Due to this and that, I picked up Viv at her mechanic’s shop around 4:30 and we decided to try our luck at Thornton Place again (largely because I wanted to see what the deal was with the new-to-me ramen and izakaya place was – it’s a ramen joint, looks promising enough). We arrived before Tengu, the kaiten sushi place, opened at 5.

So we went literally through the building to the other newish place, the Watermark, which is a blond wood beer bar with pub food, and had a pint. Then back to Tengu. No wait, and the plates were coming right off the prep line. I don’t recall the end count, but I ate enough to be genuinely full, which with me and sushi can put a real dent in the wallet. We still came out ahead – I was thinking the meal for two was about $120 at a non-kaiten place, and it came out to about $60. Getting there right at open very clearly improved the quality of the plates, too, as well as the availability. They had at least five varieties of salmon, including both coho and copper river, and six, maybe seven varieties of tuna including toro and bluefin.