User blog:DaedalusHowell/Sushi Crawl in Staten Island

Sushi has been ubiquitous in the states since the mid-80s, however, it’s densest clusters have predictably been on the coasts, not least of which because that’s where the fish live. Though California, with its relative proximity to sushi’s birthplace, has long claimed the mantle of “Best Sushi East of Japan,” New York City has made great strides in recent years. Among the boroughs to stake a claim as the Big Apple’s sushi capital is Staten Island, which now boasts something of a “Sushi Crawl” along the 2-mile corridor known as North Shore.

Modeled on ye olde “pub crawls,” wherein imbibers lurch themselves from drinking hole to drinking hole with increasing difficulty keeping upright, the sushi crawl features three Staten Island restaurants – Kyoto in West Brighton and Osaka and Sushi Pronto in Port Richmond (the first two joints are named for cities in Japan; Sushi Pronto is not yet a place in Japan but, yes, it should be).

Of course, there are risks associated with over-indulging in sushi, namely the fact that raw fish can contain high levels of chemical contaminants such as methylmercury –a spike in one’s bloodstream may affect the nervous system and cause memory loss, meaning you may forget that you’ve already eaten too much sushi. A conspiracy of sushi joints to sell more sushi perhaps? If you see people with wasabi-smeared faces wondering aimlessly on SI’s Forest Avenue, we’ll know for sure.