When mediocrity is rewarded with intense loyalty there must be an explanation. The Gadfly gets to the bottom of it.
At first I just didn’t get it. Here we are in the middle of a brutal recession and independent restaurants are folding up all over town, but at Coast Sushi Bar the door was swinging with such regularity that a revolving door salesman could nail a fat commission. Why all this love for a restaurant whose sushi is merely ho hum, whose ambiance is strangely conflicted, and whose scruffy young chefs look like refugees from a Japanese skate park?
Had I missed something on my first visit? Was the sushi better than I remembered? Sadly, no. The fish was limp and flavor challenged, the rice was glommed together in a rubbery clump, and the portions were small. The ikura – the litmus test for any sushi restaurant – offered its precious thimble full of roe with a blithe stinginess that assumed no one would know that salmon roe is not Beluga caviar. In fact, the chefs seemed to be relying on the unenlightenedness of their patrons – either that or their forbearance.
A quick glance around the room revealed a clientele distinguished by age and income; the overwhelming majority appeared to be between 28 and 35. Most wore the accessorized mall store duds of future middle-managers, recent graduates of mid-range universities destined for cut-rate McMansions, 401-K’s and risky car payments. In other words, precisely the kind of people the recession has hit hard.
Not a few were clearly out on dates, taking pleasure in the romantic ambiance of Coast with its dark walls, dim lights, and a votive candle on each table, pouring wine from a bottle they brought themselves and seeming not to mind when a table full of celebrants began belting out Happy Birthday at the tops of their lungs, trampling the starry-eyed vibe as if this were TGI Fridays.
To their credit, people in this demographic have learned forbearance. Having grown up surrounded by the white noise of social and cultural fragmentation they’ve adapted a post-modernist facility for compartmentalization, the ability to switch off shortcomings and annoyances so they can enjoy whatever benefits can be gleaned. And Coast clearly offers them some benefits.
Foremost among them, Coast is cheap – at least compared to other sushi restaurants in the neighborhood. The BYOB policy can knock $40 out of the cost of a meal here (a significant boon to cash strapped twenty-somethings) while still offering the semblance of something cool and glamorous. Even today, sushi retains a thrilling, adventurous status among young urban diners. At some level – probably because not everyone can bring themselves to eat raw fish – sushi appeals to the intellectually curious, the brave, the worldly (or at least that’s the rep).
So what’s an intellectually brave and worldly young adult to do when they’ve been pink slipped yet they’ve still got a hot date on a Saturday night? How about a place with pretensions of being cool and romantic where you can bring your own wine and they won’t even charge you a corkage fee (on tabs of $20 or greater)? Where you can dine on a daring ethnic cuisine that calls on your sense of adventure? Where you can bask in a sexy modern decor with white banquettes, red walls and black curtains. Where you can gaze longingly into each others eyes over soft flickering candle?
For all that, one can overlook the less than stellar sushi, prepared not by seasoned experts but an assembly-line of bored-looking youngsters; one can overlook the noise and commotion, one can overlook the generally stressed and weary attitude evinced by the staff.
Coast has found its niche. Just because the economy has put a strangle-hold on the finances of young urban professionals, it doesn’t mean they don’t aspire to glamour and style. If they ever stop aspiring to that, America is in real trouble. In the meantime, there’s Coast. For its target demographic, it’s perfectly situated.
These days their customers are driven to it.
Coast Sushi Bar
2045 N. Damen
773-235-5775 / Reservations Accepted
Hours: M-Sa 4pm-12am; Su 4pm-10pm
Features: BYOB, Late Kitchen, Carryout, Delivery
Avg Price for Two including Drinks and Tax $45
Website: www.coastsushibar.com
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