**** This location of Nozomi has closed
To appease those who are concerned about the lack of "green" in my diet (various garnishes excluded), I dropped by Nozomi on Convoy. As our very own Cathy mentioned in Her post, Nozomi is a Korean owned "mini-chain" of Korean-Japanese restaurants.
Now Nozomi is a pretty popular lunch spot, known for large portions. In keeping with these type of operations, Nozomi also seems to serve every single version of Westernized sushi roll known to mankind.
Not my cup of tea…but if it floats your boat…..
There's really only one thing I order at Nozomi, and I always call it the "Hwe Dop Bop", I think it's called the Chirashi(scattered) Salad on the menu ($11.45). It is a ginourmous salad bowl with mixed greens on rice, topped with a variety of medium quality fish…maguro, hamachi, sake(salmon), ebi(shrimp), tobiko(flying fish roe), etc….
Now I really wouldn't want any of this fish topping a piece of nigiri sushi, but in this case I'm fine with it. Why, you may ask? Well it's because I end up pouring a ton of the Gochujang based sauce (Cho Jang?) all over the salad. The drill is simple, you mix all the salad ingredients together, spoon into accompanying bowl, top with a generous amount of sauce, and have at it. Try not to let the sweat pouring off your chin, nose, and down your back deter you from completing your mission.
That mission would be to finish all 8 or so bowls of salad….. like Momma always said, remember to clean your plate(in this case bowl). On this day, the maguro was not very good…which meant more sauce. During a single meal, I will sometimes go through almost a half bottle. As for flavors, I enjoy the flavor of the mizuna and the peppery kaiware(daikon radish sprouts). The sauce while not the best I've had, has a mild sesame oil – vinegar flavor, it could stand to be a touch sweeter. If you really think about it…I'd still eat this without the fish(except the tobiko, which adds a nice crunchy texture), but hey, you need your protein, right?
I have seen 2 people splitting this, but on this visit I watched in amazement as a tiny Korean Lady polished this off, along with a roll. And she finished before I did! Well, I did get my greens, and also approached food coma status without the aid of gravy, red meat, mayo, or any of a number of fried items. Eight bowls of salad…..my body's going into shock!
Nozomi Noodle & Teriyaki
4637 Convoy St Ste 104
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 569-7773
Speaking of sushi…..during a recent visit to Mien Trung, I noticed this sign in the window of what used to be La Basil Thai. Looks like a sushi joint called "Sushi Diner" will be taking the spot of La Basil. But tell me…..are you ready for "Diner" sushi?