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6755 Mira Mesa Blvd #111. San Diego, CA. 92126. 858-587-4755.

This was my first trip to Yoshi Sushi although Dennis had been telling me about it for awhile. Apparently, they have a great all you can eat sushi deal. They make the sushi fresh with that deal so it’s much better than going to a sushi buffet. It’s good for sharing but since it was just Dennis and myself (we were later joined by Lynn), we decided to skip the all you can eat deal and just order something off their dinner menu.

(Click on images for a large view)

Dennis ordered the Spicy Pork Tappan. He said the flavor was not hot enough but I thought it was plenty hot. I guess I am more of a wimp then he is. I ordered the Salmon Tappan. It had a lot of teriyaki sauce on it which I really liked. The salmon was also cooked with the skin on it which for me was another plus! Both dishes came out on sizzling skillets and were very hot and the portions were very good. They also came with soup, a small salad and rice. The rice bowls were pretty small but you could have refills if desired. All in all, I thought both dishes were pretty tasty.

We also split a Mira Mesa Roll. I had to try it because it had all the things I liked - avocado, eel, salmon, and some other stuff although when they brought it out I didn’t notice any avocado. Still it was quite good and I would recommend it.

The prices were pretty average here. I think all three dishes were about $8-$9 each. Usually, I would say this was a bit high but because of the large portions, it was okay. The service at this place was pretty good. There weren’t a lot of customers so we were served pretty fast and the staff was friendly. I plan on returning with a larger group someday so I can try their all you can eat special!

Taste: 8/10
Presentation: 3/5
Service: 4/5
Total: 15/20

767 W Blaine St, Riverside, CA 92507

Sushi Station is located about 2-3 blocks down from the UCR campus, in the same plaza as Tapioca Express. The place is easily overlooked since it is in the corner of the plaza. Once you enter Sushi station is a whole different story. You would never expect the place to look this nice by looking at it on the outside. As soon as you enter the waitress usually tells you to sit wherever you want.

The place has a lot of pictures of their items to give you an idea of what their dishes look like. Their menu also has a nice amount of pictures as well. I’m a visual person myself and I would like to see what I’m ordering before I order it. Not only do they serve Japanese food, but they also have some Korean dishes.

Before we even ordered our waitress brought us each a bowl of miso. I already knew what I was going to order before I stepped in the door. I always see people order the Spicy Chirashi-Korean Style($10.95) and I’ve always wanted to give it a try. It consists of rice on the bottom, a bed of salad in the middle, assorted fish on the top, and then topped of with some roe. Our waitress then gave me a red squeeze bottle full of the spicy sauce that you would normally eat with bibim bap (I’m not sure what it is called so if anyone can correct me on this I would glady appreciate it). This item is pretty much bibim bap with sashimi pieces on top. The different types of fish made it really enjoyable to eat and I would constantly switch off between the tuna, salmon, albacore, tilapia and tamago. If you are extremely hungry then this is the item to order and trust me the portion for this is huge.

Since the Spicy Chirashi bowl was so good I decided to try their regular Chirashi($9.95). Sushi rice is layered on the bottom and then topped of with sashimi slices. I’m not a big fan of imitation crab and I would have rather they not add to the bowl. I didn’t enjoy this as much I did the Spicy Chirashi and was kind of a dissappointment for me. Although I did get more fish in this one then I did in the Spicy Chirashi. If you are in the mood for sashimi and not that hungry go for this item.

My friend ordered the Spicy Chicken($6.95). The chicken is lightly battered and deep fried and then topped with their special spicy sauce. I particularly liked how they plated this and their use of a clear square plate. If you are on a budget or a student then this item is for you. It will fill you up and not leave your wallet empty!

Taste: 7/10
Service: 3/5
Presentation: 4/5
Total: 14/20

646 University Avenue, Hillcrest, 619-692-0100

http://www.capriottis.com/

Capriotti’s is a chain that started in Delaware and the Hillcrest location is their only California franchise. They do made-to-order hot and cold sub sandwiches in small, medium and large sizes. All the ingredients are very fresh and of good quality - their sandwiches are above and beyond any Subway or most local delis. There are only a few tiny tables inside the shop so I picked up some sandwiches the other day and took them over to a friend’s house. *Special thanks to my friend Bryan for the photos since I was a bad blogger and forgot my camera.

This is Capriotti’s signature Capistrami sandwich. It’s combines elements of both a hot pastrami and a Ruben sandwich. In this verision, juicy hot pastrami is topped with melted Swiss cheese, coleslaw and Russian dressing. It’s definitely a messy sandwich but very tasty and satisfying. Two out of the three of us voted this sandwich as our favorite.

This turkey sub was the most pleasantly surprising, taste-wise and check out how huge it is! This is the 12 inch/medium sub. I would like to shake the hand of anyone who can tackle the large size. I though this sandwich would be a plain-old, boring turkey sub but it was made with homemade roasted turkey that was very flavorful and slathered with a hot pepper sauce. This sandwich came in second place.

