No, those aren't onion rings....

[Pagan]

Thanks y'all. Now I have to get onion rings and wasabi this weekend....

(I did wonder why they served onion rings with fries at the time, IIRC. )

I've seen that on several menus at places. Mmmmmm, Johnny Rockets.

[Sapphire Silk]

I'm not much of a seafood person and I'm a bit squeamish, so onion-ring calimari is the only squid I'll try. Mostly because something breaded and deep-fried no longer resembles or tastes like the original creature. Now regular calimari? Nuh uh, I don't care for having my food wave back at me.

I love calimari, and just about any kind of seafood out there.

I don't mind the tentacles kind . . . I just pretend I'm a Klingon eating gahk.

[LillFilly]

The stupid! It would make kittens cry!!!

My brain hurts now.

Not a fan of seafood, unless you count tuna; but I could do a swordfish steak now and then.

[Jetfire]

I've seen that on several menus at places. Mmmmmm, Johnny Rockets.

Oh I'm not unfamiliar with seeing Fries and Rings served together. I still remember Harvey's ads back in the 80's/early 90's about them having Frings on their menu. (A side that was half rings, half fries). They still have that available as a slightly more expensive option.

I was just surprised to see Rings and Fries "apparently" being offered as a full meal, especially apparently 'plain' onion rings. (Not fancied up like A&W for example). And then I discovered what the rings actually were....

[thansal]

This.
For me, wasabi mayo is always in a constant fight for dominance with sriracha mayo.

That is going on my list of things to try!

[tollbaby]

There's an all you can eat sushi place near me, and on the menu they have tempura, which are mostly veggies that are deep fried. They have onion tempura which looks just like onion rings.

My favorite are the zucchini tempura

Oh.... *drool* EGGPLANT TEMPURA!!!!!!

I am a sushi FANATIC. My brother, his wife and I have a couple of all you can eat places that we go to regularly. Sadly, fundage has been cut to my active lifestyle, so no sushi for me for a long time LOL

[firecat88]

There's a place here in town that has various tempura items on the menu. I like to get the combo one so I can get a little bit of chicken, some shrimp, and veggies. Sweet potato tempura is...amazing. *drool*

[XCashier]

I can forgive her for thinking it was onion rings.
I can forgive her for not knowing what Calamari is.
I can't forgive her for ignoring advice, and then raising a stink.

All of this, plus I can't forgive her condescending attitude towards the OP. That was stupid and rude.

If I try a new type of cuisine, and someone who's had that cuisine before gives me advice, I'm going to listen to them, not act all superior and talk to them like they're toddlers. (Heck, I don't even talk to actual toddlers that way, it's just bad manners!) This lady deserved what she got...I was hoping she'd see the wasabi, mistake it for guacamole and eat a big heaping spoonful of it!

[Rena_Muffin]

All of this, plus I can't forgive her condescending attitude towards the OP. That was stupid and rude.

If I try a new type of cuisine, and someone who's had that cuisine before gives me advice, I'm going to listen to them, not act all superior and talk to them like they're toddlers. (Heck, I don't even talk to actual toddlers that way, it's just bad manners!) This lady deserved what she got...I was hoping she'd see the wasabi, mistake it for guacamole and eat a big heaping spoonful of it!

I think that would have made the story pretty epic.

[Jay 2K Winger]

One summer when I went up to Old Orchard Beach, my (now ex-)GF took me and a friend of hers, the Ditzpika, to a sushi restaurant. Both the Ditzpika and I were sushi virgins and a bit apprehensive, but the GF agreed to let us both order something "safer" to have if we didn't like the sushi she ordered for us. (And she ordered it by speaking Japanese, to stymie our efforts at knowing what she had gotten us.) (FTR, I got chicken tempura.)

So the food arrives and the Ditzpika and I start eating the sushi the GF had ordered for us. I think it's actually not that bad, and mention as such, and the Ditzpika agreed.

As I'm chewing on my third roll of the sushi, the GF tells us with a grin: "It's eel."

Pause. Mid-chew. T.T

I swallow the remainder, and decline having any more very politely.

The Ditzpika, meanwhile, freaked out.

