Japanese Restaurants – Page 58

Tsuruhashi Japanese BBQ

April 29, 2007 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants

I was overjoyed a few months ago when I learned that we now have not one (Suzuya Japanese BBQ), but now 2 Yakiniku restaurants in San Diego. That would be a 200% change since this time last year. I was especially excited about the opening of Tsuruhashi. Why, you may ask? Well, if this Tsuruhashi is in any way affiliated with Tsuruhashi in Fountain Valley, I was in for a taste of pretty good Yakiniku. Yakiniku for the uninitiated, is translated to "Grilled Meat", and is basically the Japanese version of Korean BBQ. Yakiniku back home in Hawaii can mean many things, it could mean a regular Korean BBQ, or a version of a more traditional Japanese style BBQ. Tsuruhashi itself is a district of Osaka well known for the large Zainichi (ethnic Korean residents of Japan) Korean population. Tsuruhashi is also well known for….what else, Yakiniku.

I had been trying to get someone to check out Tsuruhashi with me for a few months, but to no avail. It seemed that everyone familiar with Korean BBQ, like Ed from Yuma balked at the fact that most Yakiniku meals came without the "free" Panchan. In most traditional Yakiniku restaurants, panchan is ordered off the menu, and you are charged for it. Problem number two…..a few people mentioned how "expensive" this place was….so what I’ll do, is not detail how much we paid, until the very end.

I also did a bit of "research". I knew someone whose roommate worked at Tsuruhashi, and he provided some advice, which in one case turned out to be pretty handy, and in another case might have been useful, but was not.

We arrived a bit before the usual 5pm opening time. Piece of advice #1, either get there at opening or be prepared to wait. Tsuruhashi is a fairly small restaurant.

There are only 11 tables in the restaurant, and in one section, 3 of the tables are "movable" for large groups. Since Yakiniku is a leisurely experience, and Tsuruhashi does not accept reservations, the wait for a table can be pretty long if your timing is not right.

The Manager who runs the place is a really stoic, serious Gentleman, who can come across as downright stuffy….unless you speak Japanese, or are a regular customer. This was the only time I saw him smile the entire evening, so I had to take a photo.

In some ways I don’t blame him, I’m sure he gets a variety of questions and queries from people who have no clue. There were two older women who sat across us, who obviously didn’t have a clue, asked a ton of questions, made demands, and only ordered two plates, one of which were vegetables, before hurrying out.

A quick word about the "grill". Because the two ladies hurried out post haste, we got to see the hard working Servers replace the "grate", and low and behold…the gas burners are supplemented with charcoal. I’m not quite sure if it was Binchotan, but it was without a doubt lump charcoal and not briquettes.

Piece of advice #2…get there early(sound familiar?), Tsuruhashi will often run out of what they call "top tier" meat. When you peruse the menu, the cuts of meat are divided into sections, and items like Short Ribs have several "grades", each priced differently. This piece of advice was not of any use to us on this evening, as the restaurant was out of the top two tiers of "Kobe" Short Ribs, and "Kobe" Cap Rib Eye. So we had to "settle" for USDA Prime Grade Meat (insert sarcastic "poor thing" here).

One more thing before I (finally)get on to the meat. With this style of Yakiniku, some of the best quality meats are served unmarinated(though there are many exceptions), and unsalted, unless specified. In the case of Tsuruhashi, you are provided 2 "sauces" initially, and additional dish-specific sauces are provided as necessary.

I had a notion of dividing up this post into two, since it is very long….but the Missus told me to "stop being a tease, and show them the food…o-Kay!" So here we go.

We started with some Kimchi….well since, I just had to have some.

And though I think this was fine, you can get better in most any Korean Restaurant…or even out of a bottle in some cases.

Pork Cheek.

Looks a lot like Toro(fatty tuna belly) doesn’t it? This was served with spicy bean sauce and lettuce for wrapping. The meat itself was served with only a light sprinkling of black pepper. In retrospect, we should have gotten the Pork Belly, as this was on the tough side, but still if grilled to a crisp state, it was decent. It was also the cheapest meat we had all night, so I’m not complaining much.

Prime Cap Ribeye.

This almost qualifies as food porn…. In case you’re wondering, the "cap" is the small bit of meat right at the top portion of the Rib Eye. This came unseasoned, and was very tender. It would be an absolute crime to over cook this piece of meat. Just think, this is what is considered "second tier" on the menu.

