Second time at Tsunami Sushi, Western Addition, SF.

Edamame.

I'm not a die-hard edamame girl, but J ordered some and it was nice.

Also, please, excuse the blurry photo! I've been forgetting my camera an obnoxious amount lately and have been borrowing iPhones left and right! :)

Yellowtail collar.

This was, unfortunately, overcooked. Yellowtail collar is always one of my favorite Japanese dishes, but this was very dry.

I can't remember the names of these rolls, but the one on the right has cream cheese while the one on the right has sweet potato.

The sweet potato roll is my favorite at Tsunami. The roll with cream cheese was the most unpleasant roll I've ever had. I've had cream cheese on rolls before and it has been fine, but they put on way too much and it was "pepper cream cheese" which was not an enjoyable combination.

Overall, I still enjoy Tsunami because it's a fun spot and reasonably priced. I'll just have to keep trying new things!

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Korean bento boxes at Arang, Japantown, SF.

These are amazing! I've been to Arang a few times before and never knew they had these bento boxes! With each box you get rice, salad, two mandoo potstickers, a potato banchan, japchae, and a meat of your choice--all for about $10.

This is an awesome deal for a nice meal that you can get late at night! I got the spicy pork, which was a bit fatty, but was yummy. The mandoo was fine, and the potato banchan was actually really nice! The japchae was interesting. I actually liked it, but it kind of had a glaze or sauce, or something on it that isn't normally found on japchae. I enjoyed all of it though.

Edric got the bulgogi combination, which also comes with tempura.

I love that we rolled from Michael Mina to Arang and got these bento boxes! Thanks so much, Edric! ;)

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Wonderful dinner at Live Sushi, Potrero Hill, SF.

Very nice restaurant with good decor.

The wasabi was too mild, but the ginger was shockingly spicy! I'd never had such spicy ginger.

The soy sauce was in these little bottles, making it look like balsamic vinegar! What a trip! Haha.

Island Poki

cucumber, avocado, and tuna

8.95

Andre and Richard had never had poki before so we got this. There wasn't enough tuna, of course, and the cubes were a bit small, but other than that, this was a nice dish.

Double Hamachi Roll

hamachi topped with hamachi, tobiko, and scallions outside

12.95

Nice fresh fish. Lovely.

This isn't on the online menu and I'm can't remember what it's called, but it started with an S. Hmmm. It was so yummy though! I like the varied size and thin slices for the deep fried roll. So often I find that deep fried rolls are just a bit silly, but this time, the lovely, light tempura ring really added to the roll.

49er Roll

shiso, avocado, and tobiko topped with sake and lemon

11.50

Those are very thin slices of lemon rind on top of the salmon--delicious!

Live was excellent. The restaurant is relaxed, service is friendly, prices are reasonable and the food was delicious! Would definitely go again. :)

Thanks for the fun evening, Andre, Rich and Jess!

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Japanese curry with chicken.

Curry, it's been awhile. ;)

I used Japanese curry mix with assorted veggies and chicken.. with a little Tapatio because I'm, oh, you know, obsessed! ;) This makes SO much curry! Looks like it'll be curry for a week and I'll definitely freeze some of it... ;)

Delicious!

Korean style ramen with dumplings.

Shin Ramyun with egg, green onion and dumplings. I don't like my ramen with too much broth and I don't like my noodles overcooked so I rarely go out for ramen, but I enjoy making my own. :)

It was chilly and gray out so ramen sounded SO nice after a long day at work. It definitely hit the spot. :)

Chirashi bowl from Nijiya Market, Japantown, SF.

The takeaway bowl came with a little rice, egg, cucumbers, tofu, fish egg and fish. I added the chopped romaine and a sesame wasabi dressing. It was EXCELLENT.

Thanks for the sushi, Ed and Jess! :)

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Fusion curry.

Japanese curry mix + Bolani Cilantro Pesto. I added diced carrots, onions, red pepper, potatoes and spices, too.

Over rice. Mmmm. I really liked this. :)

Super simple wasabi cilantro lime soba noodles.

I used the cilantro lime sauce I made the other day as the base for this, but mixed in sesame oil, soy sauce and wasabi.

Soba noodles, rinsed cold.

Mixed. Simple. Delicious!

Sake Soiree: Tuna carving and sake tasting at Yoshi's, Lower Fillmore, SF.

Chef Sho, beginning with the massive tuna.

And let the carving begin!

Off with his head!

Wow.

This was the best sushi ever.

SO much sake! The whole restaurant (and if you've been, you know how large Yoshi's is!) was taken over by tables of sake. Amazing.

Everyone carried around their little plastic shot glasses and poured some sake with pipettes. It was an interesting setup and it actually worked really well for this event. Good amount to taste.

A very special thanks to Rivera PR, Yoshi's and Chef Sho. :)

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Hachimaki Sushi & Sake Night at Yoshi's, Lower Fillmore, SF.

Some SF food media big-shots got together with Rivera PR for an amazing Hachimaki Sushi & Sake evening at Yoshi's SF!

