"sushi" news and stories

Sushi is a tough food to pair with wine. (Sake is a natural choice, of course, but we're going beyond rice to the grape here). You have vinegar in the rice, salt in the nori, and a mix of raw fish. There are few earthy elements (outside of shiitake mushrooms) and many astringent, salty flavors that -- while delicious -- aren't going to necessarily taste that way with a tannic Cabernet Sauvignon or a Malbec.

So we tasted and tested. In anticipation of your next sushi take-out night, here are seven wines that will go great with sushi.

2009 Charles Krug Peter Mondavi Family Chardonnay, Carneros, Napa Valley, California ($20)
This is a Chard with barely any detectable oak (or toasty vanilla flavors, for that matter). Instead, there is bright, intense flavor packed with guava and apricot, preceded by brown sugar. This wine would pair well with a vegetarian maki, too.

Thanks in part to our breaking story last month, Sinju Restaurant in Portland, Ore., has removed bluefin tuna from the menu at all three Sinju locations.

According to a story in The Oregonian, the sushi restaurant made the change after being pressured by customers and environmental groups when Guido Rahr, president of the Wild Salmon Center went public about being banned from the restaurant after speaking to Sinju's management about the fish's appearance on the menu.

"I felt it was important for Sinju to know that this is not just another declining species, but perhaps the most high profile endangered fish species on the earth," Rahr wrote in a letter to Sinju in August.

Jae en Woo, who spoke to The Oregonian on behalf of her father who owns the restaurant said, "We should have been more up to date on this issue of sustainability and how it lives in the minds of Portlanders. I know this sounds really irresponsible, and I know aquariums often have literature about what's sustainable and what's not, but you're living the bubble of running your own business you're largely unaffected by these issues until a situation like this comes up."

We can't help but wonder if Guido Rahr, president of the Wild Salmon Center in Portland, Ore., thought he was smack in the middle of ABC's hidden camera series, "What Would You Do?"

Rahr spotted Atlantic bluefin tuna on the menu at Sinju Restaurant's Pearl District location while having lunch, and proceeded to do exactly what groups like Seafood Watch, Environmental Defense Fund or Blue Ocean Institute encourage: he politely spoke up. And as a result, got himself banned from the restaurant. That's right, according to Rahr, they said he was no longer welcome at Sinju and would refuse to serve him.

In an email dated August 16, to Mike Chen of Sinju's management team, Rahr writes:

"I have been a regular customer of Sinju for years and the Wild Salmon Center has given Sinju quite a bit of business. So when I saw Atlantic Bluefin tuna on the menu, I felt it was important for Sinju to know that this is not just another declining species, but perhaps the most high profile endangered fish species on earth."

Rahr had been eating at Sinju for nearly a decade. The headquarters for his environmental group is located in the Ecotrust Natural Capital Center, across the street from the restaurant, and is home to several other conservation and sustainable development groups who share similar concerns about endangered species.

If you listen to the latest pitches out there, we're a country totally hapless when it comes to food.

The airwaves have been blanketed lately with inventions that seem to imply we're incapable of cooking (or eating) with our own two hands. The EZ Cracker is designed to help those too clumsy to break an egg open (yes, really), and now, according to inventors Lucas Furst and Evan Kaye, we need help eating sushi too.

Furst and Kaye have put sushi in a tube and called their invention the Sushi Popper. Anyone who's ever enjoyed a Push-Up on a hot summer day will instantly get the concept: cut sushi rolls encased in a plastic tube. Eat from the top, push up from the bottom with a stick.

It's a gimmick, yes, but there's no denying the engineering is pretty slick. Each Popper contains eight pieces, and comes with a stick that doubles as a handle. And, surprise, the stick is also filled with soy sauce.

• Forget sushi takeout. Mark Bittman breaks down how to make it at home. (Hint: You don't need fish.)
• On the other hand, if you're sick of cooking (and need to lose a few pounds), try diet delivery.
• Moonshine: It's not just for hillbillies anymore.
• Pulino's Bar & Pizzeria is neither a bar nor a pizzeria. Discuss.
• "Watercress is yin." And it's in season.