Those Gluttonous Americans

Click on the pic to get a larger view of the restaurant.
I went to RuSan's last night with my brother Will. RuSan's is one of those trendy little places that are not in the greatest location and to look at from the outside are a little questionable. But once you walk inside and see the frenzied bustle of the chefs behind the sushi bar, the anime on the TVs and hear the heart pumping techno music, you feel you have joined a secret club of eaters in the know. I describe RuSan's this way because every time I go there there is a line of cool-looking young professional types waiting to get in. (The pic I have here was taken as we were leaving and crowd had dwindled) There is no and I mean no where to wait except outside because every possible space in this small strip mall location is full of happily eating people. And on Friday as we stood outside looking into the windows watching the lusty eaters we became even more hungry and excited about the delicious meal that awaited us. We live an hour away and eat there every 4 to 6 months so we had a game plan of how to take in as much of what we loved there as we could.

We opted for the sushi bar because we wanted to be seated as quickly as possible. Typically I prefer the bar because you get to watch the sushi chefs speedily at work and feel the heat of the fryer as batches of tempera are continually being made.
But just like you should never go the grocery store hungry, you should never go to RuSan's in an overly food zealous state of mind and sit at the sushi bar. We had enough space for one plate in front of each of us but we ordered 5 plates worth of food. We knew we could handle it and when the first plate arrived we whole heartedly went to work eating. The first to arrive was our most favorite item there. The sinking Titantic. I can't tell you exactly what it is but I know it is tuna and cucumber and basil rolled in nori and rice then flash fried. It is put on an island (or iceberg) of grated carrot and celeriac in a sea of cirtusy liquid and it is perfect, perfect, perfect! If I had only eaten that I would have been happy, not quite full but with a happy feeling in my mouth to last a while. But we did not stop there Will ordered the Tempura dinner, I got a plate of assorted sushi, we ordered another special sushi roll called Fire cracker that came with a hot red sauce along one side of the plated dotted with a cooling yellow sauce. And then I got a plate of the teriyaki steak. We feasted until we were close to the black out point but it was worth it and we managed to have enough room since there was an empty seat beside me.
While I felt satiated and completely satisfied I also felt a tinge of embarassment. There was a older Japanese man sitting next to us enjoying a small plate of sushi and some saki. I noticed that as each plate was brought to us he would glance over to see what we were eating and I am sure he thought we were greedy little pigs. Since I think of myself as a smart eater, one who seeks quality over quantity amid America's supersize love affair, I hated looking like a gluttonous American. Will and I barely even spoke the whole meal except to say, "You care if I take the last piece?"
I wanted to tell the stranger, looking in on our meal that I only eat there once in a Blue Moon and I had to fit several months worth of RuSan's into this one evening, but I didn't. I just kept on eating, silently hoping he could gather on his own that this was one of those wonderful moments in life when a meal is perfect and the company comfortable enough to let the conversation lull as you both just eat and enjoy it.