Izakaya Masa Revisited

Well, it's been a pretty busy couple of days for me and I'm getting older, so it ain't getting easier…..even though they say you need less sleep as you get older, which I'm finding to be true. Anyway, these 4am mornings and long days…… Since the Missus was working until late on this day, and it was close to 6pm, I decided to head up to Izakaya Masa. It had been a solid fours years and change since I last visited. And there was a line out front five minutes before opening. They don't open until 6pm these days; though I remember when I used to work close by and they served lunch. Heck, I used to stop by when they used to be Teriyaki Cowboy. One thing was certain, I'm not a huge fan of the ramen at Izakaya Masa; so I'd be passing on that. At least on this visit. Maybe one day in future if I'm feeling especially curious……

On this evening, I was beat and wanted a nice variety of items. I started with my favorite little appetizer here; the Chuka Kurage; jellyfish salad.

The flavors are not as strong as Chinese style Jellyfish salad; not as salty, not as sour, not as sweet. But I enjoy the nice crunch, the light touch of sesame oil, it makes for a good start to a meal.

Being a fan of "neba-neba"; the rather gooey-slimey texture of foods like natto and soft egg; things I raised on. I ordered the Maguro Yamakake; raw tuna with grated Yamaimo (mountain yam).

I had seen folks ordering sashimi and other stuff; which had me wondering what the quality of the fish was. Well; it was really low quality maguro; on the hard and crunchy side, lacking in the wonderful, buttery texture of good quality fish. I should have known better.

One item; which for me, has always been one of the signature dishes at Masa has been the restaurant's version of chicken karaage; Masa's Fried Chicken. So I had to order that.

Back over a decade ago, the chicken used to have a slight funky, fermented spice, along with the typical soy flavors of karaage, it had gotten less so over time. It was also a lot less crunchy and dry the last few times I ate the chicken here. Well, even though I still think the pieces here are too large; reducing the batter to meat ratio; there was some crunch to be had, the dark meat chicken was very moist and juicy and the seasoning, though milder than before, combined with how it was cooked this time around, made this a very satisfying dish. This was not bad at all.

I needed something to finish things off; to balance out the fried foods. Growing up; we didn't have much money and a simple dish of natto-gohan or chazuke was often a meal for us. Feeling a bit worn down and in need of something comforting; I went with the Ume Ochazuke. Growing up; my mom made chazuke with Genmaicha and dashi-no-moto. It wouldn't be strange finding a slice of fried Spam® topping my rice.

With that in mind; this was terrible; from the hard rice, to what tasted mostly like boiled water; could they have made this any more bland? I used the entire lump of "wasabi" to try to bring some flavor to it and ended up dumping some soy sauce (my mom is rolling over in her grave right now) in it for some flavor. For $7 I expected better.

Overall; this meal, while being a bit of a roller-coaster ride, was fine….the jellyfish salad and chicken made up for the the other two dishes.

It was amazing to see how busy Masa is. This was the crowd waiting outside as I left.

So Izakaya Masa isn't doing too bad at all.

And as I always say….I'm sure the food here tastes much better after 3 or 10 beers…..

Izakaya Masa
928 Fort Stockton Dr
San Diego, CA 92103
Hours:
Tues – Sun 6pm – 1am