GRIFTER’S TALES
VANCOUVER · OCTOBER 2026
By Colin Lee MacLeod
I went in for sushi and found a connection to a place I used to call home.
Eight pieces and a familiar place
At Sushi Today on Hornby Street on October 19, I ordered the chef’s special: eight pieces of nigiri, with an Asahi alongside. My notes give the sushi a five out of five. A good meal was already doing its job.
Then there was the chef: from Takamatsu, where I had lived for a few years. Vancouver and Japan suddenly belonged to the same conversation.
More than a restaurant stop
That is one of the pleasures of travelling with a few different lives behind you. A place name can turn an ordinary stop into a point of connection. You do not have to manufacture a grand encounter. Sometimes you simply discover that the person across the counter knows a place that matters to you.
The meal was worth recording on its own. The Takamatsu connection is why it gets a tale. Food gives us a reason to sit down; curiosity gives us something else to take away.
Grifter’s Takeaway
Leave room for a conversation. The person serving your meal may share a piece of your world.
