Ode to Sushi Toni

i was inside sushi toni with a friend, silently remembering when the place was called sushi man and owned by someone else-- the beatles' back in the u.s.s.r. was playing on their stereo and it reminded me of the time i was taken to jail in one of those con air-styled cage-buses. that same song was playing then.

my mind was trying to convince me to leave.

it's just that i was very nervous and very skeptical about sushi toni. the old owner of sushi man was murdered seven days into my living in the neighborhood and i never had a chance to meet him. all that happened was the restaurant closed down, then showered with white floral arrangements, and the news talked about the death and near decapitation of sushi man's owner.

and then sushi man disappeared and along came sushi toni.

i boycotted it for a very long time, feeling like there was something wrong about putting another sushi joint in the same place as one of san francisco's first ever-- especially after how it all ended.

but i went eventually.

the two of us ordered two rib-eye teryakis and a spider-roll. mostly, we talked about trivial things while my mind quietly debated the best way to tell my friend what had happened to the previous owner.

i never did tell him, but i could tell the thought was ruining my experience at sushi toni. i found myself growing angry about stupid things like the fact the chef was speaking in korean rather than japanese and that most koreans will fight to their death claiming they invented sushi first.

it's a worthless thing to worry about, but my brain does that when it feels uncomfortable, i think.

"excuse me," the owner said as he approached our table, "but you ordered the rib-eye?"

"yes," i said, looking at my rib-eye.

"sorry," he said, "but my chef made a mistake. he gave you too little."

the steak was actually pretty big and i was already unsure if i could finish the entire thing and so-- in a confused blabber-- i told the owner the steak was fine and thanked him for the honesty.

"no," he continued, "we'll give you a discount. this is not how we do business here. you ordered a rib-eye and you need to get the full meal."

and then he was gone.

for a moment, i couldn't believe what had happened. i am an outward fan of free and discounted food, but this wasn't deserved. had the owner said nothing, i wouldn't have realized a problem with the meal-- in fact, even after he mentioned the issue, i couldn't see a problem.

"actually," the owner returned to say, "take this."

he put down an entirely new rib-eye teryaki plate.

"i'm sorry again," he said sincerely, "i don't want you to think we rip people off here."

"you've got to be kidding me," i laughed, "it's really okay! the meal is great."

"no, look. a lot of people tell me 'just get thinner pieces of meat, you'll save money' or 'give them less meat because you'll make more profit' but this is not how i do business," he said firmly, "this is not how anyone should do business. that's greedy. what i believe is this: if i make a penny here and a penny there by cheating my customers, i'll lose my restaurant. won't i? i want you to be happy and i want everyone to know i appreciate their business. so this is a free rib-eye to apologize for the mistake my chef has made."

i melted.

i had no room in my belly for the extra steak. but hearing strong morals that are-- today-- very rare, was greater than any amount of free food i could've ever received. i promised the man i would not only come back with friends, but recommend the place to any and all tourists looking for sushi. i told him how happy i was to hear his manifesto and that we need more people to follow in his footsteps.

"people think they can go around screwing each other over," he said while shaking his head, "and then we all lose. we need to be honest with each other. it's really pretty easy."

at that moment, all previous thoughts of sushi toni disappeared as if they had never existed at all. i did return with friends a series of times and i told all of them what the owner had done the first time i ate there.

but i hadn't thought about sushi toni at all since i'd moved to my new apartment.

until today:

Corrigan: quick sushi rec for Union Square? Client on street corner
Wishnack: sushi toni on bush/powell
Wishnack: client will also pass sushi maru, walking up powell toward bush, but they're not as friendly/more expensive.

now i want some sushi toni.