Sumo King?

I was in the mood for sushi. But, I was also down the Jersey Shore. Why the conjunction "but" you may ask? Doesn't sushi involve fish? Doesn't shore involve ocean? Aren't those complementary? The answer is no. It is impossible to find a superb sushi restaurant down the shore. Decent, yes. Sell your first born? No.

Sumo has a couple of strikes against it right of the bat. 1) It's in a strip mall. 2) It's in a strip mall. However, once you get passed this, and step through the doors, you'll find a lovely restaurant tucked away between the abandoned Pathmark and the soon-to-be-out-of-business (at least in my opinion) Blockbusters. The decor is nice, with changing lights on the ceiling, a giant, peaceful fountain, and simplistic tables and chairs. The clientele was interesting to say the least. It's a BYOB (one of the few perks of a Jersey restaurant), and the man next to me had brought a 40 oz of Budweiser for him and his wife to share. If you're going to go with a 40, for crying out loud please, PLEASE, go with Old E or Colt 45. At least earn yourself some street cred with the malt! On the opposite end of the spectrum, the women behind me had an overpowering scent of mothballs. I think I can still taste the mothballs now. The female staff are all in kimonos (Except for the bus girl, who was the only non-Japanese member of the staff as far as I could tell), with giant bows on their backs. There were 4 sushi chefs, and Sumo also offers the option of Hibachi. On this occasion, my friend Jon and I were in it strictly for the sushi.

I had been here a few years ago, and remembered it as being one of the better (but still mediocre) sushi restaurants in the area. In late 2009, it still receives this ranking. Good, and will do the trick, but overpriced for what it is and not exceptional by any means. Jon ordered the green tea, and I'll say one thing, try as he might, he couldn't get the cup half empty. Perhaps it was another message from God to Jon: Dear Jon, Have a positive outlook on life. The cup is half full. Love God. It seemed as though every time he took a sip, a kettle magically appeared and the tea was topped off. Imagine if they paid this much attention in a bar? Jon probably had about 5 cups of tea trying to see what the bottom of the cup looked like. He never found out. But later he got his revenge, as he did find out what the bottom of the sweet tea and lemonade concoction's glass looked like. Twice.

I had a philadelphia roll (heavy on the cream cheese), a yellowtail scallion roll (the seaweed was tough and overpowering), and an eel avocado roll (heavy on the avocado). Basically, I didn't really get to taste any fish. Perhaps I would have been better off ordering sushi pieces. I love the smooth, cool feeling of sushi on the tongue. There's something primitive about eating raw food. For a city girl, eating sushi might be as close to being countrified as she can get. Uncooked, the way nature intended it. Slick and delicious. This experience was covered up and hidden at Sumo. Too many layers. Perhaps this is one sumo wrestler that ought to lose some weight.