So a couple of days ago I received an email from someone I hadn't heard from in ages, say about a year and a half. I'm not sure many of you were reading when I did the "Dude, like where's all the Asian Food…." post. Apparently this fellow is here to keep me on the straight and narrow. This time around it was, "ok, the holidays are over, so can we get on with eating in San Diego? Enough with the other stuff and reruns!" he-he-he……. What would I do without folks like this to keep me focused? So here goes……
A few months back, while driving up Mercury to do some shopping at Marukai, I passed the "newer" location of Tajima, and realized, even though I did one of those "odds and ends" posts on the place in 2006, I'd still never been to the place. So it was time to remedy the situation…..
And though I still call the place "Tajima 2", it's actually called "Tajima Sushi & Japanese Tapas Restaurant" whew, what a mouthful. First off, the interior is fairly stylish, though the tables are a bit too close together, and things are a bit "wide-open" so you can mind everyone else's business. This is not much different from many Izakaya type places though. On each visit, Jazz was playing in the background, and you could clearly make out the trickling "waterfall" in the background…ambient noise as an attempt to distract you from all the conversation. It is also pretty dark, and all my attempts at taking a photo (I never use a flash) failed.
Enough of that, here's rundown on what we ate during our visits…..
The Tako Wasabi ($4.50) was fine. I'm pretty sure that like most sushi bars, it is bought from one of several distributors, but for some reason, it is a bit more sweet, with less of a sinus clearing wasabi bite, than other versions I've had.
I usually enjoy Tako Wasabi whenever I've gotten it, and this was no different.
The Geso Karaage (Deep fried squid legs – $3.95) didn't thrill me as much:
These were a bit over-fried, as the squid had become really tough, and the batter tasted a bit bitter.
I thought the Chicken Mizore (Chicken Karaage with Tsuyu and grated daikon – $4.50) would be a better choice than the Chicken Karaage at Tajima, which tends to be bland and gummy(see my previous Tajima post) :
The Tsuyu – tempura dipping sauce and the daikon oroshi did liven up the rather bland chicken.
The funny thing is, one of my favorite dishes at Tajima was the Nonkotsu Karaage ($3.95), which is on the menu as "Chicken Gristle", but is actually battered and deep fried chicken cartilage.
I'm guessing that the batter which I think is a bit too thick and heavy for Karaage does well with the cartilage. The cartilage adds crunch to a batter which kinda lacks it. The Missus wouldn't touch it, but I finished the whole thing.
The Missus on one visit decided to try out the Chirashi, which is bargain priced at $11. I tried to warn Her off…. you know what they say about cheap and the words sashimi and sushi, right?
The Missus said that the salmon was quite good, everything else less so. Personally, just from looking at it, I thought the cutting skills of whomever put this together needs some work. It seemed like some of the fish was just shredded. The Missus did say that it was pretty much worth the price.
The Missus always has to order Shishamo ($5.95) whenever She sees it on the menu:
The Missus told me that the skin of the fish was not grilled as crisp as She prefers, but this was pretty good as a whole. One odd thing, the Missus left half of one fish, the one on the far left. As we were leaving I asked Her why, and She told me it was cold, and hadn't been grilled properly. The other four (and a half) were okay.
I also ordered the Buta no Kakuni (braised pork belly – $6.95), and was amazed at the portion size.
Having made this several times, and even having done a post on one of the versions (I guess I should do another post someday), I know that the yield for a good version is fairly small. First off, the Missus loved the boiled egg, which had a wonderful soft yolk. The braising liquid tasted adequately good, but the pork was on the dry and tough (for Buta Kakuni) side. In fact, it reminded me more of Pork Shoulder than Belly. Still, this was a pretty large portion size…… is there such a thing as too much braised pork belly???
Which kinda gets to my point; Tajima is a good place to try a bunch of dishes without breaking the bank. Thinking in terms of economies of scale, it is much cheaper than Izakaya Sakura, and the prices reflect the
difference. The funny thing is, that the atmosphere here is probably a bit better than Sakura as well! I think Tajima is good place of you're on a tighter budget, and perhaps looking for stuff like "Kimchi Pork" and "Crunchy Roll", followed by a good dose of Soju.
Tajima Sushi & Japanese Tapas Restaurant
4411 Mercury St.
San Diego, CA 92111