Izumi

Many foodies in town just gush over Izumi, the tiny BYOB sushi restaurant on Passyunk Ave. just across from the Singing Fountain. From what I hear, if you're into really fresh and interesting creatures from the sea served as sushi or sashimi, Izumi is where it's at.

But what if you're a vegetarian?

Izumi's food is perfectly fine — tasty, well executed, and beautiful — but, because of their small menu, there really isn't much that goes above and beyond most vegetarian offerings at sushi restaurants.
Vegetable tempura gets a little update with an accompanying 3-part tray of red pepper puree, smoked salt, and the traditional soy-based tempura dipping sauce.
The seaweed salad is visually stunning thanks, in most part, to the wonders of mother nature. Four different kinds of seaweed — one dark green, one bright green, one magenta, and one clear — are served in a bowl with a mellow soy broth and a lemon wedge. This was the shining spot in my meal, and certainly different and unexpected than the green, stringy, wakame seaweed salads at most Japanese restaurants.
The teriyaki-marinated mushroom and cream cheese maki roll is the most exciting of the vegetarian sushi rolls offered. The other four vegetarian rolls are pretty standard fare — cucumber, avocado, oshinko, and kampyo.

The one off-putting part of our meal was when our server refused to ask the sushi chefs if they would make any off-the-menu vegetarian sushi, whatever the chef desired. This is a request I often make at sushi restaurants (cucumber and avocado rolls get boring), and have never had a server or sushi chef refuse. It's as simple as pulling a vegetable or two from somewhere else on the menu, and any good restaurant should be able to accommodate such a request. Izumi's chefs were never given the chance because of our server.

Also on the menu and vegetarian are a tofu and seaweed miso soup, edamame, and inari.

Izumi
1601 East Passyunk Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19148
215-271-1222
BYOB

Maru Global

Specializing in takoyaki, a popular Japanese street food of bite-sized dumpling balls fried in special molds and topped with various sauces, Maru Global should be open for business in about a week. (Feb. 1st opening got pushed back.) is open today!

Even without ever tasting takoyaki, I was poised to pounce when they opened, so was pleased when Maru Global offered a focus group taste test this weekend to get feedback from the public. I signed up for the vegan seating.

Takoyaki batter is traditionally made with egg, but the owners of Maru Global make a slightly costlier vegan batter upon request (this is clearly printed on the menu). Tofu is a protein choice for many dishes, and baked goods from Vegan Treats are also available. Maru Global is clearly vegan and vegetarian friendly.

The vegan takoyaki pizza balls filled with vegan Mozarella and topped with tomato sauce and basil coulis taste like a grown-up version of Pizza Rolls. Soft, warm dough encases melted vegan Mozzarella, while sweet tomato sauce and vibrant basil coulis steals the show.
A steaming bowl of shiitake soup studded with onions, mushrooms, and vegetables swimming in a delicious and complex broth flirting with the edge of sweetness was simple, but outstanding.
Red bean rice is a simple side consisting of nothing more than sweet sticky rice and azuki beans. The sweetness of the rice may throw Westerners, as the dish is almost dessert-like. A rice bowl with firm fried tofu, shirataki noodles, and carrots with a thin, non-salt-assaulting soy sauce is a perfect meal in a cup. I could eat this everyday and be happy. If you are a rice lover like I am, you'll appreciate the short-grain glutinous rice used in the rice bowls and elsewhere on the menu.

Most people will flock to Maru Global for the takoyaki, but don't discount the rest of the menu which also includes yakisoba, salads, and fries. Dishes are well under $10, and bento boxes and meal combinations will only set you back $8-$12. Very reasonable.

Reflecting their concentration on take-out and delivery, Maru Global's atmosphere is extremely casual. There are about six or so two-top tables for dining in, if you so please.

Maru Global
255 S. 10th St., Philadelphia, PA 19107
267-273-0567

Shrimp Sauce?

