Ep-70: The Sushi Episode | 20 Topics in 20 Minutes

Welcome back, Demon Babies! This week your hosts are diving into everything sushi. The best rolls, the worst rolls, what’s actually worth ordering, and what you pretend to like but don’t. From classic nigiri to over-the-top specialty rolls, we’re breaking down what makes sushi elite and what feels like it’s doing too much. And yes… all in 20 topics in 20 minutes.

Sushi has layers. There’s etiquette, there’s ordering strategy, and there are people who absolutely do not know what they’re doing. We get into raw vs cooked debates, soy sauce behavior, chopstick struggles, and the difference between good sushi and just expensive sushi.

Expect hot takes, sushi rankings, food debates, and a full breakdown of what you should be ordering and what you should probably skip.

If you’re new here, Demon Babie is your weekly comedy podcast where we rapid-fire 20 bite-sized topics in just 20 minutes: pop culture, relationships, life spirals, and whatever else we can cram into a caffeine-fueled countdown.

Listen for:
🍣 Best and worst sushi rolls
🍣 Raw vs cooked sushi debates
🍣 Sushi etiquette and ordering strategy
🍣 Expensive sushi vs actually good sushi
🍣 The fastest, funniest, most chaotic 20 minutes of your week

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Transcript

0:00

いらっしゃいませ to your favorite podcast in the world, Demon Babie Podcast, where we take 20 topics, talk about them in about 20 minutes. And I'm Demon of Hollywood, aka Joey Lombardo, sitting here with my umami mommy. Blond Babie. Blond Babie. That's her. I love it. I am an umami mommy. Tasty. Hello, tasty, wishy, ah, wishy. What are we talking about today? Oh, today is the sushi episode. So much sushi. Well, welcome to another episode of the demon Babie podcast. Ready? How are you? I'm doing great. How are you? Good. Let's break the fourth wall. Okay. We're hopping on a plane in like a couple hours. Couple hours. We're going to Seattle. We are not packed. We're not packed. We are not ready. We have not edited this episode. Nope, but it's gonna come out. But it needs to be done before we leave. It's gonna get done before we leave. Will my bag be packed? We'll see. Maybe I'm just gonna wing it. We'll see. We'll see. But this episode is coming out. She could edit it on the plane. I'm not. She's not. It will be done first. Once I'm on the plane, I'm drunk. Okay, all right. Vacation time. How are you? I'm great. I'm excited to go to Seattle. I've, you know what I've decided. What? For years I had, I had a good like three, four years of having like famous person energy, and then there was like a year I lost it. Uh huh. And then today I decided it's back. It's been back. No, it's back today. I thought it's been back for a while, but I'm glad you know that it's back. No, today's the first day Okay. So yeah, I'm gonna start Oozing, again, famous, sex, fame, power, money. Great, I love it. I'm all about it. I know you are. Well, let's get into our episode. First topic! Music for a sushi restaurant, the Harry Styles song. Oh, well the song's great. It's a good song, but I don't think it is technically appropriate for a sushi restaurant. No, I don't like it for a sushi restaurant. I don't like it for a sushi restaurant either. I like it for a picnic. That's not what the song's called though. I get it. It's mislabeled. It's mislabeled. It's misleading. It's incorrect. Okay, so real question. What is good music for a sushi restaurant? J pop. J pop. J pop. I like that answer. Yeah, J pop. That's the only music for us. What do you think? I agree. J pop or K pop, even though it's not Korean food, I think it fits. Why would you bring the Koreans involved into the sushi episode? Because we know how involved they are with Japanese. That's true. So, hello. They're in cahoots. They're in cahoots. Hit me. Next topic. What's the largest party of people you can have for a sushi dinner? You Five or six. I think six is really pushing the bubble. Cause you can go three and three. But more than that's crazy. But I'm saying tax bracket wise, and like, the amount of food you have to get, that's pretty gnarly. It's pretty fucking gnarly, yeah. Cause you only, at that point you need a boat. You know when they have to serve those sushi boats for big parties? Then you're in the catering world, I feel like. You're pretty, yeah, you're tutoring. I think you really shouldn't outdo. Five. Five. Six even feels like too much. Yeah. I mean, I know our little party we had the other week at, um, Not a sushi restaurant. Butunoki. They had sushi. But it was similar. They have sushi. They gave us a few rolls. Yeah. But they gave us one roll. But it was for the person to share. It was a more designed thing for a larger group. I guess you could technically do it that way. Yeah. It just feels like unacceptable. It feels rude to the staff. It does. I don't know why. It just feels