Lunch #51: Sandie's Gourmet Restaurant

The MSG150 crew headed out for the nondescript meat in window joint next to the nondescript A & B Cafe but found it closed on Tuesdays. This bounced us on to the next spot, Sandie's Gourmet Restaurant, only twenty feet away.

NOTE: Sandie's is closing its doors sometime this month and the owners are moving to Alaska.

Sandie's Gourmet Restaurant, Seattle
Address: 664 S Weller St, Seattle, WA, 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Taiwanese
Average rating: 4 chopsticks
Lunch date: 5/6/2008 @ 12:20:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 2 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 30 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 55 minutes
Chopstix quality: Smoothed Wood
Do they use MSG?:
Where is the owner/chef from?: Taiwan
Number of tables: 9
Number of occupied tables: 4 (44%)
Number of business lunch tables: 2 (50%)
Number of "local" tables: 2 (50%)
Healthcode Score: 10
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Shredded Pork and Mustard Green Noodle Soup - $7.00
Rating:

Geary's Review

At first glance from the street Sandie's looks like the Chinese version of a Hallmark store with its heart logo, red tinted glass, and flowers in the window. The interior is densely decorated with Chinese art. The tables and place settings are fairly typical for the neighborhood. Nothing other than the sign really says "gourmet." I sensed a winner, however, with my first pass through the menu. They offer a nice selection of Szechuan and Taiwanese dishes and don't hold back on things that tend to frighten whitey like Spicy Simmered Pigs Ear, Pork Bung with Sour Mustard, or Preserved Pickle with Pigs Intestine. No Americanized dishes here (sorry General Tzao). There were already multiple orders for the Szechuan Style Beef Noodle Soup by the time it was my turn to order, so I went with the Shredded Pork and Mustard Green Noodle Soup. I thew in an order of Green Onion Pancakes for the table as well.

The Pancakes came out quickly and were delicious. They were lighter and flakier than the ones at Szechuan Noodle Bowl and we got twice as much for about the same price. The Beef Noodle Soups came out quickly, but the rest of the food took a while. Fortunately for me Adam was in a sharing mood. While the Beef soup tastes very different than my gold standard at Szechuan Noodle Bowl, it is equally as wonderful. The noodles were thinner, there were more gooey bits like tendon included (I'm a big fan of gooey bits), it included a heap of cilantro and the sauce had a more pungent flavor. I plan on going back and ordering a full order for myself before they shut down.

While we were waiting for the vastly understaffed kitchen to push out our food, the elderly man who was serving us fed us almost too much detail about the finances and impending demise of the restaurant. My Pork Soup finally arrived and had a very distinct smell because of the diced mustard greens. It concerned me at first, but once I dove in all was good. The pork was tender and the mustard greens provided a distinctive, pungent flavor to make a surprisingly tasty combination. I also was able to snag bits of other's dishes as well. Rob's eggplant was exceptional as were the fried pork chops. The kitchen was slow, but if you want great authentic Chinese food you would have trouble finding better.

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Oyster Pancake with Egg and Vegetables - $7.00
Rating:

Emmett's Review

So we've walked by this place a few times in our post-663 recce and on the way back from A & B. We were going to head somewhere else today, but Wing Wah was closed, so we ended up Sandie's. My first inmpression from our walkbys was 'potpourri'. I don't know why I get that feeling, but it's got red trim on the exterior, some flowers in the window, and you can smell incense. That reaction might perhaps explain why this place doesn't get much business, which is a shame, because the food was delicious.

On examining the menu, I discovered this place was Taiwanese, and they had several Taiwanese specialties, which was great! Years ago my buddies and I were in a night market in Taipei, and I had several fantastic dishes that I've never seen anywhere else. One I particularly remember was the Oyster omelet, which is Taiwan's favorite snack, beating out Geary's beloved milk tea with tapioca pearls. Sandie's had it on their menu! Done and done.

We started with an appetizer of green onion pancakes, which were flaky and delicious. The oyster omelet came and was delicious, a nice blend of green veggies, eggs, sweet oysters, and some gummy substance that I could have probably done without. On top was a sweet hot sauce reminiscent of Bibimbob sauce.

Definitely check this place out, if you can make it before they close.

