Putting the funk in sushi

I went for dinner last night with Jocelyn and Kristin at The Eatery. The restaurant calls itself "The Funkiest Place for Japanese Food". Think of it as sushi if Andy Warhol was working the kitchen. It's near UBC so on a Friday night it's packed with students and young people. I felt a bit like I was stepping into a bar when I opened the door. Dimly lit, music is blaring, the place is packed with young people (it's near UBC so it's a popular place for students) and Astroboy cartoons are playing on a sheet behind diners. Kind of has a gritty feel to it. Sculptures of crazed/angry fish and crabs dangle from the ceiling. And pop art paintings of Mao and the Queen line the walls. Actually, half the restaurant feels more like a lounge than a restaurant -- with funky coloured ottomans and couches scattered in the room. We didn't make reservations so me, Kristin and Jocelyn waited in the loungey area for about 45 minutes for a table. That was fine with me because I got to chat with my cousins (I don't see them that often) and it gave us more time to go through the really big menu - it comes in a laminated binder. Half the menu is a list of cocktails and beer options, the other half is food -- including some crazy maki rolls. Like the Miss Piggy, which is bacon, scallop, asparagus, roe & unagi sauce. By the time we were seated at a table (right next to the Queen painting, nonetheless), we had made up our minds on what we wanted. I ordered an appetizer and two maki rolls. The appetizer was tuna tempura -- which was delicious. Very light in flavour and texture. It actually tasted like chicken to me. It came drizzled with unagi sauce and mayo. Jocelyn got the fat elvis, which basically avocado slices that have been dunked in tempura. I sampled one of the slices and I liked the contrasting textures of smooth and crunch. My two maki picks were the godzilla roll, which includes avacado and eel, and the captain crunch, which is basically a california roll that's battered in tempura and fried. Now that was decadent. Actually, it was a bit too rich after the tuna tempura. So halfway through I began peeling off the outer layer of batter. I think I will pare down the number of dishes I order the next time I go. They have some interesting rice bowls that I might try. My one thought though is that they seem to rely a lot on drizzling unagi sauce and mayo on their creations as a finishing touch, which I don't think is always necessary, and can get a bit reptetitive. I really like how there is an appreciation for sushi in this city. I've seen soccer moms munching next to trucker types, next to international students. There are some places that churn out ho-hum sushi -- where it's more about quantity than freshness and good ingredients. But there are others that do some wacky stuff to sushi that gets you thinking about it in a different way.