In reading The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, an entertaining quick read by Jennifer 8. Lee that humorously sheds light on the Americanization of Chinese food, I gained a new-found respect (and craving) for Chinese-American food, a cuisine I didn't particularly love in the past.

What I found most interesting is how Chinese food gets adapted to the preferences of each country, and even the regions within a country. Some of these adaptations are so far from the original Chinese dishes that they are wholly unrecognizable. And some dishes just flat-out aren't Chinese.

The plate above is from a Japanese restaurant (not Chinese, but the Americanization and regionalization of ethnic food still applies here) in a tee-tiny town in the far southwestern corner of North Carolina. What is on the plate blew me away in the department of weirdness and things I've never eaten (together) before.

On the plate is rice and stir fried vegetables. Nothing strange, yet.

Then there are glazed carrots. Like the kind boiled in sugar water. This has never happened to me an any Japanese restaurant. Or Chinese. Or any other Asian restaurant.

But the thing that really blew my mind is the shrimp sauce. We figured shrimp sauce would mean some sort of sauce made with shrimp paste (note: this wasn't my dish), but what came out was essentially a spiced mayo and ketchup sauce sort of like Thousand Island dressing, but with different spices. And...you're supposed to pour this over the rice and stir fried vegetables!

Never before in my life.

In doing a little internet research, I found that, yes, there are recipes for shrimp sauce, and the sauce seems to be a specialty of Japanese steakhouses. The sauce also goes by these names: white sauce, yum yum sauce, yummy sauce, and sakura sauce.

Most people on the nets yammering about their love of shrimp sauce were from North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Virginia, and Ohio. (Funny, I lived in South Carolina for 27 years and never ran into Shrimp Sauce, but in thinking back, I've only eaten at Japanese restaurants that weren't steakhouses.)

What an interesting Americanization of Japanese food. This is an Americanization, right? Surely, the Japanese don't pour this stuff on rice?

But I'm dying to know if Shrimp Sauce is common across the entire United States (and possibly other countries), so here's the question:

Have you ever eaten Shrimp Sauce, and where did you eat it?

Café con Chocolate

I'm so, so sorry to have let Café con Chocolate sit in my restaurant to-do list for as long as it did. Don't even bother reading the recap of my meal at this small café in deep South Philly serving Mexican and Japanese dishes; just go there. You won't regret it.

Wait. Huh? Mexican and Japanese? Yes. The owner is of Mexican and Japanese decent, so it only makes sense to serve up what one knows best. One of my favorite restaurants of all time serves Mexican and Korean food (sorry, it's 600 miles away), but it works because it's what the owners know best.

We arrived at Café con Chocolate's sunny yellow building at the corner of Snyder Ave. and Norwood St. (that's between 21st and 22nd) at prime brunch time on a Sunday, and were the only ones dining in, besides a couple of older men that were obviously regulars from the neighborhood. The only reason I can guess Café con Chocolate sits nearly empty while there are long lines at other hot brunch spots is because of Café con Chocolate's location in deep South Philly. I admit that the reason Café Con Chocolate sat on my to-do list so long is it's location in a part of town I have no other business in, but now that I know how good the food is, I don't mind walking the thirty minutes it takes from our house into no man's land.Since it was cold out, we started with a big cup of Cajetuccino (basically a cappuccino with a shot of caramel syrup) and a cup of Chocolate Oaxaca. Both were awesome, but I especially loved the subtly spicy Mexican hot chocolate. There was something else about the hot chocolate other than the cinnamon and chili that I loved, but I couldn't place my finger on it; it tasted almost slightly minty.

When it's warmer out, we'll have to try some of the milkshakes, smoothies, tamarind and hibiscus water, Mexican juices, and other beverages on their menu.

