I stumbled upon this Japanese restaurant on Aloma (east of 436) this Tuesday night. I was attempting to knock Takashi Ramen off my list. It is evidently closed on Tuesday. This place replaces some kind of Hawaiian sandwich place if I'm remembering right. They did an ok job on the remodel. Now it is more modern. Light gray and black hues. Small. Seats around thirty. I had an assortment of sushi items to suss out the quality. I had yt sashimi (3 pieces) and the following nigiri (2 piece) : tuna, salmon, yt, conch and an avocado roll. The avocado roll had fresh avocado. It cost $4.50. Rice (in general) was a bit crunchy. Undercooked versus old. I think. Tuna ($6) looked red. One piece was tasty. One had funk. Weird. The salmon ($5) looked good. Was a little pasty. The conch (5) was so so. Not so crunchy. The yt ($5.50) was good. Cut too thin as sashimi. They cut the fish long and thin. A little cheap on the portion size. Plating was nice. For a tiny place, they seem to have a big ambitions (menu). They also sell ramen, buns,takoyaki karaage, donburi, katsu, teriyaki, many rolls and mochi. The lunch specials start at $10 and lunch boxes at $12. Some weird things they offer are: white meat (izumidai), salmon tempura, kombu special dressing, coconut shrimp tempura rolls, kabayaki sauce, umami sauce. They have 27 classic rolls and 30 special rolls. I hope they can handle all the options. They opened last month. I was the only one dining in around 8 pm (one to go ramen customer). They closed after I left. Seemed like a three person crew. One sushi maker, one waitress, one person in the kitchen. They are on the cusp. I think they want to be high end. If they improve a little bit, they may be something to talk about. Could go the other direction. Big menus scare me. Hard to pull off. Hard to buy (fresh) for. Odd that for such a common Japanese word (kelp), I don't recall seeing a restaurant called it before.
* FYI. Most wasabi is colored horseradish.
**Travel Notes - Alabama/Mississippi: In Mobile I tried for a place called Southern Standard (a diversity James Beard Award Semi Finalist, I think). Only (maybe) open on Friday and Saturday for dinner presently. It was closed. I grabbed a chocolate pecan bar and a praline at Three Georges Candy Store. On the way back I stayed at cute hotel called Malaga Inn ($74). I stayed in Ocean Springs MS at a dump called Gulf Hills ($83). Pictures lie. I had pretty good barbecue in town at Murky Waters. They had two higher end places called Vestige ($65 prix fixe with triple tail fish (an actual fish I never have heard of and just googled and got a result for), beef cheeks, etc) and Charred ($30 meals of scallop and pork belly, duck, oysters, etc). I had an interesting breakfast chard biscuit with some kind of fluff (spread) on top at Greenhouse on Porter. I read about it in some magazine. I had lunch in Bay of St Louis at Blind Tiger (another magazine). West on 90. 3 lbs of crawfish (season started at end of Feb) for $18. Real good. Place is named after some kind of prohibition joints. I grabbed a sausage on a stick and boudin and pimento cheese inside a fried wrap/pastry at some tiny bbq place down the street called Jo's. There were a few nice looking restaurants (200 North Beach, Trapani's, Don B's, Hinge, Thorny Oyster) and a new hotel (Pearl $130-230) just after the bridge into town. First time there. I was impressed. Nice beaches just down the street too. Thought it was a dirty refinery area. Nope. On the way back I stopped at The Shed at exit 57 in MS again. I tried for crawfish on the way through. It wasn't the season yet by one day. Was on the way back. $6 a pound. Not as fresh or large as last Spring. Place was packed. Governor had lifted mask mandate the day before. I was going to try some 3D places in Daphne or Fairhope Alabama (east side of bridge to Mobile). They were: Marci, Gumbo Shack, Panini Pete and Sunset Point at Fly Creek Marina. They were off the main road plus it was too early for lunch. Next time. I ended up at some place they show on billboards on I-10. Lambert's Cafe. They throw rolls. It was bad. Had bad chicken salad, potato salad and instant mashed potatoes. They have place in Missouri, I guess. It was packed. So was the way to the beaches I intended to drive through. I reversed course. Next time. Becoming a bigger fan of this area. Hopefully not too many typos. Can't be bothered to proof. Louisiana and Texas up next.
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