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It's been a while...ork.

Hello everyone. It's been a while since I posted something here. So I moved to San Francisco in January of 2007. San Francisco is probably the most Japanese friendly city next to Los Angeles (which I have the opportunity to go to often now) and New York. So third is better than anything lower.

In San Francisco, there is a Japantown. I would say that most of the restaurants here are not the best, but there are many places and most of them are great compared to any other Japanese restaurant in Boston.

I started this blog as a result of the lack of online reviews of japanese restaurants. In San Francisco, there is this great online review site called Yelp. I am a reviewer there now and I highly recommend a restaurant called "Takara", which is located in Japantown in San Francisco.

There are also many many many other great Japanese food places that is good in San Francisco. In some time, I will provide some more reviews of my experiences.

Stay Tuned!

Japanese Food History

So I haven't been to any good Japanese Food places in a while so I decided to start on a journey of Japanese food. L;et's start with the basics - RICE.

Rice Dishes

For over 2000 years, rice has been the most important food stuff in the Japanese cuisine. Despite changes in eating patterns over the last decades and slowly decreasing rice consumption in recent years, rice remains one of the most important ingredients in Japan today, and can be found in numerous dishes.

Rice Bowl
A bowl of rice is often served as a side dish for lunch and dinner. It is also part of the traditional Japanese breakfast, eaten plain, mixed with a raw egg and soya sauce (tamago-kake-gohan) or with natto or other toppings.

Sushi
Sushi can be defined as a dish which contains sushi rice, cooked rice that is prepared with sushi vinegar. There are various kinds of sushi dishes.

Domburi
A bowl of cooked rice with some other food put on top of the rice. Some of the most popular toppings are tempura (tendon), egg and chicken (oyakodon), tonkatsu (katsudon) and beef (gyudon).

Onigiri
Onigiri are rice balls made of cooked rice and usually wrapped with a nori seaweed. They are slightly salted and often contain some additional food in the center, for example an umeboshi (pickled Japanese apricot), katsuobushi (dried bonito shavings), tuna or salmon. Rice balls are a popular and inexpensive snack available at convenience stores.

Kare Raisu
Kare Raisu (Curry Rice) is cooked rice with a curry sauce. It can be served with additional toppings such as tonkatsu. Curry is not a native Japanese spice, but has been used in Japan for over a century. Kare Raisu is a very popular dish, and many inexpensive Kare Raisu restaurants can be found especially in and around train stations.

Fried Rice
Fried rice or chahan has been originally introduced from China. A variety of additional ingredients such as peas, egg, negi (Japanese leek) and small pieces of carrot and pork are mixed to the rice when stir fried. It is a suitable dish for using left over rice.

Chazuke
Chazuke is a bowl of cooked rice with green tea and other ingredients, for example, salmon or tarako (cod roe) added to it. It is a suitable dish for using left over rice.

Kayu
Kayu is rice gruel, watery, soft cooked rice that resembles oatmeal. It is a suitable dish for using left over rice and is often served to sick people because it can be digested easily.

Brookline Japanese Restaurant Review: Tsunami in Brookline

Tsunami is a small Japanese food restaurant near Coolidge Corner in Brookline, MA. I've eaten here on several ocassions, mostly because it has the one dish that is a rear find in the US - the Kastu Curry.

The Restaurant overall is nothing special. The bathroom smelled of sewage and the value is not good. For the price, the dishes are not as intricate.

Some of the positive aspects of the restaurant is that you can bring your own alcohol. There is a good liquor store around the corner. They sell the great sake ji-zake Hakkaisan..

Tsunami has some unique dishes. One specialty theme is their "Roll Combos". They take a fish theme - Unagi, Salmon or Tuna. The combination offers three different kinds of rolls using that fish for under $20. Its enough to fill you up and leaves you hungry for more.

Overall, I was not impressed by the taste or the price of this restaurant. If you want good Japanese food, I've recommend walking around the corner to "Takeshima" - a Korean owned Japanese food restaurant with adequate taste but low price - or to Fugakyu for a hig priced, but good quality meal - so I've heard.

Rating of 2 stars.

Japanese food in Boston at its finest

Japanese food that is good is tough to find in Boston. Thats why I always get excited when I find a good place.