I had the hardest time choosing from Café con Chocolate's menu, since almost every item is or can be made vegetarian. Tacos, flautas, burritos, enchiladas, empanadas, quesadillas, tostadas, or tortas? But what about the Japanese red curry, tempanyaki (grilled vegetables), and itokognaku (sauteed vegetable and noodles served with rice)?
I went with the Mollete from the breakfast menu. The buttered and toasted roll topped with refried beans and melted cheese with a side of pico de gallo is a simple meal, but the sesame seed roll was excellent, and the pico de gallo was so fresh I wouldn't be surprised if it was prepared after I put in my order. The Mollete was also filling (I took half home) and a bargain. The printed menu said $4.50, and the chalk board menu said $4.00, but our bill said $3.50. No matter which price you're charged, it's still cheap.My partner had the Chilequiles, fried tortillas covered with your choice of mole sauce or salsa, two eggs, and a side of refried beans ($7.00) from the breakfast menu. He chose mole sauce, and I am so glad he did. I want to buy buckets of Café con Chocolate's mole sauce, that's how much I like it! I scraped my partner's plate with my fork after he was done to get all of the sauce I could into my mouth. Not classy, but, hey. I like mole sauce, but sometimes the bitterness puts me off. Bitterness is not a problem with Café con Chocolate's mole; it has a sweet edge and ends with a warm spiciness. So good.

We had already picked out the fruit-filled empanadillas from the dessert menu, but were too full to even consider eating more after finishing brunch. Thankfully, we had a thirty minute walk home ahead of us to burn off some of what we just ate.

As we walked home we could not stop talking about how much we loved Café con Chocolate - a café serving food they know and love, doing it well, and not inflating prices. We wished this small café were closer to home, but then thought better of that dangerous idea. A little walk never hurt anyone.

Café con Chocolate
2100 S. Norwood St., Philadelphia, PA, 19145
267-639-4506
Thurs-Sat: 10 am - 8 pm
Sun: 10 am - 3 pm
Mon-Wed: closed
BYOB

Utage

This post on Utage, Delaware's first Japanese restaurant to serve sushi (1986!!), comes at either just the right time, or the worst time, depending on how you look at it.

Utage's last day of business is August 30. They plan to reopen at a different, undecided location sometime in the future.

So, this post is either a reminder to get your butt down there pronto for your last Utage fix (for a while), or this post will just taunt you with what you missed or will miss for some time.

I believe Utage was the second restaurant I dined at in Wilmington. Tucked in the corner of a strip mall bizarrely designed to look like Independence Hall (wrong city and state!) sits Wilmington's sushi forefather. Utage is a classic, sit-down Japanese restaurant with a small sushi bar and tables filled with diners who look like your parents -- not an after hours meat market like Wilmington's other favorite sushi restaurant. You go to Utage to eat, not to be seen. I hope Utage keeps their new digs that way.I started with miso soup. I know some people are picky about miso soup, but either I am not picky, or I have only had good miso soup. Utage's miso soup was just fine.Next up was a house special salad of two kinds of seaweed, daikon sprouts, sesame seeds, sesame oil, and vinegar dressing. Tangy and refreshing.I ordered the veggie sushi combo: oshinko roll, kappa roll, kanpyo roll, avocado nigiri, marinated mushroom gunkan-maki, cucumber nigiri, and sliced inari nigiri. I love to see the unexpected in veggie sushi, but Utage sticks with the classics. The sweet teriyaki marinated mushroom gunkan-maki is my favorite at Utage. My partner ordered kitsune soba, a big bowl full of soba noodles swimming in the most delicious, mildly sweet, and salty broth, topped with sweet fried tofu. I've never had this dish at Utage, and I fell in love with it. The broth is sublime. I would order the dish with fat udon noodles next time, though, simply because I like udon better than soba.

So, there you have it. Get on down there. Fast-like.

Utage
1601 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE 19803 (for now)
302-652-1230

Shiroi Hana

I love not having to pick new restaurants to try, so was thrilled when another couple picked Shiroi Hana, a Japanese restaurant in Center City that’s been around since the ‘80’s.

