At the beginning of last month; I was updating "The Big List By Neighborhood" and of course, a couple of places caught my eye. In fact, this one post I did in December of 2021, during the pandemic really got my attention. It was of two places that we had gone to three times each back in 2020! I had those photos saved for a post and then you know what happened, right? Anyway, I did a "Clearing Out the Memory Card" post and had meant to return once things returned to normal. And of course time does not stand still for anyone….here we are in 2025.
So recently, I set out to rectify that short coming. And lucky for us, Tanuki has a outdoor sitting area so we could bring JJ along. We decided on lunch and headed on over, arriving just at the noon opening time, managing to snare a parking spot. Parking in Kensington can sometimes be as rare as actually seeing the namesake in the wild!
We took a table outdoors and the friendly Server quickly brought JJ a bowl of H2O to get him settled in!
Having been here three times before, we treaded lightly, from previous experience, even though it was five years and counting, staying away from the sushi/sashimi….I didn't come here for the fries.
I did want the Kakiage Udon, but the Missus didn't feel like having that. So, we placed our order. The Missus got the cold brew tea, which came in a nifty glass bottle…….of course the Missus then purchased one on Amazon!
And you can see the first item that arrived as well, the Wagyu Tataki Ponzu ($19).
While the beef was a bit over cooked for tataki; it was tender with good beefiness. The daikon oroshi added nice pungency and the ponzu a layer of sourness, with a hint of sweet. Not bad at all.
What was bad was the Crispy Rice with Spicy Tuna ($18).
The bones scraped tuna had been turned to mush and was rather fishy. The rice had been formed into squares like tater tots and hadn't been browned enough to attain crispness; rather it was quite plastic-cy in texture. Not a very good dish.
The Toro Wasa ($12) was a nice correction.
I didn't expect Otoro for this price point and it wasn't a huge portion, but the fish was very fatty and tender. The wasabi added a nice sinus clearing pungency. We enjoyed this dish.
Our favorite item of the day was the Hamachi Kama ($20).
Though it didn't look particularly good; we really enjoyed this. The skin had attained a decent crispness, the flesh moist and buttery, deep rich-oceany-umami flavors. It was decently (not overly) salted.
The Roasted Suzuki ($14) while nicely priced was just ok.
The fish was very tender, though the skin rubbery. It was in need of some seasoning as the cilantro sauce, while creamy was bland. The toumokoroshi; the grilled corn was too hard, while haricot-vert undercooked, not seasoned, and too hard.
Overall, nice service, the prices reasonable for this day and age, the food was decent, especially for Japanese food in Kensington. We'll probably return for an al fresco early dinner with JJ one evening.
The Missus wants to have that kama again……
Tanuki
4191 Adams Ave.
San Diego, CA 92116
Current Hours:
Monday 5pm – 9pm
Tues – Thurs 12pm – 3pm, 5pm – 9pm
Friday 12pm – 3pm, 5pm – 10pm
Saturday 5pm – 10pm
I liked the fact that they "flagged" the cheeses for us. I especially enjoyed the Mitica KM39, firm and flavorful, it went well with the bread. I'm a fan of blue cheeses so I enjoyed the Stilton. I wish they sold Port by the glass, which would have been perfect with this; but unfortunately they don't. The Missus enjoyed the Spanish Chorizo and I the prosciutto and pate. The Pico went well with the candied walnuts as well.
We ordered the meat rare. but only the large piece was rare, the rest were medium-well, skewing things to the tough side of the scale. The meat was well seasoned, though the "sauces" really didn't go well with the proteins but was necessary for the really dry "garlic bread" bites in our opinion. The Bloody Mary aioli was interesting, but pretty bland; the BBQ Sauce was too sweet. 
The toasts were again really good. The tomato-bell pepper compote was over processed and runny; I prefer something more rustic and thicker. It also lacked the seasoning I like; cumin, smoky tones, harissa, herbaceous flavors, and garlic. This had a decent acidity, though I'm not quite sure about feta cheese in my shakshuka. I really wasn't expecting anything close to what we had in Tunisia or 
The eggs were again nice and runny; no oof flavors. The polenta cake nice and crisp, good mild corn flavor. The carnitas a bit on the mild side in terms of flavor and also slightly stringy and dry, but not bad. The Mozzarella was fine, though the tomato added some good acidity to the dish. The "salsa" was also on the milder side in terms of spice and acidity. Still, this was not bad.
And we learned something from our meals with JJ. There's a definite difference in "Dog Friendly" versus "Dogs Allowed". This was simply dogs allowed. They are just ignored by the staff. Perfectly fine with us. It's been interesting finding places to dine with JJ!