Dominican Republic of Japan

Like I said, you’re not going to believe this meal! On Friday night, a bunch of my coworkers brought me to Mama Sushi in Washington Heights.

Mama Sushi is a Dominican sushi restaurant. Yes, that’s what I said. Dominican sushi! I love sushi. I love Dominican food. The fusion of the two is something I had never ever imagined. I present the menu:

Can you guess what I ordered?

While we waited for our food, we ordered drinks. I had a sip of Belkis’ white wine sangria:

I usually have a strong dislike for wine, especially white wine (thanks to an unfortunate incident aboard a Sydney harbor cruise when I was 20), but this was delicious because it tasted like fruit juice.

I ordered the special: a mojito with passion fruit and raspberry puree:

Also very tasty. You know I’m a sucker for drinks with fresh fruit!

While we waited, a lady came by to sell this wooden man who could do flips on sticks:

Deborah played with it so long that Nydia felt guilty and bought the guy for Belkis’ son Emanuel:

The man provided hours of enjoyment and made the rounds of the table. Erik and Jose took a turn:

(OK, perhaps Jose just looked on with disdain at all the little people having fun with the wooden man.)

Emanuel was the first to receive food. When Belkis called him earlier in the day to say she’d bring him to sushi again, he strategically decided not to eat any more until we were at the restaurant so he could save his appetite. Here he is with his spring rolls:

We tucked into some edamame:

Oh wait, before the edamame, I inhaled my drink. I ordered another one, this time without the raspberry:

Ohhhhh my, that passion fruit puree, so good! Lillian and Nydia ordered the same one. It made us all very happy:

And progressively happier as the night went on:

Of course, the light started to go just as the food arrived, but food in the dark tastes just as good! Here’s the fried rice for the table:

How about the fried rice had sweet plantains in it?!!!! It got me so psyched for the sushi because I obviously ordered this one:

Avocado and sweet plantains in a sushi roll. It’s like this restaurant read my dreams.

We all shared all the rolls, though I can’t remember the exact identities of everything. I’m pretty sure we also had El Jibarito (BBQ ribs, cucumber, sweet plantains), El Cibao (crab and avocado topped with salmon paste), and Merengue (salmon, avocado, cream cheese topped with sweet plantain):

I had some of everything:

Plus, Belkis and Jose each ordered the chicken terriyaki … which comes with a big pile of mashed sweet plantain in the middle!

We took some photo breaks …

(Side note: Am I allergic to rum now? My neck, face, and back got so red and splotchy while drinking a mojito two nights in a row!!! This has never happened before.)

(That little wooden man just would not let it rest!)

And played inappropriate games with the 12-year-old:

(He didn’t mind because he was content with his video game (playstation?) under the table.)

And laughed a little too much at the intersection where we happened to be sitting … because we are so mature:

… And then moved onto the dessert segment with two fried banana ice creams and two mochi ice creams for the table:

Everyone sang Happy Birthday to me as the desserts arrived because, you know, my birthday was four months ago. Then, they had to fight me to get a bite.

Just kidding! I shared. A little bit.

So anyway, the food here was obviously delicious … but the concept of this restaurant is just SO genius and out of control. There needs to be a country called the Dominican Republic of Japan. Perhaps I should make that happen. I can be the president and declare every day fried cheese-avocado-salami-plantain roll day.

What would you name your country? And what would its specialty be?