Yanagi Too

For those of you who love sushi but don't love the check when it arrives at your table, I have a treat for you. Thanks to Facebook I have been in contact with lots of friends from school and previous jobs. Today I met Amber, a fellow Calaveras High School alum. She happened to see one of my blog updates and insisted I try her favorite sushi spot.

When I pulled up and parked out front of Yanagi Too, it was love at first sight. Totally a hole in the wall kinda joint, my kinda joint. When you walk in there is a giant menu, and also pictures of their assorted rolls.


As you can see, their prices are very reasonable. That's because this is a deli type of set up. You walk up to the counter, place your order, pay and have a seat. Plus as an added bonus, you are not expected to tip, hey that extra cash means more raw fish for me to enjoy.

Since I was already dollars ahead, I wanted to try and stay under $20, I asked what their most popular roll was. Turns out is was one that I was contemplating anyways, it's called the Bollinger Roll. Included inside was Tempura Shrimp, Cucumber, Crab, and on the outside was Avacado and Salmon. Topping it off was tobiko, Unagi sauce and a sweet "House" sauce.

Clockwise from bottom right Bollinger Roll, Seaweed Salad, Tempura Shrimp, and California Roll.

The Bollinger roll was delicious, the fish was fresh, the roll was good size and the sauces were superb. I also ordered seaweed salad and a cup of miso soup. The seaweed salad was on the small side and was served on a bed of iceberg lettuce (if I was the seaweed I would be insulted).

Amber enjoying her Miso.

She also ordered the tempura shrimp, and a California roll. Amber is a self proclaimed "fake" sushi eater. A "Sushi Poser" if you will, she only eats rolls that include cooked fish. Her favorite is the California roll, I rolled my eyes a little at first, but I must admit, Yanagi Too puts a great spin on this classic "beginner" roll by including plenty of spicy sauce on top.



If you are interested in sushi on the cheap, ditch the supermarkets and head to Yanagi Too.

You can find them at:

1061 Market Pl, San Ramon, CA 94583

Osaka Ramen

This is a Japanese noodle soup restaurant. I've seen Ramen houses on TV programs such as Man vs. Food. This is my first time trying the Japanese noodle soup. I have heard that it can be spicy and spicy is what I was in search of.

The menu was vast, with many different soup and lunch combination options. I wanted spicy, so that narrowed down my choices to just a few. I decided to try the "Tonkotsu" style of soup. While I was waiting, my server brought me some delicious Green Tea, and a glass of water. It's nice to receive tea without a charge, and also without having to ask.

Tonkotsu is a thick pork bone broth based soup. I found out from my server that they use the pork hip bone, pork meat, and also infuse the soup with apples (her accent was thick, at first I thought she said eyeballs). The broth ends up being very hearty, white in color, with a slightly creamy consistency, yet it doesn't taste heavy.

When the soup arrived it was arranged with noodles on the bottom, slices of Japanese mushrooms, slices of pickled ginger, a brown "mystery" egg (I suspect it was Duck), slices of BBQ style pork, green onions, bean sprouts, and a pile of orange and red colored chili paste. As with other asian style soup lunches, it's best to "go at it" double fisted. I prefer chopsticks in the right hand for the noodles and the meat, and an oriental style spoon in the left hand for the broth.



I've had Vietnamese noodle soup plenty of times, but it is a little bit more straight forward. I was confused as to if I was supposed to stir it all around or what. The server, who could obviously tell I was a "Noob" helped me out and yes suggested that I give it a good stir, which is what I did and what you can see in the picture.

The soup tasted amazing, there were many different flavor combinations, and it was indeed spicy. I'm already planning another trip back there next week, I want to try their spiciest offering, the BBQ Beef Stew.

I consider my seach of spicy food to be complete when I can get a good sweat going on. I know I have reached the top of the mountain when I have driplets of sweat that form behind my ears and run down the back of my neck. A Japanese woman was there to pick up an order to go, she was very polite, but I saw her look and laugh at me a little bit. With my mouth open and patting my head with a napkin like I was coming in from the field or something, I'm sure it was amusing.

Osaka Ramen is a fantastic place to try Ramen for your first time. The restaurant was clean, the service suberb, the food excellent, and it was a value, $10 including tip!!

Visit them at:
http://osakaramen.com/index2.html