Sushi Sono: Best Sushi in the Baltimore area - by Greg B.

Author: Greg B

Everyone is picky about their sushi restaurants and we all have our favorites. And why not? We are, after all, eating raw seafood. It’s only natural for an organism to return to the same feeding places where they have successfully eaten and not gotten sick… or worse. After dating a girl in college who took me out to sushi one Friday afternoon (lunch special at Sushi Hana in Towson = excellent), my life changed. Fridays became known as “sushi Fridays”, and it drew a crowd of people from across campus. Once it started, it kept going. Sushi Friday continued even after friends of ours and even we, graduated. Sushi Hana was an excellent place to learn about sushi, and while it is still one of my favorite sushi places to eat at in Baltimore, it has been surpassed.

The first time I ate at Sushi Sono was when my boss took the entire lab out in celebration for getting a very large grant. I cant be sure exactly how much sushi was there, but saying over 200 pieces would certainly not be an overstatement. However since then I just don’t drive very often, and it is extremely rare to see my down in the Columbia, MD area. But this Saturday my roommate and I just so happened to be down there, and with 3 hours to kill around lunchtime. The scene was set for some delicious sushi.

We walked into the restaurant and were immediately greeted by a very polite older woman. Asking if we wanted to sit at a table or the bar, we chose the bar. I like to sit there and watch the sushi be assembled and the fish get sliced and arranged, it’s very interesting work. Once we sat down, a very pleasant young woman dressed in traditional Japanese kimono asked for our drink orders. My roommate got the usual (Asahi) beer, and I decided to get cold sake instead of warm (perhaps the 90 degree temp had something to do with it?). I ordered a bottle of OzekiYam Nishi for $22, thinking I would have plenty of time to drink the bottle before it would be time to go. However, this lunch was governed by extreme efficiency, and just after I drank my first glass, we ordered.

I ordered the vegetarian box A from the lunch special ($10.95) which came with vegetable tempura, rice, a spinach roll and a shittake mushroom with asparagus sushi roll. I also ordered two pieces of Massago (smelt roe, for $4) and two pieces of White Tune ($4.50) since I had never had either of these. My roommates ordered a lunch special Chicken Tempura box ($9.95) with chicken tempura, tempura veggies and rice, along with a Spicy Tuna roll ($5.50). Within minutes, the Miso arrived.

In all honesty, Miso soup is miso soup. It is very rare I get Miso soup I don’t like, and most places taste almost exactly the same. Except again, the waitress was extremely polite and friendly. Halfway through the Miso, one of the men behind the bar placed a wooden tray with my Massago and Tuna over the fridge compartment and onto the bar. It was then that I knew I probably had to drink up with the sake! I finished my Miso and a few more drinks of the sake when our pleasant waitress returned with my meal and my roommate’s spicy tuna roll.

Sake goes great with Japanese food. There is no other way to say it. Drinking sake for it’s own sake (I couldn’t resist) is not something I do unless it is wintertime and the sake is warm. This particular sake brand was not one I had consumed before, and it was very mellow, which went well for a summer afternoon. The vegetable tempura was excellent, along with the little bit of spiced radish we got to place into our digging sauce. I had never had the spinach roll or shittake mushroom roll before, and the spinach roll was pretty good. It was served cold, with a slight touch of rice vinegar. The shittake roll was very good also, as the texture of the mushrooms and the asparagus nicely opposed each other for an interesting bite. The smelt roe was good, but not too surprising, however the white Tuna was not something I had eaten before and was excited to try. It was like butter, soft, cool and delicious. You did not even have to bite to eat it, it was so soft. Definitely a new favorite sushi dish of mine.

As my roommate got a call from the Sears guy saying he didn’t have the 4 tires in stock he thought he had, and we could get the car back anytime, I hurried up my sake consumption. The waitress returned, and took the rest of our plates (they had been floating around during the meal, and as soon as any piece of plateware or lid or anything was finished, they would remove them from the table almost instantly. Definitely made me feel like I was at a fancier establishment than my tee shirt and shorts I was wearing indicated). We paid our bill and received our Japanese fruit flavored gum in a box, you all know the kind. We walked out and I made a mental note to return more often. Hopefully, this is one restaurant I will keep good on my promise.