by anne sabatino | editor
It was a bold decision Malone's owners made when they decided to offer sushi at the tried and true Lexington steakhouse. Even bolder, perhaps, the decision to grow the endeavor by building a sister restaurant within two of the Malone's locations to offer the trendy cuisine on its own.
It took an equally bold move on the part of Tin "Keith" Oo to relocate to Lexington to operate Aqua Sushi in 2005 after years spent working in and operating other food service-related businesses. Born in Rangoon, Burma (also known as Myanmar), Keith spent much of his childhood in Europe. After migrating to California, Oo lived and worked in Albany, N.Y, Providence, R.I., and Oak Bluff on Martha's Vineyard, Mass.
Try your hand at making sushi with Keith's recipe for the Special California Roll and then try some of his other hand-made rolls specialties at one of Aqua's locations.
1 Avocado
5 c. prepared sushi rice
4 sheets of toasted seaweed (nori)
7 t. toasted sesame seeds
1/2 cucumber
5 oz. crab meat or imitation crab meat
Flying fish egg roe (Tobbiko)
Pickled ginger and wasabi to taste
Tools of the trade: You'll need a bamboo mat. Purchase one in the ethnic food section of Meijer or Kroger sells a sushi kit. Also, have a sharp knife on hand.
Cover bamboo mat with plastic wrap. Cut the cucumber into matchstick slices. Peel and seed avocado and slice into small chunks. Place shiny side of seaweed facing down on mat and then wet hand slightly before taking about 1 1/4 cups of prepared sushi rice. Press evenly over sheet of nori and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Gently pick up nori and flip upside down so rice is facing mat. Evenly spread cucumber, crab and avocado on nori, then lift sushi mat by placing thumbs underneath the mat and secure other ingredients with remaining fingers to keep in place. Bring mat forward until it touches the edge of the ingredients and then gently squeeze and form the roll using both hands. Slowly unroll the mat and as you do, bring the roll back to the edge of the mat. Gently place tobbiko on top of the roll and then cut it by half. Place both halves parallel and cut again. Garnish with pickled ginger and wasabi.