Tag Cloud

Sunday, December 27, 2009

43 - Wazwan - Emeryville

5959 Shellmound Street, Suite 22, Emeryville, Ca. 94608, 510-655-3398

last visit: December of 2009

Wazwan's Website (which comes with a history lesson about Waza master chefs)


(Image from Yelp.com) This is one of my favorite places for fast food in the bay area. From when I was going to the Emery Bay theater in the 1990's until the emergence of the AMC theatre and Bay street, this little food stand stayed. It's outlived the Escapades Arcade and many of the other restaurants in there. I have a feeling it will be there for a very long time. It used to be cooked and served by Indians and now I see that they got enough money to hire workers of their own. They're always there and they always greet with a smile. Now they have a website and expanded to a catering business. The food is simply good and fast.

I'd have to say they do good Tandoori chicken and their spinach chicken curry is tasty as well. They have four or five different curries and I think I've tried them all. The Chicken Tikka Masala is awesome. They have good rice to go with it too, never too soggy so that it compliments the curry just right. Naan bread is provided with a small extra cost. I have like 20 different vendors to choose from when I'm going to the Emery Bay food court, but 9 out of 10 times I go back to Wazwan.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

42 - Izakaya Restaurant - San Jose

Last visit - November of 2009

1335 N 1st street, San Jose, CA. 95112, (408) 452 - 8751



We came here after a short road trip and we were a bit sick, as well as tired and hungry. The place is quite easy to find, right after the freeway junction and there is plenty of parking for a Sunday night. We got in there and it was tiny! But in a good, homey way. There was one waitress, two sushi chefs, and a person in the back. That was their entire operation, but it was quite efficient.

There were a couple of Japanese customers and people started coming in as we sat at the counter. The chefs spoke Japanese, and he reminded me of an old retired samurai in movies. He took my order of Maguro, Ika, Spicy Tuna, and Tamago rolls, while my girlfriend ordered the curry rice. The curry was a bit slow, but it really hit the spot for our trip. It was sort of like a comfort food for me, and my girlfriend said it helped her itchy throat. The Spicy Tuna was a bit too spicy, but the other rolls were good. I also tried their Chicken Teriyaki because they advertised as a "teppan" (iron pan grill) place and it was really good too.

They did a good job at the Izakaya, and I think they do that often. It's like a hole-in-the-wall, but their food is above par. If I go again, I'll try the grilled steak, Japanese style. This place seems like an all-around good find!