Sushi Shaped like a Caterpillar

For this week's dinner with dad, I wanted to keep it local, so we ended up in the thriving college town of Belmont. Even though we had the crazy classy sushi experience at Sakae last week, my dad and I are addicted to Japanese food, so we decided to hit up Sushi Monster. I am always amazed by the amount of sushi restaurants in the 10 mile radius of EA, I have been actively trying to visit them all since I started, and every time I Yelp I find like 5 more I haven't heard of.

I arrived first and sat down. As it was a Wednesday, it wasn't too crowded. I immediately noticed the adorable blue monster mascot :). The other cool thing was that the menus were placed under the glass on the tables and were covered in pictures. The main reason I chose this place was because I noticed how cute and thematic their rolls were. Not only were they are delicious looking, but some (caterpillar, godzilla, dragon) were actually shaped like their names! It reminded me of the plastic foods in Japan :)

shrimp lovers roll, daniel roll

There are two ladies that run the place, and it was semi-awkward at first. I'm sick again (BLARG!!!!) and so when  I got there I randomly broke in to a mini-coughing fit. I basically just needed a drink, and for the first 5-10 mins they weren't coming over to serve me :(. They knew I was waiting for one more... but still haha, it sucked and I think I was grossing out the family next to me. Finally the waitress came over and I was able to get a water + diet coke. I was really impressed that the diet coke was fountain/refillable, that's pretty much unheard of at Japanese places.

lion king roll

I had already picked the rolls by the time my dad got there. We had to get back to our highly american roots and get: shrimp lover's roll (what it sounds like), lion king roll (mmmm my fav roll :D cali + fried + sauce + baked salmon on top), caterpillar roll (too cute to not order), and daniel roll (for eugi! fried fish + cream cheese). 

caterpillar roll! note the antennae

So I'm going to be totally honest here, I don't really know if they were good or not. They looked good, and I ate a ton... but being sick I couldn't actually taste anything :(. My dad seemed to enjoy, so I will give this place the benefit of the doubt and say it was totally amazingly awesome :). Either way, I had fun

Swanky Sushi

I love dinners with my dad!! Since he flies in and works in Mountain View, we try to do at least bi-weekly meet-ups for food adventuring :) As this week was a special occasion, he pulled out all the stops and took me to Sakae Sushi in Burlingame.

The first positive was that it's about a half-block from the downtown "strip," and parking was insanely easy. For some reason no one was hitting up the Pez Museum at 6:30 on a Wednesday, so I grabbed a space right in front.

Inside has a cute ambiance. I know it's acclaimed to be very authentic, and from my limited Tokyo experience, I'll buy that. I was extremely excited (and slightly heartachey) to see a little Tanuki greeting me at the front desk. I miss August 2010 :( haha. There is a full sushi bar with a few seats, and then several booths and tables. One wall was lined with a giant variety of Sake bottles and lit from behind for a cool effect.

sake wall

The menu is more focused on general Japanese and sashimi than rolls. Items are quite pricey, but super fresh and delicious. Usually when my dad and I go to sushi, we order like 6 of the most fried, bizarre, and American rolls that we can. This time we tried to be a bit more authentic (just barely)

For appetizers, we started off with tempura artichoke hearts with aioli dipping sauce. These were incredible!!! The presentation was gorgeous with leaves surrounding the little fried chunks (i finally get what carlos was trying to explain to me in semi-english about the process of eating artichokes ;D). 

I usually HATE wasabi, but this dish came with a dish of  powder that you could dunk in post aioli. Amazing! It just added a hint of spice.

tempura artichoke hearts with aioli and wasabi

Next we got the sashimi mixed plate. I suck at fish (despite my obsession with it) so I can't even remember what it was. Salmon of some sort, scallops, etc.... It was very delicious though, and reminded me of my meal at the Tsukiji Fish Market :) (will blog about someday...). 

sashimi mix plate

Finally our roll plate! The selection of rolls was minimal, so we went with some standbys like Spider. Here is what excited me very very most though.... EGG PELLET!!! So when I was in Japan, I discovered the most amazing concept. A condensed thing of egg, usually rectangular, that was slightly sweetened. I adoringly nicknamed it "egg pellet" and have longed for it ever since. They prolly sell it at a lot of places, but this is the first time I've gotten it. Unfortunately, it was in sushi format and not quite as yummy as what I remembered, but still, good good memories :)

EGG PELLET <3

Only complaint was that service was quite slow. There are only two servers, and the place was packed. We had to call the waitress over several times to refill our waters and order more. Also, their dessert selection was lacking. Options were choco cake or green tea ice cream. 

All-in-all, very very good place! It's expensive, but if you want a swanky sushi expedition, check it out!!

Down a Mysterious San Mateo Ave

I have the bad habit of assuming all restaurants in San Mateo lie within the three block 3rd & B street radius. Considering I live on 20th, this is rather silly... but it still gives me a little thrill every time I find a row of culinary commerce elsewhere. Bingo!

Gee Unit and I have started up our own rendition of Fancy Food Fridays (sorry Alice!) and try to hit up a non EA place for lunch once a week. A few weeks ago, we tried Yuzu Sushi & Grill on 37th street. Also as per usual, we went a bit early. Lucky thing because it quickly filled up. As per usual I think this place is a game industry favorite because I spied a herd of Pogo people at a table nearby.

According to Yelp, this place is hardcore traditional. I guess so? They serve a lot fewer of the awesome fried American rolls than other places in the area do. It has a reputation of being expensive, but luckily they have lunch specials for under $15 (still kinda pricey). 

I ended up getting a weird teriyaki bowl. I totally can't remember the meat. I *think* it was unagi. I'm so terrible at remembering nihongo de fish names. Totally silly since I eat Japanese a ton and studied the language, but it's one of those things that just won't stick. It was tasty, but the eel wasn't my favorite. Granted I'm not a meat person, but I ate all the rice around it and left probably 1/2. 

Came with soup and Japanese tray!

Steve got a typical sushi fare. It's funny looking back at the picture, because his lunch is practically identical to the sushi plate I got at the tsukiji fish market last week :) (post soon to come). I guess this place is legit! He seemed to like it, and the presentation was pretty.

no prawn head in soup. not THAT authentic :P

Seems like a good place to hit up if you want fresh, non-Americanized rolls. 

But watch out! Service was SLOWWWW. He got his food like 15 mins before me. totally awkward.

if you on the shore then you sho' not me, oh!!!!

cuz, I'M ON A (SUSHI) BOAT MOFO-ER!!!

for years (and by years, i mean months since kevin came to visit) i have heard tell of the magical concept of "sushi boat" : |. i finally went last Friday, and it was every bit as pure amazing as i had hoped and dreamed. eugi, manu and i hit up Warakubune Sushi in the Castro. so awesome!!! for those of you who have not yet experienced the magic, at sushi boat places you sit around a central island counter. in the middle is a chef... he is consta-refreshing little plates on these boats that sail around the moat in front of you. each plate is priced, and you reach up and grab whatever you want! so great :D. The sushi here was decent, especially for a serve yourself type place. Also, they had one spicy roll that was topped with Taro fries, highly recommend!

endless possibilities await... raining sushi, slingshot sushi, train sushiiiiii