Shiroi Hana’s narrow downstairs with two and four-top tables and a small sushi bar was filled when we arrived, but we snagged a table after a brief fifteen minute wait. Three years of Japanese classes began to kick in. Hana means flower. Shiroi? Shiroi? White! Yes, White Flower!

Given the choice of miso soup or salad at a Japanese restaurant, I always choose salad. It’s not the lettuce I’m after, but the carrot-ginger dressing. Shiroi Hana’s dressing was grainy and muddy in flavor. I’d choose miso soup at Shiroi Hana, instead.

We all ordered sushi – how could you not order sushi at a Japanese restaurant? The others ordered sushi with fish. I, of course, ordered the vegetarian sushi sampler, which is always a crap shoot when trying out a new Japanese restaurant. More often than not, the assortment is cucumber, carrot, daikon, or asparagus maki. And the “fancy” roll is asparagus tempura maki.

I was visually impressed with the variety of Shiroi Hana’s vegetarian sampler. Yeah, they were, for the most part, the usual suspects – cucumber, avocado, daikon, and asparagus – but at least they were presented differently than the skimpy hosomaki you’re familiar with from grab-and-go plastic containers of sushi, and even some restaurants.

The vegetarian sushi sampler came with: avocado, bean sprout, cucumber, daikon, and asparagus nigiri; inari; seaweed salad gunkan; and an assorted vegetable futomaki.

For dessert, I chose the green tea mochi. I don’t know why. I’m not fond of the vaguely sweet rice cakes filled with bean paste. I do like green tea, though, and these mochi hinted of green tea. The only explanation I have for ordering this dessert is that I like to test myself every once in a while, and revisit food’s I’m not fond of. I still am not fond of mochi, but that doesn’t mean Shiroi Hana’s mochi were bad. I ate them.

All in all, a generally pleasant meal of sushi, except…I felt rushed to finish our meal when, at 10 p.m. on the nose, the sushi bar noisily cleaned up their station – and turned out the light! Not all the lights, just the lights over the sushi bar, but this was enough to get the message that they were closing.

The message was a little unfriendly, so we wrapped it up quickly and got out of there. Sayonara, Shiroi Hana.

Shiroi Hana, 222 S. 15th St., Philadelphia, PA, 19102
215-735-4444
Lunch: Mon.-Fri., 12-2:15 p.m. Dinner: Mon.-Thurs, 5:30-10 p.m.; Fri., 5:30-10:30 p.m.; Sat., 5-10:30 p.m.; Sun., 5-9 p.m.

Gaja Gaja

Update: no longer open.

Places open and close all the time on South Street. Gaja Gaja, a Japanese/Korean restaurant, opened their doors a few weeks ago amid the bars and cheese steak purveyors along this tourist hell hole. I thought I’d give Gaja Gaja a go, since lately I can’t seem to get enough sushi.

The small interior is minimal-chic, and the open store front makes for great people watching in the warmer months. We sat by the open front, but because the tables were so close together, the only way to get to the far side of our table without asking the person at the next table to move was to step through the window.

The sushi is your standard fare, and there’s nothing exotic when it comes to their veggie sushi variety – cucumber, avocado, kampyo, and shitake mushroom. They were accommodating in letting me sub a veggie roll for the California roll that comes with the 14-piece lunch special. (Fake crab meat is not vegetarian; it’s fish. I don’t know how many people tell me I can eat California rolls because it’s not real crab.) The sushi rice was slightly undercooked, but hopefully that was just an off batch.

I could kill my self for not remembering the name of the Korean dish my partner ordered, but it’s basically a cold soba noodle dish with assorted vegetables and an egg on top with accompanying hot red pepper sauce – like bibimbap, but with noodles instead of rice. This dish of noodles and fresh vegetables was light and healthy, but I couldn’t help thinking the salad-like, fresh, unseasoned vegetables were a watered down version of what you might get at a more authentic Korean restaurant. I’m just used to getting pickled veggies on top of my big bowl of rice/noodles at Korean joints. And Gaja Gaja didn’t offer any kimchi to toss in the bowl. Isn’t kimchi almost mandatory?

