The older I get, the more I realize just how young I actually act.
I’m getting to the point where I just cannot act my age. I can’t work on anything without taking a break to play solitaire. I can’t play a game of solitaire without winning a game of solitaire. I can’t hear a sexual innuendo without giggling-and it isn’t even the intelligent innuendoes. Chances are, I don’t actually understand those; I just giggle when people use the word “do” inappropriately.
It’s actually surprisingly easy to find friends with the same, childish outlook on life that I possess. A couple of years ago, some of my high school friends and I thought it would be fun to take a train ride to Jefferson City, Mo. We figured it would be interesting to walk around the capital city and see the state buildings. Despite our good intentions, our trip ended up being spent not learning about the capital building or experiencing Missouri government at its finest, but playing sardines (aka reverse hide-and-seek) in said capital building-for two hours.
In addition to my displays of cultural and educational prowess, I am also well-versed in the language of the abbreviating tween. I am waiting for the day when I go into a job interview and tell the CEO that it’s obvi that I’m totes perf for this job, foreals.
It would make sense that I would favor a place that brings my food to me in a gigantic, wooden boat.
Wasabi (1228 Washington Ave. and 16 S. Central Ave. in Clayton) does just that, delivering sushi to its tables in large boats-just enough to quell my childish appetite, but not too much to the point where it’s overly gaudy.
It is as if Wasabi were made just to meet my needs. The boat entertained me for just long enough once the food arrived. The lack of forks made me actually concentrate for once, as I was forced to learn a new skill: eating with chopsticks.
The size of Wasabi also adds to its charm. It isn’t a large restaurant, by any means, but I prefer the smaller setting; it’s a lot harder to get distracted that way.
As for the food, my sushi connoisseur friends claim Wasabi to be one of the best sushi places they’ve found in St. Louis. However, being the childish individual that I am, I fear change and any food that I’m not used to. Luckily for me, Wasabi serves amazing chicken teriyaki, which, along with chicken nuggets, tiny cheese pizzas and Squeeze-Its, remains one of the few foods I am willing to eat on any given night.
Location matters, too. In fact, it is one of the prime factors in choosing a good restaurant. My inner child does not want to spend its time looking around every corner for possible dangers lurking in the shadows.
Similarly, I do not want anything too risqué nearby-I would rather not spend the majority of my dinner giggling awkwardly into my Yaki Soba soup.
Wasabi provides that ideal location. Twelve as I may be, there are occasional times when I like to feel my age. Wandering the street littered with trees lit up by Christmas lights and lofts I may never be able to afford makes me feel like the ideal up-and-coming college student, dreaming of a future that nothing can stand in the way of-sans debt, the rising tuition rates and the depleting job market.
It takes a lot to please my inner child. I can be whiney, picky and immature. Thank God for Wasabi; I’m way too old to do bad restaurants. Heehee.
Kelley Dunn is a sophomore in the College of Arts and
Sciences.
