Thursday, November 15, 2007


On a Tuesday a month ago I was standing on Broadway and Granville waiting for my B-Line bus to UBC. On its last stop on 10th Avenue and Sasamat I walk half a block to my class at Focal Point. My cellular phone rang and Mark Budgen (bottom) asked, "What are you doing on Broadway and Granville?" I then spotted him on the other side of the street. We chatted for a few minutes and he invited me to accompany him to Opera Sushi. He explained the place. I was intrigued but I had to decline as I had to teach.



About three weeks ago I picked up Rebecca at her dance class on 4th and Alma and suggested we try out a new place on Broadway called Opera Sushi. Rebecca was interested. We went. Opera Sushi is a small restaurant half a block west of Fir. The walls are decorated with old opera LPs (long playing records). There is a large TV monitor with an opera on at all times. The sound in the restaurant (a singer singing opera) does not always coincide with the action on the TV. As soon as we ordered the music was mysteriously changed to Frank Sinatra. It was 7:45pm and we were the only ones in the restaurant so we took our chances and asked for more opera. The Japanese man behind the counter smiled. We were rewarded with sound matching the beautiful woman on the screen singing her Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata. She was Rumanian Angela Gheorghiu. Her handsome Alfredo was American Frank Lopardo. We listened and watched until Rebecca finished her salmon sushi which she said was perfect. We reluctantly left.

Last night after picking up Rebecca at her dance she immediately asked me, "Are we going to Opera Sushi?" I had forgotten how Rebecca likes good routines. So we went. We arrived and Angela Gheorghiu was on singing Violetta, more or less where we had seen her the last time. Again the sound in the restaurant was not the sound of the TV. We ordered our food and requested the sound of our opera. We ate and then lingered and got as far as the surprise visit that Alfredo's father makes on Violetta. I was having a problem trying to explain that Violetta was a courtesan. I should not have been concerned.

As soon as I delivered Rebecca home she asked me to listen to one of her favourite songs which she first heard in her hip-hop dance class. It is Fergie's Fergalicious.

Part of the lyrics:

Fergalicious definition make them boys go loco
They want my treasure so they get their pleasures from my photo
You could see you, you can't squeeze me
I ain't easy, I ain't sleazy
I got reasons why I tease 'em
Boys just come and go like seasons

I left deciding I was not the one who was going to ask Rebecca to explain those words. In the middle of the night I wondered how many times we would have to go to Opera Sushi to listen and see a complete Traviata, opera redux.

Opera Sushi
1640 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC
(604) 737-1030