Kadoya #2 Addendum

If you haven't noticed by now, I'm a creature of habit. This doesn't always bode well for bringing NEW! and EXCITING! information to a blog, but yet again, fuck it. I'm all about finding the places in my hood that I can call my own, my hovels of comfort, the places I can rely on for being their awesome or awesome-ly shitty selves.

Now that it's getting warm out, the Denman Kadoya patio is a perfect place to catch up with besties.

Inari Nigiri: one of my favs, the oh-so-sweet bean curd sac.

Chicken Karaage: it tastes as weird as it looks. Unless you're a fan of tempura-flavored chicken dry ribs style, don't do it.

Sushi IV

As much as I begrudge the fact that the hospitality industry in Vancouver is saturated with sushi restaurants, I must credit this experience for forcing me to look beyond my sushi no-fail dishes. Although the five-week renovation of Kadoya (it really needs the new coat of paint), has caused many disappointed adorers to settle for their second choice, I did discover a hidden treasure on the eve of it's closure. The kani salad. They may have been trying to get rid of all of the left-over crab prior to closing the place, but I'm not going to complain because the bowl came with a mondo pile of diced-up crab. SO DELICIOUS mixed with sunomono salad. And as many times as I have tried to duplicate this experience at other sushi places, it has been unsuccessful because there is no universal standard for the kani salad.

Tokyo Miyako Sushi Restaurant
I may have been high on Psuedophed when I ate here in February, but I think in combination with my cold-dulled taste buds, it all evened out in the end. This place gets lost in the strip-mall of sushi restuarants on Davie. Not too thrilled about the space, it's too big and bland, nothing about it really stands out from the crowd. I actually don't even remember the service or the atmosphere. Now that I think of it, I don't even remember what I ate.Sushi Maro Japanese Restaurant

I feel sorry for this business because it is right at the end of Davie, stuck in the construction warzone of pre-olympic Vancouver. Generally the closer you get to Yaletown, the higher the prices go, and in this case you get what you pay for. I had insanely fresh and tasty salmon sashimi, my new 'best-yet'!; homemade miso soup, and you could tell that it wasn't the freeze-dried variety because they used fresh ingredients; tiny inari; and lastly this place takes the crab salad to a whole new level. It was avocado, tiny fish roe, and huge chunks of king crab covered in a light sauce, well worth the seven bucks. Other than the horrible construction on the doorstep the atmosphere was alright. I think that Sushi Maro has the best ceramic ware by far, the tea cups had these adorable animated octopus on them blowing bubbles, I was more than tempted to slip one into my purse. 8.5 out of 10.
Oishii Sushi Japanese RestaurantThis little bastard brought my total to 17. Oishii is relatively new, or at least newly renovated or new owners, I'm not really sure, but in any case it's cleaned itself up. I was a bit skeptical to eat here because I had heard bad reviews about the previous establishment. Really really great green tea in the tiniest cups ever. I had the inari nigiri and kani salad. Good quality and medium-pretty rolls. I probably wouldn't go back, it's like a 6 out of 10.

So as I was walking out of Oishii, exhaling in relief that it was my final sushi stop, I spot a sushi take-out place directly accross the street. I'm done, finished, caput, I'm over it and I refuse to acknowledge it's very existence.

Sushi III

It's official. I have been converted! I actually like a sushi roll, make that plural, two rolls. It all started with a little visit from Kimmi and Naka on my lunch break, I was perusing through the shinny new menu at Downtown Sushi, the sun was streaming through the smudged windows and all of a sudden I saw it. THE DESERT ROLL, accurately titled "The Honeymoon Roll", was deep fried banana topped with sliced kiwi, strawberry, mango, and drizzled honey. And the dipping sauce? Whip cream! SO DELICIOUS. No gagging involved, nothing lodged itself in my esophagus, I didn't have to spit it out into a serviette, it was a magical moment. Round two was the spicy tuna roll from Kadoya. And I don't even like spicy food!! Now I might be brave enough to attempt the inari roll, who knows?


