The sushi-ya was in Yanaka, one of the oldest neighborhoods of Tokyo, spared by WWII bombing, on a street so narrow that only miniature delivery vans could progress it. Shops tumbled on one another so closely, they appeared squeezed into place. A hand-lettered sign on the door read, “No English please.” So when I ducked under the curtain to go in and the proprietress looked at me, I said in Japanese that I am definitely not English. She wasn’t entirely sure how to take that, so she just nodded to one of only two booths that, along with four stools at the sushi bar itself, constituted the entire landscape of the establishment.
It worked out fine. There weren’t any other customers, and while I ate, the lady and I and her husband, the chef, talked about baseball and watched the Yomiuri Giants play the Orix Buffaloes on the microwave-size TV over the bar. Eventually, a guy introduced to me as someone’s uncle—it wasn’t clear who—came in fairly well hammered, and he cozied up next to me at the booth with a bottle of Orion. Very soon, he was sound asleep while leaning against me, and the lady came over and shook him and told him to lean the other way.
It was great. It would be a challenge to find a bad or even mediocre sushi joint in that part of Tokyo, where time seems to have stopped at right about 1964 or so. But this was one of those meals that one remembers forever.
I thought about that on one of the last warm nights of the season recently when I sat and picked up the all-you-can eat menu at Sushi Ai (46 N. Central) in Clayton. It’s picked up shop from down the street and is now installed at the other end of the block. (And to clear up any confusion, the “ai” in Sushi Ai is pronounced like “eye,” and means “love.”)
If you remember The Leather Bottle on Forsyth, World News on the corner a few blocks up, or the shoe repair shop a few doors down from that, then chances are you ate at the House of Wong where Central and Maryland Avenue cross. It was a fixture of downtown Clayton. On any given day, it was crowded at lunch with locals and local workers. I used to park in the basement lot of the library right across the street, so I didn’t have to pay for parking and then go to Wong’s.
Which is where I was on a day in December when the sky was the color of unpolished silver, with Christmas only a couple of weeks away. It was noon—the place was full, as it always was on a weekday in Clayton. And I sat and ate a platter of fried rice, the wonderful Americanized version, caramel brown with soy sauce, studded with shrimp commas and shriveled bean sprouts, as deliciously filling as it is fragrant. A plate of shrimp fried rice and a Coke may be one of the most satisfying lunches on the planet, and it was particularly wonderful to be enjoying it as snow began falling.
House of Wong is gone now, as is Nami Ramen, which took its place. Where it used to be is now a surprisingly impressive space, two stories tall, supported by giant pillars. It houses a dining area that’s about triple the former space, with a long sushi bar that hooks a right angle and seats easily more than a dozen diners. The modest windows have been replaced with soaring glass panes that afford a grand view of Maryland and Central, hustling with passersby.
There is no comparison between the sushi here and what I ate that night in old Tokyo, and that, of course, is to be expected. There are few diners more annoying than those who sniff, The paella in Dubuque doesn’t match the version they enjoyed at that atmospheric place in Valencia. This is all-you-can-eat sushi, and the emphasis is on a limited number of neta toppings. There are plenty of side dishes such as tempura, as well as salads and nibbles like pot stickers and edamame. It’s a place serving sushi of the caliber normally found in Japan at rotary kaiten-sushiya, where plates rotate on a track, picked off by diners as the offerings pass. (We’re slated to get one next month, Sakatanoya, in the Delmar Loop.)
Sushi Ai in Clayton is one of several locations in the metro area, and when you want to enjoy what the restaurant business calls “value-price” sushi, this one will fit your needs perfectly. Classes devoted to professional sushi must be running full-time somewhere; the number of restaurants and grocery stores carrying the mass-produced rice shapes is staggering, considering it wasn’t that long ago in culinary history that the idea of eating raw fish was the stuff of wilderness survival tales. Here, a whole crew is in constant motion. Suffice it to say that none of them looked as if they might speak Japanese. Nevertheless, they’re turning out sushi like machines, efficient and quick. The pace only quickens in response to the crowds that begin filling the place.
What arrived at our table was well-composed, arranged correctly on the platter. We had a parade of nigiri sushi; they were lined up according to the level of fattiness, with leaner cuts to the right and more oily slices of mackerel at the other end. It seems that some local sushi places are also finally understanding that wasabi is not like catsup and not needed in salsa-like proportions. Only a restrained dab was on the plate, which is just right.
I might have had to explain the whole concept of sushi rolls to the chef at that Yanaka place; makizushi is, in the world of traditional Japanese, Edo-style sushi, considered the province of amateur home sushi-making. Here, of course, they are much adored. The menu of rolls at Sushi Ai is sort of like the daily schedule at a Burning Man event: an overwhelming array of concoctions that promise a whirl of delights of the palate. Not just a “Spicy Crab Roll,” mind you, but a “Crazy Spicy” version, spackled with Sriracha-spiked mayo. And then once you’ve been seduced by that, it’s on to a “Super Spicy Salmon Roll,” potent with mayo infused with ghost pepper chilies that should pretty well roast your taste buds for the evening.
There is a regular menu: fried oysters, teriyaki combinations, steamed shumai... It was clear on our visit that most diners were here for the sushi. They were mostly young, office workers, including some students and first dates. It was a reminder that sushi is no longer “exotic”; a significant number of school kids today list sushi as their favorite food, crowding out burgers and pizza.
The Clayton of this new and snazzy Sushi Ai is not the Clayton of the old House of Wong. Running through the heart of the city, Central Avenue could have served as the locale for a movie set in the Eisenhower era back in those days. Cozy brick buildings hugged close together, with 30-seat cafes and bespoke tailors, pharmacies, and a sandwich place where the cutting board was so worn, there was a scalloped depression in its center. The new look is sleek, where block-long apartment complexes soar with balconies. Something has been lost—that’s the way of things. And surrounded by all of that new architecture, Sushi Ai fits in nicely.
By the time we left, nearly every seat was filled. It was a lovely meal; certainly, we’ll go back. But we also left wondering if maybe they could add shrimp fried rice to the menu. And maybe a TV to carry the Yomiuri Giants games.
Sushi Ai
📍 46 N. Central, Clayton
📞 314-727-1168
⏰ 10:30 a.m.–9:30 p.m. Mon–Fri, 11 a.m.–9:30 p.m. Sat & Sun
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