5 out of 6 Wiselys like sushi and we went fo dinner and arranged to meet a friend of the family who lives in Nashville . So, the 7 of us headed for the downtown Nashville experience which is Sam's Sushi Bar.
Sarah had visited Sam's twice last summer and the experience made her desperate to return. The sushi is great, plentiful, and inexpensive. More about that later. The ambience is, uh, utilitarian and the place is the size of a walk-in closet. And then there's Sam. Sam works solo in the sushi bar, spending, I guess, about 12 hours on his feet behind the bar M-F. He's not necessarily open for lunch on weekends. He's in there, behind the bar, but whether he is open for lunch depends on you, his potential customer. Sarah went in last year on Sunday for lunch. The door was open, Sam was at his station. Sam said "I'm closed." Sarah looked confused. Sam began the interview. Asked her where she was from. Why was she in his store? Why does she want HIS sushi when there's sushi back in Birmingham? All straight-faced and very likely serious. Sarah ultimately passed the interview and he served her lunch. Even chatted with her about politics and education theory.
On our visit, the seven of us walked in and sort of looked around for a place to sit. The place seats maybe 12 people. There were three young men sitting at one table already. Sam looked us over and said something unintelligible. We were all too terrified to engage Sam, except for Sarah. Sarah explained we would like to have dinner there. Sam didn't recognize her from last year's two visits, and said so, and so interviewed her again. Had she been in there before? How many times? How long ago? What had she ordered? He looked at the rest of us and then turned to Sarah and asked if we were familiar with sushi and would we eat what he prepared. Sarah said yes and we all nodded anxiously. Ok, says Sam, you can eat here. Sam turns to the three guys at the table and yells, "Hey! You! Get up and move over here to the bar." The guys, who were probably regulars, quickly comply. I try to quietly apologize and they wave me off good-naturedly. Sam instructs Sarah: Take this pad and this menu. Take your table's order on this pad and write your name on it. Bring it to me. He failed to instruct us on some other steps--you have to put the order blank on the bar in a particular place and weigh it down with one of the quarters on the bar. But, Sarah worked her way through the process. She was careful not to make direct eye contact with Sam and not to initiate conversation. One waits for Sam to speak.
He made our sushi and arranged the platters on the bar and yelled at us that our order was ready. (We THINK that's what he was saying.) He yelled at one of us for not carrying enough plates on one trip from the bar to the table.
So, here's the food. We had ordered about 10 sushi rolls for the 7 of us to share. We ordered soup for one. Most of us had bottled water or bottled soda which we extracted from the cooler in the room. Self-serve. The bottled water was from "Sam's" which I thought was a bit of comic relief.
The food gets to the table and it's a mammoth amount. Sam's is inexpensive and very good sushi. We had ordered based on the normal quantities one expects from sushi bars and ordinary prices. Soup for one ($3.00) yields a POT of soup with bowls for everybody. We ate the soup, some seaweed salad, a bit of squid salad, much of the sushil and had enough left over to feed at least four or five more diners than the 7 of us. At some point, Sam must have REALLY decided we were ok because he didn't require us to dump our own plates and scrape them into the large open trash container in the room. He told us to leave it all. Astounding. We groveled gratefully. Also, he sliced a cold, sweet, perfect orange or two for us and, get this, came out from behind the bar to bring it to our table.
There's a sign that clearly prohibits tipping Sam which we happily made note of. We've been told that Sam WILL cut you if you try to tip him. Also, if you try to order something besides sushi, you get cut. On a good day, Sam will cuss you out hard and not cut you.
I've heard that some regulars love to go in and sit and eat and watch unsuspecting newbies come in and try to order, you know, sweet and sour chicken, and have Sam scream at them in an Asian dialect. If Sam's too busy, he won't tell you there will be a 30 minute waits. He tells you to go away and, if he likes your look, come back later.
But great sushi. And here's the kicker. Easily enough sushi for 10 or 11 people. Plus soup for everyone. Plus drinks for most of us. No tip. The bill: $38. I mean it: $38. You give the guy two 20s and he hands you two bucks and waves you out of the store.
Next time I'm in Nashville, I'm going in again. I'm going to try to pass the interview and go through Sam's Procedures without hiding behind my daughter. Wish me luck.
