Fellini meets…Kurosawa?
dolce vi·ta(v
t
, -tä) Italian
n. A luxurious, self-indulgent way of life.
su·shi (s
sh) Japanese
n.Cold cooked rice dressed with vinegar that is shaped into bite-sized pieces and topped with raw or cooked fish, or formed into a roll with fish, egg, or vegetables and wrapped in seaweed.
Do these two phrases combined sound like an oxymoron to you? If so, prepare to be surprised. Dolce Vita, the Italian restaurant in Monroe, has opened a sushi bar.Sushi at an Italian restaurant? I’m sorry…, sushi in Monroe? I have to admit, I was surprised too, on both accounts But, believe it or not, Dolce Vita has done it and they’ve done it well. Now, for those of you who are completely disgusted by the idea of sushi, regardless of where you buy it…well I won’t spend my blogging time trying to convince you otherwise. Okay I will. Try it. Please…just once. You can even buy sushi without raw fish in it.So, My husband and I decided to try the sushi bar at Dolce Vita. The restaurant was busy which was expected for a Friday night. We asked to be seated at the sushi bar and to our surprise we were seated right away. (Was I naive to assume that people in Monroe would be lined up to try sushi at an Italian restuarant?)
Now, there are two things to keep in mind if you visit the sushi bar at Dolce Vita.
First, the sushi bar is pushed right up against their regular cocktail bar and is a bit lower to the ground than the regular bar. This can be awkward if you’re sitting at the sushi bar and someone else is at the regular bar having a drink. Let’s just say you end up in the eyeline of said drinker’s posterior.
Second, since the sushi bar is IN THE BAR, it also happens to be in the smoking section. But if you can get past this detail you’d probably be very happy sitting at the sushi bar and getting the full sushi bar experience. If not, don’t worry, you can always ask for a sushi menu at a regular table in the non-smoking seciton.We started with the seaweed salad. Again, like sushi, not nearly as repulsive as it may sound. Lots of sesame and vinigar flavor. Completely makes you forget about the fact that you’re eating seaweed. I love it. As far as the sushi itself, we kept it simple: one tuna roll, one salmon roll, one spicy tuna roll and one smoked salmon roll. We did this because,
1. We were hungry, these are our favorites and we wanted to make sure we were getting something we knew we’d enjoy eating. and
2. We figured it be better to start simple and then decide how much we liked the sushithere before getting more adventerous.
One of my biggest concerns about going to a sushi bar at an Italian restuarant was that I’d end up with food envy. I worried that I’d be eating my tuna roll when a plate of egg plant parmasan would whisk by in a waitress’ hand and I’d seriously reconsider the food choice I’d made. But I didn’t. The food was good. I was genuinely satisfied (and full) after my meal.
The best part of the evening was an encounter that represented the type melding of cultures that was happening there. As we were eating, a woman who I assumed was an walked up with an older gentleman . As she introduced him to the sushi bar and explained the variety of offerings, she eased back and forth between english and italian as she was explaining it to him. Descriptions of spider and california rolls were interspersed with italian words like “Salmone” and “tonno.”
To me the melding of cultures occuring there was wassomething more. Comfort food meets adventure. Fellini meets…Kurosawa. Will it work? Although we were the only people sitting at the sushi bar itself, the sushi chef was always busy with a steady stream of orders indicating that people in Monroe are definitely willing to try it. In any case, I was proud of the fact that someone in Monroe was daring enough to open a sushi bar… and was even bolder to do it in an Italian restaurant!
January 29th, 2007 at 7:37 am
Friday was my husbands birthday so we were already going to Dolce Vita for dinner with his mother, while we were there we decied to try the sushi. Why not? My husband likes sushi, I do not. We ordered 3 different kinds of rolls, one with salmon and cream cheese, one with crab and a veggie one. I tried the veggie one (cucumber I think) and for the first time (this is my 4th time trying sushi) I could swallow it and thought it wasn’t bad. I was very shocked. My husband liked all of his as well. We just ate sushi 2 weekends ago at Black Pine in Southgate and it was (according to everyone else) the best sushi they’ve ever had. We thought that the sushi at Dolce Vita held up to the sushi at the Black Pine. We would reccomend trying it! Good Job Dolce Vita!
February 23rd, 2007 at 10:43 am
I love sushi. In fact, I usually eat it once a week, but travel to Detroit to get my fix…
Anyway, I saw that Dolce Vita erected a “Sushi” sign and figured–what the heck?! I am always game when it comes to trying new eateries, so there you have it… Well, I figured that by ordering a spicy tuna roll and a California roll, I coulnd’t go wrong. True, it is considered sushi—but I consider those orders “safe” sushi dishes. (Not “real” sushi—and for those of you who eat sushi on a regular basis—you know what I mean!) I took a bite of my spicy tuna roll and literally wanted to vomit. In fact, I think I threw up in my mouth a little! It was HORRIBLE! I mean, it might have been the worst sushi of all time! No joke. It was old and fishy tasting and just plain nasty. I actually had to spit it into my napkin! Now that I think about it, I do not think I have ever gone to those extremes after tasting a disgusting dish… Regardless, the spicy tuna roll was a disaster. So much so, that I have not eaten sushi in weeks. Every time I think of ordering anything, I think of the horrible sushi at Dolce Vita. I could probably vomit on-command at this point. Lordy lordy! Anyway, the waiter was very cordial, and he did take back my stale, vomit-inducing spicy tuna roll.
February 25th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Yikes! Sorry to hear about your bad experience with the Dolce Vita sushi.
I actually am very picky about my sushi and will absolutely not eat it if it is too fishy or too warm.
But our experience there was good.
Then again, sushi is a tempermental food. Maybe on that day it was some bad stuff.