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Driving Through a Snow Storm for Sushi

written by John Chow on January 5th, 2009

Marinepolis Sushi Land is an eleven store sushi chain with locations in Washington and Oregon State. Whenever I’m down in the Seattle area, I make a point to hit up Sushi Land for lunch or dinner. If you go there for lunch, expect to wait because the place is always packed. Dinner time is generally less pack because Sushi Land caters to the lunchtime business crowd.

Sushi Land is very much like the Japanese version of the American diner. It’s a place to get good food at very reasonable price. All the sushi are placed on a belt with multicolor plates. The color of the plate tells you the price of the sushi. Take as many plates as you want. When you’re finished, add it all up and pay the bill.

Normally a trip to Sushi Land is a very pleasant experience. However, this time, we had to drive through a snow storm to get there. That wasn’t fun at all. I tell ya, the lengths I go through to get some good sushi!

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  1. That’s one thing I never got the taste for – Sushi – but yet I love Chinese Food – weird eh!

  2. The things people do for food! haha. nice video!

  3. You guys should have seen the pranks me and John used to pull at these belt sushi places. I remember one time we created our own sushi out of an old gyoza we didn’t want, put it back on the belt, and someone else ate it!

    If you thought John being evil is something new, think again!

  4. I hope you weren’t recording that video while driving. :)

    Ya know, I never have tried Sushi. It’s still not become mainstream here in the UK. One day though, I’m sure.

    Jamie

  5. Great post John! Its great seeing how far a die hard sushi fan will go just to fulfill their crave for sushi! We can only hope that one day during a hurricane in Orlando, you will have that same craving for sushi and be daring enough to come visit us!

    Thanks again for sharing!

  6. John,

    You are brave to go so far for Sushi!

    No take-out places for the ‘Dot Com Millionaire’? Oh well, it’s in keeping with your lifestyle to go out and have adventures.

    I noticed the sign to Redmond, WA during your video. Did you stop by Microsoft on your way home?

    Looking forward to meeting you in person again at Affiliate Summit West 2009 in Las Vegas next weekend! You are the real deal!

    Respectfully,

    Nicholas Chase
    http://www.twitter.com/nachase
    http://donotreadthisblogunless.blogspot.com/

  7. I tried some sushi once and didn’t really care for it. But I do understand the going out in a snow storm to get the food you really want!

  8. I’ve actually never had sushi before…I’ve wanted to try it, but somehow never got around to it. Now I know where to go though, so thanks!

    • Just a bit of advice, I didn’t like sushi at all when I originally started…in fact, I hated it. I gave it a chance and now it’s my favorite. Send me an email if your in SoCal and I’ll let you know what good.

  9. John, like you, I would do whatever it takes for good sushi! If you ever come out to Hollywood, be sure to check a restaurant called KOI, it’s MUY BUENO!

    AJ Kumar

  10. Wow John, that’s a nice little snowstorm there – makes the sushi all that much better when you finally arrive!

    Now, I like sushi, I really do, but unless it’s a lunch/business meeting, I would rarely (if ever) drive to go get some (especially in bad weather). I’m much more content with ordering in a good pizza or Chinese :)

  11. People do whatever to serve their needs and John was driving through a snow storm for Sushi. No problem with that :)
    Any Sushi left eh ? I love chinese food :P

  12. Whoa! Talk about Love for the Sushi! lol – good going John….How many Inches of Snow were on the ground?

  13. I saw the sign that said they only accept CASH. Are you paying for things with cash now John? What happened to the credit card? :)

  14. Next time I am in Seattle I will check this place out. I am a sushi lover to the core!

  15. What people will do for sushi. LOL!

  16. OMG! This Vancouver guy! You can really tell snow is news for them!

    If you were living in Ottawa…. You may be posting about how you went for sushi and there was no snow in your way!

  17. I love sushi sooooo much I would probably do the same thing. I’m glad to see I’m not the only one.

  18. Will you be able to risk your life if you want scrambled eggs I wonder?

  19. GP

    Being a sushi die hard fan myself, I can understand what John was thinking. That place sounds and looks very cool. I will have to visit there the next time I am in that part of the country! Neither wind, rain or snow will keep me from the sushi! Good job John on getting to the prize through that snow!

