February 1: Sushi

I found it! I found the restaurant I've been looking for. A sushi restaurant just the way I imagined it. A long, oval bar where the jovial chefs cut fish and -- this is crucial -- call hello, goodbye, and thank you to every customer, while smiling and bantering the rest of the time. Between the chefs and the guests ran a conveyor belt covered in overlapping plates of sushi for a dollar apiece. Sheer heaven.

And all the food was just the perfect amount of exotic. Slightly different from what I'm used to, but still recognizable. My beloved quails eggs came atop a thoroughly unidentifiable white froth that I don't really want to think about, and there weren't, weirdly enough, any California Rolls, which are another of my favorites. But there was tender seared tuna, sweet unagi on squares of rice, cooked crab and romaine rolls, hamachi, thinly sliced beef, shrimp tempura rolls, and best of all, a whole serve-yourself vat of pickled ginger sitting on the bar. I stuffed myself silly for $10. Did I mention heaven?