sushi rika

motivation: this was supposed to be a slumber party. girlz and womyn, hotties and hottie mamas, a select group of maybe 8-10 luscious ladies, drinking, making sushi, discussing sex and politics and sex and relationships and sex. but then je got a cold and m had poison oak and a guest and ji hadn't had a good night's rest in ages and d has mono, which we all know is the kissing disease. not to mention je's and s's involvement with killing my lobster and ce's new production and k being up in tahoe and a doing some chanting with her Buddhist group. and three people does not a slumber party make, so we went to catch a movie and have someone else make us sushi instead.

the movie was shortbus. you need to see this movie. this movie will make you laugh and squirm and breath a little heavily and have more empathy and make you wish, again, for just a few moments, that you lived in new york. you'll find yourself attracted to boys and girls and girlie boys and boyish girls and getting really excited when le tigre and bitch and daniela sea make cameo appearances. thank you john cameron mitchell.

and then we were hungry. sushi rika is in nob hill and thus offers some amenities not available elsewhere. for example, they have free parking. but the way to access said parking is to enter the restaurant, find the guy with the garage remote, and have him escort you outside to the secret entrance where he hits the button for the gate and you pull in your vehicle. the other awesome thing about sushi rika is that they are open late: to midnight monday-thursday and 2 am on fridays and saturdays. that is very very awesome.

they serve shimmery shochu cocktails and have a small selection of sake. but more noteworthy is that their menu has beautiful photos of all their rolls and dinners and nigiri--a big draw for the non-japanese speaking among us. the downside of the high production value of the menus is that the fish isn't fantastic. ji said the nigiri was decent in that it wasn't over-riced, but the quality just didn't compare to other, better restaurants in the city. (she's going to take me to some of these, any day now...) t and je found the tempura and veggie rolls bland, d said the shiro maguro was almost off, and the hopping california roll's sweet and spicy sauce was a little too spicy for me. we tried the rainbow roll, rika roll, 49er roll, hamachi, unagi, tobiko and quail egg, and it was all was just ok. granted, we ate it all, but we were not super impressed. our bellies were not quite filled.

the prices match the quality, so you won't feel ripped off, but you will likely be disappointed in the end.

the flirtability will also leave you a bit underwhelmed. the servers are young cutie japanese women but they pay little attention to you and mess up your order. i think there may have been a language communication problem with our dessert, so you might have better luck if you speak japanese. the atmosphere is "trendy industrial with a euro-crap soundtrack" (thank you je).

all in all, a good stop in for a late night drink and meal when you've missed the window at other places, but i wouldn't bother making it a regular habit.

itadakimasu!