Man, the last extended heat wave really had me on the ropes. Our old 1950's built house doesn't have A/C; though we did buy a portable unit for Frankie, which recently crapped out. The hot weather had me craving some of my hot weather favorites; specifically the Gyokai Natto Don from Izakaya Sakura. It had been a while since I had visited Izakaya Sakura, over a year-and-a-half when I did takeout….well, because of that thing called Covid. It had been nearly three years since I had dined in at Sakura. I decided to go right when they opened for lunch, early in the week, and peeked in…..
There was one person at the sushi bar, who it turns out was waiting for a huge takeout order, and one party of three dining al fresco, so I decided to have at it.
Kazu working at the sushi bar reminded me of old times….though the masks quickly reminded me of something else….
The dining room configuration was something new to me…..
The Server was very efficient and to the point and I ordered the Gyokai Natto Don, which is now $22.
Except for the packets of Kikkoman Shoyu, definitely a Covid thing, this pretty much looked the same as what I recalled. I enjoyed the miso soup, nice beany-nutty flavor….I really liked it. Perhaps I've been having too many watered down versions recently. The Japanese potato salad and the pickles were decent. But the agedashi tofu's battery was strangely rubbery.
As for the bowl…well, I don't recall having so much rice during previous visits; I'm going to have to order "half rice" next time! The maguro wasn't of the best quality, but decent; there was some aji which surprised me and I enjoyed, as I did the shiromi (white fish) and hamachi. Not as much fish as I used to get though. Also not a fan of the seaweed salad they put in a filler.
Still, all that sticky, beany, fermented natto, wasabi, shoyu. This did the trick.
I'm glad Sakura has made it through the pandemic so far. It's because of places like this that I started this blog. It's a place that I've been going to from the beginning of the blog…from back in the days of Chowhound. It was a favorite of the late Ed from Yuma and we shared many meals there. We used love the fact that the place had no signage and way back in those days had a sign saying "WE DO NOT SERVE CALIFORNIA ROLLS" plainly visible. In fact, I recall having dinner with Ed at Sakura (around 2002-03) when a very pushy customer demanded that Kazu make him some rolls. Kazu brought out a phone book and offered to help the customer an appropriate sushi bar. Of course times have changed; rolls started appearing, and then there was that day when Sakura's "sign of the times" went up.
Yes, times have changed, but Sakura is still around. I'm glad for that and will hopefully be back soon.
Izakaya Sakura
3904 Convoy St Ste 121
San Diego, CA 92111
Things looked pretty much the same with no large notices or signs. Until I took a look at the note on the door.
Since we had already visited 
According to this 
As before the tortillas were up to the task though not outstanding. The pulpo was on the tougher end of things and we thought more citrus/sour tones were needed as well. We enjoyed the lemony-peppery-slightly anise tones of the epazote.
There's a Cervantes Festival in Guanajuato. And the 
From the center of town we made our way Northwest, past Mercado Hidalgo, then up the one of the hills that surround the town. Right past the Mummy Museum is Panteón Municipal Santa Paula, the cemetery.
Con Pane has two distinct lines; one for ordering food and café items. The other for bread and pastry only. As you can tell, I go first thing in the morning when they open. I'll often park all the way down by Trader Joe's and get a couple of extra steps in, while shopping at both places.
While still a bit on the chewy side, when toasted it achieves a nice crispness, with good sour-tangy tones which doesn't overwhelm the yeastiness of the bread.
There were a couple of folks working on their laptops….when things slowed down a bit I got a chance to chat with Noel. I got my cold brew….Noel knows exactly how I take it.
I've been back a couple of time and all the folks working are friendly. One of Noel's coworkers went to Sacred Hearts Academy "back home"…in my 
The interior had undergone changes.
The menu is pretty extensive and has many ‘authentic’ choices- not “dumbed down”. 
There is a Lunch Special menu available Tues-Friday. Specials include 'vegetarian soup' -yes, miso- as well as 'salad', vegetarian egg roll and fried wonton.
On this day, yellow curry with chicken ($11.95) was The Mister's choice. The curries here are very good- there are eight types. Yellow curry is made with potatoes, carrot and onion and coconut milk. A filling, flavorful meal. 