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Szechuan Style Beef Noodle Soup - $7.00
Rating:

Adam's Review

After my poor ordering decisions at A & B Cafe. I decided to try a classic stand-by... Szechuan Beef Noodle soup.

The extremely nice (and chatty) server came over and gave a recommendation for the soup. After our food was delivered, he came over again... and let us know that Sandie's was closing. He also disclosed how much money they make in a day and that he was just helping out... not working for money, he was working for friendship.

The food was a little slow, but this one-chef-show was pumping out dishes pretty fast. My soup was the first to come... Did I wait for my friends to get served before I dug in? Eff no -- When food is placed in front of me it's "go time." The soup was delicious, but it wasn't Szechuan Noodle Bowl delicious... it is definitely worth a taste, though. It has a beefy flavor, but this broth was spiked with a healthy helping of delicious cilantro.

Sounds like this place is closing pretty soon, so if you want to try it out... head over soon.

Luncher: Rob

Lunch: Szechuan Style Eggplant with Tofu - $9.00
Rating:

Rob's Review

We finally found that awesome, secret, hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant that none of us had ever been to! Unfortunately, it's closing in a week. Harumph!

At my table (we took over two, a six-top and a four-top) we ordered two scallion pancakes -- I'm used to these having four to six small pieces. The server brought out a plate with two pancakes on it, each about eight inches in diameter -- huge and well-prepared (flaky on the outside, a bit chewy on the inside). Then he brought out a second plate with two pancakes on it, which was a surprise. One scallion pancake order = two scallion pancakes, apparently. My order, Szechuan Style Eggplant with Tofu, eventually came out and looked promising, and, I'm glad to say, tasted even better. The sauce was flavorful and spicy, the tofu was soft and silky, and the eggplant was perfectly cooked. Usually when I have a Chinese or Thai dish featuring eggplant there are a couple pieces that are hard -- you bite into one and your lower teeth stick into the thick, hard, somewhat raw eggplant flesh and your upper teeth squeak across the taut skin. I hate that. Here, however, it was soft but not falling apart and really took on the flavor of the sauce. Yum!

I'll have to go back before they close.

Luncher: Michael

Lunch: Szechuan Style Beef Noodle Soup - $7.00
Rating:

Michael's Review

Big heaping plates of fresh scallion pancakes. Beef noodle soup that is full of spicy and juicy goodness. This place rocks. But you better get over there and try it right now - or you'll never know just how good it was.

Luncher: Joey

Lunch: Szechuan Style Beef Noodle Soup - $7.00
Rating:

Joey's Review

These Szechuan noodles have nothing on the ones at Szechuan Noodle Bowl. I found the soup to be way too salty. It left me feeling like I just had instant noodles with over 10 packs of seasoning. I did appreciate that the owner took the time to tell us about his restaurant mishaps though. I hope they make it out okay.

Luncher: Jason

Lunch: Kung Pao Chicken - $10.00
Rating:

Jason's Review

It's a shame this quaint Chinese restaurant is going out of business, because it is heads and tails above others in the area. My Kung Pao chicken packed both the kung and the POW! It was delicious and the service delightful. If anyone could remember the restaurant's name, maybe they wouldn't disappear.

Luncher: Lydia

Lunch: House Special Fried Rice - $8.95
Rating:

Lydia's Review

The House Special Fried Rice was OK, but I’ve certainly had better. It was lacking a certain amount of flavor. And, while the waiter's tale of the restaurant's impending demise made me feel for the owners, it didn't make my lunch arrive any faster. I wish I could say this little place will be missed, but rather, I can see why it didn't really distinguish itself from the abundance of small Chinese restaurants in the ID.

Luncher: Wayne

Lunch: Pork Chop Rice - $7.00
Rating:

Luncher: Jared

Lunch: Shredded Beef with Green Chili - $10.00
Rating:

Sandie's Gourmet Restaurant Photos

Sandie's Gourmet Restaurant


Menu Cover


First Page of Menu


Green Onion Pancake


Szechuan Style Beef Noodle Soup


Shrine


Shredded Pork and Mustard Green Noodle Soup


Oyster Pancake with Egg and Vegetables


Szechuan Style Eggplant with Tofu


Shredded Beef with Green Chili


Pork Chop Rice


Kung Pao Chicken

Lunch #50: A & B Cafe

Once more the MSG150 crew headed up Weller to find our next spot. This is a dense part of the ID and there are three other restaurants on the half a block between J Sushi on the corner and the alley to the west. The first is A & B Cafe, formerly known as J & L Cafe.