"Ewwww! You made me eat eel!? I think I'm gonna be sick!"

She was being a bit of a drama queen, but she subsided. The next day, when we picked her up to go to an amusement park up in the Portland area, she was complaining that her stomach had been upset ever since the night before, and "I think that eel made me sick!" But she wasn't so sick that she couldn't ride the roller coasters.

FTR, I'm still not a fan of sushi, but I won't be an idiot and claim that fried calamari (teh yum) is badly cooked onion rings.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Well Jay, you should join me for sushi. I had a sushi lunch today. Three of us all got the same businessman's lunch. I traded my salmon and tuna for both of their eels. I love it, so the less you eat, the more there is for me. Unless my wife is around, she loves it too.

Story time: When my wife was about four, some relatives thought they would have some fun with her by giving her some smoked eel. They were very surprised when she loved it and wanted more.

[LadyAndreca]

I looooove eel sushi. I had to be talked into eating it the first time, but it's very good. And since eel is usually paired with cucumber instead of avodaco, it's safe enough for me to order.

My favorite sushi is, effectively, sushi tempura. Salmon, tuna, and eel wrapped in rice and a seaweed wrapper, then tempura battered and fried. The place I get it from calls it a 'Yankee Roll' and I ALWAYS order one.

[XCashier]

My favorite sushi is, effectively, sushi tempura. Salmon, tuna, and eel wrapped in rice and a seaweed wrapper, then tempura battered and fried. The place I get it from calls it a 'Yankee Roll' and I ALWAYS order one.

That sounds really good!

I'm more or less a sushi newbie; never been to a sushi restaurant, I've mostly had the California roll-type sushi you get at grocery stores (quality varies, but is usually decent). I'm a little nervous about the raw fish type, but I do know that not all sushi is raw and some of it isn't even fish. Don't like wasabi or ginger slices; is it okay etiquette to eat sushi and skip that?

[Rena_Muffin]

That sounds really good!

I'm more or less a sushi newbie; never been to a sushi restaurant, I've mostly had the California roll-type sushi you get at grocery stores (quality varies, but is usually decent). I'm a little nervous about the raw fish type, but I do know that not all sushi is raw and some of it isn't even fish. Don't like wasabi or ginger slices; is it okay etiquette to eat sushi and skip that?

There's plenty of sushi dishes that don't use raw fish. In fact, sushi refers to the vinegared rice that they use in the dishes, not the fish themselves. It's okay to avoid the wasabi and ginger, when I was little I did that (my first experience with sushi was my father giving me a piece with tons of wasabi when I was about three so it took a few years to get past that). Always check the menu and I'd suggest voicing your concerns to one of the people working, or go out with a sushi veteran. I've gone out with my friends before to the same sushi place where the incident with the SC happened, and using what they like and don't like I've helped them pick dishes they really enjoyed.

[thansal]

As some one who doesn't eat sushi (or shashimi) at all, but is a bit of a food geek/japanophile, I will chip in a few words:

Theoretically the ginger is a pallet cleanser, you aren't supposed to eat it with the food, but between it. So, leaving it out completely? perfectly fine.

Traditional sushi will come pre-seasoned with the 'appropriate' amount of wasabi, and you aren't really supposed to add more. However, unless you are at a really high end sushi restaurant, people expect you to garnish to taste. So, in this case, you will likely face some wasabi in traditional sushi (though not much, the idea is that the rice and the fish are the focus, the wasabi is there to accentuate said flavours). IIRC, rolls tend to not have wasabi added by the sushi chef.

As for raw fish. Well, I don't eat fish in the first place, so I'm really shouldn't comment, however, I'm a hypocrite :P
If you really don't want raw fish there are tonnes of options. Ranging from vegetarian to cooked fish to other options (egg is fairly common). However, if you don't trust a place to properly hold raw fish, I wouldn't really trust their cooking in general. But hey, if you don't want to eat it, don't do it, and stick to the more unusual things on the menu (depending on the place these will range from simple, traditional sushi, to deep fried combination of unusual things :P).

When my friends crave sushi I get something else on the menu (when all else fails, veggie tempura is one of my favorite things) and I just cherry pick the wasabi and pickled ginger off their plates.