Miso soup accompanied both of our lunch specials.

If you’re on South Street and are looking for lighter fare than the cheese steaks that scent the street, Gaja Gaja’s sushi and Korean-esque food might be your ticket. Get there before it changes.

Gaja Gaja, 627 South St., Philadelphia, PA 19147
215-923-0313
Sun.-Thus., 11:30 a.m-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m.; closed Mon.

Mikimotos

Remember last week when I wrote about my visit to Mantra, and I said that there were better cheesecake spring rolls out there? Well, that place is surprisingly in Wilmington at Mikimotos, a sushi restaurant and bar. I say surprisingly because even though I live in Wilmington Monday through Friday, I’m always at a loss of where to eat and what to do in “the city that closes at 5 p.m..”

Mikimotos (not to be confused with the infamous Morimoto in Philly) sits on a block in downtown Wilmington with two other restaurants right next to it: Washington Street Ale House and Presto. All three of these restaurants are owned by the same person – Darius Mansoory. It’s a little block of Mansoory-land. Besides the fact that all three of these places serve up semi-decent food, I stop into Mansoory’s places because, at a five minute’s walk distance they are the closest restaurants to my house in Wilmington.

When I first moved to Wilmington and asked around about what there is to do in the city, Mikimotos was one of the first things that popped out of people’s mouths. I think this is because Mikimotos is a popular bar and meeting place for younger professionals (khaki attack!), and it’s open after 5 (!!!). Large pictures of comic heroes and anime grace the walls as dance music pumps out of speakers. Mikimotos is not quiet dining.

I stop into Mikimotos about twice a year, mainly because it's close by. The vegetarian sushi is your standard fare – cucumber roll, avocado roll, and vegetable tempura roll. They also have a vegetarian handroll assortment, but when I ordered this in the past they filled it with the usual suspects: cucumber, avocado, and carrots. The creativity of the veggie sushi at Mikimotos has never impressed me.

This last time, I ordered the best veggie sushi from the menu – tempura vegetable roll – and asked for one of the more creative fish rolls - salmon, avocado, sweet onion, and mayonnaise – without the fish. It’s no secret that I love mayonnaise, but this is a match made in heaven. I don’t’ know why I’ve never had sushi with mayonnaise before? In the future, I’d like a little dish of mayonnaise beside my little dish of soy sauce.

Now, back to that cheesecake spring roll. Apparently every server at a restaurant that serves cheesecake spring rolls is going to highly recommend ordering them. This time, the server was right on. My partner, who normally takes just a bite or two of my desserts so I can gorge on the rest, had trouble stopping. He ate nearly half of my dessert! Thankfully, I was in a good mood, so didn’t stab him with my fork.

The oreo cheesecake spring rolls sprinkled with sugar were hot, and the oreo cheesecake insides were gooey and melty. The caramel dipping sauce was just the icing on the cheese cake. When I eat cheesecake, this is how I want to eat it.

Even though the vegetarian sushi at Mikimotos is uninspired, I’ve never had anything bad at Mikimotos. Besides the usual veggie offerings at sushi bars – edamame, vegetable tempura, veggie rolls, miso soup, and various salads – Mikimoto’s has a couple of tofu dishes on the menu, and a few dishes that can be modified and have tofu added. If only they would put the tempeh dish from a few years ago back on the menu, I might brave the sea of khaki more often.

Mikimotos 1212 Washington St., Wilmington, DE, 19801 302-656-8638 Mon.-Thurs., 11a.m.-11p.m.; Fri., 11a.m.-12a.m.; Sat., 11:30a.m.-12a.m.; Sun., 4p.m.-10a.m.