A & B Cafe, Seattle
Address: 670 S Weller St, Seattle, WA, 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Cantonese
Average rating: 2 chopsticks
Lunch date: 5/2/2008 @ 12:15:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 35 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 75 minutes
Chopstix quality: Cheap Plastic
Do they use MSG?: They say "No." We're skeptical.
Where is the owner/chef from?: Taicheng, Guangdong (Canton region)
Number of tables: 10
Number of occupied tables: 7 (70%)
Number of business lunch tables: 1 (14%)
Number of "local" tables: 7 (100%)
Healthcode Score: 0
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: #62 - Assorted Meats Rice Noodles - $6.25
Rating:

Adam's Review

I was in the mood for food-venture... so I went with a slightly vague option: Assorted Meats Rice Noodles. That was definitely a mistake. There were a couple pieces of BBQ Pork that were good. Then there was really chewy chicken (at least I think it was chicken). Then there was some decent squid. But the kicker were the meats that I had no idea what they were. They were also disgusting. There were no less than 3 unidentifiable food-stuffs.

Yes, I know that its my fault for ordering something that I had an inkling would be disgusting. But, not only was my food bad... it took forever. We waited for over half-an-hour for our food, which is unacceptable for lunch food... especially as we watched other patrons enter, order, eat, and leave before us.

The wait for our food was ridiculous. I'm not going to be headed back to this place again.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: #71 - Satay Beef with Rice - $4.95
Rating:

Geary's Review

We were seated quickly by a very friendly server. The restaurant was sparely decorated but clean and had a good sized lunch crowd of predominantly young Chinese folks. The menu is huge. There are over a hundred and fifty options on the English menu and then another menu under the glass of the table top with hundreds more items in both English and Chinese. The waiter came by and suggested some "Baked Rice Bowls" off of the in-table menu as she delivered forks. I suspected profiling. Doug and Emmett were suckered in. Adam apparently hasn't learned anything in our visit to the 50 previous restaurants and ordered an item with "Assorted" meats. I went with #55, Satay Beef with Rice Noodles.

The meal started with a bowl of cabbage tomato soup. It was very basic, just cabbage in a light, slightly tomatoy, clear broth, but it was good. This was immediately followed by nothing. Then a long wait and more nothing. After about 30 minutes the food finally started to arrive. My #55 somehow got turned into a #71, which is the same Satay Beef, but on rice instead of noodles. The Satay Beef is beef with onions and green peppers in a brown sauce. It had a nice, simple taste, but nothing grand. I can see how this might remind someone of their home and be a nice comfort food, but for me it was just boring. Looking around the table, however, I felt like I really lucked out. My three chopstick yawner was the the best thing going. I had the best dud at the table. If A & B has any winners in it, none of them showed up for us today.

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Baked Seafood Rice Bowl - $7.50
Rating:

Emmett's Review

This place started off normal enough - another ordinary restaurant among many - plain interiors and a sizeable lunch crowd. This could be great. It wasn't.

Perhaps the first sign was that they changed the name of the restaurant. Yelp still reports it as being J & L Cafe. Maybe they wanted to start fresh? Cover something up? Who knows.

At the waitress's urging I ordered the Baked Seafood Rice Bowl. Forty-five minutes later the food came. The dish was steaming, large, loaded with fish and rice. It looked good. I dug in. Basically, it is some fried rice, topped with some seafood, coated with some creamy gravy, and then baked. It wasn't bad, just a little odd. The gravy is what got to me. The dish kind of tasted like Fish Pot Pie, though I've never had Fish Pot Pie, but hopefully you get the idea. Michael commented that you could easily pass this off as Midwestern food to a farmer and they would enjoy it. True enough.

All in all, not the worst dish, but I wasn't overly impressed. I sampled some of the other cuisine and nothing stood out as being particulary good. The service was slow. I'll probably never come back.

