OK…I’ve been worried about uploading pix to this blog after the “incident” with our baby…the cannon elph. Today - I got over that hang-up, attached the camera to my iMac with it’s USB cord and let iPhoto do it’s magic. Yeah! I got all my pictures up to my hard drive for the month of July. Yeah!
So…back to some BonVivant reviews….
First up - sushi in Covina. Yes - it’s totally possible to have decent raw fish . My dad was a bit worried about this place.
“How can you have fresh fish when it’s so far from the ocean?” he asked.
Sushi Time is on Arrow Highway. Inside, the sushi chef’s greet you - like any typical Japanese restaurant. They have specials on a dry erase board and J-Pop gently teased throught the background. They have a list of sushi pieces on their a’la’carte menu. I like going for the most bang for my buck - so I order the sushi and sashmi combo (about $14). Last night, one guy finished his meal and the bar and asked what I ordered. He was looking for the sushi and sashmi combo on the menu and couldn’t find it.
It’s hot in Cali…so, it’s perfect weather for chilled raw fish. Wash it down with some cold sake. Good stuff.
My raw fish pieces in the combo tasted fresh and filling.
Last night, my dad looked for some sushi without rice - he pointed out that the rice get’s filling. We ordered the Japanese Ceviche. Wowa! Raw fish kept chilled and cooked by the acid from the lemon and tomato pieces. I was also spicy. I needed to order a glass of water to cool down. I told our brunette waitress that they should add this special to the regular menu.
During our first visit to Sushi Time - I also ordered the ikura (salmon roe)….It was the only disappointing part of my meal. I like my ikura chilled and crispy. These were a bit cool and juicy. I was expecting that and well…I thought it tasted icky.
In any event, I think my dad was covinced - you can get good sushi a few hours away from the sea.
On my first Valentine’s with Wes (1997) - he took me to this kick-ass Japanese restuarant…in some 5-star snooty hotel. The sushi was yummy. I didn’t thing I’d ever find another place to top these raw fish offerings.
I was wrong.
We celebrated Tom’s B-day at Susan and Tom’s favorite sushi place - Hana Zen. It’s next to First Crush - in the SF theater district. Everyone who worked at the restuarant knew the couple and were thrilled to celebrate Tom’s b-day. We had a lot of sake - two types….chilled….and yummy…and well…yeah. the sake was good stuff.
Hana Zen is at the cross streets of Cyril Magnin & Ellis Street.
We had just a lot of everything. Most of the dinner consisted of a chef’s choice of sushi and Susan and Tom’s favorite dishes.
Everyone snapped up the sashimi - fresh, delicate and well, you can’t have just one. We also made fine work of some “dragon” rolls [with the fish rolled over the seaweed and rice] and other spicy tuna offerings.
I had my first taste of Yakitori - grilled appetizers of sorts. Everytime a sever brought out a Yakitori dish - he or she urged us to eat it right away - lest it get’s cold…or something like that.
For our non-raw dishes…we had:
Lamb Yaki (the lamb meat was tender and easy to pry off the bones)
Yaki Asparagus (Grilled asparagus with Japanese mayo and tobiko - I dug the mayo…so tasty and hearty)
Scallops wrapped with bacon - oh yeah, bacon makes seafood taste good. I could not stop myself from gorging on this stuff.
Ika no Maruyaki (Grilled Whole Squid with special teriyaki sauce - also good….light and smoky)
We had more than these dishes…a lot more…but remember, I had sake. It was a miracle I could hold the camera steady. I suppose some would say it was a miracle I got the pictures off the camera after it’s been through a washing machine.
OK - this was a special dish - compliments of the chef. Everyone here loves Susan and Tom - did I mention that? So, the chef created this special sushi dish - especially for Tom. It’s not available on the menu…a few minutes after it was served - it was not available on the table. We gobbled it up. Again, that fresh - delicate - yummy taste…we gobbled…could not help ourselves.
Thank heavens someone had the presence of mind to order water. Note to self - get more H2O after going through a couple big bottles of sake.
So - next time you’re in San Francisco - check out Hana Zen. You’ll love it.
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