Round and round they go.... East Kaiten Zushi

East Restaurant

1405 Teaneck Road

Teaneck, NJ

(201) 837-1260

So we've been to East in the city and tried its NJ outpost.  East is one of the few conveyor belt sushi joints around, and the first time is always the best. I would say, oh, five years ago, we weren't too impressed.  It was a good thing that we've decided to give it another go and we were pleasantly surprised. The menu has been completely revamped, with a much larger selection, and tons of pictures so you know what you're getting.

If it's your first time, by all means try to grab a spot by the conveyor belt.  It's a very quirky and charming Japanese adaptation of the large luggage carousels in the airports.  You see the pretty pieces of sushi go by, all covered in plastic domed lids.  You pretty much just help yourself.  The plates are color-coded, which indicates the price of the item you've picked. 
 

What we've come to realize is that a la carte is the way to go with most kaiten zushi places.  There are just too many variables involved with bits of sushi going around and around, e.g., you could be positioned the farthest away from the kitchen and so the plates are already picked over when they come to you; the kitchen may not be too aggressive when it comes to replacing the sad pieces that nobody wants; or, if the place is not too busy, there is a poor turnover/selection.

Surprisingly, we've never gone beyond the conveyor belt selection before, which is a big shame because the fish here is quite fresh and the portions are hefty.

Unagi hand roll.

 House salad with a tangy-sweet carrot and ginger dressing.

Salmon sashimi.  Definitely a must-have.  It was nice and melt-in-your mouth fatty.  Barely seen in the foreground are pieces of tempura veggies.

Clam soup.  I especially liked this one; the broth is briny and bracing, with a lot of umami.

Tuna sashimi. 

Grilled salmon head. Yummm.

Here's another item we picked from the conveyor belt: spicy tuna.

We've been back a couple more times since then, and tried a few more things.  What's really nice is that East has a large selection of non-sushi/sashimi items, such as noodles, tempura and soup.  They even have some bento box specials which seem to be a great deal.  And of course, they also have a few Japanese beers (get the large draft beer to see what it looks like), sake and mixed drinks, which makes East a fun place to celebrate. 

Here are two items we grabbed: egg and fried shrimp sushi. 

2010 NYC Food Crawl VIDEO

We are trying something new.  I just picked up a Kodak zi8 digital camcorder and during our food crawl we recorded the whole evening with it. I hope you enjoy it. What better way to cure our cabin fever from being snowed in than to have an nyc food crawl (mainly around the vicinity of 3rd ave and 9th st). Any comments or feedback is appreciated.

Thanks,
djkung

Slurp up some soba at Sobaya

Sobaya
229 East 9th Street
New York, NY 10003
(212) 533-6966
www.sobaya-nyc.com


Sobaya is one of the places that we've been going to for quite some time, but we've never gotten around to mentioning it here.  Pretty much all of our out-of-town relatives love this little gem in the lower east side. This restaurant is small, simple, and yet quite transporting.  The decor is very soothing, and I especially like the netsuke collection (little carved ivory and wood knicknacks) on display as soon as you walk in.  If you're lucky, you can catch a glimpse of soba noodles being made in-house!

Matsutake mushrooms (red pine mushrooms improted from Japan) were a special on the night we went.  These were a bit pricey but we were game to try it, so we got the cheapest matsutake on the menu.



                             

Matsutake tempura. The mushroom had a sweet, creamy and delicate flavor to it.

I have not had this in a long time.  This is chawanmushi, a light warm custard made from fish broth and egg, with a bit of veggies thrown in.  It is a bit strange the first time, since we usually equate custard with something sweet and dessert-like, but it is quite good.

Of course, Sobaya specializes in soba noodles prepared different ways.  Their soups are quite hearty and filling, perfect for the nippy fall weather.

Tanuki soba.  This is a simple soup with soba noodles, broth, a fish cake and "fried batter flakes," or the crunchy stuff that you see on a piece of tempura.  This was hearty and very filling.

DJKung got his fave, zaru soba.  He was rather upset that he did not get the hot soba broth at the end of the meal, but it might be because it was almost closing time.