Salted Prime Tongue w/Shiso:

Four wonderful rolls of thinly cut and well marbled prime beef tongue wrapped around Shiso. This was so soft I almost thought it was thinly sliced prime rib eye! This was served with a little bowl of Ponzu sauce. The Missus would have wished that this tasted a bit more "wild"…but it’s hard to complain about beef that melts in your mouth.

Seafood Combination.

Where to start? Everything was ultra fresh. I enjoyed the Tako (Octopus), when grilled it reminded me of days at the beach, spearing Tako, turning it inside out to kill, pounding it against the lava rock to tenderize, and simply grilling over charcoal! The Ika could almost be considered entertainment, as it would "puff up" when placed on the grill. The very fresh salmon was problematic as it stuck to the grill, and tended to break apart. The shrimp were very good, fresh and sweet, we devoured it shell and all.

But the best item were the scallops.

These were sashimi grade, you could just have eaten them raw. We just barely grilled them. I did cook one a bit more to see if they shrank, a good sign that they had been injected with brine. These kept their size and shape. Good stuff!

Beef Tongue Marinated in Miso:

The Missus’s favorite of the evening. A thicker slice of beef tongue marinated in a Aka(red) Miso marinade. Nice flavors, and more of a chewy texture.

Prime Short Ribs:

To think, this is the lowest grade of Boneless Beef Rib Meat on the menu. To be honest, it was a bit tougher than I anticipated, so I’m still looking forward to the first or second tier choice.

Beef Tail(Oxtail) Soup:

To be honest the Missus was disappointed in this. She thought the broth way too salty, and the Oxtails way too tough. We had kind of ordered this as an after thought, and should have left it that way. It was a bit cheaper than similar versions at various Korean Restaurants though.

Quite a bit of food, huh? Before I reveal the bill, why don’t you take a wild guess……

Kimchi – $2.50
Pork Cheek – $5.50
Prime Short Ribs – $6.25
Prime Cap Rib Eye – $8.25
Salted Prime Tongue w/Shiso – $7.95
Beef Tongue Marinated in Miso – $5.95
Assorted Seafood – $8.95
Beef Tail(Oxtail) Soup – $7.25
Rice – $3.00 !!!
Hot Tea – Free

With tax about $60. It might seem really pricey….but come to think of it, our recent dinner at Seoul BBQ was just about $4 cheaper! That doesn’t mean that everything is very cheap…the tier 1 Kobe Short Ribs are $14.95, and the Kobe Cap Rib Eye is $16.95, and I’m assuming that the portion sizes are the same. The seafood combination is a bargain in our eyes, as are the pork offerings, most are priced at $5.50. Beef heart, tripe, liver, and intestine, are priced under $5. Chicken Leg meat, either salted or miso marinated is $4.25, and there was a large group of young men who ordered maybe 10 orders of the stuff with beer.

The service was very good, efficient(our tea and water refilled) and friendly(except for the Boss), and rather unobtrusive. This location of Tsuruhashi is affiliated with Tsuruhashi in Fountain Valley. I’d advise going early, as we left there was quite a long waiting list.

Tsuruhashi Japanese BBQ
3904 Convoy St (In the same strip mall as Sakura)
San Diego, CA 92111

Hours: Thurs-Tues 5pm-Midnight

Closed Wed.

I’m thinking we’ll be back very soon……

Thanks for hanging in there, I know this post was really quite long!

Road Trip: Miyabi Tei – Costa Mesa(OC)

April 3, 2007 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Orange County, Road Trip

On the way back to San Diego on a recent shopping trip in Orange County, we decided to drop by Mitsuwa Marketplace for a late lunch. Winding away through the cramped and snaking parking lot with very small stalls, we thought that we’d be okay since it was nearly 2 pm, and figured that most people would be shopping and not eating. Boy were we wrong, the food court was a madhouse, and every seat was taken, with people in the aisles waiting to pounce on any open table!

The picture above was taken as we were leaving……

We had thought about doing an "about face" and marching directly back to the car, and fight our way out of the parking lot, but we gave in to hunger. Especially after checking out what everyone else was eating…..and all of the plastic food.

We first thought of Santouka, but the lines were outrageous. So we settled on the place that had the best looking plastic food in the house; Miyabi Tei, which had a line of it’s own.

