mmm-yoso!!!

O-To-San Kushiyaki And Ramen

***** O-To-San is now Otori Yakitori

I first noticed the sign for O-To-San back in December in the former location of Dduri Ba. I also noticed the logo under the sign and indeed Eater confirmed my suspicions, the shop was to be run under the same ownership as the AYCE Korean BBQ and AYCE Sushi Olleh shops. Not quite a great sign in my opinion, but while driving by on a recent morning at 1130 I decided to stop by and see what was going on. 

 On this morning the parking lot was empty. I walked on over and took a look at the posted menu and noticed the opening time was noon. I also noted that there were donburi and ramen lunch specials going for as low as ten bucks! In these days that's a bargain. I decided that I'd return on another day and check the place out. As I started walking away the "open" sign came on and the really friendly gentleman who runs the front of house waved me in. My lucky day I guess.

I really liked the rustic interior. They did a nice thematic job here. 

And the prices for the ramen and donburi for lunch were beyond reasonable for these times. So, it allowed me to try something from the kushiyaki menu. You know me; I tend to look at Tsukune, the simple Japanese chicken meatball as the bellwether for yakitori. It takes some skill working with minced chicken and fat to come up with something tender, moist, and unctuous. And whether it's in San Diego or in Japan I look to it as a guide of skill and care when it comes to yakitori. So, with the ramen for lunch being so inexpensive, that's what I ordered ($4). Good lord, was it a mistake.

  I would go on record to say this was more sausage than tsukune. It was hard, rubbery, tough.....I'm sure there are more synonyms I could come up with given time. Not much flavor at all....I guess that's why salt was provided.

This got me really worried about the ramen. I had ordered the tonkotsu ramen ($10).

 And my worries were well placed. Ok, so  since the ownership is under Olleh, my expectations were low, but this was even below that!

The broth, while it displayed globules of fat was insipid, devoid of any flavor save that of sodium. It lacked the richness of a true tonkotsu broth.

The overcooked tamago....well, I'm thinking O-To-San wants to give Santouka competition for the most overcooked egg.

 The chashu wasn't bad, nicely marinated, tender, decent porkiness. The noodles were standard issue, curly, a bit overcooked and mushy...which did nothing to enhance the dish. It had me thinking....at ten bucks what should I have expected?

This was quite underwhelming. But I decided to return for a follow-up visit. This time around noon, where the same kind and friendly gentleman guided me to a table. My thought was "perhaps the ramen wasn't to my liking, but I should try a donburi". And at ten bucks the risk level was fairly low, at least for 2023.

My ten-dollar dish allowed me to try something else from the menu, though I wasn't going to go for anymore yakitori here. I went with a order of Chicken Karaage ($7). What arrived was a much larger portion than what I expected.

In terms of the dish, it reminded me more of what Taiwanese/Chinese boba places serve as "popcorn" chicken then karaage. The chicken was enrobed with a lacquer style batter, quite crisp, though the chicken itself was quite mildly seasoned and on the bland side. It also started to soften up fairly quickly. The typical shoyu based dipping sauce was not quite up to the task. Strangely, what I think is sesame dressing for the shredded cabbage did much better, which led me to think, the whole dish might do ok as tori nanban?

I ordered the Gyu Don ($10 lunch special) as my main.

 I loved the presentation. And overall, I enjoyed this dish the most. Nothing fancy, just a by the book beef bowl. The beef was on the chewy side, flavors were quite typical, soy sauce - mirin - sake, which is not bad at all. A generous portion of rice....I wish there was more egg, but this was a decent donburi.

 Nothing fancy mind you; but for a ten buck for lunch...I wouldn't pay $15 to have this for dinner, this might work out fine for you. After all, how much is a bento from Nijiya these days?

Still, while the prices are right, at least for lunch, I see no reason to go out of your way to visit. The place seems like more of a group of concepts. In design and even in the name which is a play on words. When I asked if the place was named after someone's father, the really nice guy told me it "sort of is?" I was also told it is a play on words - O(saka) - To(kyo) - San (Diego). He didn't elaborate further and I didn't really ask. I'd had enough of "concepts" for a while.

