Totem Sushi

Amongst the many reasons I decided to start a food blog about restaurants in this area is because of the lack of blogs that address the subject. Sure, we have the Times-Union and the Metroland, but I really enjoy the landscape which includes fellow bloggers "Albany Jane," Warren Redlich, Dish and Dirt, and now, Liberally Seasoned, all of whom have their own views and opinions on all things foodstuff that the Capital Region have to offer.

Given the finite number of restaurants in the area, however, there are bound to be some restaurants that each of us will visit and have differing opinions on. It happened during last week after Albany Jane and Dish and Dirt each reviewed Tai Pei and each had a vastly different experience. I suppose this is symptomatic of dining at a non-chain/franchised restaurant -- you may never have the same experience twice. Anthony Bourdain, in an interview with the 92Y blog said that one positive result of all this blogging is that it raises the stakes for every plate of food a chef sends into the dining room. He added that "it’s on balance, a good thing. Anything which raises expectations, places more value on consistent excellence, which pushes chefs to be better and encourages diners to be more knowledgable and to try new things--is good for the world."

For all its faults, I still love seeking out those one-off places that aren't chains/franchises (although Chili's does hold a spot that's near and dear to my heart). Albany is full of those places, and because of that, there should never be a shortage of dining experiences to write about.

My digression above leads me to write about my latest dining experience: Totem Sushi. Totem is the newest addition to the ever changing Lark Street dining scene. Noticably absent from that scene was a good sushi place; unfortunately, thats still the case. Totem does, however, have two things going for it: (1) location, (2) a clientele that is not necessarily inclined to drive to better, yet farther sushi haunts in the Guilderlands or Latham, for instance, and (3) depth and variety of its rolls.

Totem offers an unassuming storefront facing Lark Street. You enter into a long and narrow space with subdued lighting. You could almost picture the previous space to be a bar which they had retrofitted with 2 and 4 top tables and a large, with long bar in the back. A large plasma television hangs over the bar area. My impressions were favorable upon entering: the dining room was full of 20-somthing and 30-something patrons. Since there were no tables available, my dining partner and I took a seat at the bar. This was not, however, a sushi bar, but a seat at the bar from which they apparently serve wine and beer. Unfortunately, the bar wasnt made to dine at, since there was no room for your knees so you had to sit about two feet away from the counter space. Moreover, the sushi chef is working on a small counter away from the bar, so a seat at the bar is not necessarily the same as sitting at the sushi bar.

The menu is balanced -- it offers a few appetizers, some sushi/sashimi/roll combination plates, and what I believe is their twist on a sushi menu - 26 unique rolls - lettered A through Z (e.g., the "C" roll is a crab roll and the "S" roll is a spicy tuna or spicy salmon roll). I settled on two rolls: the rainbow roll ($10) and the spicy tuna roll ($7), and my dining partner ordered a philadelphia roll ($7) and the "house" roll ($15) which was basically a spicy tuna roll, tempura battered and flash fried.

I know this is where I lose sushi connoiseurs -- they're all thinking "how can you order such 'gringo' sushi" - that stuff's for kids, etc. My point is that those rolls are all familiar, I can get a consistent experience for purposes of comparing Totem to other places, and most of all, since I didnt see any fish displayed in the sushi case, I wasnt about to try Totem's sashimi plate.

Considering that there was only one sushi chef making dishes for over 40 diners, the service was satisfactory. All of the rolls arrived within 20 minutes of ordering.

Two large plates arrived with the artfully displayed rolls - the house roll with a brightly colored slaw of carrots draped the roll, and the kaleidoscope-like colors of the rainbow roll took the stage front-and-center.

I was immediately turned off by the apperance of the spicy tuna roll, and in fact inquired to my dining partner whether I had ordered that roll. The roll featured a faint pink filling and my dining partner advised me that was my spicy tuna roll and added that perhaps they put too much mayonnaise inside it (I then reminded myself that there should be no mayonnaise inside a spicy tuna roll). The first bite was tell-tale: the sushi rice was incredibly dry and almost "al dente" - meaning it was either undercooked or had been sitting against the walls of the rice cooker for too long. The spicy tuna "filling" left much to be desired, to wit: spice and tuna. I was incredibly unimpressed with the roll and dismissed it as being one step above grocery store sushi.

I ventured into trying my dining partner's house roll. Upon examination the tempura batter was dense and heavy. The roll had been cooked to the point that each layer of the roll was uniform. I took a taste and my initial thoughts were confirmed: the tempura was nearly as heavy as pancake batter, or batter one would use to coat a chicken tender, and the oil had picked up the "greasy" flavors of prior dishes cooked therein. It was more of a disappointment than the last roll considering that the "house special" more than double the price of the spicy tuna roll.

The rainbow roll was the only redeeming item of the night. The fish tasted relatively fresh and the cucumber and avocado was bright and refreshing. Unfortuantely, the overly dried out rice really detracted from an otherwise decent roll.

I grudginly left Totem, and unlike other dining establishments of the past, vowed to never return -- unless its after a late night of heavy drinking on lark street.