The rawer, the better.

I first tried sushi in Denver with a good friend of mine, who was very excited to introduce me to the world of raw fish. I wasn't overly excited, but I figured I had to give it a go (and see what everyone was raving about), so I let him place the order and I got my chopsticks ready.

He liked shashimi (big chunks of raw fish and nothing but raw fish, for those of you who are ever so slightly less versed in sushi language than I am). So that was my first step into sushi. It was a terrible one.

I managed to eat two of them, then I told him I really couldn't do anymore. Yucky.

Then I met Brent, and we lived in South America, and he loves sushi. He kept saying he wanted me to try sushi with him (apparently Denver can't possibly be the best place to eat raw fish) but he was waiting for a good opportunity because he knew he only had one shot -- if I disliked it again, my sushi days would be totally over.

When we got that chance, I tasted an assortment of sushi rolls, and it wasn't so bad. When we were in Argentina, the Benihana on the corner had a daily half-price roll happy hour, which we would go to occasionally. I started to really enjoy it, even look forward to it.

When we had the four-hour brunch at Gamboa, my meal consisted mainly of sushi. (And dessert. Come on, people, you know me.)

And now there is a sushi restaurant in Coronado.

They have other food, too, and Brent keeps annoying me by wanting to try it all instead of just ordering sushi to share with me so there is MORE SUSHI on our table. But, the curries and stir-fry have been very good, as well.

I never imagined I would be so excited about a restaurant like this just down the road from where we live. I didn't know it was even coming in until after it was open, and we've been there four times already. It's not the cheapest place in town, but it is a hotel restaurant -- and for most items the prices are pretty on par with what you'd expect around here. (There's an occasional $9 cocktail, but there's also a $5 Pisco sour -- the only Pisco sour I've seen since leaving South America -- and I'm good with that.)

I'm no connoisseur, but I know what I like -- and the general consensus among the Coronado folk is that it's a good place to eat. Just when we were getting bored with our meals-out options, this little place saved the day.