Yoshi's is such a beautiful space. We gathered in the swanky, glass-walled Omakase room, where we enjoyed a fun-filled, intimate dinner, with Yoshi's signature jazz playing in the background.

Hachimaki attack! Mine said, "Karate", while others read "boss", "peace" and "#1". This was such a fun idea, and was a great conversation starter to kick off our fabulous dinner.

SEA SALT CURED JAPANESE CUCUMBER

Creamy Sesame Dressing

&

KONBU SEAWEED CURED ASPARAGUS

Miso Mustard Dressing

&

FRENCH BEANS

Silken Tofu Dressing

POACHED BLACK COD

Grilled Japanese Eggplant Salsa, Shiso Oil

How beautiful is that?! I love the actual plate, too!

FRIED HIRAME & LOBSTER

Wrapped in Seaweed & Served with Tentsuyu

The seaweed-wrapped lobster was encased in battered soy-beans--yummy. I wasn't the biggest fan of the boney fish, but I did give it a try. It was certainly interesting and new to me. It wasn't bad, but I much preferred the lobster, naturally!

The tentsuyu dipping sauce.

GINGER SOY BRAISED JAPANESE RED SNAPPER

Burdock Root, Chinese Cabbage, Spinach

Everyone agreed that this was one of the stand-out dishes of the evening. The snapper was cooked to perfection. For me though, this came in as my second favorite dish, which just means there was something even better!

And, again, I can't get over these plates! They really add to presentation of the dish.

I couldn't keep track of each pairing, but our 8 courses were paired with 10 different sakes and there wasn't a single one I didn't like! Here is the first half of our sake adventures: Dewazakura "Oka"; Masumi "Yumedono"; Akitabare "Suirakuten"; Masumi "Arabashiri"; Masumi "Okuden Kantsukuri".

GRILLED DUCK BREAST

Wrapped With Mochi, Sweet Tomato & Eringi Mushroom

&

ROASTED CHICKEN TSUKUNE

Poached Egg Yolk

I love duck and was anxiously awaiting this course, but when it arrived, I was much more intrigued with the chicken tsukune and poached egg yolk! I'd never seen only the yolk poached. It was really quite lovely--third favorite for sure!

SHABU-SHABU STYLE WAGYU RIBEYE

Carmelized Onion, Mizuna

All right, this was my absolute favorite dish of the evening! Super tender. Super flavorful. Super super! I'm craving more of this already!

STEAMED KING CRAB LEG

Sea Urchin Roe, Crispy Rice, Roasted Snapper Soup

What a fun dish! I love interactive food. The tea kettle held the broth for this dish, which transformed it into...

This beautiful soup. It was a bit difficult to eat with this spoon, but it was a choice that went along nicely with the traditional setting of the dinner.

GRILLED WATERMELON, FIG & KUMQUAT PANA COTTA

Grapefruit Jelly

Very interesting. I really enjoyed the special fruits in this dish, but the Grapefruit jelly wasn't my favorite thing. I think it had something to do with the consistency being too similar to that of the pana cotta.

Unfiltered sake with editors Erica and Carleigh of 944 SF and Culinary Trends, respectively, in the background. Here is the second half of our sake adventure: Kamoizumi "KomeKome"; Kokuryu "Junmai Ginjo"; Miyasaka "Yamahai 50 Nama"; Koshi no Kanbai "Muku"; Kamoizumi "Nigori Ginjo".

Each sake was incredibly smooth. They were served in an assortment of glassware, which made it more interesting, too. The above is an unfiltered sake in a champagne glass. We had another excellent sake served in a white wine glass that tasted like apple juice! It was as delicious as it is dangerous, I'm sure! I believe that one was the Kamoizumi "KomeKome".

Execultive Chef Shotaro "Sho" Kamio, joined us at the end of our meal for well-deserved congratulations and a toast! Chef Shotaro created such a lovely menu for us--many thanks!

Seio Shimada, the Yoshi's sake expert! So kind and so fun! Just look at that smile--adorable! This is definitely the guy you want pouring your sake.

The amazing team at Rivera PR, who made this all possible, and the rockstars behind Thrillist SF and Urban Daddy SF and, of course, SF Station. Such great company for such a fantastic meal! As you can see, we were all smiles after, yes, 10 pairings of sake!

Thank you again, Rivera PR and Yoshi's SF!

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Post Bake Sale, pre Inception sushi at Kyoto Sushi, Van Ness, SF.

Missooooo.

Cherry Blossom roll - tuna over salmon with avocado roll.

Barracuda - spicy hamachi, green onions, tempura roll.

Poki roll - cold seaweed salad over spicy tuna roll.

Sunset roll - Parmesan cheese, garlic sauce and salmon baked over California roll.

Everything was really good. I really like this place. It had been too long since I was there. The service isn't the quickest, but the food is good and reasonably priced. It was perfect because we had an hour to kill before seeing Inception at AMC Van Ness!

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