I had high hopes for Capriotti’s cheesesteak since it came recommended by a few people. As a Philadelphia native, I’m always on the quest for an authentic-tasting version but have still not found anything that tastes quite like the original. My mission continues because this cheesesteak was disappointing. The meat was very bland and had no grill flavor. It was missing the juiciness that a good cheesesteak should have as you can see by how meat juice and grease-free the paper was. This was our third-place finisher.

I love spicy food so I couldn’t resist trying these Habanero potato chips. They were a flame red color but I didn’t really notice a huge hotness increase from regular jalapeno chips.

I really like Capriotti’s Capistrami sandwich and I will definitely go back to try their other varieties of subs. The Bobbie sandwich, which features roasted turkey, cranberry sauce and stuffing, sounds interesting. They also do vegetarian versions of a lot of their sandwiches, using soy substitutes for steak, salami, turkey and more.

Taste: 7/10

3860 Convoy St., #102 San Diego, CA 92111. (858) 278-2454.

http://www.house-foods.com/

My first dining experience at Curry House was last year in their Los Angeles located restaurant. I was an instant fan of their chicken katsu curry which was juicy on the inside and crunchy on the out. Their curry sauce was average to me but their chicken left a good impression with me.

Recently, Curry House has opened another restaurant in the San Diego area in Convoy. I had to go check it out!

Menchi Katsu Curry ~$8.00
I was thinking about trying this the last time I was at Curry House, but decided not to be so daring. But this time, I went ahead with it.

It looked about the same as the chicken katsu but with brown meat. Now that I think about it, the texture and taste was most like salisbery steak. How bizarre! The salad, rice and sauce were the same as usual. There was nothing special about them. I think they could have given me a bit more rice. Although, I was pretty full when I finished.

Chicken Katsu Curry ~$8.00

Diane had the Chicken Katsu Curry. She says…

“I had the chicken katsu, although I wanted to get THURSDAY LUNCH SPECIAL.. but it wasn’t Thursday. So I just picked one, one of which Dennis supposedly recommended. So when I got my plate, I was satisfied with the presentation. The curry didn’t look so tempting. I ate my salad first. It was fresh and crunchy, just the way I like it. I really enjoyed the salad dressing.

Then I moved onto my chicken katsu, I tried the curry sauce first, hoping it’ll be fiery spicy, boy was I disappointed. The texture reminded me of the pinto bean sauce. It wasn’t even HOT!! Not even a little. So I moved on to the chicken. It was okay. Nothing special about it. But after a couple bites, I got pretty bored of it, the chicken, rice and curry sauce.

The amount given was a good size because when I was done, I wasn’t too full or still hungry. Overall, the chicken/rice/curry was okay, but I really like the salad.. DELISH!! **probably because I like salads, what’s better than fresh vegetables?!?.. =)”

Taste: 8/10
Service: 3/5
Atmosphere: 4/5
Total: 15/20

3825 Lake Austin Blvd. Austin, TX 78703. (512) 476 - 4852.

http://www.hulahut.com/

Lynn and I were on our trip to see the capital building and museum in Austin, Texas. After exploring these historical sites, we got really hungry and headed out to Lake Austin for some grub!

Upon sitting down and greeting us, our waiter brought out two super sized cups of water (about 40oz or so) and a basket of fresh homemade tortilla chips! Yummm… Those chips were still very warm and crunchy. Unlike most other places, these chips were extremely thin such that they were almost translucent!

Huli Huli Luau Platter $22

We thought about ordering individual items at first but nothing on the menu looked interesting or appetizing. The only two things that stood out was the Huli Huli Platter and the Polynesian Pescado Platter. Our waiter said that the Huli Huli would feed easily fill two to three people and that the Polynesian platter was not as filling, but equally good.

OMFG. This plate is huge! Its about the size of a medium or large pizza (the knife was propped above the food for length comparative purposes). Whats included in this platter are “a half rack of B.B.Q. baby back ribs, four grilled chicken nachos, two B.B.Q. chicken tacos, four crisp chicken flautas, Hula Hut chopped salad, papas asadas & chile con queso with chips.”

The B.B.Q chicken tacos and crisp chicken flautas were our favorite. They were especially tasty when dipped in that orange colored sauce (unknown!). The grilled chicken nachos were average. I think T.G.I.F. has a similar item on their appetizer menu. The salad was a bit uneven. The further you get towards the bottom, the more heavy the salad sauce gets, which was just too much. The potato were okay. They are much better than the ones at Hash House (^_^). Last but not least, the B.B.Q. baby back ribs were perfect. They were so tender that you can easily shred them with a fork. Yippee!

Taste: 8/10
Service: 3/5
Atmosphere: 3/5
Total: 14/20