If you are adventurous, check out the automated toilets (I think only the women's restroom has it).  It's exactly like the ones you see in the posh Tokyo department stores!!!

Revisiting Toro Sushi (San Diego, California)

Toro Sushi





DJKung and I just got back from visiting some family over in San Diego and we were really looking forward to some old places we've tried, as well as looking forward to exploring more of the local culinary landscape. First stop was in Toro Sushi, located at a strip mall in Mission Valley. DJKung remembered how really fresh and cheap the fish here was. My folks, who themselves are super picky about seafood, love to come here.

Fried soft shell crabs. These went well with some beer.


Mum loves the Bento Box B, which comes with (clockwise from top left): tuna and salmon sashimi, a little green salad, a few bits of shrimp shumai, a scrawny piece of shrimp tempura, white rice and some california rolls.

DJKung went for the chirashi, which comes with an assortment of fish: salmon, tuna, yellowfin, white tuna, squid. The fish was all superfresh and on the sweet side. There was a goodly bit of avocado slices and pickled carrot, which he remarked was rather off-putting. The carrot was nice, and for once did not taste like extra-woody #2 pencils. The sushi rice came with rice seasoning (seaweed+bonito flakes+ flavoring) sprinkled on top, which he did not like. He also wished there was a bit more variety to the sashimi.

I was disappointed at myself for wimping out and ordering just a soft shell crab roll, instead of a real meal. This thing is enormous and easily fills you up. The fake crab on top was a bit overkill, I thought.

We also got the broiled hamachi kama but were unable to do justice to it, since it was enormous.

Tomo's Cuisine

Tomo's Cuisine
113 Route 23 South
Little Falls, NJ 07424
(973) 837-1117

Tomo's is one of those hidden gems in suburbia where the food is unexpectedly good, you wonder why there isn't a bigger buzz around it. It's a pretty good bet for those times when schelpping into the city is just not feasible. What is extra special about Tomo's is that their offerings go beyond your typical sushi and sashimi joint. They have lovely little apps, grilled fare, and even some home-style dishes.

Tomo's is a very tiny place, maybe about ten tables in all, so there can sometimes be a wait. Best bet is to go before or at the tail end of the dinner rush. They have a BYOB policy, which is nice.

These pictures were taken a while back and were floating in cell phone memory limbo until DJKung was able to retrieve them.

House salad. I recall that this was a mix of watery iceberg and possibly greenleaf lettuce. The ginger sauce was tangy and tasty.

Hmmm. This may have been simmered pork belly in soy sauce, a typical home style dish.

Veggie tempura. From what I remember, it was sweet potato, green beans, okra. It was nice, although our preference is for panko-breaded, as opposed to battered, tempura.

Grilled sardine. Yes, this was pretty fresh that day. Grilling brings out the wonderful briny fish flavor. Yummm. This would've been great with some beer, but we did not have any.

Baked oysters.

I am not sure if this was hamachi (yellowtail tuna), which we like to get. We cleaned off the meat from this one, for sure.

Toro sushi and eel hand roll. DJKung and I were not too impressed by the toro, which was quite lean.

Arigato Ariyoshi Izakaya!

Under food:



Izakaya Ariyoshi
226 E. 53rd Street
NY, NY 10022
(212) 319-3940



DJKung and I were feeling nostalgic about a prior trip to Tokyo, where we were hanging out at a local bar getting drunk and just noshin' on all sorts of grilled goodies. We were initially aiming for a robata (grilled food joint), but were not really looking forward to being surrounded by the East Village crowd on a Thursday (feeling old, I guess).



We agreed that Ariyoshi unselfconsciously felt like we were back in Tokyo, in the itty-bitty ryokan/hostel we stayed at, half-watching a popular game show while having dinner. It helped that the table next to us was populated by expats who, by that point, were animated after a few drinks.

Spider roll. Soft shell crab with avocado, in sushi rice. DJKung and I hardly ever order rolls. This one was pretty good; the crab was still warm and crispy. We were off to a good start.


Sapporo, Superfatty's beer of choice.