like, you know, it's a very one on one experience when you're eating sushi. It's a great date food. It's great date food. Mm hmm. And then you really get to see if they know how to use chopsticks. Which is fun. See if they like wasabi, how's your spice level. Yep. Mm hmm. But that's not the question. No, it's not. So yeah, I think, uh, five. Five is, I agree. For just a sit down sushi that's not, like, catered or something bigger. Yeah. Five. Agreed. Agreed. Next topic! Wasabi. Wasabi bomb! Wasabi bomb! We are known to have wasabi bombs. We love to do a wasabi bomb. We always do one piece of sushi with wasabi. As much wasabi as we think we can handle. Yeah. We've got the wasabi bomb. It's what we do. It's delicious. I love it. It's delicious, makes me cry. Wasabi's so good because it goes away. Yeah, it's not like a Thai spice where it builds and it builds. Or a salsa or something. No. Like you can't eat it anymore. It's not a pepper. Yeah. It's a root. It's a root. I like a root spice. Yeah. Big root guy. Horseradish. I love horseradish. Similar. Lot of wasabi. I'll even take fake wasabi. Yeah, I'm cool with that. I'm cool with that. I'm cool with that. Yeah, but I love wasabi, big wasabi fan. Big wasabi. Big wasabi. Oh, you can call me big wasabi. No, you call me big wasabi. No, you call me big wasabi. Get out of my house. Wasabi Bobby. Wasabi Bobby. That's me. Oh my god, if my name was Bobby, I'd definitely want to be called Wasabi Bobby. All my uncles are named Bobby, so it's obviously me. Were any of them Wasabi? You know, they're all dead, so I can't, I can't fact check. They're dead! Sorry! Next topic! Sushi Chefs! The coolest chef to be. One of the coolest chefs to be. Every, you tell me you're a sushi chef, I'm like, wow, your knife skills must be incredible. You are a cool guy. You are cool. You're cool, calm, collected. Yeah, you're just sitting there with your fish. Nice knives, always. Fancy, fun knives. Clean hands? Yeah. Yeah. Clean chef. Clean, yeah, super clean chef. Very clean chef. Sushi chefs are cool. And, uh, one of the only chefs. That will drink with you. True. Almost any time. Well, the only chef that's, not the only, but majority chef that's right in front of you. See, that's what I'm saying. It's a one on one experience. But it's, I don't like a hibachi chef the way I like a sushi chef. No, because a sushi chef is like, feels like a real chef, where a hibachi, yes, they're probably real chefs. Feels performative, feels fake. I agree. I don't like hibachi. I'm not a big hibachi. I like yakitori. Change my mind on it. Maybe, somebody might be able to, but, um, I like a yakitori. Yakitori right in front of you is good too. Yeah. That's good business. But yakitori chef is similar to a sushi chef. Closer to a sushi chef than a hibachi chef. Yes, because hibachi chef is There's no tricks. You know why? There's no tricks. And it's in a, it's in front of a huge large group. You're put, you're forced into a large group at a hibachi place usually. It's usually like 10 people. They almost feel like they want you to drink and you have to. And you're like, okay. You're like, I didn't really want to drink with this random stranger I'm sitting with. Where a sushi chef, you're like God, I hope, I hope he likes me. I hope he likes me and he wants to do a shot with me. Exactly. Yeah. I want him to, I want to impress him, not him to impress me. Exactly. That's the difference. He's not performing. No, he's doing his job. He's doing his job. Hit me. Next topic. Grocery store sushi. It can be so hit and miss. I haven't been on it lately. I haven't been on, I've been away from it for quite some time. I don't want to hate it. Cause I've been through phases of my life where I love it, but it's a little scary. I think. I think if I did it again, which I'm sure at some point I will. I'm sure you will, yeah. I think I'll only go California roll though, cause just imitation crabs easier, blah blah blah. My stomach will get so upset sometimes if I get like a salmon thing. I agree. And it's just not worth it. You go cucumber, but that just feels like a waste of time. Cucumber is just cucumber and rice, what are we doing? That's not it, that's not it. You're trying not to get sick. That's not worth it. I mean, just go fake crab. Just get something else. Yeah. Yeah, Whole Foods ones though, calling them out. They really blown it. They blown it. They were good at one point, they've gone down the drain. They were good until Amazon bought them and now they're terrible. They've been terrible for a long time. That could be the reasoning. That could legitimately be the reasoning. Yeah. Good call. Thanks. Hit me. Next topic! Sushi rice. Um, I liked seeing that sushi rice tier TikTok you sent me. It makes me want to get more artisanal sushi rice and try it. I agree. Yeah, because when they put the rice that we have, like the botan or whatever. We haven't had that