Sushi 21 in Watertown is a new discovery. Owned and operated by Japanese people, it serves the great lunch, which traditionally is always a great value. My colleague had the sushi and gave the nod of approval. He is from Japan so I definatley trust his tast.

With such a chic name, I wa expecting a posh stuck up modern atmosphere with techno music playing in the background. On the contrary, the interior was very 'japanese', which provided me with an "at home" atmosphere in which to enjoy my food.

The service was slow - there were two guys running the place and it took us over an hour total. However, the discovery was well worth the trip and time.

Sushi 21 can be found in Watertown, MA. Click Here for a map to Sushi 21.

For great Japanese food in Boston start with Sushi 21.

ginza brookline

Kazoo Sushi, San Jose CA

250 E. Jackson Street
San Jose, Ca 95112
Telepone: (408) 288-9611

Not the fanciest sushi restaurant but the atmosphere, chef and host is fantastic. The price is great and the service is quick. Everybody is japanese here. The sushi bar has a rotating sushi boat, but you can order from the chef who is Japanese. I went on Sunday night and a lot of the good fish were sold out so I recommend going early.

The Zaru Soba (笊蕎麦）is decent. The noodles are light and snappy, they have a good flavor.

Sake お酒: 唐短波Karatampa is very good. It has a hint off spiciness at the beginning and finishes very smoothly. Between the two of us, we finished 4 bottles with our sushi.

Miso Soup みそ汁: This is your average miso soup with tofu and seeweed but finishes up the meal well at the end. I asked if they have any other soup but their menu was limited.

In summary, the atmosphere and price make Kazoo sushi a great find for me. They didn't have the best sushi or the most extensive sushi offering. Actually, some of the sushi that stayed on the boat were not fresh at all. However, the chef was good enough to recommend certain ones that were good that day and discourage other sushis. That attitude boads well in my book.

JapanAmerican rating: 8 out of 10 - Great hangout

Chicago and Japan Town

The best place for any Japanese person to feel at home in the US is Japan Town. I would like to see this franchised and spread across the entire world. When I was living in LA, we would go to Little Tokyo to eat and have a great time. I would be able to get my Japanese comics and toys and my mother buy her groceries and Japanese goods at the store, all in one day. Finish up the day by choosing one of the dozen restaurants depending on what you feel like eating. There's nothing else like the experience.

So now that I travel on business to different cities every week, I make sure to look up where the nearest and best Japanese food restaurant near the hotel where I would be staying.

Japanese Food in Chicago
When visiting Chicago for a short and time and if you're looking for good Japanese food, just remeber that everything is closed on Sunday afternoon. From the Sheraton Chicago where I was staying, I walked about 2 miles to Cocoro, where I read that they have the best authentic ramen. I found it closed on Sunday afternoons after walking for 30 minutes in 90 degree weather. Every other place within the city was closed on Sunday afternoon.

There is a Japanese center in Chicago, but it is about 20 miles away from Downtown chicago. There is an Asahiya Japanese bookstore. There used to be a Yaohan (a japanese department store chain with stores only in the US) there and was called Yaohan Plaza.

Eventually, after my long walk from my hotel to Cocoro, which was closed, and back to my hotel, I ran myself into a Marrriott and asked for the nearest Japanese Food retaurant. The concierge pointed me to Oisy. First off, I knew this place would be a joke because they spelt Oishii wrong. Also, they had izagaya on the store front. For those unfamiliar, an Izakaya is the japanese equivalent of a Tavern with more of an emphasis on food than it's European or American counterpart.

So I go in here and there are no Japanese people neither operating nor dining. Also, they decor was a modern chic atomphere, which never does it for me in a Japanese restaurant.

The food is not worth mentioning here. I had the bento which included the usual assortment of bite sized food. Salad, tonkatsu, some sushi. I should mention here that I had to order a bowl off rice on the side, because the bento did not come with rice.

After a beer, the price came down to about $18. Not worth it for the taste.

I should mention that there was a plasma screen TV, which was showing what seemed lke Japanese broadcasting. Probably just a random recording of a Japanese TV show and displayed as a post-modern style consistency of the joint. Not only were they mocking Japanese television, they turned off the sound so i wouldn't even have been able to watch it.

In summary, this place is a last resort when all other Chicago japanese retaurants are closed on Sunday afternoons.

JapanAmerican rating: 2 out of 10. A last resort.