Sakura at the sushi bar.

This is mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog.  Usually Kirk writes here about food he ate and adventures he had.  Cathy and ed (from Yuma) kind of intersperse with their own anecdotal meals, if there is such a thing.  Kirk is still 'vacationing' and Cathy is filling in so you will stay interested.  She is only a Temp.  

Hi.  I was cleaning out my memory card and enjoying again a meal I shared with ed (from Yuma) when he drove in (from Yuma) -a three hour drive- in March.   We who contribute to this blog think nothing strange of doing such a thing for food. It seems we who blog here all *really* like Sakura. So that was where he and I met up one evening.  Here's our meal. (Most of the photos are from ed-many thanks)
We ordered from the regular menu while waiting for our special/omakase (i.e., not on the menu) sashimi plate to be prepared by Kazu, the itamae (sushi chef), who recognized ed when we walked in.  From the "Hot" section: spinach with uni. I never had warm uni before.  This was wonderful: creamy, salty, rich. (OK, I'll get it out of the way: everything was wonderful.)
Shiokara: salty, slightly sweet, savory squid guts.  I've seen it on the menu, never had it before and will order it again.  Really good, chewy, not too salty, rich with a pleasant aftertaste. 

 
Agedashi tofu.  House made silken tofu,  deep fried.  I had a craving for this. Creamy and a little crunchy.  ed had never had this before. He liked it too. (The sauce on the bottom is sweet.)
 
Our special sashimi plate was finished by Kazu and proudly placed in front of us.    The "decorative" mackerel skeleton was to be used later, as were the shrimp heads. This was a selection of the freshest most flavorful items available.   So fresh that those shrimp -drunk with sake- were still alive and moving. Other items on there, tuna, octopus, abalone,squid, mackerel, yellowtail, salmon…   
Once we had consumed the shrimp, the heads were whisked away, lightly fried and brought back as part of a miso soup. 
We also had ordered some tempura vegetables, which were perfectly fried and not greasy. A nice crunch.   Plus we were eating vegetables in addition to the spinach uni…

 The Spanish mackerel skeleton was also whisked away with the shrimp heads, breaded, fried and brought back to our seats in this simple display. Yes, that's the head. With eyes.  The crunch of the bones and flavor of fried mackerel was a wondrous, perfect dish.   We squeezed lemon and dipped these cracker like pieces in the accompanying ponzu sauce. 

   
At some point, ed and I decided we needed some kind of carbohydrate and the crab fried rice looked interesting on the menu, because neither of us had ever had -or heard of- Japanese fried rice…then there was the crab factor.  Kazu grabbed the menu from us, looked at other things available and He also thought that might be a good way to end our meal.  So we ordered it.  This was wonderful!  Who would have thought of Japanese fried rice? You can see the corn, onion and carrots,  There was a lot of crab in here also.  Fresh and flavorful, a perfect ending to a wonderful meal. 

Neither of us had any Sake, although we both wanted it.  Hot tea and water were our beverages.  I know you are wondering, so here is a photo of the bill.     
 
 Izakaya Sakura 3904 Convoy Street 92111  It is in the parking lot with the Original Pancake House, all the way in the back, next to the Recruiting Depot.  The door way.  The Neon "Open" sign in the window.  No other signage.