O-To-San Kushiyaki And Ramen
4425 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Taichung - Dinner at Wow Cool (瓦庫燒肉)

As I mentioned in my previous post on Taipei, I hadn't realized that we'd be in Taiwan during a five day holiday weekend. So, the only rail transport I could get to our next destination, Taichung was the High Speed Rail that left at 546pm. It only took an hour to arrive at the Taichung HSR station, which was quite far from our accommodation located across from the regular train station in Taichung. On a positive note, taxi fare in Taiwan is very inexpensive by US standards and getting a cab to our hotel was a breeze.

It was dark when we arrived and we check in and headed on out. Right around the corner from the hotel is the famous Miyahara building, which is owned by Dawn Cake, a well known pineapple cake producer. 

The structure was once a large ophthalmology clinic owned by Miyahara Takeo during the Japanese colonial period. It has now been nicely restored with an interior that flaunts a Harry Potterish theme. The ice cream stand in the building is very popular. There was something that instantly caught our eye, which we'd end up getting at Dawn Cake's main location when we visited the next day.

Of course, there was the question of "what's for dinner"? It seemed that many of the places around the hotel except for hot pot places were closed. And, at least for us, it was just too hot and muggy to even considered hot pot. So, we went decided to go for a recommendation from the taxi driver that drove us from the National Palace Museum the day before. During his conversation with the Missus he mentioned that his grand daughter lived in Taichung and also told the Missus her favorite restaurant. He also said there was one item there that once you tried there "would be no turning back" to another version again!

So, we set out looking for the place, weaving down various streets and alleyways.

Folks at the hotel didn't seem to know about this place. Neither did several folks we came across at various businesses. Until one older gentleman pointed the way. Turns out the English name of the place is "Wow Cool"?!?

And it's basically Yakiniku.

We quickly ordered some liquid refreshment.

While the Missus perused the menu. There were quite a few groups of younger folks eating piles of pork, beef, and seafood. We just can't put all that stuff away like that anymore and decided on the Wagyu cuts.

And a good amount of veggies....which were of good quality and tasty.

   The Missus really loved the yamaimo and the meat was buttery, beefy, and so tender.

But what was so delish as to make us not be able to "turn back" once we tried it?

Well, it was the chicken stock provided for each table for free!

And my goodness, it was delici-yoso! 

So full of "fowl flavor", rich, with an wonderful "tongue feel".

Who'd have thought. You walk into a yakiniku joint, only to find that the chicken broth would have you "never turning back"!

This was an interesting start to our visit to Taichung.

Wow Cool
No. 16 Minquan Rd, Central District
Taichung City, Taiwan 400

Todo Sushi (Scripps Ranch)

mmm-yoso!!! is the name of this food blog.  Cathy is writing while Kirk and His Missus are researching.

A few weeks ago, I met a client at her workplace in Scripps Ranch.  When following Siri's directions and looking for parking, I noticed this restaurant, which was new to me but has apparently been here since 2007.

 There is seating outdoors in front as well as inside tables and there is a lengthy counter for the sushi bar.


The menu is pretty basic.

I ordered the Shrimp and Veggie tempura appetizer ($9.95) to check out the frying technique here.  The veggies (two each of green bean, onion, carrot and potato) were battered and the two shrimp were also dipped in bread crumbs.  The tempura sauce (soy, sugar seaweed and bonita flakes) (each sauce is made here and ingredients listed on the menu under the “Glossary of Sauces”) was a perfect compliment to the crisp, non-greasy fry.

 I ordered the "Modern Sashimi Salad" ($15.95).  Assorted sashimi (tuna and salmon this day)-(a very large amount) topped with the House dressing (soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, onion and black pepper) on top of a crisp spring mix.  This was a wonderful choice.  Fresh, flavorful and plenty; I will order again.

 The Mister ordered the Tonkatsu Bento from the Lunch Special menu($13.95).  {Lunch specials served from 11 until 4:30} Breaded pork topped with a ponzu sauce (bonito flakes, soy, seaweed and citrus juice), rice, salad and tempura.  The pork was cooked about 30 seconds too long and was a bit dry but not terrible; the breading was not burned or too crisp.  It was on top of some sautéed cabbage, carrot and onion which was quite flavorful.  
 The lunch special came with a good quality miso.  Hot tea (as I always order) was a quality green with the grass-like flavor that I like and no charge.

