The Mount Fuji in Uptown

Woo, another delay post. Life has been super crazy and I am not quite keeping up with it! That's the negative side of taking vacations, you just ended up with more work with less time. I need to reconsider vacation time... Especially if I knew I'd be catching a cold during my vacation, I should really reconsider taking vacations. (not like I have that many vacation days to start with... and I had to be sick during my only vacation!)

Thanks for nice friends picking me up from the airport after my 15 hours of flight coming back from China and Taiwan. Tons of good food there, and I have yet managed to post. I don't even know how to post them. There are so many pictures, so many different cuisines, so many different dishes. I really don't know where to start. But let's re-focus! The first meal I had after coming back from Asia, was again Asian food: Sushi at Mount Fuji on Hennepin.

Hot Sake at Mt Fuji. I am not a big sake fan. It is a little bit too strong for my taste. Thus, I didn't quite have the motivation to visit Moto-i, which is the sake brewery on Lyndale. I have heard many good things and reviews on good sake. But thus far, I am not super interested in them. Nonetheless, alcohol is still alcohol, and after a couple glasses of sake, they all taste the same. :p

Lobster roll: The baby lobster shell was quite nice. The whole roll was very well presented, actually, all rolls we ordered that night were very well presented. Sushi was at the right bite size. Nothing like the giant roll that won't fit in you mouth... It's annoying to be eating those sushi rolls. I wouldn't be expecting much lobster coming out of this lobster roll. The lobster was battered fried, and this pretty much was another shrimp tempura crunch roll. With the extra non-edible lobster shell that is.

Spicy Girl Roll: Spicy tuna inside with spicy salmon on top, mixed with tempura crunches through out. One stone two birds. I love spicy tuna rolls, and having spicy salmon on top is just a dream combination. Not like you can really taste the difference between the two fish after mincing and mixing with Siracha sauce, but it's overall a good idea. Just a lot of spicy fish, and I just can't say no to that. :)

Black Dragon roll: Eel, cucumber and avocado inside, with whole piece eel on top. They gave a very very thick piece of eel. For those eel lovers, this is definitely money well spent. I haven't been to a sushi restaurant where they serve you this thick a cut of baked eel for dragon roll. And look at the presentation! Those eyes (octopus?) are staring right at you as you eat! 

Uptown Roll: Spicy tuna and avocado inside, wrapped with salmon sashimi. As recommended by the waiter, it is right that this is a heavenly roll. No rice, no seaweed wrap, just a mouthful of spicy tuna and salmon sashimi. It literally melts in  your mouth. No soya sauce or wasabi needed, just the chef's special ponzi sauce was a good dip for this sashimi mix. I don't think this should be categorized as a roll, more like a sashimi plate. A very good use of spicy tuna and salmon.

And of course, how could we not order calamari when going out with Lily? You shouldn't be surprised anymore. As long as there's calamari offered on the menu, it'd be on our table. Regardless what type of restaurants we are in.

Fried Calamari: Tempura battered of calamari rings. Calamari were cooked a little tough. It tasted like it was just frying some already overcooked calamari. The tempura batter didn't do the trick on this tough chewy calamari. 

Overall a nice experience. They also offers Hibachi, the type with a chef playing and demonstrating flat top cooking in front of a roll of customers. We went for the happy hour menu, and it was a very good deal. With all the rolls and drinks, we all walked out with happy wallets. No doubt this place would be a very nice date spot. Very chic atmosphere and lighting, friendly staff and nice sushi presentations. They also do home delivery too, if you live close enough to the Uptown area, you might have already received one of their delivery flyers. 

Now, another Sushi spot in Uptown approved!

More to-dos on 50th & France: Raku Sushi

Couple of our friends went to the Taste of Edina, and noticed Raku Japanese Restaurant. I used to live in the 44th & France area, and I have always loved the 50th & France. Nice little boutiques, my favorite Anthropologie, my favorite salon/spa Spalon, Sur La Table... how come I feel like this is a commercial all of a sudden?


Very spacious and nicely decorated. Raku brands itself as one of the upscale high-end modern Japanese restaurant. You can tell by where it is located, no? Right in the heart of 50th & France, nothing is cheap in that area, maybe the Walgreen is.