Honjin Yaletown Sushi Restaurant
Waaaaaay down at the end of Davie, in the heart of Yaletown. The best service I've had yet. Best Miso soup. Best salmon sashimi. Great atmosphere, totally loved the place. Nothing to possibly complain about, just a little to far from home for me to be a frequent flyer.


Jako Sushi
This place is a dive on so many levels. It gets nominated for worst renovations ever, weakest green tea on the face of the planet, and most frequented by bridge-and-tunnel douches. I was HANGRY (too hungry = angry), so I jumped the gun and tried the inari roll when I should have just stuck with my gut and gotten inari nigiri, which is my sushi no-fail dish. That's right, the Japanese junk food, the bean curd sac. My new-found love of rolls has been crushed and basically I reverted into my old ways and ended up eating only the inner contents of the inari roll. The service was nothing special, the place was hideous, the menu was greasy, but the reason that it was relatively busy? Everything was dirt cheap. Real crab sunomono salad was like two bucks and change, and it didn't taste half bad.


Yamato Sushi Restaurant
I am nearing the end. At this point there are only three venues left to visit, and before I have even finished this category, I am debating which one is up next. I am definitely looking forward to changing things up.

I dragged Naka to yet another hole-in-the-wall in the strip-mall of sushi restaurants between Granville and Seymore along Davie. This place had only 8 table settings to sit at and about the same number of bar stools. Don't let it's small size deter you because it is usually packed during peak hours. Theoretically, if a place is popular it's probably good, but it's also annoying when the server asks you every five seconds if you're ready to order and it feels like the people who are waiting for take out are hovering over your shoulder, watching you eat like it's feeding time at the zoo. It probably didn't help that I ate half of a patient's meal while at work, but anyway, in my second dinner of the evening I had salmon and tuna sashimi, inari nigiri and miso soup (I know, surprise surprise). Very yummy very salty miso soup. I had the innards of a couple rolls, apparently they are very fresh and a good bang for your buck. Tasty, cheap menu, cute atmosphere, persistant but bubbly service. This place gets an 8 out of 10.

Sushi II

I have been plodding through sushi restaurant after sushi restaurant and just when I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel, another little hole-in-the-wall appears on Davie. Four more down, seven to go.

SHIMA Sushi

Yet again - CASH ONLY IS BULLSHIT! Do profits REALLY skyrocket when you don't have debit? Seriously?! It took me really long to decide what I wanted, there were too many options, in a good way. I ended up ordering a Tempura rice bowl, ebi sunomono, and some inari nigiri, and no complaints all around. Okay so on the menu the sunomono is like $3.50 and Naka and I were like frick, three and a half bucks for a weeny bowl of vinegar water and 7 cents worth of rice noodles? So obviously this didn't deter me from ordering it, then it comes in a mondo cereal-bowl size and I realize it was worth the $3.50 because I got full on the liter of vinegar water. Cute service, faded atmosphere, definitely frequented by regulars. I'd go back to try some of the other options.

Samurai Japanese Restaurant

WORST GI IRRITATION SINCE THE BAD HOT-AND-SOUR SOUP SITUATION! Large and mushy portions. I had a terryaki chicken rice don bowl thingy (I think that the chicken was suspect). I didn't eat most of it because I was too busy eating Combination A. Great assortment, badly made. Indifferent service. I probably won't ever go back. Maybe for the Japanese barbecue food when I hit that category. Maybe not.

Sushi Sky

It's more of a take-out sushi place. Small, not-so-asian deco. Half-way between work and home, really what more can I ask for? As for the food, I had the Tempura Udon and yes, I had to ask if the tempura came floating in the udon soup. Nope, thankfully it's on the side. I also had two Inari pieces (there was an Inari roll on the menu that I was very tempted to try but the thought of seaweed lodged in my esophagus made my eyes water). I enjoyed it, this place makes my top five so far. If I ever want to eat sushi again after this escapade I would probably be a regular.

