Saturday Stuffs: Santouka opens in San Diego, and Fourth Grade Teriyaki Beef

After doing several days of our vacation posts, I kinda feel like an over-enthusiastic Dad showing off picture after picture of his kids.....so I thought we'd give it a break for a bit.....

Santouka opens in San Diego:

I enjoy the ramen at Santouka, and have been wishing they would open here in San Diego. In fact, about the time that Kayaba had opened, I had heard that Santouka was to open in the spot next door. But time passed, and I had pretty much given up; until I saw the sign that announced Santouka's Grand Opening on Friday April 18th. So yesterday(April 18th), I thought I'd wander in at about 11am to check things out, and possibly grab a bowl......and was met with this loooong line of people.

It stretched from the order window....around the dining area...into Mitsuwa! Being that I'm not quite the "Rameniac" as the Rameniac, and not even as dedicated to my noodle as Jeni who waited in line when Santouka opened on Centinela, I just didn't have the 2 hours to wait in line, place my order, wait for my order, and probably eat on the floor since I don't think the dining area has enough seating. But, I think you need to know; I was told that Santouka was giving away coupons for a free bowl with a purchase through today(April 19th). Me? I'll wait till next week some time.

Santouka - Now open in the Mitsuwa Marketplace

4240 Kearny Mesa Rd
San Diego, CA 92111

Now here's the scary part: By coincidence, The Delicious Life has a post on Santouka dated April 17th. If you scroll down to the bottom of the post, there's a section with links......and there's a link to my post on Santouka. Now that would be a nice coincidence, but read what it says:

"~ Kirk of mmm-yoso wants a Santouka in San Diego (Feb 2007)"

Scary....very scary..........

My Fourth Grade Beef Teriyaki:

Since returning from vacation we've been eating at home a lot....nothing fancy; lots of stir-fried vegetables on the Big Kahuna. But I've been craving some really weird stuff...things I haven't even thought about in a while.....for some reason, I just wanted the BBQ Beef(teriyaki beef) from Rainbow Drive-In. I ignored it, until the "want", became a "need". So I decided to just make some reasonable facsimile.

While shopping for the meat at Zion Market (#3 sliced Rib Eye), I realized that I'd been making this for the better part of my life.....in fact it is one of the first things I learned to make...right around the Fourth grade or so.

So, I decided to make it just the way I remember.......down to the "grated garlic" - no knives for a 9 year old, better some grated knuckles, than lopping a finger off. No mirin, which I use now, quite rare, and very expensive in those days, just good old Dark Brown Sugar. Not quite as sweet, with nice ginger overtones. Much of which, Food Historian Rachel Laudan attributes in her wonderful book The Food of Paradise, to several factors; Japanese "teriyaki"(or course), the Chinese influenced ginger and garlic, and of course, "King Sugar". I think every family has a recipe like this....in fact, if you wonder what Hawaiian BBQ really is.......

So without further ado......my Fourth Grade Teriyaki(BBQ) Beef - don't blink, you'll miss this uber-easy recipe:

3/4 Cup Shoyu(soy sauce)
3/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
1-2 cloves garlic grated
1-2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 1/2 - 2 lbs sliced rib eye

- Combine ingredients.
- Combine with meat, coating well. Marinate overnight
- Over medium heat fry/saute in a skillet

Like a said, don't blink or you'll miss it.

A few other things:

- If you over marinate, the meat will end up being mushy. Depending on the meat, you can get away with a little as 4-6 hours.

- Great on the grill, this'll cook really fast.

- After thinking about it...yes, this is very Bulgogi-ish, so throw that in as a point of reference as well!

- Great as a sandwich! I love the BBQ Beef Sandwich at Rainbow Drive-In, though they tend to slather on too much mayo. Leftovers in the pita for me....

- My current recipe uses mirin, sake, and sometimes something to give a bit more zip.

- And yes, this is soooo easy, that you may be wondering why you're wasting your valuable time reading this!

One more thing:

I didn't know Rachel Laudan has her own Blog, She now lives in Mexico, and her posts are always entertaining, so check it out!

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Comments

[Carol]

Ahhh, beautiful beef teriyaki! I think I have some flank in the freezer. Time to go defrost that baby...

[RONW]

teriyaki has to be rib eye. You know it's rib eye after you choke on the gristle.

[Rachel]

LOL Ron .. well pointed out. That is a simple and easy recipe Kirk, will definitely try it out sometime. I know exactly what you mean about cravings of food gnawing at you until you can't take it no more :)

[kat]

ooh, after seeing this, I think I may have to cook up a batch of bulgogi :) or maybe I'll try your teriyaki recipe :)

[ed (from Yuma)]

Looks tasty and easy. You were cooking this in the 4th grade? All I could do in the 4th grade was tuna sandwiches, canned soups, and maybe scrambled eggs too.

[nhbilly]

It looks like bulogi but if you sprinkle a little sesame on it it's teriyaki. ;-)
Ok back to Vietnam, please?
Thanks for an umber easy recipe my wife can do!

[jm]

awesome, Santouka in sd.

[Green Turtle]

I was in that Santouka line, was the 25th customer. Once they opened at 11, the line moved fairly quickly, only waited about 20 minutes or so before placing my order. I thought the miso broth was a little bit too much on the salty side and definitely had MSG in it. I'll use my free ramen coupon for one of the more exotic expensive ramen bowls next time.

[Reid]

Kirk,

While trolling the web this evening, I thought I might have read another blog that mentioned this Santouka in SD. The "review" was not to favorable. Looking forward to your report.

[Trent]

I went to Mitsuwa yesterday (Sunday) around 5 and there was no real line for Santouka, so it seems to be better. Had no appetite, so I can't speak to the flavor yet.

[GF/moowiesqrd]

Hey Kirk! Santuoka looks very intriguing, but I'm going to wait until the excitement dies down a little bit before I try it. By the way, I LOVE the Big Kahuna! That's an amazing piece of equipment and you've just inspired a potential belated b-day gift for my mother.

[Kirk]

Hi Carol - RONW is right...needs to be sliced rib eye - though if you marinate flank or skirt, and grill it....man that's great stuff!

Hi RONW - LOL! This meat was sooo tender, that it just didn't feel right!

Hi Rachel - It is really easy....

Hi Kat - Sometimes you just have to give in to those cravings....

Hi Ed - There's nothing to this....mix everything up, dump in the meat.....Mom used to do the cooking most of the time.

Hi Billy - LOL!

Hi jm - Yes, at long last....

Hi GT - Yes, the miso ramen is a bit too salty, I usually stick with the Shio Ramen.

Hi Reid - Sometimes it's better to wait a while....and I do know that all Santouka's are not created equal.

Hi Trent - That's great to know.....thanks!

Hi GF - We've been using the Big Kahuna quite frequently...and it's very expensive.