A full bar with imported Sake and Japanese beer. Sake selection is pretty good. No so much a fun cocktail menu, but sometimes keeping it simple is a good thing.

Now comes the food part. I really like how the menu has a little "Sushi 101" section to break down all the terminology on sushi, ie. Nigiri, Sashimi, Donburi etc etc. It saves me some work explaining, and it's nice to know someone got it correct. They have you usual rolls, sushi and sashimi orders, tempura, noodles, and of course, teriyaki. But they also have some nice entrees that go out of tradition and offer a little more choices. A little on the pricy side, but hey, it's probably cheap for most of the 50th & France diners anyway. :p

Eggplant Scallop: Pan seared scallop on a bed of Japanese eggplant with Yuzu miso sauce

I like scallops, no secret. For 12 bucks, this is not a very bad dish. But the scallops don't have to be so thin. It gets overcooked easily if it's thin. It's almost like serving 2 scallops as 4. Either way, the eggplant was good and I like the sauce a lot. Very sweet and flavorful with the miso paste. Even the tomato was seasoned and served as a good balance with the eggplant and scallop.

Shrimp Tempura with veggies: 4 shrimps! Good deal on this one. Served with a salad or soup and rice too. The batter was a little too think. It was like a mouth full of panko batter, and the shrimps and veggie were too thin to be tasted. But I have to say the frying was done very well. Crispy and not saggy, light golden brown instead of some over-fried dark brown. 

And finally, Marine Sushi & Sashimi: 12 pcs of assorted fish, 4 pcs sushi and one spicy tuna roll. I would say this is a pretty good deal after all. The sashimi was good. Thickly sliced and with good quality fish. Trust me, if I say it's good sashimi, it's good sashimi. Or at least, it's as good as it gets in Minneapolis. The Nigiri was nicely done. The rice wasn't too loose and it seemed to have a good portion of vinegar. On contrast, with all the good fish and nigiri, the spicy tuna roll wasn't so special anymore. Sorry, spicy tuna, I promise I'll love you again. And look at the presentation? A fence, a glowing bush (made with raddish?) and with the little bonsai even! Cute! Points added! Thinking of it, how's bonsai related to fish....??

Nice upscale and modern Japanese restaurant. It delivered everything it has promised on its website, and I was surprised by the quality of the sashimi. Still more work on its hot dishes. But then, I only ordered one dish, the rest of the entrees seem interesting and worthy to try. I won't mind going back, as long as I can afford it ( How did I afford it this time?) The layout is nice, just that the main area is not designed to spread out noises. Once it's crowded, it gets really loud, almost need to yell across the table for conversations. Good for group gathering, but maybe a little too noisy for romantic night out for 2. 

The past two weeks of "Winter"

Is that still Winter when it's 80 degF outside? Is that still Winter when the only time it's below 50 degF was when I was inside my own house? Strange... but it is Winter in California and it is colder inside my house than it is outside.

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera's USB cable for this trip back home, and I couldn't upload pictures and update my blog immediately after all my meals... Wouldn't that be great, so you can virtually eat what I eat and I wouldn't have all these catching up to do...

So sunny and bright! No, it didn't snow in Los Angeles. I was up in Sierra National Park. Snowboarding in 50 degF weather. Can't be nicer than that.

Since I ate so much, and I delayed posting all my meals... I have way too many to share, and I could only do it in two posts. And how would I categorize my food travel in one of the most diverse culinary scene, Los Angeles, California?

Asian and non-Asian food.

Yes. And now let's look at the Asian food scene in Los Angeles.

Wonton Noodle Soup: The "better-than-Hong-Kong" style wonton. This gotta be one of the biggest and fullest wontons I have had in my life. Filled with shrimp and pork, wrapped with egg noodle wrappers. Extra bed of egg noodles with clean broth. Can't get more Cantonese than this big good bowl of Wonton noodle soup.

Pan-fried Buns with Stuffed Pork: Marinated ground pork stuffed in flour buns. Instead of steaming, these buns were pan fried till done. Because it's pan fried in hot oil, all the pork juice is captured inside. Each bite into the buns requires careful sucking of the juice. It's better than Juicy Lucy's. LOL

Shabu Shabu at Jazz Cat: Many types of hot soup bases to choose from. We got Corn and Milk soup, Miso soup, Thai lemongrass soup and Curry soup bases. Oh beef!!! Not drinking that soup base is almost a sin... It's so flavored by the meat and mix of vegetables.

