Sushi meet up at Sushi-Tei

As an old married fart, I haven't spent much time in the get-to-know-you internet scene. None, actually, until last night. I saw a notice for the first Albany Sushi MeetUp on AlbanyEats and decided that perhaps I could use a few more sushi fanatics in my life. And I was curious. What was it like to meet a bunch of strangers whose only connections were a modem and a love of raw fish?

I also wanted to check out Sushi-Tei, the sushi restaurant that opened up in the former San and Bada at 1800 Western Avenue.

San and Bada was my favorite local sushi place and I still miss its owner, Eddie. Eddie ran the kind of sushi bar where you could walk in, hand him a $20 and tell him to have fun. And if I had a cold, he'd go in back and make me ginger tea or insist that I eat a bowl of Korean tofu soup that had so much heat in it I could feel the virus disintegrate under a scourge of peppers. Eddie had problems with consistency and service; some nights were slow with an assistant and a waitress while others were slammed with just him and an hour wait for rushed food. But the spot was also in an awkward location, tucked away in the side corner of a strip mall next to a gun shop. (More about guns later.)

I'm not sure what happened in the end, but one day I showed up and Eddie was gone. I didn't really want to move on, but perhaps it was time to see who was making a go of sushi in this funny little corner of Guilderland.

At these events seating is everything. I found myself at the end of the table next to a former cook who told me wonderful stories about a crusty old Italian man who still works a broiler six nights a week. He also had me intrigued with a description of his hot-and-sour take on French onion soup. Across from me was a guy who told Hillary Clinton jokes that revolved around her thighs and buckets of KFC. There were party tricks, too, but I am talking about food here, so we will leave those alone. He also had a lot to say about his guns. But, I digress.

It was $1-a-piece sushi night, a regular Thursday special at Sushi-Tei. The special includes toro, ikura with quail egg, uni, and other items that normally go for $2.75 or more a pop. Rolls and specials are at regular prices.

I ordered my standard test run for a sushi joint: salmon, toro, uni, ikura, hamachi, squid, and scallop. A spicy salmon roll completed the mix. I was looking for what they do well. (I have yet to find a local place where you can order anything and float away in sushi euphoria.) The yellow tail was buttery and delicious, and although the ikura wasn't so fresh that it burst ocean into your mouth, it was still a nice moment of salt and cream with the quail egg on top. The salmon was not a repeat.

The group of 11 people ran from sushi heads, who traded stories about meals they'd had at Colorado's famous Sushi Den or the butter-based dipping sauce they'd found on a trip to Japan, to local sushi joint regulars and even one sushi virgin. I forgot how much fun it can be to watch someone eat sushi for the first time.

Here she goes ...

And it is in.

The organizer of the group was a guy named Andrew who sat in the middle and did his best to talk to everyone.

Down the table were a couple of meet-up regulars -- there are food-related meet ups for everything from coffee shops to the Spectrum to wine lovers. (OK, so, technically speaking, the Spectrum isn't a food-related meet up, but every knows that half the reason people go to the Spectrum is the best popcorn maybe anywhere.)

Here's Julie.

I also met Amy and Cesar, a lovely couple who just relocated here from Colorado. Welcome guys!

If you're interested, Here is a link to a list of Albany area meet ups.

I'm not sure if I would do a meet-up again. There were parts of the evening that felt like I'd been plopped into the middle of a chick flick. You know that painful scene in the restaurant right before the miserable single woman finally meets prince charming and gets swept away to the promised land of couples-only dinner parties.

One of the advantages of being married is that you don't have to do this anymore. Of course, you do have to attend a lot of couples-only dinner parties, which brings you into Woody Allen territory, and I'm not sure that's an improvement. But, back to the question of a sushi meet up. Or rather, whether any one interest, be it sushi, or airplanes, or popcorn, is enough to form a connection with a group of people who are otherwise strangers.

I don't know. There were a lot of really nice people there. Good food and good stories. You could do worse on a Thursday night. And I have. But I still don't know.