The absence of flaw in beauty is itself a flaw.\n\nI was in Phoenix for 17 hours a couple of days ago.  \n\nIt was a perfectly warm day outside, one of those beautiful early fall days in the desert when the sun bathes everything in clear, comforting sunlight.  It felt great just walking around Kierland Commons in the warm, late afternoon sunshine. \n\nMy friend chose her favorite sushi restaurant in Phoenix, Shogun, for dinner.  We got there fairly early and sat at the sushi bar.  Looking around, I noticed that I was the only Buddhahead in the restaurant (and I'm only half-Asian).  \"This can't be a good sign\", I thought.  Don't' get me wrong:  I don't believe that a restaurant operator's ethnicity must match the culinary heritage of the food he serves.  This can't be right.  Food, like human compassion and friendship, transcends race and ethnicity.  \n\nMy friend ordered most of the items off the menu.  We started with a Sunshine Roll, which was heaping mounds of spicy tuna loaded onto a modified California Roll.  The sauce for the spicy tuna was heavily mayonnaise based, which was a bit odd.  It was different, but tasty and original.\n\nThe Wahoo Sashimi in ponzu sauce with sliced cucumbers was light and delicate.  Wahoo is ono in Hawaii and is a white fish that is mild and slightly sweet.  It went well with the citrus ponzu.  \n\nThe Veggie Roll was odd in that the ingredients didn't blend together at all.  It consisted of cooked asparagus, some kind of weird takuan (pickled daikon radish) that was a bit bitter, kimpira gobou (burdock root), and shisou (mint leaf).  All the wasabi and gari in the world couldn't fix this roll. \n\nWe also had Shake Sushi (Salmon Sushi), Octopus Salad, and some edamame.\n\nThe sushi here was so far off the beaten path that the tastes were a bit off, they were almost uncomfortable to my palate.  But, it's good to try different styles of food in different settings.\n\nFood doesn't have to be perfect, or authentic, to be enjoyable.