I know there’s something witty to say about the girl with the snow cone red hair and plastic food….but I’m really not able to think of anything right now.

While I waited for our food, the Missus started circling looking for an open table. She was still circling when I picked up our food. I felt very uncomfortable circling around and standing between tables, our tray of food in hand. Hovering over a couple having lunch provokes a strong feeling of guilt. I couldn’t help but feel like a vulture….circling for my prey. And a very unlucky vulture at that. I noticed three basic ways that people reacted when they see someone waiting for a table they are occupying. The first, "the wolfers" always makes me really feel guilty, they start wolfing their food down like there’s no tomorrow, and I feel really bad about disrupting their lunch. Another set, the "zen masters" are able to block everything out, and act if you are not there…such concentration! The third set, which I have a name for, but am not able to write about without a massive use of profanity, will purposely s-l-o-w down, and look up at you, and move as if eating underwater, and perhaps start a conversation among themselves about Einstein’s theory of relativity….

After all of that, we finally found some room at one of the large communal counters. By this time we were ravenous. The Missus had ordered the Zaru Soba and Una Don(Eel Rice Bowl) combination($6.75):

She managed to suck this down in an instant. Between bites, she gave me Her critique. Good Unagi(fresh water eel), no muddy flavor, the sauce was good, not overly salty, and rice….you can’t go wrong with rice. The Zaru Soba was not so good, the noodles overcooked and the sauce tasted watered down. In Her mind this was worth $6.75!

The sample of the special of the day, the Chicken Katsu Curry($5.75) totally sucked me in.

This was a very generous amount of food for the price. I liked the curry, it wasn’t overly sweet, and had a very nice flavor, if a bit on the "thin" side. Great on rice! The chicken katsu had not been cooked properly, the breading was on the oily side, and the (dark meat) chicken really tough.

Don’t ask me about that boiled egg, it belonged to the Missus. I’ll definitely be back for the Curry!

We managed to finish everything in less than 15 minutes. In fact, it took us longer to find seats than to eat! I still wonder what the people sharing the counter with us thought; the two of us eating like Longshoremen, describing the taste of the food between bites…..we must’ve appeared quite odd.

The prices at Miyabi Tei are very reasonable, and we thought we got our money’s worth. Though I think we’ll try to eat at either a very early, or very late time in the future. On our way back to the freeway we passed a McDonalds, and the Missus said, "you know, a lunch at McDonalds equivalent in size to what we had would cost about the same…"(leave it to the mathematician) Which would you rather have?

Miyabi Tei(in the Mitsuwa Marketplace Food Court)
665 Paularino Ave
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Engrish Lesson for the Day….

"What kind of name is that for a place is that?"

"Huh?"

"Roach-chi Bo-Bo’s"

I almost drove off the road!!!!

VGood, Sort of a Ch-Ch-Chain, Pretty good, too!

April 1, 2007 Cathy Japanese Restaurants, Stuff, What Cathy Eats!

The Santee location of VGood has closed.

mmm-yoso is not on vacation, but Cathy is blogging now, while Kirk rests for a few days.

Hi. It's been a while. People who know what my line of work is know what has been going on with that as well as some other crises in life. The rest of you may not have even noticed I hadn't blogged. It isn't like I haven't been eating, though.

So, you all know I am the Token White Girl who lives in East County. Santee, to be exact. We are not out of the loop out here, let me tell you. The Green Trolley Line does end here, though..or maybe, it *starts* here.

There it is, right next to one of three Starbucks we have out here (OK, two are stand alone stores and there is one inside the Vons…). Across from the Starbucks is VGood, Japanese Grill and Sushi.

Kind of innocuous, but an interesting menu, and a few Law Enforcement types seem to frequent this place. (The Sheriff Substation is less than a 1/2 mile away, as is Los Colinas, the Women's Detention facility made famous on a Episode of The Real World-San Diego) (sorry, digressing…).

Anyhow, last Sunday and this Sunday, The Mister and I were once again hungry, but not wanting to cook at home, nor drive very far for food. So this is where we decided to eat.

A kind of small menu, mostly with rolls, which most people were buying, but the idea of cream cheese with rice is not appealing to me, and the menu spells crab with a 'k' instead of a 'c', so I just wasn't in the mood to waste some calories on that food. There is no sushi bar, but sushi and rolls on the menu… you just walk up and order, pay, get your own beverage and utensils and wait for your number to be called.