During the pandemic, I would order 'to go' from the appetizer menu. #13, "Crispy Rice Salad" (Nam Kat Tod) has become a favorite. The spicy lime sauce compliments the red and green onion, dry chili flakes, fresh ginger, mint, cilantro and cashews.
All of that is mixed with sour fermented pork (and thinly sliced cartilage) mixed with the crispy rice and toasted rice flour. Very satisfying, especially during our heat wave.
Here is the sushi bar, in its new location. The menu is only sushi; no other Japanese choices. 
The name of the market has changed slightly, the interior is still kept organized and clean. 
As you walk in, the first kitchen/menu board/ refrigerated grab and go to your right has a 
The Taqueria/Mexican menu board and cash register is a few feet more into the store, next to the seating area. We usually purchase an aqua fresca here.
On this visit, we chose a package of hummus ($4.99). Fresh made that morning, great flavors, plenty left over to take home.
We ordered two beef kababs ($2 each) and I watched as the ground beef, mixed with spices, was placed on long, flat kabab skewers and began cooking on the grill. Made to order. The meat was served with a roasted tomato half and a mix of chopped onion and parsley. 
Here is the loaf of hot tannour bread ($2.25) which was placed in a paper bag after being removed straight from the side of the clay oven. Crisp, flavorful browned bubbles with soft, easy to tear middles. Great flavor. It went well with both the hummus and the kabab meat. 
A mental note was made and misplaced. As fate would have it, The Mister and I were driving by while looking for lunch. Adalynes opened in March 2022.
Walk in and step to the right; seating for 40 (along with four big screen televisions) is to the left. Order and pay- a menu board is above and the open kitchen behind it is quite large. The "Fish Market" display case was not filled but the price list was available and if you made a purchase and wanted your fish fried, it is an additional $2 per pound. 
A simple menu.
An appetizer order of calamari ($9.99) included tentacles, not all rings. We asked for the batter to be 'mild' since there were several selections of spicy side dips. The calamari was tender, the batter was a proper fry; light and crisp. This is a large serving.
We decided to try the Combo meal ($15.99) of three pieces of chicken strips and six shrimp. We chose our one side to be sweet potato. Again, we asked for no spice in the batter. The shrimp were plump and large, had a very light coating and were nicely fried. The sweet potato side came in the form of 'tots' and were really good. The chicken-three large pieces of breast meat with just a light coating which was thin, crisped and tasty. 
The chicken was not dry at all. 
These four sauces were brought out with our food (cocktail sauce, "special" sauce (it has jalapeño juice and bits of jalapeño), a BBQ based sauce and a chipotle/smoky sauce. There's a counter by the tables which has condiment pumps of hot sauce, ranch and catsup. 
The other update is that this family owned and run restaurant has been here for more than 30 years.
Walk in, order and pay. There is a menu board above the ordering space in the wall. Your food is brought out by one of the family members. 
As always, we order onion rings ($4.49). Thick slices of sweet onions, sweet batter, properly crisp fried and not greasy. This is served with ranch dressing.
A small Greek chicken salad ($9.49) holds a lot of tasty, moist roasted chicken and comes with pita bread and tzatziki. The salad part is the same size as the side salad which comes with the meal below and includes cucumber, tomato and onion and a red wine vinegar based dressing.
The Moussaka and Gyros combination plate ($15.99) was ordered on this day…because we wanted leftovers. Plenty of fluffy rice with some peas and carrots topped with slices of gyros and, of course, the Moussaka- the bottom layer is baked potato, then a nice layer of eggplant, the sweet (cinnamon and oregano) spiced ground meat filling topped with a layer of thick béchamel and covered in a subtle seasoned (garlic, thyme, parsley, basil) tomato sauce. 
You can see the Santa Sophia Roman Catholic Church tower just East out the side window of the restaurant. The Greek title, "Santa Sophia" (Holy Wisdom) is popular in Greek Orthodox churches and is rare for Catholic churches.
There are a few choices of shaved ices along with three sizes (the prices are $9.75, $10.75 and $11.75). Topping combinations are varied and all sound good. I pointed at one on the laminated menu at the register. The cylinder shaped Q-mochi, potato balls (sweet potato/taro), jelly and mini mochi balls surrounding the ice cream topped fluffy milk soaked shaved ice made each bite unique. We ended up taking a lot home.