in years. I don't know what we have right now. It's in a giant body. I can't read it. I don't know how to read. Well, it's in a giant thing. I'm not reading it. Okay. The one we have was at, like, the F tier. No, we were not F tier. D tier. We're like C tier. Okay. Well, it's still not good. It's not sushi rice either. It's not passing. It's barely passing. Okay, we'll get fancy sushi rice. Okay. Okay. What do you think of sushi rice? I love sushi. Rice. I love sushi. Rice well made, I mean, what they say sushi is 90% the rice. Yeah. And I agree. Totally agree. A good little bit of vinegar in there. Ooh, so good. Mm-hmm. Love. I loved when you told me about how sushi rice is, has vinegar, because it used to be so pungent that it needed it to like balance. Yeah. Sushi was supposed to be sour. Yeah. Because fish was not that fresh when it first came out, so they fermented it. So yeah, sushi. Sushi means sour fish, basically. So then to make up for the lack of sourness, fresh or fish, they add vinegar to the rice. I think we really nailed it. Yeah, I think it really worked out for them. I think it really worked out for them. We love it. Next topic? Yes, nigiri. Love nigiri. It's the pro sushi move. It's just, so let's go through the kinds, so there's No, that's a different topic. We're just talking about nigiri here. Well, nigiri is just some rice with sushi on top. Yes, it's rice and fish. Uh, my favorite is a smoked mackerel, which is funny because mackerel's a cheap fish. But I love a smoked mackerel. That's okay. That's my favorite. I love. With a little lemon and what, yuzu. That's my favorite. I like a yellowtail with a little miso, miso leaf on it. Oh, that's a good one. And I really like chutoro and otoro. And all. Toro. Oh, Toro. Oh, Toro. Yeah. No, you love Toro. I love Toro. Yeah. Toro's some of your favorite. I think a really good, like what's your least favorite high qual. So stone for I think a really good, high quality, sweet shrimp is really good. Really good. But a low quality cooked shrimp. I will literally throw it. I will want to eat it. It's gross. It's fucking gross. I don't like. Shrimp is either so elite or fucking disgusting. I don't like the salmon roe nigiri, but there's a lot of salmon eggs. Okay. Well, that one's like wrapped up. It's like a different shape. It's a whole thing. What about uni nigiri? Uni nigiri is hit or miss for you. It has to be earlier in the dinner because it's so mushy. If the texture is that mushy at the end, I'm like, I'm too full. I can't eat. So it was the only acceptable end of dinner eel. That's the best way to finish a nigiri. Dining selection. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Eel. Eel. Agreed. Agreed. Hit me. Next topic. American Sushi. American Sushi is Roll, filled, chopped. Okay, I had a hate for it until recently. Like, like grew up. That's what was my intro. Then I learned real sushi. Then now I've come back to it. And when I'm in the mood for it, now I can do it, but if I'm going for that, I don't want nigiri. I only want an American roll. I want a selection of American rolls. Interesting. Little sweet sauces and stuff. Yeah, I'm here for that, not an authentic experience. I get that. There's a time and place for it. Yeah, it's a different thing, and it's good. It's a cheaper, nicer cut. Yeah. Usually. Yeah. And I would say easier for a group. That is great for a group. That is great for a group. Yeah. You go, oh, let's get this. I do hate when you're with a big group though. You only get like one piece of each American roll. Yeah. And you're like, what the fuck? I'm starving. I'm getting gypped out here. I want three crunchy rolls. You're like, Tony's taking four. I only got the avocado on the dragon roll. I didn't even get the eel on top. One. Yeah. Yeah, so it can get heated for me. It is a competition. You have to get enough, you have to properly supply the table. Everyone needs to be confident in getting enough sushi if you're going all american. Yeah, I agree. Because I don't want to be gypped. I don't want to be gypped, I don't want to gyp you. I want at least two pieces of each. You got to order enough of everything then. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, agreed. It can be a competition for sure. Okay, hit me. Next topic! Hand rolls. Hand rolls. Again, I like a hand roll at a hand roll bar. I agree. I want a hand roll when it's hand roll specified and I don't want a soy paper hand roll. I want a seaweed hand roll and I want the seaweed a little toasted. Exactly. I agree. I think soy paper hand rolls get really soggy really fast, especially when they do those baked crab ones. Agreed. They get really like just mushy. Kind of like how you don't like the uni because it's mushy. Yep. I totally agree. I am so over the snow crab baked soy hand rolls. Don't not give it to me with soy paper. Soy paper is not worth it. Soy paper makes me want to throw