The interior is clean, painted a happy Home Depot Orange, along with one yellow accent wall (learned that terminology on HGTV..whoo hoo) and has 5 low tables and 6 bar height tables, plus you can walk out into the courtyard where there are tables, and the water display and eat outdoors if you want to.

Editor's note: I have been informed that the color is officially "CalTrans orange" and *not* "Home Depot orange". Sorry for any confusion.

So, we ordered. We tried the two item VGood Value Combo Plate with teriyaki beef and katsu chicken ($6.99- usually $5.99, but $1 more for the beef) which comes with a choice of miso soup or salad of the day.

The salad this Sunday (and last Sunday for that matter) was made with iceberg, jicama, chopped cucumber, chopped red pepper, parsley, mango and a nice, spicy dressing. The heat of the dressing hit when we got to the bottom. It was quite refreshing. The katsu was nice and light-crispy, came with a sweet dipping sauce that tasted different than the teriyaki sauce on the very tender, medium rare cooked beef. A good portion of rice was served with the plate. There were two layers of both the beef and the chicken. Last week we got the fried fish and teriyaki chicken and the fish was exceptionally nicely fried. However, thinking the same thing would happen this week, I ordered the fried squid.($3.99)

You can see by looking at it that it was overcooked. However, the breading was still light and though slightly crispier than I think it should have been, had some nice spices in it. It was OK but all of the other fried items I have had here have been lighter fried.

I wanted to try some soup today and the Fried Dumpling Udon Noodle Soup ($4.99) sounded good. I had wanted to try the fried dumplings anyhow and they served them on the side with the soup-perfect!

The soup broth was oily, rich tasting in one way and too salty in another way. The noodles were good and chewy. There could have been some more vegetables, but the cabbage and carrots were good. I did not finish the broth, and usually I do. The dumplings had a nice, thin skin and were fried correctly. Enough filling, but not over-filled. Very good.

However, my most favorite stumbled-upon food here is the innocuously listed on the back page under "Side Orders":'Lettuce Wrap(4 pieces) $3.99 '

That is four large pieces of iceberg lettuce rolled up in plastic wrap, a good 1/3 pound (probably more) of cooked filling and a lot of nice, light crunchy rice noodles. It is served with a spicy Teriyaki sauce on the side.

The filling is a combination of chopped chicken, sausage, leeks and mushrooms, topped with some green onions.

Both times we ordered this, the meat lasted more than the lettuce did. Here is a service I made for myself with 1/4 piece of lettuce. The flavors are excellent.

I call this 'sort of a a chain' because there are two locations. It is locally owned and They don't even have a website.

VGood Japanese Grill and Sushi

9862D Mission Gorge Road Santee 92071 (Across from the Starbucks at the Trolley Stop) (619) 258-8288

16625 Dove Canyon Road Suite 108 San Diego 92127 (858)385-1628

Both Locations Open 7 days 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Ch-Ch-Chain: Sansai Japanese Grill

March 28, 2007 mmm-yoso Chains, Japanese Restaurants

*** This location of SanSai has closed

As much as I enjoy the San Diego Asian Film Festival, I lament the lack of what I consider decent eating choices nearby (except for Trophy's right, Ron!!! LOL!)…most of Mission Valley is pretty much littered with various chain, or chain like restaurants. Because of location, right next to the Hazard Center, it's either non-stop hot dogs, Jack in the Box, Quizno's, or SanSai Japanese Grill.

SanSai is a pseudo-Japanese "concept" Fast Casual chain, and this location is always crowded. Most menu items are in the $5 to $8 range and consists of various bowls, salads, and (gasp) sushi rolls.

So let's get to food shall we?

This is called the Spicy Chicken Bowl($5.99):

The term "spicy" is used very loosely here, it wasn't quite spicy, and the chicken was pretty much food court quality and dry. The green salad with an Asian dressing was fine. Coming from a place where you get two scoops of rice, a good quantity of meat, and macaroni salad for the same price, this seemed a bit on the chintzy side. But I guess it's much more "healthy", right? 407 Calories, 12.5 grams fat, 747mg sodium.

