Consider this story an addendum to my earlier review of Wakame.

The Lambert family birthday tradition is that whosoever's birthday it is picks the restaurant. And I picked Wakame, because I haven't managed to get back there since the first time, and it'd been far, far too long since I'd had the Annie's Ika squid appetizer.

So one gets ordered, along with some food for, you know, other people. And it arrives, and upon the insistence of others, I claim three of the six pieces, with the three remaining going to my brother, my dad, and Cathy. My mom does not eat squid.

And it's good. It's not quite as good as the first time - the batter's not quite as ethereal or crispy as the first batch. But it's still very good. Everyone liked it. My dad really liked it, because something largely unfuckingprecedented happened - he grabbed the waiter and ordered another plate.

And when this one came out, fresh from the fryer, it was damn near perfect again. I had one more. Well, actually, I had three quarters of one more - somehow, a table full of raving relatives got my mom to eat some of the squid. Her verdict? Not awful, which is high praise given that it was squid.

Anyway, if you're in there, and you're ordering the Annie's Ika, you might want to suggest that they not hold it until any other appetizers are ready. The window for perfection here is fairly small, and you wouildn't want to miss it.

In other news, they also do a very nice spicy tuna roll, and based on one sip of the broth, I will eventually need my own bowl of galangal soup.