Luncher: Rob

Lunch: #81 - Black Bean Fish Fillet with Rice - $4.95
Rating:

Rob's Review

Soon after we arrived, the A&B was packed, and I felt like we'd just discovered another little gem. When I asked the waitress what sort of fish was in the black bean fish fillet, she shook her head and said, "Don't know." Smiling, she continued, "Good fish." So I ordered it, and she repeated back to me, "Black bean fish fillet with rice." What I received, over a half hour later (don't order the baked rice bowls if you're in a hurry), was just fish fillet and vegetables with rice. Not sure what happened to the black bean part of the meal. The first two pieces of fish I tried weren't even Good Fish, and I was tempted to give up. Everyone else was just beginning to eat, however, so I soldiered on, and fortunately, the rest of the fish was okay. The size of the portion left something to be desired, as well, although there was certainly plenty of rice. In the end, I considered the whole thing to be an oddly entertaining experience, but one that left me unsatisfied.

Luncher: Michael

Lunch: #52 - Fried Rice Noodles with Beef & Scrambled Eggs - $6.25
Rating:

Michael's Review

Don't waste your time. Lunch took a long time to arrive, our tea was never refilled, and our waitress seemed to push us into ordering what turned out to be bland americanized casserole dishes. There was some amusement to be had in Doug's obviously ketchup based 'tomato' sauce, and Emmett's casserole was actually very good. That corn syrup in the ketchup gave an otherwise boring dish some appeal, but this just isn't what we are looking for in a Chinese restaurant. The casserole that Emmett got wouldn't have been out of place in a midwest family diner. And my dish? Good but forgettable.

Skip this one.

Luncher: Joey

Lunch: #72 - Beef & Scrambled Eggs with Rice - $4.95
Rating:

Joey's Review

A&B Café formerly known as J&L Café is part of a growing trend in Chinatown... HK style cuisine restaurants. Going back only 5 or so years ago the only HK style restaurant I knew of in Chinatown was ABC Garden, which is no more. Now there's LA Café, HK Cuisine, Purple Dot, A&B Café, etc (I’m probably missing one). HK style restaurants have been in Vancouver, BC, for a while and have finally made their way to Seattle. If you’re used to traditional Cantonese/Mandarin cooking then you may be caught off guard with the ingredients and preparation of the food. Many rice dishes for example are baked with creamy sauces on top. Other dishes will have corn and peas, which you won’t usually find in other Chinese food. I think about half of us opted for a baked rice dish. I got rice with beef and scrambled eggs. The scrambled eggs were thin and mixed into a creamy sauce. I suspect they mixed it with water and corn starch. The best way I can describe this dish would be to call it comfort food. The combination of the creamy sauce, rice, and beef was satisfying and made me feel at home. I could’ve gone without the corn mixed into the sauce, but I didn’t mind too much. I give A&B Cafe a 3. I would go back just for the reason that they have a huge menu and I want to see what else they have.

Luncher: Doug

Lunch: Baked Beef Rice Bowl - $6.50
Rating:

Doug's Review

1 chopstick FAILFAILFAIL. I wish Chinese restaurants wouldn't assume white people only like bland gross food. I ordered some vague "Baked beef" pot pie monstrosity that looked like a Chinese interpretation of American food. Waitress recommended it. They used ketchup! Blech. Run away. It makes me ill just thinking about it. I couldn't believe it took 30 minutes. I had to leave my half eaten ketchup beef dish to be finished off by Adam and Michael. If we were running an A/B test of the A&B café... never mind.

A & B Cafe Photos

A & B Cafe


Huge Menu


English Menu Details


Tomato Cabbage Soup


Soup


#71 - Satay Beef with Rice


Baked Seafood Rice Bowl


#81 - Black Bean Fish Fillet with Rice


#62 - Assorted Meats Rice Noodles


#72 - Beef & Scrambled Eggs with Rice


#52 - Fried Rice Noodles with Beef & Scrambled Eggs


Baked Beef Rice Bowl

Lunch #49: J Sushi

MSG150 stepped up to the big leagues today. Food writer Leslie Kelly (blog) and photographer Paul Joseph Brown (also does weddings) from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer met us for lunch at the next stop on our route, J Sushi. We've been trying to hook up with Leslie for a couple months. She finally caught up with us today and is giving us our big break into analog media. We arrived at noon on our best behavior. Adam even took a shower.

