(via) The main thing that makes us salivate over CasaMaki – this modern, clean-lined sushi bar – is its location: Italy. Granted, when most people think of sushi, they don’t think of the Piazza della Rinascita in the city of Pescara on the Adriatic coast, but Pescara has been a fishing village for over 2,000 years – the name of it literally translating as “abounding with fish.” So why not sushi?
Indeed, in antiquity, when Pescara was settled by the fierce Marrucini tribe, its foundational purpose was as a trading post with “the peoples of the Orient”. This was centuries before its violent Roman annexation, and over 1,300 years before Marco Polo did his thing to and from Asia. If Abruzzo – the greater region – has been a melting pot, Pescara has been both its ladle and lid. It has been an entry point into the Italian peninsula for foreign flavours and culinary traditions since the first oars were ever dipped off its shore.
And it’s not as if the Italians are averse to raw fish in the first place. Crudo (“raw”) dishes are a big deal hereabouts, as is bottarga (known as “karasumi” in Japan). The similarities are remarkable. We’ve seen with beautiful Vancouver newcomer Kissa Tanto how the marriage of Italian and Japanese cuisines is nothing if not wholly natural, so “sushi in the piazza” is striking really only account of how long it took to get there.
Beyond the thematic and historical contexts of its location, the design of CasaMaki – by Studio Zero85 – is pretty damn cool. We dig the house-shaped constructions “enclosing” each table, and love how the tables, chairs, and planter boxes are integrated into a complete unit. We like that diners have to step inside a cockpit of sorts and really surrender themselves for their meal.
We can very easily imagine something similar being installed in an area of Vancouver where the sushi game is present but not as strong as it could be, such as in and around the Crosstown/Gastown area, possibly in the old Wild Rice address (117 West Pender St.). Photos by Sergio Camplone.