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March 26, 2007
Cuisine: Japanese, Korean, Sushi

104 S 21st St, Philadelphia 19103
At Walnut St

Phone: 215-557-9593
Website: www.tampoporestaurant.com

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Ito En Green Tea ($1.50)

Hot Spicy Chicken Rice Bowl ($5.50)

Bi Bim Bob Rice Bowl with beef ($6.95)

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With Luscious in town, I’ve been crossing off many eateries on my ever-growing “must try” list. Tampopo has been on the list for quite some time because I’m not sure how to incorporate informal/take-out restaurants into my life. For me, it’s either preparing a meal at home or dining out at a full-service restaurant. Tampopo’s casualness leaves me confused because my eating habits are annoyingly stringent.

Luscious and I met up for lunch one afternoon and stuck to the Korean dishes on the menu. The offerings at Tampopo include Bento boxes, rice bowls, sushi, noodles, and salads. All menu items are priced under $10. Both of us ordered rice bowls with brown rice; I had the beef Bi Bim Bob, while Luscious had the Hot Spicy Chicken.

The Bi Bim Bob was hearty, hot, and full of steamed vegetables including bean sprouts, zucchini, carrots, and spinach. The classic Bi Bim Bob sauce was served on the side and I requested an extra helping because I love my Bi Bim Bob spicy. Sadly, I forgot to request a fried egg with my rice bowl. Doh! However, even without a runny egg, the Bi Bim Bob was very tasty. The highlight of the dish was the spicy sauce and my only complaint was that the beef was a little tough and skimpy.

Luscious also really enjoyed her Hot Spicy Chicken Rice Bowl. The marination was perfect and the portion filled her up nicely. As a native Hawaiian, Luscious is a Korean and Japanese food connoisseur; her approval speaks volumes about Tampopo.

March 23, 2007
Cuisine: Japanese, Sushi

1705 Chestnut St, Philadelphia 19103
At S 17th St

Phone: 215-564-3306
Website: none

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Eel Roll - eel, cucumber ($6.99)

Edamame Salad ($3.99)

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Sushi is the one food I can eat for meals on end without any sign of palette fatigue. I would eat it more frequently if the best stuff (Toro!) wasn’t so pricey and the cheap stuff wasn’t so substandard.

The man, AKA my boss, sent me off to class last week to sharpen my skill set. For lunch one day, I decided to try Tokyo–the colorful menu on the restaurant’s front really drew me in. All of Tokyo’s sushi and salads are pre-made and packaged in to-go containers in their refrigerators. The noodle soups and hot rice bowls are prepared when ordered. I picked up an eel roll and an edamame salad, paid the cashier, and ate them on the premise.

The eel roll consisted of 12 pieces, which is fairly generous. Sadly, the ratio of rice to eel was 5:1 and the sweet eel sauce was skimpy. The eel roll was one step above the Costco California rolls with imitation crab meat that my mom used to buy me before I became The Gastronomer. The edamame salad was well seasoned and pretty good minus the pale green (read: old) endamame.

Tokyo is a prime example of substandard, inexpensive sushi. Save your pennies for the good stuff or head over to Ajia for sushi that’s palatable and won’t break the bank.

November 24, 2006
Cuisine: Japanese, Sushi

175 2nd Ave, New York 10003
At 11th St

Phone: 212-777-5266
Website: http://www.kanoyama.com/

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Appetizer: Sea Urchin in a half shell ($22)

Spider Roll - Soft Shell crab, cucumber, tabiko, lettuce, avocado w/mayo ($11)

Spicy Tuna Roll ($7)

Sushi for 2 - 16 pieces Sushi, 3 Rolls, served with Miso soup or salad ($42)

Dessert: Green Tea Mochi, Red Bean ice cream, Ginger ice cream

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To recover from our Thanksgiving feast, my family dined at Kanoyama. Sushi’s mildness and freshness was perfect for resetting worn out palettes.