Mr. Sushi
I really want to pronounce it Meeesta Suuuushi, like Count Dracula. Other than that it was pretty boring. Bland service, medium-bland miso soup, medium-yummy salmon sashimi, medium-bad inari, and even medium-hilarious decorations.

Sushi

Instead of blogging play-by-play what I loved and hated about the sushi places, I thought that I would post once I was finished the entire category, but I've realized that that would be long and tedious. And it's taking a lot longer than I thought.

I'm not a roll person, so my assessment of sushi is probably skewed in comparison to the average sushi-lover's love of sushi. Don't get me wrong, I love sushi and eat everything but the rolls/maki. It's wierd because I like all of the separate ingredients of sushi; the cucumber, avocado and imitation crab in a calafornia roll seem really yummy in my books, but all rolled up in the rice and seaweed makes it all mushy and chewy. I think it might be the seaweed. It's not like I haven't tried! I have attempted to eat a piece of roll at almost every place on my list, the result is always the same and the other night was no different. I ordered one piece of real kani (crab) nigiri sushi, and it came like a really big maki piece with the seaweed on the outside. In retrospect I should have just picked the crab off the top and been happy at that, but no, I shoved the whole thing in my mouth and between choking spurts of laughter (thanks Naka) I managed to chew and chew and gag and chew and gag my way through it as the tears streamed down my face. Never again. That was my limit. I'm officially done in the roll department.

I'm still left with lots of other yummy sushi options, my favorites are: miso soup, edemame, all of the tempura varieties, beef/chicken terryaki, salmon sashimi (sometimes tuna), the eggy cones, and nigiri such as ebi, kani, inari, salmon, toro, and now tamago, the rice bowls, sometimes gyoza, the udon soups (except for the fishy ones), ramen noodles (which I've avoided until I get to the Japanese Noodle Category of my eat-a-thon), and the age dashi tofu.

My assessment thus far:

Kadoya
Local and staff favorite. Great, yummy, fast, close to work, very popular, I've never stayed to eat there and probably wouldn't unless it wasn't busy, just get take out. Great sashimi, avoid the sunomono. It's closed Monday's.

Yoshi

Gorgeous patio view, first experience of soba noodles, probably won't ever try them again. Went there for lunch. According to sushi experts I know, it's the best and a tad bit expensive, but the lunch menu is a good deal.

Downtown Sushi Bar
Sometimes I think that I go here because the service is so bubbly and consistently inconsistent, and it's the closest and most convenient. Don't eat the beef terryaki, I gave it two tries, it's gristly. They make very pretty rolls like the Davie Roll that I like to look at, or pick apart and eat the inner contents. Horrible decorations like year-round Christmas lights and mediocre sushi, but for some reason I keep going back.

Tanpopo and Kisha Poppo
Quality verses quantity in the all you can eat department. There is a science to mastering the all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant: Go there hungry, plan on spending a good couple hours eating, wear your stretchy pants, eat the rolls last so that they don't fill you up, avoid other ricey dishes for the same reason, at Tanpopo anyway don't order too much at once or they will forget half of the order, or you will get too much at once and be overwhelmed, eat too fast, and get full too fast. Take it slow, if you want to get the most bang for your buck, eat a lot of sashimi, it's generally the most pricey on the menu.

Tanpopo wins, even though it's more expensive and the service is not-so-smiley, there are more options, the view is nicer, and as a side-note they have a good happy-hour combo special if you don't feel in the mood for gluttony.

Azuma Sushi
I had salmon sashimi, inari nigiri, miso soup, and veggie tempura. Lovely orangey atmosphere, CASH ONLY IS BULLSHIT, lots of options, creative little twists on things. I'd go back.

Sakari Sushi
I had a beef terryaki bowl, miso soup, inari and real kani nigiri. We were the only people in the entire restaurant at 8pm on a friday night. Mind you it was blustery outside. Second floor, nice view, super-cute and polite server (she must be new and not-yet jaded), too many sesame seeds in the inari. perfect miso soup, lots of little tofuy bits.