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Spirit of Japantown Festival: Japantown, San Jose

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

For those who don’t know, San Jose has a Japantown neighborhood.  This neighborhood has many delicious restaurants of all types, and this past Saturday it hosted the Spirit of Japantown festival.  This festival won points with us right away by its lack of entry fee.  They closed off the streets of the neighborhood and set up tents full of food, drinks, Japanese products and social groups.  Other points made by the festival were for the ample beverage tents, lack of lines, and the import tuner car show (with the required pin-up girls on location).  But, this being a food blog, we were disappointed by the minimal amount of food tents.  Granted, the restaurants and storefronts were open to offer up shaved ice and other ice cream type treats to all of the melting participants out on a 95 degree day, but i can go to restaurants any day of the week.  There were delicious pot stickers, an interesting spamshimi, and wheat noodle udon that we failed to try because we assumed there would be more food.  In conclusion, we recommend more food to make this festival rise to the level of deliciousness that was the Eat Real fest.

http://www.spiritofjapantownfestival.com/

Zach: I’ll keep this one short.  Not enough food but the food there was good. I would love to try some Japanese items that I wouldn’t normally get a chance to eat.  Short lines which I love. Not over crowded and nice to visit the area.  Still way better than the Gilroy Garlic Festival!

Ramen Halu in San Jose: Not your common Ramen.

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

This was our second trip to Ramen Halu.  We’ve been here before but it was so good the first time that we had to go back.  Like most of America, I was very familiar with the packaged ramen noodles that were 10 for a dollar, but I never realized that ramen noodles were a real Japanese dish that could be so full of amazing flavor.  Look here for some background on ramen.

We were the first ones through the door at 5:35pm on a Monday night and we were greeted with a loud greeting in Japanese.  Everyone was busy getting the place ready for dinner service.  The huge pots of broth were simmering on the stove in the back with the owner/cook working his magic to render that delicious pork flavor from the bones.  The menu here is filled with all kinds of appetizers that I can’t wait to try on my next visit, but we were here for the large bowls of Tantan-Men ramen which is the seasonal ramen soup for summer.  I have to borrow the quote from their website because it’s superior to anything I could possibly come up with. Click to continue »

Sushi On the Run in Los Gatos, CA

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

Even on a slow stroll at a banana slugs pace you might miss this tiny little sushi joint in Los Gatos.  I’ve been wanting to check this place out for the last couple of months mostly because of its minuscule size.  It only seats eight at a time.  The place was full when we walked up but the wait was short as the sushi chef/owner kicked a couple out when he noticed us looking in.  As soon as I walked in I almost turned around due to the strong fishy smell lingering in the air, but I was determined to give this place a chance, due mostly to my love of all restaurants/bars cozy and tiny.  After examining the menu, John and I decided on splitting three rolls: the Volcano roll (tuna, scallion, tobiko, Japanese fire sauce), Pat’s Homerun roll (eel, macadamia nuts, “special sauce”)  and my old standby the Spicy Salmon roll (Spicy Salmon is not on the menu, but you can ask to have salmon substituted in a spicy tuna roll) ($21 total).  While I watched the chef whip up some pending orders, I could tell he’s been doing this for a while.  He throws a roll together in about two seconds flat and palms all six pieces of the sliced roll in one hand as he throws it on your plate.  We quickly received our rolls before I had a chance to forget what I ordered (common occurence) and it was almost exactly what I pictured it to be.  All of the rolls were good. Not fantastic and not bad.  Not the best ever but then again not as bad as the initial smell led me to believe it would be.  When all was said and done, we were out of there in what seemed like 20 minutes if not less.  Give it a shot if you’re in the area.

John: Overall, I enjoy SOTR for its fast service and tasty rolls.  The establishment is BYOB, which we did not know (and seemed to be the only ones who didn’t).  If you bring your own sake they will give you a bucket of ice, sake decanter, and cups.

www.sushi-on-the-run.com