Mushroom soup, with three different kinds of mushrooms. We could identify the enoki and the oyster mushroom. The soup was sweet and hearty.

Hamachi kama (broiled yellowtail collar). This was a pretty big serving, meaty and succulent. I liked the little radish pickle (I think) thing in the middle.

DJKung ordered a beef skewer and a chicken skin skewer. Both were spot on.

While enjoying our apps, we came to realize that we ordered our usuals that we tend to get at Takahachi. I think we were really craving comfort food that night.

Tempura shrimp and veggies. This came with the tempura soba that DJKung ordered.

Soba noodles. Can't mess with this.

Nabeyaki udon. The broth was rich and smoky-sweet. It was perfect for that soggy, rainy day.

I'm not sure if it was because of the weather, but there were not many people out that night. I can easily imagine this place easily getting jam-packed, because of their nice little selection of beers and sake---nothing very fancy-pants. The food is very solid and there is a nice selection of skewers, apps and mains. It would be interesting to check Ariyoshi out in the wee hours of the morning (they close at 2 am on some nights).

Sushi at Sachi

Under food:



Sachi

Upper East Side



Sachi has been one of our lunch spots close to work; they have hearty lunch specials (soup + entree + unlimited hot green tea) from $12 to $14. DJKung met up with me one time and we decided to have lunch here.

Futomaki. These were nice big pieces, good for filling you up.


Tempura lunch special. The picture does not do it justice; this serving is big enough to share for two. It comes with about two pieces of big shrimp and some fried veggies, tempura sauce (foreground) and your choice of white or brown rice. The tempura was nicely breaded and fried.

Toro. I like the little boat with the salmon eggs in it. This was just one order, and the chef divided it into two slices so we could share. We did not like it---too lean and lacking in that buttery mouthfeel you get with the good stuff. Also not as superfresh as we'd like.

Komegashi

Under food:

Komegashi
Jersey City

DJKung's cousin was visiting last Valentine's. We went to check out one of his former haunts in Jersey City. Komegashi is a Japanese joint that is very close to Exchange Place.

Eel hand roll. It hit all the right spots.

Sashimi appetizer. This serving was pretty generous. The salmon and tuna were pretty fresh, but I was disappointed with the white tuna, which was pretty bland.

Hamachi kama. Yellowtail collar. DJKung said that this was good---big piece, very meaty. I had fun gnawing on the bones.

With the hot sake, the apps got us nice and mellow. DJKung got the tempura soba, and I got the ten don.

Tempura soba. DJKung liked the portions. The tempura was light and crrunchy.

DJKung's buddy got the sushi deluxe.

I got the ten don (shrimp tempura over rice). It was hearty and filling.

In general, Komegashi gets point from us for being in a very central location, with a nice local vibe. The fish was ok, but was not super-fresh.

Toro Restaurant, San Diego, California

Under food:

Toro Restaurant

6171 Mission Gorge Road, #103

San Diego, CA 92120

(619) 280-8551

My folks in San Diego really dig this sushi joint (yet in another strip mall). I can see why---the fish is fresh and the portions are huge. Even though we went on a Monday night, this tiny place was packed full of locals. From looking at the dishes coming out of the kitchen/sushi bar, it appears that the rolls are the most popular. Indeed, one order of a sushi roll is a meal in itself.

Iceberg salad. This came with the sashimi platter that I ordered.

Fried calamari. This one really stuck out as something that did not fit the menu. The squid was tender, but bland.

Sashimi platter. Yum yum. In foreground is the cloudy sake (Sho Chiku Bai).

Bento box. It sure looks like a bastardization of your typical bento. Counterclockise, from top left: cucumber rolls, iceberg salad, orange wedge, rice, beef and broccoli.

Another bento box, this one with teriyaki chicken.

Mixed tempura.

We also ordered some edamame and their fried yellowtail collar (both unpictured). The yellowtail collar is quite big, and of course fresh.

The best bets here are the sushi and the sashimi. I wish I ordered one of their specialty rolls, but their sashimi platter is quite filling by itself. I was here with a big group, with quite a few oldsters, and everyone was very satisfied with the food.