We will stop by to try more of the menu when back in the area.

Todo Sushi 9823 Carroll Canyon Road San Diego 92131 Open Mon-Sat 11-9:30, Closed Sunday. (858) 566-0206 Website 

Kumo Japanese Sandos

The Missus has been a fan of Japanese Supermarket Sandos ever since our visits to Japan. Strangely, I don't have a post on the sandwiches we've gotten from Lawson over the years. Perhaps we just gobble them up too fast. And of course, the egg salad version has been quite hyped up; especially after this Tweet all those years ago.

The Missus's preference is the Katsu Sando of the pork variety and after trying out the Katsu Sando at EE Nami She was looking forward to what Kumo had to offer. I was just waiting for the place to finally open. Which they did, though on weekends only. I hopped on down and took a look at the menu and had to deliver the bad news to the Missus, they didn't do tonkatsu; only chicken katsu sandos. Which the Missus really didn't want. The line on that day was rather long so I decided to wait until after our trip to Taiwan when the shop would have more regular hours.

  When I finally had another opportunity, I arrived just as the very friendly young lady was folding up the blinds on the front door. And as during the soft opening, only one party is allowed inside the shop at once. I recall seeing chicken karaage on the menu when I did my aborted visit, but that was no longer offered. There are four sandwiches on the erase board menu; chicken katsu, menchi katsu, egg salad, and fruit and cream.

And since I had actually made it in the door, I decided to order the three savory sandwiches and split them with JeffP back in the office.

Like I said, the young lady working was very nice. I ordered and was told to wait outside for my sandwiches.

I was intrigued to know that the bread came from MamMoth Bakery. We've been to their location in Marukai (now Tokyo Central) in Gardena.

A few minutes later my sandwiches were ready and I headed back to the office.

You want to see what $40 of sandwiches looks like from Kumo? Have a gander.

So how were they? Well, let's go from "first to worst".

For me the best was the Egg Salad ($12).

 Compared to the Japanese version; this was chopped too coarse, there wasn't enough mayo. There was a bit too much black pepper and it edged on the sweeter side. Liked the visual of the quarter tamago. The bread was slightly moist, but a bit too firm and chewy for me. Like I said before, I prefer my shokupan fluffier and softer.

The breading was not good on the Menchi Katsu ($13) as it was peeling off and soggy. The patty was very thin and overly chewy. This threw the bread to protein ration off in my opinion.

    It was also quite dry. This did the bread no favors. There was some flavor though it was quite mild. I could have used with a bit more katsu sauce to added a nice savory-umami-sweetness to things. It's a sad day when I think that the shredded cabbage is the best part of the sandwich.

And yet, the Chicken Katsu Sando ($13) was our least favorite. I was thrilled to see that it was chicken thigh which would usually mean more flavor, but not in this case as it was rubbery and very bland. Look at the color of the breading.

   Which was soggy and peeling off the protein. Man, this was not good eats at all. It seems that the only thing I could taste was the katsu sauce. Again it was the cabbage that was the headliner of the sandwich, bummer!

I spoke to JeffP a bit later and got his thoughts.....not surprisingly, his first to worse was the same!

It's kind of sad, I was really looking forward to this place opening. I'm hoping that they do improve. But for now, I'm sticking with Sue's next door when I'm in the area.

Kumo
6755 Mira Mesa Blvd.
Suite 108
San Diego, CA 92121
Hours:
Tues - Sun 11am - 5pm

COMC - EE Nami and De Cabeza El Unico

Not sure if it's old age or what; but jet lag is kicking my butt. So, I thought I'd just do a quick Clearing Out the Memory Card post for tonight while I clear out the cobwebs.

Lunch at EE Nami:

Our dinners at EE Nami had the Missus wondering how lunch was. So before leaving for Taiwan we made a lunchtime visit.

The Katsu Combo was good, the Missus loved the scallops.

The Missus really wanted to try the Katsu Sando. Man, the portion size was quite large.

The katsu seemed a bit dried out and the shokupan....the Japanese bread lacked the mild sweetness and was on the dry side.

I think we'll stick with dinner from here for now.

