And the fish rolled by.

The fair isle of Maui boasted loads of delicious food, as well as some quirky new eats that I cannot necessarily describe as fine dining, but I can certainly describe as entertaining. One of these was the Genki Sushi we stumbled upon in a Maui outdoor shopping mall, in a time of immense hunger. We were originally aiming for Maui's #1 rated Thai restaurant (also located in said outdoor shopping mall), but missed their lunch service by about 15 minutes. Despondent and starving, we rounded the corner to find the Genki Sushi, a quirky little place that looked much like a diner, except that every vinyl-seated booth was next to a conveyor belt that cruised by slowly with plates of sushi and other Asian-inspired delicacies.

As I mentioned, we were starving, and never have I seen so many hands flying around the table whipping little plates of California rolls and tuna poke rolls and fried calamari from the moving sushi bar. Almost as quickly as the plates hit the table, the tiny treats were shoveled into mouths via wooden chopsticks, and multi-colored plates stacked to make room for more conveyor belt fair. You see, each plate's color indicated the price of the dish, anywhere from $1.50 to $4. At the end of the meal our table's refuse was tallied for the final bill. The variety was impressive, even if the knife skills and culinary creativity was not. There were little fried ebis (shrimp), deep fried apple slices with dipping sauce, and even rolls of rice and corn wrapped in seaweed. In fact, I am pretty sure I saw a mayonnaise and macaroni salad roll glide past me, which I suppose makes sense, as macaroni salad is a Hawaiian staple served alongside the kalua pig at traditional beach side barbecue joints. While I did not see the mythological Spam sushi Hawaii is known for, I nonetheless believe it exists somewhere in the backrooms of the Genki Sushi, waiting for a conveyor belt convert to grab it from the line.

As you can see from the images, event the wasabi trolled around the room on the conveyor belt, waiting for the next hungry group to rescue it from under the sneeze guard and stabilize it's position on a table for a short time. Eventually the wasabi would rejoin the untouched plates on the moving belt and resume its transient journey from booth to booth on its way to the next hungry eaters. Genki Sushi was a sight to behold, even if the sushi itself may not have been memorable, the "service" certainly was.