The classic LA social events: get Boba milk tea.

More noodle soup.

But the main focus was the chicken dish. See, simple marinated chicken with special dipping sauces. Seems like there are more and more of these restaurants opening in the LA Chinese communities now, serving simple chicken dishes like these. Not bad huh? At least it's not raw sushi-grade chicken... cough*

Now switch the focus from Chinese cuisine to Japanese:

Fo Fo Tei Ramen: This tiny neighbour ramen place is totally a hole in the wall type. Only opens for 2 hours of lunch service and another 3 hours of dinner services. Life is kind of good working in that ramen place right?

Fun menu, just want to try them all....

The White Cream soup base ramen.

The Pork and Mix Vegetables Miso Ramen.

Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury to go to Japan to enjoy sushi and get my sushi craving fixed. But I can at least get my fixes in Los Angeles. Tiny rice? Thick slices of Yellow Tail? All good. The other kind of "Value" meal. $5 for two pieces of thick slaps of sashimi and tiny rice. I should have a picture of the Sea Scallops sushi. It was sweet, juicy and just amazing.

Sushi @ Rokuan:

And how could we not be enjoying authentic Korean food while in LA which has the largest oversea Korean population?

Bibimbap: mix vegetables, ground beef mix with steamed rice and special Korean hot sauce.

And I had all those food because i was in a Korean Tofu house. Mushroom Tofu Pot.

Special combo that comes with the stoned rice, tofu hot pot soup, and the Korean marinated grilled beef, Kalbi. Yum! Also shown is the spicy chicken. I thought the chicken was just okay. I love the Kalbi! Sweet and juicy tender beef short ribs.

Whoa, that was a lot of pictures and a lot of food. Now you know why it took me so long to post all these. And that's only the Asian section. Oh well, not to worry, I didn't go out to that many non-Asian restaurants. I mean, do they even have non-Asian restaurants in LA???

Lovely food. Lovely California.

Koi Sushi now moving!

Somehow these restaurants are all moving... From my last post of iL Gatto and now Koi Sushi, names and locations are all constantly changing. Is it because of the bad economy or, the opposite of a bad economy in which people are acquiring higher taste of food and thus an increase demand in locational convenience? Either way, I'm ready for Koi to move out of Downtown. Because those Downtown "No Parking/ Will Tow at 10 pm" signs really suck.

I'm a big big big sushi lover. Ever since my first trip to Japan at 14, I became the slave of good sushi. I even part time waitressed at a sushi restaurant during high school. Not only for the free sushi at the end of the shift deal, but also the love and passion with each piece of fish...

The sushi scene is definitely different in the US. Just like there's no orange chicken in Chinese cuisine, nor was there a General last name Tso with some fried chicken... There's no California roll in Japan. There's no dragon roll, no crunchy roll, no one even put avocados in sushi. I took a Japanese co worker to sushi one time, and man, poor guy was so shocked...
"What's that green smoochy stuff in the middle?"
"oh, that's avocado! I love it!"
"And what's that red smoochy stuff?"
"oh, that's spicy tuna! It's my favorite roll! :) "
"Ok... and why are the rolls inside-out?"
"huh? o.O"
"Like... why are the rice on the outside, and the seaweed is in the inside?"
"Hmm... Maybe the Californians thought that's how Japanese does it?..... Can we eat now?"

So, let's eat (and yes, I know I need a new camera):
Koi Sushi's special roll: Problem Solver
Crunchy shrimp tempura roll with cucumbers, topped with salmon sashimi and masago (small salmon eggs) and spicy mayo sauce. The toppings are slightly burnt with a torch for that seared touch. Amazing concept, and the salmon wasn't bad. This is definitely a show stopper.

Shawty fire burning on the "sushi" floor!!! Whoa!

Dragon Roll: Unagi (Eel) and Avocado topping on, yea, Californian roll
One note on the Californian roll base, the imitation crab meat needs a little more salty flavor in them. It tasted kind of, if we don't already know, Fake.