Update: Read Leslie's article and see our mugs in the Seattle PI.

J Sushi, Seattle
Address: 674 S Weller St, Seattle, WA, 98104
Cuisine: Japanese: Sushi
Average rating: 3.4 chopsticks
Lunch date: 4/30/2008 @ 12:01:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 2 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 20 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 79 minutes
Chopstix quality: Nice Metal
Do they use MSG?: No
Where is the owner/chef from?: Owner: Canton, China; Sushi Chef: Hawaii
Number of tables: 9
Number of occupied tables: 5 (55%)
Number of business lunch tables: 5 (100%)
Number of "local" tables: 0 (0%)
Healthcode Score: 10
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Bento Box with Salmon Teriyaki and Sushi - $7.95
Rating:

Emmett's Review

I'm a big sushi fan, and frequent Shiro's, Chiso, Fuji. J's is small, but has a nice atmosphere. We were greeted immediately and they showed us to our table in the back. We regaled our guests with stories both of adventure, and woe. We ate some sushi.

I got the bento box at a not-so-bad-price of 8 bucks. The salmon teriyaki was tasty, a little charred (which is how I like it). The nigiri was forgettable - a piece of salmon, I think, maybe a shrimp, and a white fish (maybe Saba). Like I said - forgettable. Accompanied with some white rice, salad, and an orange, it was a fine spread for lunch. The orange in my lunch box is always a nice touch - makes me feel like a kid in the cafeteria.

The real highlight was the dragon roll. Little sprouts were sticking out as eyes, lots of flavor. We also ordered a Hawaii Five-O roll. It had some fruit in it or something, but kind of skimpy in the fish department.

All in all, I was not blown away by the sushi. Nothing in the food department really stuck out as 'great' but the service was good and the price was decent for sushi. I could see myself coming back.

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Bento Box with Chicken Teriyaki and Sushi - $7.95
Rating:

Adam's Review

What a special day. In our DLZ, this is the only (real) sushi place. A Bento box with a couple pieces of sushi, a salad, an orange wedge, and some chicken teriyaki.

There is something to be said for teriyaki at a sushi restaurant... its probably going to be mediocre. This wasn't an exception. My sushi pieces were excellent. And my salad came with some good dark-green lettuce and an amazingly delicious salad dressing.

We also split some rolls amongst the table members. I only tried the Catepillar roll, but it was most excellent.

When in Rome, do as the Romans... eat sushi.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Bento Box with Salmon Teriyaki and Sushi - $7.95
Rating:

Geary's Review

"J" Sushi? I don't get it. There's an I Sushi in Issaquah (actually iSushi on their sign). Is this just the logical next step? I also had trouble visually unwrapping the octopus from the "J" in the logo and thought at first the name of this place was just Sushi, or maybe Octopus on an Anchor Sushi. I'm a huge sushi fan, but spend most of my sushi budget on straight sushi (sashimi or nigiri) rather than elaborate rolls. I also tend to shoot for the "great bargain" type sushi spots where you can get high quality fish at a reasonable price. A couple of my favs are Musashi's in Walingford and Hana up on Broadway. For quick, close to home sushi I go with iSushi, a conveyor belt sushi restaurant with a Japanese owner/head chef, but predominantly Mexican sushi chefs. J Sushi is a bit spendier than these bargain spots, but the prices are not outrageous. In addition to sushi, they also offer some typical Japanese lunch options at reasonable lunch prices. Since I was intent on having some sushi without blowing out my lunch budget, I went with the Bento Box with the sushi and salmon teriyaki options. We also got a couple of rolls to share with the table including a Godzilla Roll (looked like a spider roll on steroids), Caterpillar/Dragon Roll (Is there a difference? There was some confusion.), and a Hawaii 5-0 Roll (book 'em Danno). We reluctantly passed on the Super Dave Roll. What, they have a Super Dave Roll, but no Rick Roll?!

