*Happy Moment*

Okay so here's the situation.

Last week, I went to the Annapolis Croquet match at St. Johns College with Natalie and we wore our pretty dresses:

seeeeee?

While I was there I was talking to one of her friends about how much I was in love with Joss (a local Annapolis sushi place) that had made me a complete sushi snob. They have this wonderful appetizer called "Shitake Tempura" which is basically just tempura fried shitake mushroom caps with a soy based dipping sauce...and it is all that is great in the world.

Buuuuut as with all things there were some downfalls:

1. Joss is on Main St. Annapolis with parking being near impossible
2. Being a quaint local Annapolis place, it is so tiny that it seems like the table next to you is actually sitting AT your table
3. If you are anywhere in the front room, with people coming in and out during winter, you get a shot of icy air about every 15 minutes (not comfortable at all)
4. For some reason there is a hefty, gothic waitress that has had it out for me ever since I started going there, snarling at me when she takes my order...what did I do? I don't know, but needless to say it's an unfriendly atmosphere
5. Not to mention all of the Annapolis snobs that look you up and down the second you walk in

So Natalies friend says to me, "Yeah I like Joss but there is this place on the Easter Shore called Cafe Sado that I like even more, the fish is fresher, it's cheaper and they have some really good food!"

"BLASPHEMY!" I yelled, there can be no one better than Joss...but wait...could it be possible? I mean avoiding the traffic and evil glares might be worth a trip over there.

I had drank a lot of wine during the croquet match so I was down for just about anything.

It was actually quite perfect. Gurgle and I used to go to the Eastern Shore almost every weekend for oysters and chocolate :) Oh yeah, we'll get into that later.

So I texted Gurgle and this morning we planned on heading out to see if it really was all it was hyped up to be.

On the way there, we went through a neighborhood, pass some cornfields, through a townhouse community and arrived at a local marina...?

We pull up to this quaint little place at the marina that, luckily, I just so happened to see out of the corner of my eye a tiny little neon sign that said "sushi"

Exterior of Cafe Sado: not sushi-like at all

We sat out in my car for about 5 minutes contemplating if this really was in fact, the place. This was the right address, it did say sushi on a tiny sign in the window.

But it was at a marina in the middle of a neighborhood!

Well, that whole "Don't judge a book by it's cover" could not be any more true

Upon entering Cafe Sado, you walk directly into a large entry way with stairs in front and an adorable little bar/lounge area on the right

cocktail, anyone?

It's almost intimidating, the grandeur of the place when you walk in. I was not expecting this at all! At the top of the stairs the waiter greets us with a "helloooo" and we walk up the stairs and follow him.

We walk through the waiting room, which is very tasteful, not overly asian themed and very comfortable.

waiting room, so comfy!

Then we walk into the main dining area, which just so happens to look over the marina.

Even outdoor seating for the summer!

The main dining room was like something off of HGTV. Whoever their designer was, definitely did it right. as you enter, it is surrounded by a wall of windows, overlooking the boats in the marina. Painted in a nice eggshell sage color. The wall agains the marina is covered in booths with one long booth to the right and tables scattered in between up to the sushi bar. One of my favorite things about the booths? THEY HAD PILLOWS!!!!

Oh! the Pillows!!!



Very clean, attractive, open dining room

I get a little nervous seeing as there is only 2 other booths with people when we walk in, but I am already so attracted to the decor that I put my fears aside. We get to pick our booth and I choose the sunny one that has a nice view of the water.

Gurgle with her pillows at our booth!

I am SO excited!!!

So we start off with the miso soup. (I've realized when eating a lot of sushi I need to have a nice hot starter, although I love edamame and seaweed salad, soup is definitely a good starter)

I find that you can usually tell the quality of a place by the quality of their appetizers right from the start. Cafe Sado did not dissapoint. The soup was nice and hot, had a very nice flavor and didn't taste bland. It had a lot of spinach and tofu in it with some scallions that did not overpower the flavor.

Miso Soup, Check!

After being happily satiated by my soup I was ready for my sushi. It was really cool because the sushi bar was right at the front of the dining room so the chef prepared our sushi right in front of us.

the sushis.

And then it came...the prettiest plate of sushi I have seen since my last trip to Joss. We started off by getting the Shrimp tempura to split. Then I got the rainbow roll: a crabstick & avocado roll topped with tuna, salmon, white fish, unagi and avocado. The 2-piece salmon nigiri and Gurgle got the delicious Harmony roll: lumb crab meat & cucumber wrapped with lobster, topped with a rainbow tobiko. She ordered another really yummy roll that I cannot remember the name of.

OH THE DELICIOUSNESS!!

I was already elated by the delisciousness of the sushi when our waiter came back to chit chat with us. After talking a little bit with him about how happy we were with the food, he drops this one on us:

"all the sushi is 2 for 1"

whaaaaaaaaaa????

Oh yeah, you heard that right. This amazing little gem of a place, where we got alpha parking, great service, amazing atmosphere and delcisious food is BUY ONE GET ONE FREE!! Be still...my beating heart. I was giddy with excitement at this point.

Then Gurgle had some fun playing with the roe from the harmony roll

Is there a flag this color?

I definitely had an intense happy moment where I was trying the keep the food in my mouth while chewing because I was smiling so much. HOW could this place get any BETTER?!

There was no possible way. I told Gurgle that the only way this place could get better is if there was a panda bear. Then, what is on the tv in the waiting room on the way out?

OFCOURSE THERES A PANDA!!!

Of all the sushi places, I definitely rate this a 10 out of 10, which I rarely do. Usually when I'm excited and really happy with a place, it gets a 9. This place, is a 9.

If you are ever in the Kent Island/Eastern Shore of Maryland area, DEFINITELY check it out, if you don't, you are a silly, silly person and I don't know if we could be friends.

Check it out:

http://www.cafesado.com/index-2.html