Esca was a cradle of crudo, or uncooked, lightly seasoned fish, which Esca's chef, Dave Pasternack, gave more currency in Manhattan than it enjoys in most of Italy.

And some of this cooked food is as impressive as the uncooked fish.

Three further courses of small dishes ensued, then a strange dish of uncooked fish, pale pink and fleshy, with cold noodles and pickled greens gone dull brown with long storage.

Prevention is as simple as avoiding eating small, whole, uncooked fish.

In April 2012 the SDL gifted the Jefferson Society with a cake containing a whole, uncooked fish.

The moist slices of uncooked fish had been wrapped in strips of fresh yellow seaweed.

Then in endemic areas in Southeast Asia there are traditional dishes associated with these areas that also include raw uncooked fish, such as koipla in Thailand, goi ca song in Vietnam, sashimi and sushi in Japan.

It is of more than passing interest, then, that according to a report in The International Herald Tribune on Sept. 29, uncooked fish poses a health hazard.

It also has ostensibly Japanese-inspired dishes, and some of this cooked food is as impressive as the uncooked fish.

But if you're even smarter, you'll journey beyond the sushi, taking a trek that I fear is becoming more uncommon among diners at Japanese restaurants, who often equate Japanese with uncooked, unsullied fish.