EE Nami
4706 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

Takeout from De Cabeza el Unico:

Temps in Taiwan were in the high 70's to mid-80's with humidity over 80 for most of our trip. So, returning to the current weather in San Diego was a bit of a shock. The Missus was freezing and wanted something rich and comforting. Takeout form De Cabeza was an easy choice.

Since this was the weekend I got there right at 8am to avoid the weekend crowd.

Of course we got the Cabeza en su Jugo.

While the tortillas were on the hard side this time around; Jesus wasn't there so perhaps the QC was falling short a bit.

Still, that rich and beefy soup did hit the spot.

De Cabeza/El Único
1043 Broadway
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Thanks for dropping by. I'll be back tomorrow with a new post!

Los Angeles - Sushi Enya

When planning our current trip, we decided to fly out of LAX to avoid layovers. The flight was already 14 hours long and we really didn't want to extend our transit time. So, we planned for something like we had done several years back; we'd stay the night in Little Tokyo, then head to the airport in the morning for our flight. It would give us a chance to catch up with one of our favorite little neighborhoods in LA.

Except, this being 2023 and all, we ran into a little problem. We enjoy doing Amtrak to Union Station, then taking the short walk to our hotel in Little Tokyo. On the morning of our trip I received a message from Amtrak, our train had been cancelled and we'd been automatically rebooked to Union Station out of San Juan Capistrano!?!?!? Say what? After spending 45 minutes on hold with Amtrak, our only other option would have us arriving in LA at 6pm, after our dinner reservation.  In the end, I made reservations on the FlixBus, which turned out to be a decent option and we arrived at Union Station at 430pm.

Walking to the Miyako Hotel from Union Station in 2023 was a different experience as well, many more homeless, folks with obvious mental health issues screaming at us (it's quite sad), groups of kids on skateboards harassing people acting like they "owned" the sidewalk. Whoa....

Though once you got off Alameda and made that turn on 1st Street things calmed down quite a bit.

We checked in, freshened up, and basically just had to cross the street to get to our dinner destination, Sushi Enya. Actually, we had wanted to check out a place that had been an old favorite of ours. But sadly, Sushi Komasa closed last year when the Itamae decided to retire. Sigh.... Anyway, we decided to check out Sushi Enya and I managed to get us early reservations. We were the first folks in the place and took a seat at the bar. 

There were five folks working behind the sushi bar! Our Itamae for the evening was a young man who was quite friendly, it seems like a couple of the folks behind the bar were tasked with making various rolls that folks coming in after us ordered.

We got our order in and our nigiri started arriving. A couple of observations. Enya seems to do a lot of Aburi (torched) nigiri, they also have several tare/nikiri that is used on all the nigiri, so we had no need for shoyu and wasabi, except for a few exceptions. We both didn't care for the quality of the rice used as it was on the hard and chewy side and lacked a nice fragrance. As for the nigiri, well, read on!

Things started with Engawa, the dorsal fin muscle of hirame (halibut) a favorite of ours

The engawa had that wonderful toothsome texture, the nikiri added a nice touch of savory-soy tones with a hint of sweetness. Very clean, great texture!

Next up was the Kinmedai (Golden Eye Snapper).

This was torched changing the texture, adding a layer of creaminess to things. The addition of yuzu kosho gave this a nice salty-citrusy-"zippiness".

I saw Yamaimo "Fries" with Truffle Salt on the menu and had to try it.

This was quite delicious! The exterior crisp, the interior slightly creamy. All the usual sliminess of yamaimo was gone! Not much truffle flavor, but we really didn't need that as there was a delicate starchy-sweetness to this.

Next up was the Albacore.

This was a miss for us as the strong garlic sauce really detracted from the mild flavor of the fish. The sauce overwhelmed the dish.

Things were quickly corrected when the O-toro arrived.

Ethereally buttery in texture.....the fish almost melted when it hit your tongue. Too bad we didn't care for the rice here. The nikiri really added a nice, mild soy-sweet flavor to this. 

We also ordered some Uni. When asked whether we wanted Santa Barbara or Hokkaido uni, the answer was quite easy.

The Hokkaido Uni was fabulous, creamy-sweet-briny. As I say, it's like having a creamy taste of the cleanest, freshest water of the Pacific ocean.

From here we decided to order a few more items to complete our meal.

We got some Hotate (Scallop).

