Men Oh Ramen Restaurant Review

There are a lot of ramen places in the Bay Area, and everyone has their favorite. Most argue that the best ramen places aren't in San Francisco proper, but south of the city. I've tried quite a few of the ramen places in the city, and I've found Men Oh Tokushima Ramen to be my favorite bowl in San Francisco. Their Geary location is open 7 days a week and open late on the weekends, because who doesn't want a hot bowl of delicious ramen at 11PM on a Friday!

I always order a large Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen, medium spicy (not that I can't handle extra spicy, but I find it to be too overpowering and you can't taste some of the more subtle ramen flavors) sometimes with an extra seasoned boiled egg.

Off the Grid and Super Duper Burger

B and I decided to go get some lunch at Off the Grid food trucks, then go hiking at Mt. Tamalpais. I decided on one of my favorites, Koja Kitchen, and got the Kamikaze Combo which consists of your choice of Koja, and the Kamikaze Fries. I chose BBQ Short Rib Koja with added pineapple. Sorry the lighting is so bad on these photos, I was in a tent that made all the light orange. 

Smashburger and Blue Nami Sushi

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I've started an Evernote list of restaurants I want to try near my house, and in the Bay Area. B and I try to check these off every time we see each other, depending on where we go. The difficulty with this list is that we add places just as fast as we check them off! We started this tradition with our first SF Food Tour, and we've been adding places to the list ever since.

Part of the problem with this, is that B and I tend to want to order the same item from the menu. (This is partly my fault, I don't want to toot my horn too much, but I'm very good at picking the tastiest menu items. He capitalizes on this, by getting what I recommend. Hah!) Since, I usually post these excursions to the blog, I try to diversify what we order, so as to try as much variety as we can. I let B order what I would normally want, and I try to order something else that is on the menu. That way, I have photos for various menu items, and you guys get to see as many different items as possible. It's all for you guys! ; )

This was another day we checked some places off the list, two in fact; Smashburger for lunch and Blue Nami Sushi for dinner. B ordered the Smash Fries, which are tossed with rosemary and garlic, and the Spicy Baja burger, with spicy chipotle mayo, and jalapeños all on a spicy chipotle bun. (This was what I wanted to order, but let him get it, and instead I ordered something else. Aren't I a wonderful girlfriend?! Of course, I stole many of his fries. Usually, I agree to order something else, on the premise that we will trade tastes of each other's food. He ends up liking his meal too much, and then doesn't want to trade! The nerve!) The fries were very good as well as the burger. I think this would be something I would order every time when I inevitably return. 

I ordered the Fried Pickles and the Classic Burger. The fried pickles were an interesting change from fries, which I pretty much order every where I go. They weren't better than the fries though, so next time I'll probably stick with the Smash Fries.

Here's the Classic Burger, you can see where the derive their name "Smashburger" from, by the smashed, caramelized burger patty. The burger was very good, but I found the American cheese to be a little overpowering in flavor in contrast to the fresh veggies. Perhaps a different cheese would be a little better for this burger.

For dinner, we went to a newish sushi place that opened up, called Blue Nami. As with most sushi places, their rolls are all 50% off, making it a pretty good deal. You can get 2 rolls for about $10. B wasn't really hungry after eating lunch, but I was feeling "snackish" as B and I put it. So, we went to Blue Nami. We each had a beer, and he ordered the vegetable tempura, which is his favorite, and I ordered the fried gyoza (or potstickers) and a deep fried spicy tuna roll, which is my favorite. Blue Nami's gyoza was quite good, the sauce was vinegary, sweet and perfect for the gyoza.

I had ordered this deep fried spicy tuna roll to-go before, when I was at work, for lunch. I found that when you order it to-go, they give you a container of the spicy sauce they put on it, which is very good. When I ordered it in the restaurant, there was barely any sauce on it, and I couldn't get the waitress to come back to the table to ask for more. I think next time I order, I'll make sure to ask for some on the side, as it makes the rolls even better. It still wasn't better than my favorite sushi place in San Diego, Ki Sushi. I have yet to find a place as good as Ki Sushi, no one quite does it justice. But, as far as sushi places go in my neighborhood, Blue Nami is pretty good.

I'll definitely go back to both Smashburger and Blue Nami again. They're great standby places to get lunch at work, when fast food gets old. I'll be coming back, mostly so I can get a Spicy Baja burger to myself! : )

*Here is a photo from a different visit to Blue Nami, and it was also quite delicious!