  20. John Chow is really talented. He drives throw the snow for Sushi, Makes a video, eats 14 plates of sushi + 2 soups + a diet coke then drives back.. How did you do all this, John? lol I found a new one for you.. The weather forecast guy :P Anyway, Never tasted sushi before but I love Chinese.. :D

  21. Pho gotta do what pho gotta do. Terrible joke, I know.

  22. Blizzard?

    sorry john… I’m going to have to disagree with you on this one.

    You will have to drive in Michigan in one of our “blizzards”

    40 would be nice on the highway during those times!

    it’s more like 15!

    Like the video… sushi is DELICIOUS!~

    have a great night!

    David King

  23. I am thinking about buying a tl how does it do in the snow??

    • Same as any other car in snow, if its icy enough no car will grip the road properly and you’re left to slide until you end up in a stop either through weight of the car, or a heavy object that will absorb the impact.

      Otherwise, I heard the TL is a great car under normal road conditions.

  24. What folks will do…
    While we haven’t driven through a snowstorm yet sushi has become our new traditional New Year’s eve meal. The last two years my wife and I stayed home, had some nice sushi and wine, woke up feeling terrific (no wasted day off)..all in all a couple of nicer New Years.Maybe next year we’ll do it Vancouver..

  25. I wanna move to Vancouver ..!!! from Nova Scotia..!!! there is only one good japanese place which is 4 hrs away from Yarmouth. Dharma Sushi. But i prefer the conveyor belt sushi.. so much freedom to choose what you want.. and you eat a huge variety.
    Now to convince the “ang moh” to move.

  26. NOW that’s what I call a soldier. Not bad… 24 beans for that mountain stack of plates.

  27. I live in Seattle, seriously is it worth it to drive through that for Sushi?

    I went to a restaurant last night and the restaurant has a parking garage that is up a hill, my car couldn’t make it up the hill so thankfully I parked across the street, and next thing you know when we were ready to leave, two cars exited the parking garage at the same time, while the front car was down at the intersection the second car just slid down and rear ended the first car.

    Some people don’t know the weaknesses of their cars, and because of that I prefer to stay off the road when it isn’t absolutely necessary.

    People driving in the snow:
    Drive too fast
    Think their AWD is godly
    Over-estimate their driving skills

    • I agree. I tend to stay in during the heavy snow/ice season mostly because of the other drivers.

      When it’s very icey and there are 13-16 ft snowbanks blocking corners and making huge blindspots – SLOW DOWN and GIVE ME SOME ROOM FOR ERROR (aka Don’t Tailgate)! Then they crash and blame the world for their stupidity…

  28. I’ve actually never had sushi as I am pure vegetarian

  29. The plates look great. I wish I knew about this place when we were up in the area during Christmas vacation. Oh well… maybe next time.

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  31. I’d walk through a snowstorm for some SOOSH!

  32. THe video is attractive with its stormy and night background,seems unusual.

  33. What the hell..food or life?

  34. nice video, you have liking for good food

  35. And who has no liking for good food?

  36. Vadim

    Just visited there. Not bad – $26 dollars including tip. Almost as good as “all you can eat” in Vancouver. Wanted to suggest you to ask for 10% off coupons for the readers of johnchow.com (”as seen it on johnchow”), but this place is very popular anyways I guess. May work for other places you visit.

  37. Sushi is always so worth it!

  38. I LOVE LOVE sushi. My favorite is spicy tuna!

  39. I was influenced by the sushi video and yesterday I visited the sushibar with friends.

  40. waa. i love sushi! but its hard to find at my place. i need to go at town to get that..

  41. I found it too greasy for me, at the time being I intend to keep to a vegetable diet.

  42. Hey John!
    I love sushi — I think that most people who don’t like sushi probably don’t live on the west coast … over here in Vancouver I don’t you are considered to be a true “Vancouverite” until you develop a taste for sushi, something like developing a taste for caviar but nowhere near as expensive (but I do love the caviar sushi to …lol…)

    Next time I head out to Seattle I’ll look up Sushi Land. Thanks for the tip.

    best………….valentina.

  43. Agreeing with one of the previous posts I don’t like Suishi much either but slap a plate of sweet and sour in front of me or shark fin soup and I am on it!

  44. Hard to find “good” sushi. I’ve been to one in Oregon.