On another occasion I ordered the Tempura and Teriyaki Chicken Plate($7.99), which comes with your choice of two salads:

The teriyaki chicken confirmed my thoughts on the chicken at SanSai…it's not for me. Weak sauces and dry chicken(this is dark meat, can you imagine chicken breast – $1 more) is the MO. The tempura, which consisted of two shrimp, and various vegetable tempura, and to be honest it was pretty good, still crisp, and rather light. I've had worse in restaurants before. I chose the Tomato Salad, dressed with a very weak vinegar based dressing and the mixed greens. The plate came with rice.

There is one item from SanSai that I do enjoy once in a while. It's the Sumi Salad($4.99):

It's a far cry from the Sumi Salad that my Mom made, which was a Rice Vinegar based "slaw", and the secret ingredient was dry broken up ramen noodles(and sometimes the dry ramen broth mix as well)! This version is very mild, and short with regards to any vinegar flavor. Still it's not bad, if a bit on the bland side, the portion size is on the large side. What I think is a bit odd, is that the salad comes with an order of rice….. go figure. Rice and Sumi Salad?

When I order the Sumi salad, I do a little embellishment….

Yep, I add a nice amount of Baby Star Crispy Noodle Snack(it just ain't right without those dry noodles), and if I feel like it, a bit more rice vinegar…and it's almost close to Sumi Salad.

I guess if I had a choice between Baja ~~Rash~~ Fresh and SanSai, I'd probably choose SanSai….don't look at the fish they use for sushi, though.

Sansai Japanese Grill, they're all over California.

Road Trip: Chabuton Ramen Noodles – Costa Mesa(OC)

March 6, 2007 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Orange County, Road Trip

*** Chabuton has since closed.

Boy, did the hunger pangs really set in during a recent shopping trip to Marukai Costa Mesa. So I decided that I needed something to eat…and fast! Which was a great opportunity to try out the ramen at Chabuton, which opened last year in the Marukai Food Court.

From what I understand Chabuton is the brainchild of Chef Yasuji Morizumi, and is another link in the Chabuya "chain" that has restaurants in Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, and Los Angeles. There also seems to be a rather strong marketing campaign behind the restaurants. I had gone looking for a good bowl of ramen, and ended up reading phrases like, "ramen is arguably the lifeblood of today’s Japan." "Ramen is an open dialogue…" "When Chabuton introduced Tokyo’s urban style ramen to Los Angeles it sparked a conversation." "Our food is meant to feed the soul." "Chabuton is where Americans are becoming fluent in the spiritual language of gourmet ramen……" I can feel that glazed-over look coming on.

And to think, all I wanted was a bowl of decent ramen…and now I’d be attaining ramen Nirvana…the home of perfect, harmonious, slurping…of endless noodles, and eternal chashu bliss! BTW, I do think the "spiritual language" of ramen is the slurp…..

Dizzy from reading all the signs and mission statements, I was glad that the menu at Chabuton is mercifully short, 9 variations on ramen, some rice bowls, and that was it. So how much for a slice of ramen heaven?

I ordered The Classic with Pork Chashu ($8.25).

So let’s pick over this ramen of the gods….. I thought the soup was a thick, though weak tonkotsu style broth. I also thought the oil content was on the medium low side. Funny thing, because I’ve read that many people think the broth at Chabuya is too salty, but I just thought it was missing that bit of umami that would make it taste really good. As it was, I thought the broth to be on the "flat" side. Basically, rich in texture, not in taste. The bitter fried garlic didn’t do a thing for this bowl of ramen, and I’m a garlic lover. The bamboo shoots were fine, and the thin sliced Chashu pork was excellent, soft, moist, and tender.

The thin noodles had a nice crunchy texture, but was missing that nice springy pull that I enjoy. I still prefer the noodles at Santouka. Overall, a decent, bowl, but not a favorite of mine. But still if you’re shopping at Marukai Costa Mesa, and are "Jonesing" for a bowl of ramen you could do much worse.

Still, I never thought I’d come face to face with the "spiritual soul" of ramen in the food court at Marukai!

Chabuton Ramen Noodles
2975 Harbor Blvd. (In the Marukai Food Court)
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Open – Mon-Sat 11am – 730pm
Sundays 11am – 630pm

Another not great meal-Japanese in East County-Tokyo

February 26, 2007 Cathy Japanese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is not on vacation. Cathy is blogging while Kirk is resting…or digesting…whatever.