With some ginger and the nice nikiri, this did need a bit of shoyu to balance things out. The scallop was sweet and tender.

We both didn't care for the Wagyu Nigiri.

The beef seemed really lean and did not benefit from being torched a bit too much making it very chewy.

We finished with Negi Toro Temaki.

This was fine, though the rice really dropped this a few notches for us.

Overall, a nice meal. Because of being the only folks sitting at the bar it was like we had our own, personal Itamae. Wish we liked the quality of the rice as it would have made our meal that much more enjoyable. As it was, this just illustrated how much we enjoy Tadokoro. We'll have to get our fix there soon!

Sushi Enya Little Tokyo
343 1st St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

After dinner we decided to take a stroll and see what was going on in Little Tokyo. 

Stay tuned!

Takeout from Tenkatori (Again)

A couple of weeks back "FOY" ChrisR sent me an email with some photos with the title "Tenkatori impresses". I then sent him a link to my post from May of last year. Apparently Chris hadn't read that post? And here I thought he was a F(riend) o(f) Y(oso)! Of course, I'm just kidding (I think?). I actually appreciate that email as it placed a reminder in "mi cabeza" about returning to Tenkatori.

I thought about online ordering, but there's an additional $3 fee that I'd rather provide as a tip to the restaurant. So, just like what I do for takeout at EE Nami I called in my order right at 11. I was given the time of 1130 for pick-up.

I arrived a bit early and managed to find a space in the rather merciless parking lot. The woman working the counter was juggling a couple of takeout customers and the phone which seemed to be ringing non-stop. 

By the time I made it to the counter my order was waiting...in fact, it's that first package in the photo above. I had ordered the "Mix" Bento Box which was $9.90 in May of last year. It is now priced at $12.50.

The drive back to the office took about 15 minutes and this is what the Mix Bento looked like.

   The wings actually held up better than the Karaage. Don't get me wrong, the karaage was very moist and tender, but that light, what seems to be katakuriko based batter is made for eating quickly. I think of the flavors are very nicely balanced, soy-with a touch of sweetness. I like that the karaage still has skin attached. The "whole" wings (tips and drumettes included) did well. Like I've mentioned before, I like the addition of wing tips as they add a nice cartiligous texture with the addition of the batter of course. I could make out a touch of the shichimi togarashi a lot clearer than the karaage.

The potato "salad" was the same as before, mashed potatoes. Decently seasoned, with a sweet, teriyaki like sauce on it. The rice was a bit harder than I like, but serviceable. This is not by any means a large portion of protein, but these days it's enough for me.

Which lead me to wonder why I don't come here more often. Of course, I really like the gizzards and the nankotsu.....so I'll probably wait for a day when Calvin comes into the office to order all that stuff.

Thanks again to Chris who took the time out to send me an email with photographic evidence! Hope you get back to Hilo soon!

Tenkatori Miramar
6780 Miramar Rd Suite 104
San Diego, CA 92121

Dinners at EE Nami

Recently, the Missus and I restarted our "date nights". It seems that the combination of gas and food prices, Covid, and our travels kind of waylaid something that we'd always enjoyed. After returning from our trip "home", we decided to go ahead and slowly start dining out. Of course, the question arose...."where"? I was missing Japanese food, but for some reason, just did not feel like Yakitori or hanging at a sushi bar. After all my takeout meals from EE Nami over the last couple of years, I really wanted a shot at their dinner Izakaya menu. But first, I had to convince the Missus. You see the Missus usually hates Tonkatsu on the mainland, She will get Chicken Katsu, but Her experiences with pork have not been good, too tough, too dry, lacking in flavor. I'd been telling Her about my takeout meals from EE Nami but She just wouldn't try it. Finally, after showing Her the Dinner menu online, I managed to talk Her into visiting for dinner. And guess what? We've now been several times! Over the last couple of weeks!

I usually will make reservations; heck, I didn't even know EE Nami took reservations, for the 530 time slot, we'd eat early and get the heck out of dodge. The service has always been nice and friendly; there are touches that make us miss Japan.

Since we've made several visits and have pretty much reordered our favorite dishes over and over, I think I'll just do a listing of our picks and pans.

One thing to always take note of is the Specials menu.

