Usagi Ya and Green Seaweed Salad

I use food to fuel my wanderlust. When I want to be transported to another land, I suck on a big hunk of palm sugar that I picked up at an open-aired cooking class in Bali or sip on Moroccan green tea that I bought at a weekend market in Spain. I wander around Trader Joe's, Fox & Obel and Whole Foods, scanning the grocery aisles. Names like Madagascar (red tea), Thailand (hot peppers) and New Zealand (oysters) pop out at me from colorful boxes and make every country seem just that much more attainable.
Tasting my way around a menu is another story all together. I've got an adventurers mouth, but sometimes it's tough for me to go way out, especially if it involves meat. Still, I try to eat something totally different every week. This week it was a brilliant green seaweed salad at the pan-Asian sushi bar Usagi Ya. I rarely make it over to Wicker Park, but something about Usagi Ya's exterior made me squeal on the brakes and head inside with my pal Lisa. We wanted liquor and fish, so why not?

Cafe Blossom and a Whole Lotta Sushi {From The Raving Dish}

Unless I hear the words, "You must go eat here," straight from an in-the-know foodie's mouth, it's tough for me to choose which new sushi house to frequent. There are just so many peppering the streets and, after all, Kaze Sushi is a three-minute walk from my house.

But, I got really lucky a few weeks ago during a meeting I was conducting with a local filmmaker. We'd met up at a small coffeehouse and were discussing the potential of his upcoming film when the conversation was quickly diverted to food (of course). Who cares about making movies when there's food to gossip about?