Fortunately, Tokyo has closed.

Hi, I am back yet again, blogging about the good, the bad and the ugly. ..and yes, again, The Mister and I have had a lousy meal. But, lets be positive and start with the good. The hot tea is free. They have chopsticks on the table and don't ask you if you want a fork, even if you are Caucasian. Oh, and they have specials poster on the wall when you walk in, so you save $1 on some of the food.

There, that's over with. We used to come here a lot. Its in the same parking lot as the ATM of my Credit Union, and for being in San Diego's East County, well, its kind of 'exotic'. Its Japanese…sort of. Maybe we could call it 'working man's Japanese', if we were being polite.

I have apparently become a Japanese food snob…and I swear I used to really *like* this place.

Here are photos of the menu, if you think you might want to venture in .

We decided to try the Vegetable tempura appetizer ($3.95). Seemed like a good,safe choice, and not expensive. Wrong. Look. You can click and enlarge the photo. I just stopped using flash…I somehow knew this would be yet another not great meal. More of a pancake batter, not too light…but a good variety of vegetables: sweet potato, mushrooms, carrot, broccoli. Not great, not overly greasy…the batter was kind of heavy tasting/thick. It was cooked all the way through.

Then The Mister said we should try the Sushi Trio- a set of 18 rolls -9 for each of us ($7.95) three each of spicy tuna (no tuna flavor), cucumber (generic) and California rolls (made with the fake krab stuff). Pretty much a waste of calories. I am glad they gave us a big ole pile of freshly re-hydrated wasabi, anyhow…and, the rice was good.

We got one of each of the specials listed on the front board.
The Teriyaki chicken box with a piece of fried fish and the hibachi chicken bento box with egg roll. ($6.25 each, usually $7.25)…um…well, the chicken was…dark meat, boneless…that was good. The teriyaki was not sweet, not salty. It was…um… dark in color. The sides of rice, salad, pickled veggies were OK. The fried fish was mackerel, which I liked primarily because it was fried and crispy. The fish itself was ..um…not a great grade of mackerel and would not have been good as sushi in any way, shape or form. I ate the fried tail. I eat fried shrimp tails, too.

The hibachi grilled chicken was in a sort of maybe ginger garlic sauce…and, you know, just not good. The egg rolls however were more lumpia-ish and *quite* good, filled with chopped pork and crispy cabbage and veggies.

Oh, the food was not at all what I would call great…I do remember we got a curry here and liked it, last year or maybe the year before…and the soups and noodles used to be good. But basic chicken and rolls…they don't seem to be able to do very well. I don't know why they are still open. If you are in this area, just hop on the freeway and go up 125 and it'll turn into 52 to get to Convoy Street.

Tokyo Japanese 755 Arnele Avenue El Cajon 92021 M-F 11 a.m.-8p.m., Sat/Sun 4:30-8:00

Chopstix Too!

February 24, 2007 Vicky (SF Bay Area) Japanese Restaurants, What Vicky Eats

“Hi! This is Vicky posting about her latest meal. She is extremely honored to be invited by Kirk to blog on mmm-Yoso!”

I’ll do a quick short post since Kirk’s done a more in depth post on Chopstix Too already. My friends and I have always loved the ramen and crunchy roll at Chopstix. Ever since our days of being poor college freshmen at UCSD, we’d make our weekly trek out there to get the ever so elusive crunchy roll. In fact, my best friend J who moved back up north after we graduated, made a trip to visit me just for a meal at Chopstix. Most weeks, you’d find a bunch of us grubbing here after the gym. I love their combos that are still on “Grand Opening Special.” We stopped in earlier this week after running a couple miles at the gym.
I love the Crunch Roll/Salad/Edamame combo. I get to minimize my carbs and still get a really filling meal. H tried out their California/Crunch Rolls. In the past when we came with our friends A and H, they’ve ordered the Tonkotsu Ramen which is a bowl of ramen with the milky pork bone soup. That was also really good. The soup had depth and a lot of flavor.

Chopstix is out go to place for a bowl of ramen and Chopstix Too is where to go when you can’t decide what you want! Where else can you get chicken katsu AND crunchy roll for under $6!

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Curry!

