Meeting Meals: Dining Out with Nadia Maki

RANDY LUM’S THE EATERY

Stepping into The Eatery at 3431 West Broadway means leaving busy Vancouver streets behind and entering a cool, grown-up playground. Large painted puzzles depicting Campbell's Soup containers adorn the dark red walls, as do suggestive signs claiming "I Like It Raw" and "Miso Horny." Tall candles sprout from empty root beer bottles on every table and rows of smiling bobble-heads and bubbling lava lamps rest on empty surfaces.

The Eatery, owned by Randy Lum, is part Japanese restaurant, part wild urban hangout. Lum describes his restaurant as organized chaos, which works for his personality as well as his restaurant. Lum, an adventurous man, isn't afraid to mix traditional Japanese sushi with his fresh, eclectic take. Who says a California Roll can only be served cold? Lum experiments with sushi and has created a menu containing sushi rolls which can only be found at The Eatery. Although The Eatery serves traditional rolls, no one orders them. The double-page spread in the comic book menu, designed by Lum himself, titled "Funky Rolls" is by far The Eatery's most popular. By "Funky Rolls," Lum isn't talking about adding a little mango or smoked salmon here and there. In this establishment, "Funky Rolls", succeed in taking Vancouver's bastardized sushi to the next level.

Lum says his biggest inspiration for creating new flavours and combinations is travel. Lum travels to Europe and brings back fresh ideas every time. From the Malibu Roll, mixing papaya with fish, to the Volcano Roll, overflowing with spicy crab meat, Lum uses just about every savoury flavour imaginable. Besides the ingredients, one of the reasons The Eatery's sushi is unique is their house sauces. Most rolls are drizzled in warm sauces like Unagi mayonnaise which, as Lum promised, are "inimitable."

The eye-catching decorations hanging from the ceiling are what attract the young UBC crowd. Dangling overhead, a giant tiger and lizard created entirely out of children's toys stare at the zebra print pattern around the many Marilyn Monroe art pieces. Step into the next room and see a larger than life version of a Nemo's shark friend in his original cartoon form. Lum centered his restaurant around the theme Astro Boy, a "go-to" Japanese anime character that he identifies with. The proprietor knows his audience well and has added a risqué side theme to his restaurant – but not quite as risqué as in Japan, where eating sushi off a nude woman is offered to important guests. However Lum sensed how that could easily become a problem in Vancouver and settled for selling skimpy articles of clothing with suggestive slogans written on them.

"People love something new, and we're just experimenting around" says Lum, adding "So far, it seems to be working." The Eatery is open weekdays at 4:30 pm and on weekends at 12:30 pm, often not closing until midnight when the DJ brings the party to a close. The Eatery gives Vancouver's sushi culture a much needed spin and Grab News recommends their Captain Crunch and Viva Las Vegas Rolls as well as anything off the tuna section.

Nadia Maki is a secondary school student from North Vancouver entering her final year of studies. Among her accomplishments has been assisting her parents, both doctors, to do development work among the poor in such places as Central America.