48 - Santouka's Ramen - San Jose

675 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, CA 95129, (408) 446-1101 (Located inside the Mitsuwa super market).

Last visit - July of 2010

(Image from Yelp.com) The hardest thing in getting right for a great bowl of ramen is getting it all to balance well. Santouka does almost everything right, from the noodles all the way to the little piece of pink and white fish-cake left floating around in the bowl. I always save that for last. It's definitely been awhile since I've had that authentic a taste in ramen, and Santouku sends me back to Japan with the first spoonful of the rich miso flavored soup. The chashu is chunky and tender, and evenly cured so that even the fat parts are tasty. The noodles do not cling together and gives a resilient bounce every time you lift them from your chopsticks. I have to say that this place does a great representation of good ramen noodles. You'll have to check it out if you're in the south bay. It's a bit pricey, but worth the extra buck or two.

OK, one gripe. Why do they give out such a cheap plastic spoon instead of setting a batch of actual soup spoons? Oh well, nobody's perfect.

42 - Izakaya Restaurant - San Jose

Last visit - November of 2009

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

Izayaka's website

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!

35 - Hello Desserts - San Jose

1698 Hostetter Road, San Jose, CA. 95131, (408) 453-5566

Last Visit: September of 2009

When one thinks of desserts in the United States we conjure up thoughts of cakes and ice-creams. But in most of Asia, the idea of desserts is a lot of puddings, jellies, and custards. My girlfriend likes the 3-colored drink with the red beans, coconuts, and green grass jelly. Fruits that come into mind are coconuts, mangoes, and lichees. It's a totally different world of sweets, but Hello Desserts has it all.

Hello Desserts was first discovered on our trip to the Boiling Crab a couple of months ago. It opens late and has a good egg custard dish that isn't easily done well. We went back here after our trip to Ramen Halu and tried the Japanese ice-cream parfait. It was a monster thing with six layers of sweets, ice-creams, and jellies. I thought it was OK. We also had both variations, cold and hot, of the egg custard, which was awesome still. Hello Desserts is a simple place for late night sweets and if I'm in the San Jose area, I'll definitely go in for something.

I noticed that the menu expanded to a lot of American desserts. So now you can get your chocolate cakes and tiramisu cakes there as well. A late night coffee would be good if you're going to be up for awhile. It seems to be a hot-spot in San Jose as a nice crowd was gathering in the seats outside.

31 - Ramen Halu - San Jose

375 Saratoga Ave, Suite M, San Jose, CA. 95129, (408) 246-3933

Last visited - September of 2009

www.ramenhalu.com

(Ramen Halu at night, image from my own library) When you go out craving something to eat and end up getting something different, your judgment of a place will never be too objective. Here's the story, we drove down all the way to San Jose hungry for some "whole shibang" shrimp from the Boiling Crab, but when we got there the wait was two and a half hours. That's right, the girl said 2.5 HOURS! We couldn't wait that long, so we got two pounds to go for a later time and went to Ramen Halu for the first time.

The place was mentioned by my friend months earlier and I told her that I'd check it out if I was in the San Jose area. I guess I found the time to do so that night. The drive there was not too bad, but you'd never expect a ramen place on Los Gatos ave. So Ramen Halu is nestled between an Indian supermarket and a cash checking place. From across the way you can see a Casino and a hoff brau restaurant on its diagonal. When we drove in the parking lot we thought we went to the wrong part of town, nevertheless I heard Japanese folks speaking outside a small store front, and sure enough there was a Ramen restaurant.

The service is laid-back in Ramen Halu, they seem to have some really greenhorn waiters that take their time in cleaning off tables and checking up on the tables. The theme of the restaurant is beaches and surfing. The little eatery was lined with surfboards and they give you the check on a conch shell. And like the theme suggests, the waiters reminded me of chilled out surfers serving you on their own time. Luckily, they have a speedy kitchen and our ramen came pretty quick. I ordered the Ramen Halu, my girlfriend ordered the tan-tan noodles, and our other friend ordered the Ramen Halu with buckwheat noodles. Out of the three, I found the tan-tan noodles the tastiest. The Ramen Halu was supposed to be this healthy soup with noodles that'd make you strong and cleanse your system. Of course healthy food never tastes great. I found the soup simple and not enough flavoring. My friend thought it was a bit too oily for her and that the soup was dominated by the bamboo shoots' flavoring. It might have been saltier than one is used to also. Not to be unfair, the tan-tan noodles are really good and I recommend that for all those that are in the San Jose area. They probably have a decent ramen too, we just didn't try it that first time.

22 - the Boiling Crab - San Jose

1631 E Capitol Expressway #101, San Jose, CA 95121

Last visit: January, 2009

their website: http://www.theboilingcrab.com/

"We're going to dinner at a seafood place in the south-bay," said my girlfriend as we got into her sister's car. The BMW sprung out of the small streets of East Oakland and onto the freeway energetically, like a dog waiting to go for a walk. I was kind of tired that night, but it felt like it was going to be a place that I would blog about later, so I was looking forward to that. We drove down the 880 freeway, passing my workplace in San Leandro, and then Fremont. As the ride went on, I realize that we're  moving through area-codes at the speed of light. Where the hell is this place?

Reaching the Boiling Crab took us 30 minutes, and the wait was another 40. I guess it's the kind of place people will make a trip out for, because the place was packed! And the first thing that you think about is, "Why are they all Asians?" Thats the way it was. I was trying to track the UNC vs. Wake Forest game, and good thing they had flat-screens all over. They lost that night.

We sat and ordered our food, which came in buckets by the pounds. Sitting there reminded me of Forrest Gump and how his buddy Bubba started listing all the ways to make shrimp. We ordered Shrimp, Crawfish, Crab, and some fries. Not really a veggie lover's place. But the seafood was really good. I think I ate a pound of shrimp, but also used a pound of napkins too. It's definitely a place where table manners were lax. You're encouraged to make noises while sucking on crawfish and build a mountain of shells on your area. They didn't even give us plates. Food was brought out in plastic bags. It's funny, but it's almost part of the culture. 

We started with a round of raw oysters, which were pretty good. I like their sauce, which was better than the regular tobasco sauce. I tried them back to back to compare. We then went onto the shrimp and crawfish. I recommend trying the regular with the "whole sha-bang" which means the combination of all their spices. Mild spiciness had a nice kick to it and Medium meant taking breaks for me. I couldn't fathom the hell it would be on our tongues if we ordered the XXX spice. It was definitely an experience, but I didn't think it would be a regular thing. 

Final thoughts? I never knew how good corn with cajun sauce was until then. Might be a good idea to make some. 

Yelp's Review