The "Special Bento" to go From Izakaya Sakura

 You might be wondering why there was no post on the place that probably has the most posts on out little blog was during the pandemic. Well, to be perfectly honest, the items I enjoy the most from Sakura really wouldn't hold up that well for takeout. Add to that the rather surly and sometimes plain rude service I've gotten in recent years along with the food not being up to par at times.....well, I just didn't want to deal with that.

But my recent visit to Hogetsu had me thinking about all those days of yore, all the wonderful meals and memories...I thought, what the heck and dropped by to see what was going on.

Sakura has quite the outdoor set-up going on (this was before the recent red tier change). I took a look at the menu on the table in the doorway and saw that those dishes I really liked weren't available...but the "Special Bento", which I hadn't had in years was....and would you believe it's still $12......13 years later?

I went to Nijiya to pick up a few things and my bento was ready when I returned.

The bento did look similar to what I had back in 2007. Not as much meat based items perhaps; but overall this was still quite a bit of food.

The miso soup was even decent!

My favorite items was the chicken karaage. I was surprised it was still crisp when I got home. As I mentioned way back in 2015 when I did a karaage comparison; the version at Sakura is on the lighter side; which made me doubt that it would hold up to takeout, but this was still pretty crisp when I ate it at home.

The menchi katsu, basically a deep fried meatball had also held up pretty well; still crisp, nice seasoning, loved the katsu sauce. I wasn't as enamored with the glazed salmon which was on the fishy side and the aji kushiage, which almost looked like a shrimp was lacking in flavor. The tamago here is always a decent bet and the pasta....well, that was filler.

In the side compartment was a Japanese version of "pot-au-feu" which uses sausage and chicken instead of beef like the French version does. It's also made in dashi, which actually went well with the whole thing.

The rice was perfect; moist with just enough lightness.

While I'm fairly certain that I'll wait until I feel comfortable dining al fresco or indoors before returning, it was nice to revisit one of our "golden oldies". After all, we've lost a good number of these places during the pandemic. And still at $12....well, you can't even get a sandwich for that these days.

Izakaya Sakura
3904 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 569-6151

Comments

[Jason]

That's funny, this past weekend we had breakfast outside at the Original Pancake House in that same mall and reminisced about the meals from Sakura. We also vowed to head back there for a try. I'm glad you took a photo of the signage, having not been there in a while we too were surprised by the ream of paper they used for all of it.

[Lynn @ Oh-So Yummy]

That sounds like a lunch special! We are creatures of habit, always ordering our OWN chicken katsu curry (too tasty to share lol) and also enjoyed the omelette with ketchup recently. They hold up well for our drive home.

Not sure if you have answered this previously but would getting the vaccine make you feel comfortable for dine in again?

[Kirk]

Yes, all those paper signs are kind of overwhelming in a way Jason! I'll definitely head back when I feel comfortable eating out.

Hi Lynn - I've kinda fallen out with the katsu curry here; I think both Yakyudori/Hinotez and EE Nami do a better job these days. I'm not a big fan of "Hayashi" stle Omurice. As for the vaccine? I had my second shot back in January; but I feel that there's still a chance I could be asymptomatic and infect someone else...even though I still get tested every couple of weeks. It's also about doing the right thing, being the right example....we're getting close to where we need to be; we're just waiting for the right time.

[Junichi]

Didn't know they had Okinawa soba. I'll have to try that sometime.

[kat]

looks quite good, glad you tried them again:)

[Kirk]

Wow, didn't even notice that.....will have to try it out. I'm wondering if Zo-san is still working there; maybe its his recipe. He and his wife used to own Sushi Ishikawa - where Sushi Yaro is.

I'm quite happy I did Kat!