My favorite American sushi: Spicy Tuna Roll
I feel so lame when my friend asked me what to pick and I had to pick the simplest spicy tuna roll... Love the bean sprouts though.

Baked Scallops with Spicy Cream Sauce
Those sea scallops were fat and delicious! Squeezed plenty of lemon juice to mellow out the overdosed spicy mayo sauce... Too much mayo, quite frankly, I mean, where're the scallops? Photo hunt time. 4 pieces of fat scallops for the hot appetizer, with some bonus mushrooms. Not bad.

Baked Mussels 

My friend's favorite. She orders it everywhere she goes. Should we call her the baked mussels expert? Mussels are of decent size and quality. Top with spicy mayo sauce again. I guess nothing can go wrong with spicy mayo.

My fruity little drink: Pomegranate Cocktail
Cute! Haven't had one of those in a while.

Portions are huge. That problem solver was one big roll... The pieces were big, too big and better not try to eat it in one bite. I'm not responsible for your dislocated jaw. We were packed full with those 3 giant rolls and two spicy mayo dishes. Not to mention the thousands of calories that came with the mayo... But hey, I'd rather walking out with a happy tummy and a full wallet, then some places like Seven, where I'd walk out with a sick tummy and an empty wallet... partially because of the night club and lounge scene...

So Koi will be moving to a new location, and there'll be plenty of parking. But I feel like I'll miss it in the downtown location still. How could anyone not miss a fun night with plenty of good sushi, good friends and a good night out?!

Sushi in Los Angeles

I can't say I have a whole lot of "flavor love" for Los Angeles. I have only lived there so briefly, 4 years of my life only. 2 years of high school and 2 years of university. And I probably shouldn't consider myself from LA... since I have technically lived outside of LA longer than I have lived in LA. But after all, LA was my first destination coming to the US; where my family is residing; where my best friend lives; where I have all my teenager rebellious memories; where and why I decided to get out and explore my own life...

I guess I should pull out all my old pictures to add some vibes in this LA post... but of course, who would want to look at my teenage pimples and tom-boy physique ?! So, no old pictures... I don't do that to myself... 

One of my favorite hang out spot in LA: Old-town Pasadena: Colorado St.

Please don't let my face ruin the moment... Look around me and enjoy the beautiful sun shine and street peace. LA is not really a very dense city, as in all things are spread apart. There are too many fun cities, too many fun spots, and they are all too far from each other... What I like about Old-Pa (yay, you know you are from LA) is the feel of everything together in one place. I just need to park my car in the garage for the daily fee, and I could really just hang out there and would never get bored. 

Book stores, kitchen stores, clothing, H&M, Lululemon, Tiffany's.... I can shop and shop and shop and window shop! When you are tired, there are tons of places to eat and rest. Cheesecake factory, jamba juice, and many Japanese for you to choose. And that's usually the reason why I was in Old Pa: the Japanese food~~ <3

Oh yea... I know I'm a pro! We went into this side street and found our Sushi Roku. Ordered a sashimi sampler. This is not just some raw fish with wasabi and soy sauce. Much thoughts were put into the sauces ad the side dishes of the sashimi: Salmon Sashimi wrapped with Artichokes, Octopus with Mixed Greens and on and on. Very refreshing presentation and yummy experience.

Poor kids like me didn't get to order too many fancy dishes... but we had our tummy filled with this Katana Roll. Tuna and yellowtail sashimi on top of spicy tuna and tempura shrimps~~ mmmm~~ I love crunchy sushi rolls. I know they are not original and traditional, but hey, we are in the great America. This is how we ROLL! After this, we also have another plate of nigiri, just hand pressed sushi with rice and fish on top. Followed with green tea ice cream. That's always a must. Better yet, get me some red bean ice cream. hehe!

Overall, very nice restaurant and menu. Love it and would definitely come back again, for the food and for the mood. I also realized that they serve steak here... as in those "teriyaki miso-glazed steak" etc. The lady next to us ordered it, and was having quite a hard time cutting the steak with knife and chopsticks... Yea, I don't really think that's the right combo, but sure, knife and chopsticks, whatever works.