 |
There are certainly
some weird "fusion" places out there, but this is amongst the strangest.
Actually fusion isn't the correct word at all, as Sawa doesn't mix
cuisines, it just serves two as completely different entities. There's
literally like a line down the middle of the little walk-in space,
Japanese on the left and BBQ on the right. It's as if some Bobby /
Peter Brady Bunch fight broke out (don't tell me you don't remember
that episode?). I, of course, had to sample the BBQ, as it seemed
much more challenging ordering Southern American food from a Japanese
dude than him serving up some maki that I could get at any number
of Japanese joints in the city. My legendary trouble deciphering accents
really didn't help matters much, as I had the impossible task (at
least in my own head) of trying to figure out what came with my meal
and what exactly he was offering me as the desert. I thought at first
it was some sort of Japanese rice ball or something, but it turned
out that he actually made sweet potato pie, which came as part of
the lunch special. More about that later. So I ordered the chicken
BBQ sandwich lunch special, and chose the mac 'n cheese as my side
(of course). I was totally fascinated as the chef/owner (?) walked
through the Japanese curtain, and into the back to apparently scoop
up my shredded chicken. He emerged, packaged everything up, and I
was on my way. There was not another soul in the joint, and I felt
somehow that there was a hidden camera lurking in a corner just waiting
to capture the dumb New Yorker believing that a place so strange actually
existed. It turns out, once I got my food back to the office, that
the place was in fact real. Packaged in Styrofoam, the whole meal
had an odd cafeteria look and taste to it. The sandwich wasn't bad,
but it certainly wasn't what I'd call quality BBQ. The mac and cheese
had that plasticy taste that melted cheese food can sometimes take
on. And the pie, the weirdest part of the meal, had to be made from
something out of a can. The crust was not really that cooked, and
the sweet potato filling had an alluring aftertaste of saccharine
that both repulsed and intrigued me. Overall, the meal was just weird.
Exactly as I thought and hoped it might be. [MF]
|
Hipster Movie Reviews
Hipster Book Reviews
Music