mmm-yoso is not on vacation, and apparently never was…but I have a few posts to put up because, well, I eat daily and am now used to documenting each meal. Oh, this is Cathy, BTW.
Hi. You drove by Nozomi…either in Carlsbad, that little corner in La Jolla or probably saw the one on Convoy Street, in the same mall with Convoy Noodle House…and you thought…what??? A Japanese place inside a mall with mostly Korean restaurants (and the Vietnamese Convoy Noodle house) Yep, me too. 
. .well, it turns out Nozomi is Japanese-Korean.
So, the menu…its extensive…with sashimi, sushi rolls…all kinds…like about 50 different rolls. There are photos in the front window, there are photos over the sushi bar inside..but not the take out menu, which is photocopied…and besides, we didn’t get any rolls. Nope. Soft shell crab was on the menu. We had to ($6.95).
Lightly breaded, crispy, quite large; not like the frozen soft shell crabs sold…in freezer sections of various stores. This reminded The Mister and I of soft shell crabs we’d get fresh back in Virginia. Then we were brought out two bowls of Kim Chee.
The kim chee on the left was more finely chopped, had a soy/salty base…basically was pickles with some red pepper interspersed and very good. The larger bowl was mostly with bok choy and other veggies and had a nice heat. Bowls and spoons came out with it. It was our "salad". The Mister ordered the Green Noodle soup, which we were warned came in a LARGE bowl ($8.95). Oh my… the bowl was 12 inches square…as large as a BIG old floor tile!
This photo was to show you what was in the bowl, after The Mister had removed one large bowl (that was for kim chee) of broth. The broth was *very* light…barely chicken flavored…it ended up needing the kim chee to be added to it. The noodles, by themselves were nice, chewy and a good texture…they had a nice not too deep but discernible vegetable flavor flavor. The soup had 2 full shrimp, one mussel, a lot of small chopped (canned) clams, potatoes, onions, squash and mushrooms in it. Way much food. Way filling. I ordered the dinner Bento Box ($9.95) with BBQ’d pork.
Salad, rice, 4 pieces of California roll (with real crab), tempura’d vegetables, one shrimp and one piece of fish. Oh the pork. First of all, it was a *huge* portion…and the flavor was superb. Grilled just enough to get some smoke into it and a light, not too sweet of a teriyaki sauce…saltier more than sweet sauce.
Lots of food, lots of flavor if you add the kim chee, fresh food, lots of different rolls and good service. Try it.
There are donburi and curries on the menu also.
Nozomi #1 4637 Convoy #104 San Diego 92111 (858) 569-7773
Nozomi #2 4159 Regents Park Row #190 La Jolla 92037 (858) 452-7778
Nozomi #3 3050 Pio Pico Drive #A Carlsbad 92008 (760) 729-7877