Japanese-Style Crispy Pork

We had some pork chops in the fridge, and I found this recipe for them. I served them with cucumber spears and edamame. The sauce that is included in the recipe is absolutely delicious and perfect for this pork dish. The pork turned out so flavorful, tender and crispy. I added a little Sriracha to the sauce to add some heat!

Here's the recipe adapted from Food Network Magazine

Ingredients:

• 1 pound thin-cut boneless pork chops or cutlets, trimmed
• Kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine, sake or sherry
• 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated peeled ginger
• 1 medium English cucumber
• 1 bag of frozen Edamame
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
• 3 large eggs
• 2 cups panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 3/4 cup cornstarch
• Canola oil, for frying (or peanut oil if you have it)
• 1/4 cup tonkatsu sauce (a sweet-spicy Japanese dipping sauce, sold near the soy sauce; or make your own by mixing 3 tablespoons each ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and sugar with 1 1/2 tablespoon water and 1 tablespoon Sriracha.)
• 
  
• Directions:
• 1. Start boiling a pot of water for the edamame. Season the pork with salt. Mix the rice wine and 1 teaspoon ginger and spread on the pork. Stack the pork and set aside.
  2. Peel, and quarter the cucumber; cut into 4-inch spears. Toss with the sugar and vinegar. Toast the pepper flakes with 1 tablespoon salt in a skillet over medium heat, about 4 minutes; set aside.
  3. Pour edamame into boiling water. Cook according to package directions. When finished cooking, drain.
  4. Beat the eggs with 1/2 cup water in a shallow bowl. Put the panko and cornstarch in 2 separate shallow bowls. Dredge each piece of pork in cornstarch, dip in egg, then coat with the panko. Heat 1/4 inch of peanut oil in a large skillet over high heat. Fry the pork in batches until golden, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Drain on a paper-towel-lined plate.
  5. Sprinkle the cucumbers and edamame with some of the spiced salt. Mix the tonkatsu sauce and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon ginger in a bowl. Serve the pork with the edamame, cucumbers and sauce.

My favorite sushi restaurant in San Diego, Ki Sushi

Kind of a different post today, I wanted to tell you about my favorite sushi restaurant I've found in San Diego. It's called Ki Sushi and they have an awesome Happy Hour, from 4-6 PM Monday-Friday and 12-5 PM on Saturday and Sunday. My favorite thing to order on the Happy Hour menu was the Tempura Spicy Tuna Roll and I usually also ordered the Pork Gyoza on the appetizer menu. The restaurant is relatively small, but I never had to wait for a table even during Happy Hour.

I posted the address below and I recommend you try to go here if you can.

Kake Udon

This was one of the most time intensive and weird-ingredient laden recipes I have thus far cooked. It was delicious, but I warn you, there are some strange ingredients that can only be found at a Japanese market. I even tried my hand at hand-making the udon noodles another night, but they turned out horribly, and I suggest you just buy the noodles if you are already making the broth from scratch. Also, I don't suggest you try making the dashi. I did, and it just delayed dinner time by about an hour. Just buy it from the Japanese market.

Here's the recipe adapted from the La Fuji Mama blog.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cooking Time: 15 min | Difficulty: Easy | Serves: 4

Ingredients:

4-2 oz. servings of store bought Udon noodles
1 cup Water
2 cups Soy Sauce
1 ½ cups Mirin
2 Tbsp Granulated Sugar
1.8 ounces Katsuobushi (Dried Fish Flakes)
6 ¾ cups Dashi (don't try making this, it takes forever. Just do the store-bought version)

Finely Sliced Scallions, to taste
Shichimi Togarashi Or Chili Powder, to taste (optional)

Directions:

1. In a large pot, combine the water, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low, and add the katsuobushi. When the mixture comes to a boil again, turn off the heat and let the mixture stand for 2 minutes. Then strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve, or a sieve lined with a double layer of cheesecloth, and discard the katsuobushi.

2. Separate the udon noodles into 4 separate deep bowls.

3. Add the dashi to the mixture in the pot and heat over high heat. When the mixture comes to a boil, turn the heat off and pour it over the udon noodles. Sprinkle with scallions and shichimi togarashi, to taste and serve.