Google recently released a new feature of their popular Google Maps application called My Maps. Essentially, it's a way to create customized Google Maps without any programming. In about 10 minutes, I was able to create a map of all Sushi restaurants in the Phoenix Metro area. Check it out:
Pere and I spent last weekend up in the Sonoma region of California. Instead of our usual MO of flying into San Francisco and driving up, we decided to try Oakland airport instead and save a few minutes on the drive. Since we arrived in Oakland at 7:30, we figured we should probably find something to eat sooner rather than latter since we had no idea how long it would take us to get to Healdsburg.
Moody had mentioned a sushi place called Kirala that he really liked in Berkeley, so we decided to see if we could find it on the way. I texted Moody for the address and phone number of the place. One quick phone call and we were on our way. We actually found Kirala without too much trouble, even though it was after dark, we had no map, and I had never been to Berkeley before.
When we arrived, it was just after 8:30, and the place was packed. Rather than wait for a table, we opted for the last 2 seats at the sushi bar. As busy as the place was, our waitress came over immediately with menus and took our drink order. Since I was driving, I opted for green tea while Pere went with a Kirin. We had decided beforehand that we were just going to have sushi, so we started ordering from the sushi chef right away. We started with a caterpillar roll, shrimp tempura roll, and one of the day's special rolls, crab with asparagus. We also ordered tobiko (flying fish roe), unagi (fresh water eel), and inari (fried bean curd). All of the sushi was very fresh and well put together, especially given how busy they were. When we finished our initial order, I wanted a little more, so we asked for an order of Kani (crab meat). That did it. After polishing that off, we were completely stuffed.
I really enjoy watching sushi chefs work, and the skill exhibited by our chef at Kirala was no exception. One thing I found interesting, though, was his choice of knives. Our chef did all of his work not with a traditional set of Japanese knives but rather a single european style chef's knife. He used a Wusthof Classic 8" chef's knife to be exact.
Kirala proved to be a good start to our trip. If you happen to be in the Berkeley area and find yourself craving sushi, I'd recommend you give it a shot.
I'm woefully behind on my posts lately. I'm traveling back East these next few weeks, so hopefully, I'll get some time to catch up...
Last Monday, Adam, Nathan, Moody and I went out to my favorite Sushi place for lunch, Shimogamo in Tempe. Shimogamo is run by a Japanese man who opened the place because he was unable to find decent Japanese food in the valley when he came here for business.
Like everything else in Phoenix, Shimogamo is located in a strip mall. However, the interior is nicely designed, with a sushi bar, main dining room, semi-private back room, and I think a private back room as well.
I usually come to Shimogamo for dinner, and eat nothing but sushi (it's that good), but lately we've been coming to take advantage of the lunch specials.
On this visit, I ordered the chicken katsu tray. It came with a panko-breaded fried chicken cutlet (the Japanese use panko as opposed to traditional bread crumbs for the breading), miso soup, salad, rice, and pickle. This is a decent amount of food for $7.95. Not being able to help myself, I also ordered a Shimogamo roll, one of my favorite rolls there. It's a shrimp tempura roll that has very thin slices of lemon as well. The first time I had it, I was a bit skeptical, but it really works well.
My katsu was very good, as always. They serve it with a type of barbeque sauce and wasabi, which work equally well.
Adam had the same thing I did, but Moody decided to go with the chicken teriyaki. He's pretty particular about his teriyakis, generally despising the stuff that's been simmering in syrupy and sickeningly sweet goop all day. Luckily, the teriyaki at Shimogamo was nothing like that. The chicken was very tender, with just the right amount of teriyaki. I may have to give it a try on the next visit.
I'll have to come back for the full sushi treatment soon, as I'm dying to write about it. Shimogamo is definitely the best sushi (that I've had) anywhere in the valley so far.
Last week, Pere and I were up in North Scottsdale looking at sinks for our upcoming kitchen remodel. Since we finished around dinner time, we decided to try for something further North than we tend to go. We headed up to Market Street at DC Ranch, an upscale dining/shopping "village" located in the foothills of the McDowell Mountains.
We decided to give Blue Wasabi Sushi & Martini Bar a try. Generally, I'm not very big on overly trendy sushi bars. The valley has plenty of them. They tend to be over priced, loud, and produce only mediocre sushi at best.
The first thing I noticed about Blue Wasabi is that it' strikingly small. The restaurant consists on a long sushi bar with a number of bar stools, and a few additional tables in two otherwise cramped spaces. In all, there's seating for about 30 people or so. Luckily, there's also outdoor seating with another half dozen tables. We opted to sit outside, since the weather was still bearable.
We started off with drinks and a seaweed salad. Pere ordered a Mello Jello from their menu of interesting house martinis. It was pretty tasty, as was the Junmai-Ginjo sake I ordered. The seaweed salad was very good, and made for a nice start to the meal.
Blue Wasabi sets itself apart from both the more traditional and other trendy sushi restaurants in the area by offering a number of signature sushi rolls with corny names such as the Jeff Spicoli roll, the Gordon Gecko, and the Eating Nemo. If you are looking for traditional sushi, then this is not the place for you, but that's the point. Blue Wasabi uses a good number of non traditional ingredients (such as BBQ Fritos, chicken, and steak) in its signature rolls, many of which seem to work pretty well.
From the signature line, Pere and I ordered the Red Hot Chili Pepper Roll (spicy tuna with big eye tuna on top), and the Surf and Turf Roll (lobster and cucumber with seared beef tenderloin on top). Both rolls were good, and generously sized (10 pieces instead of the usual 6 or 8).
In addition to the two signature rolls, we also ordered a shrimp tempura roll, a caterpillar roll, flying fish roe, and freshwater eel. One thing about Blue Wasabi - the menu is entirely in English. No Japanese names here... All of the sushi we ordered was decent, except for the caterpillar roll, which is usually one of our favorites. In this case, the avocado was way over ripe, and a bit slimy. Minor pickiness here, but the shrimp tempura roll could have been a bit better. It was bland compared to what I'm used to as far as shrimp tempura rolls go.
Besides the signature rolls, Blue Wasabi's other trademark is their blue wasabi. Instead of the green food coloring we're all used to with our horseradish, Blue wasabi uses a deep blue dye in their wasabi. I thought it looked weird, but Pere was totally put off by it. We kept worrying that we would drop a piece on us and end up with a nice big blue stain! Worse, when mixed with soy sauce, because it was already so dark, it became impossible to tell how much had actually been added.
Prior to going to Blue Wasabi, I read one review that claimed it had the best sushi in the Valley. In fact, the reviewer claimed it was the best sushi outside of Japan. While it was decent, I would hardly place it at either of those levels. The best sushi I've had in the valley so far has been the magic made at Shimogamo in Chandler. And outside of Japan? Well in that case, I can name off a half dozen or so places that easily top Blue Wasabi.
All in all, our experience at Blue Wasabi was good, but I don't see myself making the drive that far north when better options exist closer to home. If I do make it back, though, there are several martinis, and a few more signature rolls I'd like to give a try.