And this menu has our favorite item on it; the Miyazaki A5 Wagyu Nigiri.

We ordered it on our initial visit and it was love at first bite; the unctuous, melt in your mouth tenderness of the beef, the rice cooked perfectly, the nice amount of pungency of the fresh grated wasabi. We ended up getting a second order! Since that time we always place two orders immediately. It will be a sad day when this isn't on the menu any longer!

Other Favorites:

Of course, the Missus ended up loving the Tonkatsu. And I noticed that the Fillet is much better dining in than doing takeout.

   It's very tender, moist, with a pleasant porkiness, the panko breading crisp and perfect. To us, the fillet is better than the loin when dining in. We usually don't order any rice or soup with this. As we want to keep on going!

The Missus really enjoys a good Agedashi Tofu and She loves this version.

This dish retains its light crispness for a good amount of time; the Missus enjoys the pretty strong dashi it's served in and also the addition of nori in the coating of the tofu. We noticed that many of the Izakaya dishes here have a larger portion size than what we're used to in Japan.

A favorite of mine is another item from the specials menu, the Ankimo with Smoked Takuan....actually, it's monk fish liver with smoked pickles on the menu. 

  I don't know who thought of this one, but to me it's a winnah! Love the creamy, rich, and mild liveriness of the Ankimo paired with the crunchy, smoky, pickled-sour daikon. And adding a bit of the shiso brought out even more complexity. As with the Wagyu Nigiri; I'll be sad when this is no longer on the specials menu.

Good Dishes:

The Gyu Tataki was pretty good.

While a bit on the chewy side, this had a nice beefiness which went well with the ponzu sauce and onions. Overall, a fairly refreshing dish.

The Tori Nanban was pretty large and unwieldy, especially with the tartar sauce dripping about.

This was another one of those dishes that we thought was kind of American-sized. The Missus, who is not usually a fan of Tori Nanban, thought this was pretty good. I on the other hand like tori nanban and though the batter was crisp, the pieces of chicken were too large with the biggest piece a bit on the dry side. The batter did stay crisp during the whole meal though and the chicken was well seasoned.

Plus/Minus:

The Buta Kakuni was a bit of an enigma.

The sauce was very tasty, though perhaps on the sweet side. The tamago was nicely cooked, with a lovely orb of an orange yolk. The daikon was tender and perfectly cooked, having absorbed the flavor from the sauce. The problem was the pork, which was really tough and stringy, and for some reason had really not absorbed enough of the flavor from the sauce.

Pans:

I'm not sure if it was an off day or what, but the Roasted Beef Tongue was not to our liking.

The tongue had a metallic flavor to it; the sauce was a strangely bland "onion sauce" when we think ponzu might have been a better match.

The worst dish we had was on our first visit. The Missus loves eggplant, so the Niku Miso Eggplant would seem like a good pick. It wasn't however.

The ground pork was gritty and dry, with no flavor. The eggplant was undercooked and also lacked flavor. There was supposed to be some kind of chili sauce on this? But it was MIA. Even with a sauce, the textures, and cooking techniques used here would have not been to our liking.

With that said, the dishes we enjoy here, we thoroughly enjoy. There's something about the vibe and our favorites here which allow us to travel with our tastebuds. At least on the slower nights we pick for our dinners.

Some good food, a nice vibe, all enjoyed with some craft, small production sake.......

And life is good! It seems we found a keeper for a casual date night spot.

EE Nami
4706 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117
Current Hours
Wed - Sun 1130am - 2pm, 530pm - 10pm 

Thanks for stopping by!

Katsu Cafe Revisited

I had an appointment off of Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, so I decided to see if I could grab some lunch in a not too busy spot. I crossed the street and saw that Katsu Cafe wasn't busy and it had been over five years since I last visited. So, I thought why not?

I was surprised to see the place fairly empty as Katsu Cafe had always seemed popular for lunch when I worked in the area.

I decided to go with what I usually order here; the Chicken Katsu Plate ($13.50). Man, I remember when the Chicken Katsu Plate used to be eight bucks....I also remembered when they used to have it on the menu as "Chicken Cutlet"....yeah, Katsu Cafe used to call their chicken katsu, chicken cutlet.

I grabbed a table and soon enough my lunch was ready.

