Sushi Planet

Not sure exactly when Sushi Planet opened on 3rd St. just off South St., but it's been well over two years, maybe even close to three years. I gave this tiny sushi restaurant about six months before they closed, namely because of the cheesy name and the fickle South St. area.

Sushi Planet has proved me wrong each night I walk past and peer through the front windows to see the dining room full. Who eats here, I wondered? Never have I heard anyone mention Sushi Planet. Then a friend of the boy's mentioned that Sushi Planet was their favorite sushi place. Word of mouth is a powerful thing, so we decided to check out this tiny BYOB sushi restaurant.

With maybe 30 or so seats in the narrow, casual restaurant we were lucky to grab a two top on an early weekend evening without a reservation, as Sushi Planet were turning people away as prime dining time rolled around. Sushi Planet also was doing a brisk takeout business, no doubt encouraged by their website set up for online ordering.Complimentary housemade cucumber pickles brined in seasoned rice vinegar were crisp and refreshing, and certainly a nice touch. Sort of sorry I let our server whisk them away at the end of our meal, instead of asking to take them home.
All of the food we saw come out of the kitchen and from the sushi bar was beautifully plated, as was my fried tofu salad, which could have fed two easily. Mixed greens are topped with fried tofu strips, orange slices, thin strips of pears, and candied walnuts, then dressed with a citrus vinaigrette studded with little black hijiki seaweed. Other than being slightly overdressed for my tastes, this salad was awesome. Tried and true, and maybe cliche — at least the citrus, pear and candied walnuts — these salad toppings are just great together.The Japanese eggplant presented atop a sweet miso sauce is one of the best eggplant dishes I've ever had. I'm not sure how they did it, but these thick-cut eggplant coins were so soft, they simply melted in your mouth. Eggplant marshmallows!
The fish eater across from me was genuinely jealous of my veggie sushi sampler when our server, describing the dish as "the fun platter," dropped off the 8-piece sushi with cucumber avocado roll plate. Yes! Variety is how you impress a vegetarian sushi lover.

Starting from the left: avocado and cucumber maki-sushi; skinless, roasted yellow pepper nigiri -sushi; radish sprout nigiri-sushi; inari-sushi ; pickled daikon nigiri-sushi; seaweed salad chirashi-sushi; cubed tofu chirashi-sushi; pickled burdock nigiri-sushi, and carrot nigiri-sushi.

Each bite of sushi was flavorful and different from the next — from the sweet tofu skin inari, the peppery radish sprouts, to the soft and mellow yellow pepper. I was particularly fond of the cubed tofu chirashi-sushi which was topped with thinly sliced scallion and a little dab of flavor-packed, savory sauce (miso? soy? garlic? black pepper?).

I can't speak to the fish sushi, but the boy was also very pleased with his sushi, which he claimed to be fresh and generously portioned.

Who knew!!! And why didn't you tell me! Sushi Planet, you are officially our newfound neighborhood sushi bar. Sorry I doubted you.

Sushi Planet
624 S. 3rd St., Philadelphia, PA 19147
215-922-5000
Mon-Sun: 11am-10pm
delivery available 5-10pm
BYOB

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

Haru

Update: no longer open.

Behold Haru's veggie sushi platter! I've eaten this ensemble on two different occasions, not because I'm a fan of Haru (I'm not a hater, either), but simply because Haru's Old City location is conveniently located near whatever it is I was doing (it's top secret...not really, but my coming and goings are utterly boring).

On the plank are: marinated mushroom gunkan, diakon nigiri, avocado nigiri, asparagus nigiri, shitake nigiri, eggplant nigiri, tofu nigiri, tofu by itself (!?), and a cucumber and avocado roll.

These are most of the usual veggie suspects offered at sushi joints that offer more than just avocado, cucumber, and daikon rolls. Presentation is simple; nothing stunning. Sushi is fine. When you don't eat fish, there's not much to nit pick (freshness of fish and knife skills). With veggie sushi, variety and flare is what counts, and Haru is only wearing fifteen pieces of flare.

