Sashimi Lunch at Kokoro

So more than a few months back, there I was having a nice brewski at the usual place, when "that pair" of folks, you know, they thought Moment Sushi was soooo good (it wasn't), even though they had never heard of Tadokoro, Soichi, Kaito, etc walked in. They didn't remember me; which was actually a good thing. And of course, being the nosy old man that I am, I started listening in when they started talking about….well, sushi again. If anything, just for laughs. Well, the Instagrammable young lady said she had just had the "best sushi meal of her life at a place called Kokomo". Kokomo?? Wasn't that a song by the Beach Boys from the movie Cocktail? 

And then it dawned on me; she must mean Kokoro! Well now, when did I last dine in at one of the old favorites of the late Ed from Yuma (hope you are eating well where you are Ed!)? Checking things when I got home; I did takeout during Covid 3 1/2 years ago, and the last time I dined in was in spring of 2019! 

I had always enjoyed the lunches at Kokoro, so of course it was finally time for a revisit.

I arrived right at the 1130 opening time. The nice older woman, who is the wife of the Itamae and co-owner greeted and seated me at the bar. I quickly noticed that the Itamae for this day wasn't the owner.

I did know he was present; because even though this was right in front of me, I'm sure it wasn't my obanzai…..

Seriously, the owner peeked out of the kitchen doorway and saw that he had "forgotten" something on the counter and swooped in to remove it!

I ordered the Sashimi Lunch ($27.50). And my scaldingly hot miso soup soon arrived.

I had always enjoyed the miso soup here; this was a bit thinner than what I'd dined on here before and the miso flavor was much fainter. It was still not bad though.

And then of course my Sashimi lunch arrived.

 First off, let me say that the rice was perfect, just what I'd expect from a good sushi bar. The wasabi bright, fresh, sinus clearing.

As for the seafood; the highlights for me was the tako, tender-yet-toothsome, with a mild sweet-brininess. And the hamachi, nicely sliced, fairly buttery in texture, went really well with a touch of soy and the wasabi.

The Maguro was disappointing; sliced super thin, on the chewy side, with a slight metallic tinge to it.

 The Ika and Salmon were decent; the salmon was decently fatty and the texture of the ika was quite good, not overly chewy.

This was pretty good overall; I'll definitely return and get my usual chirashi for lunch next time.

There was one additional problem though. During my entire time at Kokoro, that darn song was playing in my head, damn earworm!! Now it's going again while I'm doing this post! Yikes!

Well, in order to exorcise it, I need to do this so please forgive my "Weird Al" (or perhaps "Kimyona Kirk") moment……words to the tune of…well Kokoro Kokomo:

"Hamachi, Maguro,
Time to "holoholo"

Tako and Hirame
kinda yummy, yummy

Off of Sandrock Road
There's a place called Kokoro

That's where I wen' go
Lunch at Kokoro….."

Sorry, needed to get that out of my system!

What do you mean "no fishing"!!!!

Kokoro
3298 Greyling Dr.
San Diego, CA 92123
Current Hours:
Wed – Sat 1130am – 130pm, 530pm – 10pm
Sunday 1130am – 130pm, 530pm – 9pm
Closed Mon – Tues

Thanks for indulging me, hope you have a great week!