It was pretty cold out, so I thought I wanted some udon noodles. So we started looking for some new and different japanese spots. I found Sushi Time so we headed up to the Castro to check it out. This place is so cool. It’s on a lower floor and it’s teeny weeny. It almost feels like you’re walking into a secret spot in Tokyo, even though I’ve never been to Tokyo. It just feels right! It’s just a sushi bar and some tiny little tables. The place is just one narrow strip. All the staff is super friendly. It felt like I was going back to an old favorite haunt. It’s just comfortable. Even though it was teeny, we lucked out and got two spots at the bar without waiting.

I felt like I needed some greens so I got the organic tofu salad. It comes with mixed mesclun greens with a garlic soy sauce dressing. This thing was perfect. As long as you like big hunks of tofu, then you will like this. The dressing is not overpowering and it adds a nice touch to the greens and especially to the tofu, which is just plain tofu.

J wanted to try something different, so he got the hamachi kama which is grilled yellowtail collar. Man, when this thing came out, I could see the terror in his eyes. Ha! It was just a big hunk of fish collar, with skin, and even with the gill. He’s skittish about food that looks this “real”, so at first, he was terrified. Once the skin was removed and he tasted this thing, he loved it. Oh this was just a terrific piece of mildly smoky grilled fish. It came with just a little bit of a soy-based dipping sauce. You know fish is good when you can just grill it without any frills and it just tastes great. He also ordered a kamikaze roll with yellowtail, avocado, scallion, and topped with tobiko. This roll was particularly big and tasty!

I got two awesome rolls. The first was the astro boy roll with spicy scallop, mango, cucumber, and topped with tobiko. This roll has a little bit of everything… spicy, sweet, savory. And it all just works really well together. And the scallops were marinated with some spice, but their sweetness still came through. And you’d think the mango would be a bit odd, but it’s actually great in this. The sweetness of it just works. The other was spicy walu roll with butterfish, avocado, a little spicy stuff, and little sprouty green things. Oh man, the butterfish was so great. And well… it indeed was buttery soft and melt-in-your-mouth! I just loved both of these so much. The freshness of the ingredients was beyond noticeable.

It’s my new favorite sushi place in San Francisco! Seriously! I just loved the vibe of the place. It was not expensive at all. The ambiance is just homey and intimate, not fancy or snooty. After all, it is in a basement!

Sometimes I get cravings for certain dishes. The other week, I desperately wanted to go to Tampopo, but it just didn’t happen. So this week, I was determined! Just before I headed out to G’s monthly movie event, since I was going to have to be in West Philly anyway, I stopped in at Tampopo 3. Tampopo tends to get mixed reviews. Some people love the ramen, some people hate it. Some people think their sushi is only ok. I don’t care about any of that because all I care about is their fresh tuna bi-bim-bob. It is possibly one of the most perfect dishes ever.

There is nothing in it that I don’t like. And the beauty of it is that nothing is cooked. Well, except the rice, of course. There is raw tuna, avocado, asian pear, cucumber, lettuce, and purple cabbage. These are all lovely things all on their own. But together, along with the zesty and slightly spicy and nutty sauce (which is technically cooked), it’s just perfection. Get it with brown rice, because brown rice is awesome, and it has a more firm texture that goes along really well with the other mostly crunchy ingredients. I literally left nothing in this bowl. And since they didn’t give me a spoon, I chopsticked out every little kernel of rice. I wasn’t leaving anything! It was a lot of work but totally worth it!

M wanted to get some friends together and go out to eat and frolic. Then she decided that we should stay in instead. And so we did, with sushi take-out from Zento. And we had a hilarious time at R’s fancy pad. M made some japanese cocktail, which was strong, yet good. And she even printed out a cute little graphic for the bottle. Yes, she takes her boozing seriously, and is a big time nerd. And we love her for it!
I love japanese style green salad, so I insisted that M pick some up. Ooh, I really like Zento’s version. Baby greens, tomatoes, and even asparagus! And the dressing rocks. I got some random japanese treats for this night too, that’s where the peas came from. R also made a guacamole. Not japanese at all, but definitely delicious.
So, what kind of sushi did we get? Take a look! I don’t have a freakin idea what any of these are. I think the one in front was crab related. One of the ones in the middle had shrimp tempura in it. The one on the far right corner has cooked salmon. And we had some fabulously fresh sashimi on the lower right. My favorite was the rectangularly shaped one at the top. I don’t know what this was, but it was beyond delicious and it all just melted in my mouth. Yummy!
One of the other random japanese treats I brought over was some green tea daifuku. Daifuku is mochi stuffed with something sweet on the inside. I’ve never actually had daifuku before. I’ve had mochi ice cream before. I thought to myself, heck, how different could this be? Well, I’m used to the mochi consistency and flavor, so I didn’t mind that at all, but the green tea innard is what I did not enjoy. It wasn’t sweet at all. It just had a strange bitter green tea taste. I thought it would be a green tea flavored mochi with sweet red bean on the inside. Instead, it was plain old mochi with green tea flavored mush on the inside. It didn’t do it for me. M liked these the most! She got to take the spare container home with her! Oh, it was a fun night. Three red wine spills still couldn’t stop the fun! And I discovered that I am a natural at Wii dancing!