up y. I hate soy. Yeah. I hate soy paper. But the handle technology is getting good with the to go. It's very exciting how they are wrapping the Seaweed and plastic and then you have to carry wasteful, but it keeps it is so wasteful But but it keeps everything tasting so fresh and so good because you need the crunchies the crunchiness of the seaweed so worth it It is Next topic! To go sushi. To go sushi has come leaps and bounds. LEAPS AND BOUNDS! It's some of the best to go food you can get in LA right now. I would say that's insane, Paul, but I agree with you. But the reason is, is because it's come leaps and bounds. The technology! The boxes that they put it in. I mean, Masa, they do their buy one get one free, so we always, you know, Secure that, and they have an ice pack on top of the box. Yeah, they have an ice pack in the box. It keeps everything fresh and cold. You're not getting some warm, weird, funky sushi. Or the hand roll places that wrap the seaweed in plastic, so you get the fresh hand roll. Amazing. Amazing. Some places do that in person too, but specifically from takeout from like Sora. Takeout sushi, I would say Ever since COVID has been amazing. Before that, though, the only one you could get before that was sugarfish because they were the first only ones, the only ones allowed. Yeah. Yeah. American rolls to go. It just doesn't work. I still can't do that. I don't, I don't, it just doesn't work. No, but you do lose the charm of the sushi chef when you're not there. Yeah. It's a different thing. It is next topic. Okay. So we're, I think we might agree on this. So we're going to go three, two, one and say the answer. Okay. Worst sushi ingredient. Don't say it. I know you want to jump out. Wait, no, I don't have an answer. Okay, get, get your answer locked in. I don't know. Worst sushi ingredient. Sushi ingredient. Like, are we talking a fish or a topping or? Worst sushi ingredient. Oh, I'm so stressed out. I'm gonna give you five seconds to think. Okay. Soy paper. You weren't supposed to say it yet. Oh, I, I, What are you doing over here? Okay, you said toilet paper. The bit's dead. I'm saying cream cheese. Cream cheese! It's cream cheese. Cream cheese. I want that clip. Cream cheese! I fucking Hate, cream cheese, sushi, it's disgusting, vile, Disgusting, see I didn't even consider that as an option. That makes me almost not like sushi, like if you just gave me a cream cheese American roll, I would be like, I don't like this stuff, this stuff sucks. This is yucky, why would I eat this? This is gross. Yeah, pass. No, thank you. Totally agree. So yeah, that's the worst. Yeah, agreed. My second, I had a second pick. In case we both did cream cheese, which was soy paper. Okay, so we were on the same page. See, in my head, cream cheese isn't even an ingredient in stewed cheese. That's for bagels! Literally. Hello? Alright, hit me. Next topic! This one, I don't know where you're gonna go with it. Okay. I have a guess. I'll write it down. Um, least favorite fish. Can I answer? Yeah. Scallop. Bam! Scallop! I know my fiancé. Cause scallop can be so good and so bad, kind of like shrimp, but it usually leans bad more than good. Mm, mm, mm, eh. Yeah, and a cooked scallop is good, but it's not great. I think Gordon Ramsay's really been pushing the scallop propaganda. It's like he's got a scallop, uh, uh, stock, yeah. He does, he's definitely got an investment in the scallop farming industry. Scallop needs to be high quality. I like If it's low quality, you kind of feel it's slimy. It's a little too slimy. It's a little too yucky. I don't like it. Yeah, but I I prefer scallop over you do. Okay question about the scallop because I I'm gonna say my least favorite. I think if a scallop is too big that can contribute it to it being bad I think the size and color of it makes a difference. I see where you're coming from. Yeah I'm gonna just piggyback on your answer, but i'm gonna throw it a little bit to the sideways. Okay I'm gonna say baked scallop I hate the mayonnaise y baked scallop roll. Mayonnaise rolls go hand in hand with cream cheese. It's not the same, but it's pretty close. Close. It's close. There's a time and a place for a mayonnaise, but it's, it's kinda close. It is. It is. It is. Next topic! Favorite fish. I already said mine, mackerel. I know, mackerel. Mackerel. What would else, top three? Uh, mackerel, crab, salmon. Ooh. I'll do tuna. Funny enough, scallop. Scallop. A good scallop goes a long way for me. Yeah Tuna scallop and I'll do yellowtail. I like yellowtail. Wait back to the last topic. You didn't say what your least favorite was Ice piggybacked and said baked scallop. Oh, okay I thought you would have another answer though because it was also in your top Oh, I know while it's crazy how I live like that temperature matters a lot to me. It does You only like things cold apparently. Yeah, cool guy. Ice cold He's as cold as ice, so no answer Alright, next topic. Japan. Wait! I know your answer. What? It's um, the liver. Monkfish? Monkfish. I like monkfish. But you also can hate it. I can hate monkfish. Monkfish can be gross. A bad monkfish is way worse than a bad scallop. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, monkfish. Alright, next topic. Uh, Japanese sushi restaurants. That's great. I mean, most of them are Japanese. No, like in Japan. Oh, like in Japan? In Japan, uh, you've been love, similar energy to here. It's not that similar energy. Yeah. But I'm gonna say their high class ones aren't worth the money. Yeah. The fish quality's too high in general there. It doesn't make enough of a difference. No. I think the, the high class ones here are usually from Japan already Anyways. And they came here to make even more money and make even gnarlier stuff. Exactly. Yeah. So I think sushi, LA's high end sushi gave, so sushi New York and New York and LA the highest end sushi in those places Yeah. Is better than high end in Japan. Yeah.'cause our high end in Japan was not our high end in Japan. I was like, this is, it was not even close to the high end in LA to be honest. Exactly. That's what I, and I have a friend who's a TV executive rich guy. Nice guy. He agreed with me on this one. He said he does not spend a lot of money on sushi when he's in Japan. It's not worth it. Because it's not worth it. But I will say their middle tier, their middle tier sushi is amazing. And their cheap sushi is amazingly good for the money. Totally. That, bang for buck, absolutely. Very good. Agreed. But, they're high end, don't even bother. No. Save your money, do it here. Go somewhere else, if you're already in Japan. Yeah. Go have a crazy yakitori experience, go get some crazy ramen experience. Literally, the yakitori, ramen, all those things, spend as much as you want, go high end there. Can't get that here. There, you can get sushi here. Exactly. If you're from the Midwest, maybe go high end if you really watch it. If you're already there. Yeah. Yeah. And you can't get it, well, if you can't go to New York or la, but you can do high end in Japan. I imagine. You can go to New York or la, but maybe you're just not there. Maybe we're in la. We get it all the time. All right. Next topic. What are the three levels of tuna? Chu, Toro? Oh, Toro and Toro. Negi. Toro. Not really. The leanest one is called Akami. Oh. That's the leanest one, that's like the very red one, and then it gets a little more pale and pink as the fat gets introduced. Okay. That's a quick topic. Okay. Wait, were the other ones right though? True Toro, No Toro, yes. Yes. There's no just Toro. I mean all of it's kind of Toro, but that's fine. Okay. Hit me. Next topic. Best beverage with sushi. I personally love to have a white wine with sushi. You do like a white wine? Yeah. Very, that has to be very crisp. Yeah, and cold. crisp Sabien Blanc. It has to be cold. And sake. What kind of, uh, yes, and I would say the same goes for the sake. Crisp and cold. Crisp. Crisp and cold. the sake with the little whale on it. That's a great sockeye. That is a beautiful sock. Love that sockeye. Yeah. Agreed. Uh, what about you? So Sao, I love the Sao Ice cold or a Ichi bond. Any Japanese beer is my favorite. Japanese beer is my favorite beer. So when I get the chance, yeah. Ah, very happy. The wishes delicious. Yeah. Yes. Um, and then we have our l our last topic. Hot Sake vs. Cold Sake Never Hot Sake Basically, never Hot Sake Never Hot Sake Unless you're in like the dead of winter, in Sapporo, in Japan In the snow There's 20 feet of snow outside Then I'll be like, okay, Hot Sake Hot Sake Have we ever been there, in that? No No, but I can feel it I know we will That's all I'm talking about. Uh, yeah. Cold sake all the way. My mom's a hot sake drinker. I don't agree with her. I don't agree with her. She'll drink it on a hot day. It's fucking crazy. She drinks it any day. If she goes to sushi, she goes, I should get a hot sake. To herself. She's not sharing her sake. She doesn't share it either. It's amazing. I've never, I've never seen someone not share their sake. I don't think it's as enjoyable as a cold sake. I think a cold sake is way more enjoyable, but I also think sake is a communal experience. I don't think I saw one hot sake. I think it's an American thing. I think it is. Yeah, I could we could we're probably totally wrong It's probably just a win. I love when we spread propaganda like this It is really it is fun to push our narrative that does nothing for us. Yeah. Mm hmm. I agree I love it But that was the last topic and I love you and I love you and I love sushi and we have a sushi dinner All right. Whoa, we're so excited for five The max amount of people. The max amount of people. We're really pushing it with that one. Wish us luck in Seattle. Send us any recs you have. Tomorrow, We will be there. Woo! Love you. Bye!