I had mentioned that the Miso Soup here was not terrible on my last visit and it's still not too bad.

It's not overly watered down and you can actually taste the miso.

As for the Chicken Katsu.

   Well, the portion size of the chicken katsu, which I've always thought was quite large is now two-thirds the size. Which is big enough for me. As on previous visits, it looked like it had been fried for too long a time based on the color, but this wasn't too bad. The breading while being hard instead of crisp, wasn't peeling off and the chicken was decently moist, though a bit on the tough side. And best of all, it had some flavor.

As for other things...well, the rice was dry and hard. The salads, which I had enjoyed before weren't quite as good. I found a few brown and wilted leaves under the greens salad, which was still dripping wet, which watered down the dressing. The potato-mac salad had too much mayo and was mushy. It also needed a good dose of salt.

Still, in terms of price, at least for these days, this might be a bargain. This is after all, more about quantity and value, food for the masses and they seemed to be descending here as I left. I'm glad I arrived when I did and it's always good to follow-up on places which I hadn't visited in a while.

I did enjoy when we had our office in the area. There were so many choices for lunch.

Katsu Cafe
7305B Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Santouka Weather

Man, it's been feeling really cold here the last couple of days. I can't really recall having such extended periods of cold weather here in San Diego. When I checked with the Missus to see what She wanted to have for dinner, She said, "I'd like some ramen...." So, my first thought was Menya of course. But then I remembered "FOY" Junichi's mention of enjoying having a bowl of ramen at Santouka. Santouka holds a special place in our hearts. We consider it to be the first "real" ramen spot to open in San Diego, which started what we call "San Diego's Ramen Renaissance" back in 2008. Over the years it's the shio toroniku that has become our favorite.

While still somewhat hesitant and cautious about dining in; after having rather mediocre takeout experiences with Santouka, we decided to have an early Valentines Day dinner.....at Santouka in the Mitsuwa Marketplace.

There was no one in the queue when I got to the window, the Missus had gone to check-out the snack aisle while I placed my order. I had some good timing, as a line emerged while I was waiting for our order.

We ordered the usual; the Shio Ramen Toroniku Style ($15.95) and some Natto Gohan ($3). Who'd have thunk that spending twenty bucks for ramen and a rice bowl would be considered a reasonable priced dinner these days?

Our ramen was ready quite quickly.

   Man, this was so much better than takeout. The noodles, which were the biggest issue with takeout was decently springy. Still not quite I recall it being in the "good old days", but much better.

The much maligned (and rightfully so) tamago has become kind of an inside joke with the Missus and I. I recall fooling some folks with a homemade boiled egg when we did takeout. The Missus and I crack up when we recall visiting the flagship store of Santouka in Asahikawa and finding that tamago was just as bad.

The pork cheek had been perfectly braised; it had a nice balance of soy-porkiness that just did it for us. It was also fairly tender...too long of a "swim" in the broth and it would start breaking up.

That thick sided donburi really did the trick for the broth as it stayed scalding hot during the whole meal. The broth had a nice tongue coating feel and like I always say, in spite of it being "shio" (salt), it is the least salty of the broths to me.

I also noticed that the broth had a mild "zip" to it....then I looked carefully and noticed the red specks in it. Are they now adding togarashi? The only thing missing is the mild seafood tones that the versions in Japan have. When Santouka first opened in San Diego, it had that flavor profile but it was soon changed. Also, the broth seemed a bit fattier than I recalled, but I'm not complaining.

As for the Natto Gohan, well it's "soul food" to me as I mentioned in this post.

I used to be somewhat embarrassed for enjoying this gooey, slimy, cheesy-nutty, funky smelling fermented been dish. But these days I hoist and fly my natto flag with pride! It helps that the Missus loves natto as well.

I realize I just spent over 500 words on a place I've posted on many times. Yes, quite a few ramen places have come (and gone) since Santouka opened, but it's still a favorite of ours. Perhaps it's sentimental, but we still enjoy our meals there. Thanks for staying and reading this post!

Santouka Ramen
4240 Kearny Mesa Rd(In the Mitsuwa Marketplace)
San Diego, CA 92111

Thanks for inspiring me to return to Santouka Junichi!

We hope everyone is in good health and spirits!