A successful appetizer should tease the tongue with wit, complexity, a touch of the unexpected, and just enough culinary know-how to hook the diner into sticking around. (This is the reason the hors d'oeuvre course is usually the highlight of any meal.) The House has had its deep-fried salmon roll on the menu for more than a decade, and it's the sole essential component of any North Beach snacking tour. Succulent spear-shaped fillets of fresh salmon are wrapped in seaweed, enclosed in a light wonton coating, and deep-fried until crisp on the outside, creamy on the inside. This irresistible combination of sweet, heat, and phosphorescence is beautifully accented with a sprinkle of crunchy black caviar, a bed of spicy carrot-cabbage-beansprout slaw, and a dipping sauce of wasabi-edged Chinese mustard that will take your head off (in a good way).