STEPH DEROSA: IT'S BASICALLY RAW FISH >>>

Sapporo Japanese & Sushi Restaurant
Poki Salad
Price: $16.99
Rating: Four out of four croutons
 

Is it a good thing or a bad thing when you can walk into a restaurant and they know you by name? As I place my to-go orders, pick up my meals, or simply sit belly up to the sushi bar, they remember me and treat me as family. I feel like a star! But just as my head begins to expand, and my ego creates its own zip code, I realize the gritty truth: They know everyone’s name, not just mine. Dammit. I think in the case of Sapporo Japanese & Sushi Restaurant on Pacific Highway in Fife, this treatment given to all guests reflects their strong family values, one of the many reasons they are still thriving after being open more than a decade.

Description: There’s no messing around and covering up the fact that you’re eating raw fish when it comes to Sapporo’s Poki Salad. They lay it all on the line with bite-sized, yet substantial chunks of tuna, white tuna, and salmon. The cold, fresh fish trifecta is tossed amongst iceberg lettuce, avocado, cucumbers, and radish sprouts. Lightly glazing it all is a citrus-based Ponzu sauce consisting of rice wine vinegar, lemon, and chili pepper. (Don’t worry; the chilies add no heat to this dish whatsoever, just flavor.) Sapporo’s Poki Salad is garnished with sushi rice that includes light rice vinegar and seaweed sprinkles, along with pickled ginger and wasabi as condiment garnishes.

Taste: Seeing as how Sapporo’s Poki Salad costs upwards of $17, I consider it a rare treat to be able to consume its fulfilling contents. A perfect balance of sweet and sour comes with the rice vinegar, while my own addition of wasabi into every bite adds that perfect kick I’ve conditioned myself into needing in order to survive. Every bite is clean, savory, and rewarding. Textures collide with soft fish and crispy lettuce while chewy rice subsides along the sidelines, existing in every couple of my bites. As for the fish-veggie ratio, it looks something like 80-20. Yep, tons of fish, and just enough veggies.

Conclusion: If you’re one of those yahoos who says they “eat sushi,” yet you order rolls consisting of that imitation crab bullshit, this salad is not for you. There’s no hiding behind tempura prawns rolled in rice and calling it “sushi” anymore. If you truly enjoy the texture and pureness that comes with the exquisite art of sashimi, without the rice-roll barrier, then point yourself toward a Poki Salad next time you order. Be aware that every restaurant has its own interpretation of what a Poki Salad should consist of, so don’t expect them all to be as grand and meaty as Sappporo’s.

Dressing on the Side
My clogged, allergy-stricken sinuses are blocking the blood vessels leading into my brain today. I can’t focus worth a shit. Yeah, yeah, I know, like my brain functions on a higher level than mediocre on any other day, I get it. You’re funny. But today is worse than normal. High doses of coffee and Sudafed (The real shit used for meth, yo) have not even scratched the surface of my incoherent, inner-cranium ramblings.

As I sit and try to formulate the ingredients within this week’s “Dressing on the Side,” only small blurbs of indecipherable images come to the forefront. Maybe you can make something of them? Here’s what they are:

Men’s shoes
Pink straws
Kleenex
Dog ears

[Sapporo Japanese & Sushi Restaurant, 4803 Pacific Hwy. E., Fife, 253.922.5656]