Have you ever seen the movie GoodFellas?

I have.

I love it.

Well, if you were to throw aside the gangster aspect of the whole thing, and replace Ray Liotta with me (remember, we’re only having fun here) and the Copacabana with a sushi joint, you’ll have a very good idea exactly how I (and others, no doubt) feel when they walk through the door (back or front) of Kishu Star Japanese Bistro at 1935 West 4th Avenue in Vancouver (read: Kits).

Kishu Star, may, quite honestly be, the best straight-up, no-nonsense, good-to-the-last-udon, sushi service this side of the Mississippi (or Lake Manitoba, if you want to get technical).  Like I told you once before about my favourite lunch place who remembers my name, so too do the good people at Kishu Star.

You want to know what else?  They even know my phone number off-the-top so there’s no need to give them my address (if I’m ordering take-out/pick-up, that is) – kinda what Vanessa thinks about Sushi Delight (with a diff’rnt area code n’ stuff).  Call it photographic memories, or chalk it up to the fact that I go there quite often, it doesn’t matter.  That’s got class written all over it.

I remember one particular instance in which Kishu Star was jam packed and people were running around like crazy (in a good way, not like they do at this place).  But wait, there’s more….my order, which was a pick-up that evening after Hadj’s class, was grabbed by another customer.  No big whoop.  I wasn’t yet there as I am usually a fairly slow moving vehicle after Hadj’s classes (like each and every one of us that he tortures weekly).

Swiss timing aside, I was going to be there soon and the manager knew it (she usually has my timing down perfectly).  By the time I arrived through the back door (cut back to the Copacabana reference), as it’s way easier to park in the back than on West 4th Avenue, she had re-prepared my entire order and had everything ready to go.  Sometimes I wonder if I even need to show up at Kishu Star as all I really seem to do is walk in and walk out (for pick-up orders, that is).

When I’m in less of a hurry, my experiences with Kishu Star have elicited the same kind of joy you get when you find that extra last bit of wasabi for your last California Roll.  So, yeah, real good.

I’ve already told you where to find one of the best Japanese ‘experiences’ Vancouver, but for straight-up soosh, Kishu Star is the place, chopsticks down.

darren