February 18, 2007 Vicky (SF Bay Area) Japanese Restaurants, What Vicky Eats

“Hi! This is Vicky posting about her latest meal. She is extremely honored to be invited by Kirk to blog on mmm-Yoso!

Hello readers! I’ve been a reader of mmm-Yoso for over a year now and it was probably due to this blog that I started doing Yelp.com last year. I found that maintaining a blog and doing posts took up an immense amount of time that I didn’t have if I were to continually update it. So after 300 some reviews on Yelp, I’m trying out my hand at this posting dealio. I’m still getting used to this so bear with me if my pictures aren’t coming out the best or if my meals don’t seem that interesting. So my little cousin is visiting from UCI, I drove up there to pick him up so I could feed a hungry poor college student for the weekend and we hit up all of our local favorite joints. Being that we’re both Curry lovers, we swung by Curry House tonight on Convoy Street (it’s in the same plaza as Nijiya and Shanghai City). It was our psuedo-Chinese New Year’s eve celebration.

A little background on Curry House; they are operated by the same corporation that makes the packaged cubed curry blocks that you can find at your friendly local Japanese supermarket, but somehow, the food here just tastes a bit better. I’m guessing it is due to the fact that they have an amazing deep fryer in the back and after all, they are called Curry House. I usually order some kind of katsu or fried shrimp… something about paring the crisp panko crumbs with the smooth curry sauce. Tonight, since there was three of us, I ordered a spaghetti dish so you wouldn’t get 3 different pictures of curry.

Cousin H ordered the Hamburger Curry over spaghetti, H had the menchi katsu curry (one of my favs!), and I decided to be adventurous and ordered the Tarako and Ika Spaghetti. Lunch at Curry House is usually around 2 dollars cheaper but the entrees don’t come with a side choice of salad or soup. So we all got the corn potage, which in essence is Cream of Corn soup, which was silky, creamy, yet spackled with the occasional chewy kernal to balance out the texture. It’s one of my favorite things on the menu, I think it goes back to my childhood when we would have corn potage on the cold nights.

One this visit, we did notice a that they added a new item to their menu – Stone Pot Curry, which in essence, is a dolsot-bimbimbap but with curry sauce. S said he would be adventurous and try it out next time. So after a short wait, our entrees came out. The hamburger in the hamburger curry was nice and moist, well flavored with the occasional onion in there. In essence, it was like a meatloaf patty sitting atop a bed of spaghetti noodles.

The noodles were al dente, which was a relief since I ordered a whole plate of it. I’ve found that asian places that offer Asian/Italian fusion tend to overcook their pasta. Thankfully the chefs back there knew what they were doing.

Here’s H’s menchi katsu curry over rice. The menchi katsu was the hamburger/meatloaf that was breaded with panko and fried. It was rich, moist and the panko texture was great against the curry sauce.

Lastly, my tarako and ika spaghetti arrived. Tarako is cod roe and ika is squid. It didn’t sound too appetizing on the menu but I figured since my favorite onigiri is the spicy cod roe flavor, cod roe over spaghetti couldn’t be too bad. I was pleasantly surprised. The ika was cooked well, tender and not too chewy and the cod roe added a nice salty texture to the overall dish. The spaghetti entrees are definately to be ordered with an open mind since they tend to have strong Japanese flavors. In

my opinion, this dish was a wonderful success, combining the cod roe with spaghetti. Service was pleasant, with the servers and busboys coming around to refill glasses and to check up on how we were holding up. With our bill we were given a frequent diner/vip card, which was 20% the entire bill for the next 4 visits. Nifty! 🙂

Curry House – Japanese Curry and Spaghetti
3860 Convoy Street #102
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 278-2454
Hours: M-T 11:30-14:30 Lunch
17:30-21:00 Dinner
F 11:30-14:30 Lunch
17:30-22:00 Dinner
Sat 11:30-22:00 (open all day)
Sun 11:30-21:00 (open all day)
Curry House Website

Road Trip: Santouka Ramen – Torrance(LA)

February 7, 2007 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Ramen, Road Trip

One of my favorite stops when I’m in the South Bay area, is the Mitsuwa Marketplace Food Court. And of course Santouka, for ramen:

This isn’t the new and sexy Centinela location, covered in this minimalist masterpiece of a post by Daily Gluttony, and in Grand Opening detail by Miss Oishii eats. But the tried and true Torrance location. All food is served in real plates, bowls, and the like; this is probably why I wasn’t too blown away when Kayaba opened in the San Diego Mitsuwa Marketplace….I just consider this serving method the norm.

