Wandering the streets of downtown Seattle, Clyde and I come across Todai, a sushi and seafood buffet.
Todai is unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Imagine a bright, airy, downtown loft with floor to ceiling windows. Next, double the size of the space you’ve just imagined. Then, double it again.
Pack the middle of the space with blonde wood furniture and tables topped with fountains and bouquets. Surround the edges of the room with colorful buffets: one serving dozens of kinds of handmade sushi and sashimi, another serving everything from tempura to orange chicken, another serving a dozen chilled salads and noodle dishes, and yet another stocked with cream puffs, fudge-topped cheesecake, butter cookies, and chocolate-covered cookie bars stuffed with chilled whipped cream.
There’s a custom crepe station, too, if you can manage to waddle your way across the dining hall to reach it.
The entry fee is steep at $22.00 per person, but Todai isn’t meant to be the sort of place you tuck into every day. It’s a space for celebration — a fact that the restaurant’s birthday policy (free buffet on your birthday) reinforces.
Their location map shows Todai is "coming soon" to Atlanta … which delights me, until I notice that the location map was last updated in 2003 (and, to my knowledge, Todai still hasn’t dawned in my favorite city). Once we’re home, our closest location will be in Houston … which may prompt a return trip to that sweltering city at some point.
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