Thanks for the feedback that this is not some new roll-making technique.
I would not hurt the reputation of this place, which we had previously been
impressed with, if my husband and I had not seen this with our very eyes. I
had not seen him do anything unusual before. This time when I saw him make
the roll with a dirty rag, and I thought I saw a white thread on the roll,
I pointed it out to my husband and we started tracking the rag to see
whether he was using it only for the rolls. That is when we saw him wipe the
counter and his hands with it, make some nigiri, and then use the same rag
when we ordered the next roll, which we did not eat. I am very finicky
about sushi restaurant hygiene, and have a problem with sushi chefs who
don't wash their hands but just wipe their hands on the dirty rag, so eating
the dirty rag was over the top for me.
If something good came out of this, it is that I found that the San
Francisco Department of Public Health has a great online database of all the
San Francisco restaurants with results of current and past inspections,
including any violations and of what kind at:
http://www.dph.sf.ca.us/ehs/Viol_DB/Index_viol.asp. Ino passed the last
inspection, and I am certain he didn't do this on the previous occasions
were were there, but that may not be his only unsanitary practice, so I
think I will give them a call.

Vicky

"D. Lutjen" > wrote in message
news
>
> "Gerry" > wrote in message
> d...
> > In article >, D. Lutjen
> > > wrote:
> >
> > > Please take a few minutes and touch base with whatever government
agency
> in
> > > San Francisco is charged with food safety/restaurant inspections.
They
> will
> > > be interested in what you have to say.
> >
> > This story seems completely preposterous--you'd think if they were out
> > of plastic wrap they could send somebody to a local convenience store.
> > My experience with almost all Japanese sushi chefs would have me
> > believing that the chef might have used *A* counter cloth, but not the
> > one he was currently using for clean-up. Just a guess. It's not like
> > a chef who is knowledgeable of the trade would intentionally be rolling
> > sushi in a garbage bag.
> >
> > But this does make me ponder David's response, as on occasion I've had
> > difficulties of other kinds. Can anyone tell me precisely who one
> > would call in the event of seeing truly outrageous behavior at a
> > restaurant?
>
> I would first look at city/county government listings. Not sure where you
> are but in Oregon, restaurant health/safety rules are administered by the
> Health Division. However, actual inspections are made by the health
> departments of the various counties. To make it more confusing, rules
> businesses dealing with food other than restaurants (like our fish/seafood
> retail store) are handled by the Food Safety Division of the Oregon Dept.
of
> Agriculture.
>
>