We arrived at 7:15 PM and the (small) restaurant was filled to the brim so we opted to sit at the sushi bar. The sushi chefs provided fine entertainment while we waited for our dinner.

We started off with the sea urchin appetizer, which was unadorned and served in a shell of sorts. Sea urchin is my brother’s latest obsession and has replaced foie gras as his favorite culinary delight. Since I have never had sea urchin before, he described it to me as slightly sweet and delicious. I would have to disagree. Sea urchin has the texture of brains and the taste of old sea water. Ick! I ate the seaweed garnish and let brother and mother finish off the dish.

For our main course, mother and brother shared the sushi for two, which came with 16 pieces of sushi, 3 rolls (Tuna, Yellowtail, Salmon), and soup or salad. Both mother and brother chose the Miso soup. Brother polished his off, but mom only had half. I guess it was good, but wasn’t spectacular. I helped my mom and brother with their sushi for two. I thought the standout pieces were the toro and the eel. Mmm. The eel especially melted in my mouth.

I ordered the spider roll and spicy tuna roll and shared them with mother and brother. Brother thought the spicy tuna was great because it wasn’t intensely mayo-ie. I agreed. I also thought the ratio of rice to fish was perfect. The spider roll was great as well; although I wished there was more soft shell crab and less rice.

We finished off our meal with some ice cream and mochi. I didn’t have any of the mochi because both mother and brother described green tea as “bitter.” No thanks. I really loved the ginger ice cream, but for some reason it was peach in color. Very strange. I am not a big fan of artificial coloring. The ginger flavor was strong, but not spicy and had many pieces of crystallized ginger. I only had a couple bites of the red bean ice cream. I felt that it was too sweet and lacked red bean flavor.

September 16, 2006
Cuisine: Japanese, Sushi

3131 Walnut St, Philadelphia 19104
Between 31st & 32nd Street

Phone: 215-222-2542
Website: none

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Round I: All U Can Eat

Round II: All U Can Eat

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Three friends and I went to Ajia this evening for the All U Can Eat Sushi offering priced at $21.95 per person (tax and tip not included). This was my fourth visit to Ajia and my third time doing the All U Can Eat special. As always, Ajia did not disappoint. My eating companions and I gorged on a ridiculous amount of sushi:

1. Sweet Potatoes
2. Salmon Avocado
3. California Roll
4. Philadelphia Roll
5. Salmon Skin & Cucumber
6. Boston Roll
7. Tuna Avocado
8. West Roll (Smoked salmon, cream cheese & scallion)
9. East Roll (Salmon, avocado, cucumber)
10. Spicy Tuna Roll
11. Spicy Salmon Roll
12. Rock N Roll (Spicy tuna inside wrapped around avocado)
13. Kani (Crab Stick)
14. Tofu Skin
15. Surf Clam
16. Ika (squid)
17. Tako (octopus)
18. Tuna sashimi
19. Salmon sashimi
20. Yellowtail sashimi
21. Spicy Crunchy Tuna
22. Spicy Crunchy Salmon

The sushi rolls were of high quality fish and were not overly stuffed with rice. The sashimi pieces were very fresh as well, but unfortunately were accompanied by rice. Oh, fillers. My personal favorites are the shrimp tempura roll, inari sashimi (tofu skin), Philly roll, and crunchy spicy tuna and salmon.

We did not keep track of exactly how many rolls of each kind, but I assure you that it was well worth our paying price. I left completely drunk off mercury poisoning. Whatta feeling!

Service at Ajia is usually pretty horrible. Luckily the evening we went was fairly quiet so service was pretty decent. Note to self: avoid Friday nights, go early Saturday evenings. The waitress was quite militant about us finishing our sushi before ordering more. I don’t remember them being so adamant about the whole ordeal during my previous visits, but I guess that’s how it goes with an All U Can Eat special.

I crave Ajia every couple of months, so I’ll definitely be returning for another sushi fest soon.