Cold Fish

Chad could've chosen an easy path, too. If Terri didn't want fish, she had plenty of other options: things like yakitori sticky with teriyaki sauce, white bowls of steamed edamame frosted with salt, a plate of tatsuta—like Japanese fried chicken, the meat marinated in soy and ginger and then deep-fried.

None of us chose the easy path. I remained a cook for many, many years and never learned to weld. Kitamura made ippin an integral part of his menu, offering probably two dozen little plates of monkfish liver with ponzu (ankimo), egg custard with crab and mushrooms (chawan mushi), and various fish collars, depending on the night and what's available to his cooks.

Peter Mumford

With his emphasis on ippin, Hiro Kirita refuses to take the easy path to success.

Location Info

Map

Chiso

3520 Fremont Ave. N.
Seattle, WA 98103

Category: Restaurant > Japanese

Region: Fremont

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Details

Chiso 3520 Fremont Ave. N., 632-3430, chisoseattle.com. Lunch: 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m. Mon.–Fri. Dinner: 5:30–9:30 p.m. Mon.–Thurs., 5:30–10:30 p.m. Fri.–Sat., 5–9 p.m. Sun.

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More About

• Taichi Kitamura
• Sapporo
• Fremont
• Sushi
• Japanese Food and Cooking

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And Chad? He persisted, man. By the end of the night, he and Terri weren't even talking—just staring in opposite directions, she sipping angrily at something in a martini glass, he facing down a big spread of maki and negiri single-handed and eating more out of anger and pride than anything resembling hunger.

As for me, I wanted to stay for the bitter end, so I ordered a plate of sansho yaki duck breast—thin slices of breast meat, capped with fat, cooked a bare mid-rare and swimming in a marinating broth that tasted of soy, salt, and the grilled scallions in the middle of the plate. It was excellent duck, well-handled by the hot side of the kitchen and better by a long stretch than the pedestrian tempuras and half-dozen katsus that the kitchen also offers by way of rounding out the full, broad reach of the Japanese street-food canon.

Like a gentleman, Chad paid the bill when it came.

Like a lady, Terri walked out with him.

Like the voyeur I am, I watched them from my seat by the front windows as they stood briefly on the sidewalk, then went their separate ways with no kiss—one of them hungry and sloshing with liquor, one of them full and (hopefully) a little bit wiser.

As for me, I ordered a final beer and a plate of tekka maki from the bar, and wondered how different my life would've turned out had I taken that job at Kodak.

jsheehan@seattleweekly.com

Price Check
  Tamago   $3.50
  Scallop  $8
  Hamachi  $5/$10
  Maguro  $5/$10
  Gari saba   $6
  Sansho yaki   $10.75
  Miso soup  $2.50