Most menu items revolve around the 3 basic types of broth at Santouka; Shio(salt), Shoyu(Soy Sauce), or Miso. I’m not a big fan of the Miso broth at Santouka, there’s so much going on, that the broth really just loses all of it’s personality, though I’ve heard the Spicy Miso Ramen is pretty good. My pick for this evening Shoyu Ramen with extra Chashu($8.49):

And as much as I enjoy the nice milky-smooth "porky" tonkotsu style broth(in contrast to the rich, high oil – in a good way broth at Daikokuya), and the decent Chashu. For me, I really enjoy the noodles at Santouka. The noodles have a nice chew, and a bit of "springy-ness", for lack of a better term. The Missus, having forgotten how good a decent bowl of ramen is, sipped at my soup, and went, "mmmmm!" I don’t think I need to add anything more…..

Some notes; Santouka gets quite busy, and does not do take-out. The are a number of combinations, and side orders available, such as having a plate of Chashu on the side. Another favorite is the Ikura-Gohan(Salmon Roe on Rice).

Santouka Torrance
21515 Western Ave.(In the Mitsuwa Marketplace Food Court)
Torrance,CA 90501

Open Daily 11:00am-7:30pm

Is it too much to ask for a Santouka location in San Diego???

Green Noodles, kim chee, teriyaki and, well a fusion-Nozomi

January 29, 2007 Cathy Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Japanese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is not on vacation, and apparently never was…but I have a few posts to put up because, well, I eat daily and am now used to documenting each meal. Oh, this is Cathy, BTW.

Hi. You drove by Nozomi…either in Carlsbad, that little corner in La Jolla or probably saw the one on Convoy Street, in the same mall with Convoy Noodle House…and you thought…what??? A Japanese place inside a mall with mostly Korean restaurants (and the Vietnamese Convoy Noodle house) Yep, me too. . .well, it turns out Nozomi is Japanese-Korean.

So, the menu…its extensive…with sashimi, sushi rolls…all kinds…like about 50 different rolls. There are photos in the front window, there are photos over the sushi bar inside..but not the take out menu, which is photocopied…and besides, we didn’t get any rolls. Nope. Soft shell crab was on the menu. We had to ($6.95).

Lightly breaded, crispy, quite large; not like the frozen soft shell crabs sold…in freezer sections of various stores. This reminded The Mister and I of soft shell crabs we’d get fresh back in Virginia. Then we were brought out two bowls of Kim Chee.
The kim chee on the left was more finely chopped, had a soy/salty base…basically was pickles with some red pepper interspersed and very good. The larger bowl was mostly with bok choy and other veggies and had a nice heat. Bowls and spoons came out with it. It was our "salad". The Mister ordered the Green Noodle soup, which we were warned came in a LARGE bowl ($8.95). Oh my… the bowl was 12 inches square…as large as a BIG old floor tile!
This photo was to show you what was in the bowl, after The Mister had removed one large bowl (that was for kim chee) of broth. The broth was *very* light…barely chicken flavored…it ended up needing the kim chee to be added to it. The noodles, by themselves were nice, chewy and a good texture…they had a nice not too deep but discernible vegetable flavor flavor. The soup had 2 full shrimp, one mussel, a lot of small chopped (canned) clams, potatoes, onions, squash and mushrooms in it. Way much food. Way filling. I ordered the dinner Bento Box ($9.95) with BBQ’d pork.
Salad, rice, 4 pieces of California roll (with real crab), tempura’d vegetables, one shrimp and one piece of fish. Oh the pork. First of all, it was a *huge* portion…and the flavor was superb. Grilled just enough to get some smoke into it and a light, not too sweet of a teriyaki sauce…saltier more than sweet sauce.
Lots of food, lots of flavor if you add the kim chee, fresh food, lots of different rolls and good service. Try it.

There are donburi and curries on the menu also.

Nozomi #1 4637 Convoy #104 San Diego 92111 (858) 569-7773
Nozomi #2 4159 Regents Park Row #190 La Jolla 92037 (858) 452-7778
Nozomi #3 3050 Pio Pico Drive #A Carlsbad 92008 (760) 729-7877