Why the First Piece Is Always Hirame

Most counters open on a white fish, and the reason has more to do with your palate than with tradition. It sounds like a small thing until you have sat at the counter a few times, and then it is most of what you remember.

The rice comes first

Shari is seasoned with vinegar, salt and sometimes sugar, and served at about body temperature. Too cold and it tightens; too warm and it turns the fish. A good chef adjusts the rice through the evening as the room warms up.

Ginger is a palate cleanser

Gari, the pickled ginger, is there to reset your mouth between pieces, not to be heaped onto them. A sliver between courses is enough; a pile on top of the fish undoes the chef's work.

If there is a counter you think we should sit at next, write and tell us -- the best suggestions become the next visit.