Funky food find in Federal Hill

Installing an art exhibit can have interesting side bars. One of the artists for Sizzlin' Hot had van issues so in the pouring rain I headed to Federal Hill i asked Pam to go along for company and knew she would enjoy seeing the studio. After 1.5 hours spent choosing art and taling about art, we hit the streets in the rain to find a place open for lunch. So Bo was closed, as were many of the choices since they close at 2 and reopen for dinner. We walked in and out of the open staurants perusing menus and making sure the air consitioning was not on freezing. One restaurant had an interesting menu so wewalked inside. To my dismay country music was blaring. I guess if the place had been full of people the music would not have been songrating but I looked at Pam and said "5 minutes in here and I will be throwing beer bottles". Back into the rain and heading down the street we seemed to come to the end of the line. Nichiban, a sushi bar, was open and not freezing. We sat ate the bar and the man behind it said, I am the only one here today so you can order small appetizers and the lunch sushi. ". We looked over the menu and settled on eggplant tempura , shrimp tempura and the soft crab roll. He immeduately said , "No eggplant today.". My mind immediately flashed back to a Jamaican restaurant on the shore experience. That is a story for another time.
We were able to substitute veggie tempura.

The verdict. The veggie selection was interesting. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, celery, green peppers, broccoli and green beans. A bit oily but tasty. I could have done without the potato. Battered and fried potato seems a bit over the top. Te celery would have been beter with no strings attached. The shrimp, to my liking, were a bit undercooked so I knocked off the batter. The soft crab roo, was very good. Since Pam does not like avocado, he substituted cucumber and drizzled the top with wasabi mayo. I like a little bit of sushi with a lot of wasabi. We got a small blob of wasabi and some sliced ginger. The roll was excellent. Three plates, two beverages- $24 and change. $12 and change each. The chef told us Nichiban was the oldest sushi bar in Federal Hill and he had been there for 20 years.

A funky food find on a very wet day