Sushi Prepared on a Printer

Ant writes " The New York Times talks about Homaro Cantu's maki, it looks a lot like the sushi rolls served at other upscale restaurants: pristine, coin-size disks stuffed with lumps of fresh crab and rice and wrapped in shiny nori. They also taste like sushi, deliciously fishy and seaweedy. But the sushi made by Mr. Cantu, the 28-year-old executive chef at Moto in Chicago, often contains no fish. It is prepared on a Canon i560 inkjet printer rather than a cutting board. He prints images of maki on pieces of edible paper made of soybeans and cornstarch, using organic, food-based inks of his own concoction. Then, Homaro flavors the back of the paper, which is ordinarily used to put images onto birthday cakes, with powdered soy and seaweed seasonings."

Comments

Sushi Fishy.

[shic]

I was informed a while ago (to my surprise) that Sushi doesn't necessarily contain fish. I now understand that Sushi relates to the seasoning of rice and the style of presentation - typically with Nori (seaweed).

[Tell me if I'm wrong and you're the CEO of Sony or similar!]

I live in chicago

[squarefish]

and although the place sounds interesting, it's way too outside the budget I need for a feeding.

here's an review I found that sums it up:
[ ]For the past decade restaurants have gone to great lengths--showy food, exposed kitchens, gimmicky menus--to add drama to their dining rooms. But when the theatrics overshadow the food, a restaurant and its diners are in trouble. At Market District newcomer MOTO, the show starts with waitstaff dressed in black lab coats, continues with aromatherapeutic flatware threaded with sprigs of fresh herbs (listed as a course on the menu!), and hits a peak when servers approach the table with six-inch syringes to inject a single rice ball with sweet-and-sour sauce. And if you think Charlie Trotter's servings are small, wait till you see what chef Homaro Cantu calls a salad: a teaspoon of tiny spinach gelatin cubes and another of frisee. A bite-size portion of scallops came sitting atop a plastic box (constructed by Cantu himself), where a small but tasty filet of black bass was steaming in "Pacific Oceanic products" (water FedExed in from the Pacific). If the minuscule portions of white-truffle ice-cream spaghetti and smoked-watermelon soup tasted good I'd be more forgiving, but they didn't. It goes on like this through the 13th course--you'll wish you'd opted for the five- or seven-course meal or, evenbetter, that you'd gone next door to Folia instead. Moto is at 945 W. Fulton, 312-491-0058.

Re:Sushi Fishy.

[mrjb]

The word Sushi, to my understanding, is derived from the words su (vinegar) and meshi (rice).

The birth of sushi as we know it, was to use this vinegar rice to wrap fish in it, to conserve the fish, sometimes for months!

Re:Good sushi doesn't taste fishy

[bloggins02]

No, really, they shouldn't. Even the fish ones. The "fishy" taste parent is talking about is the same taste you get when you reheat 3 day old catfish. Most people (at least where I live) think that's what fish is supposed to taste like.

It isn't

Seriously, next time you're in a port town, try some fresh Sashimi, I guarantee it won't taste like "fish" at all - or at least it won't taste like what most people seem to think fish tastes like (that is to say, f'in nasty).