At night, their formal dining room with bar in a bi-level bank building is dark and castle-like. Daytime, the formal dining room sees plenty of light due to the tall, vaulted windows. The back room with sushi bar is more modern and light. Sidewalk dining is also an option.

Haru
241-243 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-861-8990
Mon-Tues: 11:30am-3pm, 5pm-11pm
Wed: 11:30am-3pm, 5pm-12am
Thurs-Fri: 11:30am-3pm, 5pm-1am
Sat: 1pm-1am
Sun: 1pm-11pm

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.

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.

Pretty, Shiny Things

The prettiest tomato mix. Ever. (Freshfarm Market in D.C.)

I took advantage of my boyfriend’s corporate paid hotel room and made a long weekend out of DC. I’m supremely jealous of such perks that come with a corporate job, but, being self-employed, I can take a long weekend without asking for a day off. I guess it all evens out in the end.

We ran into a huge Farmer’s Market on Sunday near Dupont Circle. So many vendors were slicing up peaches and tomatoes for samples; we practically filled our bellies before heading to lunch.Surprisingly varied veggie sushi at Thai Chef. Asian pear and sun dried tomato were two new sushi ingredients for me.

‘Fishnet Stockings’ is my new favorite Coleus.(Smithsonian Butterfly Garden)

For pretty plants, don’t miss the gardens on the National Mall: U.S. Botanic Garden, National Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Butterfly Garden, Mary Livingston Ripley Garden, and the Enid A. Haupt Garden. All Free!

No matter how many times I’ve been, I have to stop by the gem and mineral collection at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. Pretty and shiny.

Fun Food

I found some fun things to make this holiday weekend. First is faux-fun sushi made from cake and candy over at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories.Next up are the super cute caramel apple cupcakes at Cupcake Bakeshop.

One day I'll get to these, but not this weekend. I have about 20 pounds of mac and cheese to make for two parties. Yep, I'm getting my procrastinating ass off the computer right now!

Sushi with Chef Joseph Poon

As a gift, I enrolled myself and my man in Chef Joseph Poon’s sushi class. I’ve never taken a cooking class, so didn’t know what to expect.

Just by chance, I happened to see Chef Poon on the local morning news show the very day of my class. He’s a bit of a celebrity chef and has been dubbed the unofficial ambassador of China Town. He’s also very involved in community charity. He is cute and very energetic.

After spending an evening with him, lets just say that energetic is an understatement. This man is incredible, and not in an annoying way. He is full of life, jokes and smiles. He is genuinely driven and happy. I cannot gush enough about his personality.

There were about ten people in the sushi class. We all gathered around a long table in his restaurant and followed his directions while drinking and laughing. His teaching style involved many jokes, animated demonstrations, and running back and forth to the kitchen to fetch us beer and wine.

He playfully reprimanded us by saying, “I kill you,” if we did anything wrong. Trust me, he can get away with it. He also liked to remind us not to squeeze the rice, but wait till later for “hanky panky” and squeeze our “honey” at home. Cheesy. But, again, he can get away with it.

There’s no skimping on ingredients or his giving of himself. Before we knew it, we had assembled an ungodly amount of sushi to take home. We weren’t eating the sushi –a meal would await us after the lesson and a quick walking tour of a few locales in China Town.

Chef Poon and his restaurant will accommodate any food request you may have. His kitchen prepared me a vegetarian dinner.

As we ate dessert, he continued to share his knowledge. He demonstrated candy pulling and simple food sculpting.

Laughter abounded, wine was spilled, and knives were wielded as we learned sushi secrets and dined.

I can’t recommend enough giving the gift of Chef Poon to yourself or someone else. It was the most entertaining, fun and enjoyable class that I’ve ever taken, and it’s all because of Chef Poon. If you don’t take one of his classes, “I kill you.”

Gushing over.