures I get from mixing fish, veggies and rice, so I'll keep using my method :)