The Bento Box was excellent, the salmon was tender and flaky and a larger portion than Bush Garden; the salad was made of nice mixed greens with a light, tangy Japanese dressing; and the sushi consisted of three large, fresh pieces: one shrimp, one salmon, and one albacore. The shrimp was fine as far as shrimp sushi goes, but in general shrimp sushi (which is cooked, unseasoned shrimp filleted and stuck on rice) is really just a waste of shrimp. The salmon and albacore were excellent. Both were ample pieces of fish without a bit of chewy connective bits that often shows up in sushi of bargain joints. The salmon also had nice fatty striping. Yum! The rolls were fantastic. I didn't get a bite of the Spider Roll, but it was huge, with large chunks of crab. The caterpillar roll was beautiful. It looked like a caterpillar, with eyes, scales, and antenna. This is not the type of roll you get off of a conveyor belt. The caterpillar roll has always been one of my favorites. The distinctive taste of the unagi is complemented perfectly by the avocado and sweet and tangy sauce. Rolls done like this are fun for a splurge, but for my money, I'd still rather just have high quality fish on a ball of rice.

VIP Luncher: Leslie Kelly from Seattle PI

Lunch: Catepilar Roll, Spider Roll, Dragon Roll, and a Godzilla Roll - $20.00
Rating:

Leslie Kelly's Review

Awww! What an adorable dragon.

Whenever I eat at a new sushi place, I always test the waters by ordering rolls. I want to see what kind of care the kitchen takes with its cooked fish before I go for the raw.

J Sushi’s dragon roll – eel, crab and cucumber with avocado on top – was finished with octopus tentacles for eyes and sprouts for horns. The seaweed layered inside was just a little bit chewy, but beyond that, the flavor was great.

I also tried the Godzilla roll ($11.95; pretty good, not great) and the Caterpillar ($9.95; I’ve had better/worse, not too memorable.)

This place gets high marks for friendly service and fun décor.

If you want to read more, check out my Cheap Eats review in the May 9 Seattle P-I.

VIP Luncher: Paul Brown from Seattle PI

Lunch: Catepilar Roll, Spider Roll, Dragon Roll, and a Godzilla Roll - $20.00
Rating:

Paul Brown's Review

I had the spider roll, caterpillar roll, and three pieces of sushi: hamachi, unagi and maguro. I also had a bento with salmon teriyaki and sushi option. I thought the rolls and the sushi were excellent, 5 chopsticks. The bento was uneven, not amazing 2 chopsticks for value, 3.5 over all.

For sushi and rolls J Sushi is in the top 20% of sushi places in Seattle. Their bento is about average.

Luncher: Michael

Lunch: Bento Box with Salmon Teriyaki and Sushi - $7.95
Rating:

Michael's Review

All the walls of the place had giant paintings of aquatic critters. Behind me a jellyfish, to my left a giant octopus, and in front of me a huge pair of koi. This vibrantly colored orange and black carp watched me eat his relatives for lunch. I think it helped set the mood for lunch.

I tried both the bento box with salmon teriyaki as well sampling several of the rolls. The salmon was good, the sushi was tasty, and the rolls were both fun and flavorful.

If you’ve never ordered a ‘caterpillar roll’ now is the time. A caterpillar roll is a large sushi roll with an outer layer of avocado to give it the appearance of green skin, as well as decorations and eye spots done with fish roe. Top it off with bean sprouts for antennae and you have something that vaguely looks like a giant green caterpillar on your plate. And it tastes great.

Overall this is a quiet lunch spot that puts out a good bento and sushi product for not too much money. Tasty affordable lunch, and a nice splash of orange Koi. J Sushi is a solid place for lunch.

Luncher: Rob

Lunch: Bento Box with Salmon Teriyaki and Sushi - $7.95
Rating:

Rob's Review

I really wanted to love this place. Huge paintings of fish on the walls, the idea of good sushi for lunch in downtown Seattle, Aji (Spanish mackerel) featured on the sushi menu (although they didn't have it this day). I ended up with the lunch special bento box with salmon teriyaki and three pieces of sushi, as did most of the rest of the MSG150 crew. Also picked out the Hawaii 5-0 roll, featuring tuna and mango. Our new friends at the Seattle P-I picked out some other rolls and various pieces of nigiri. My salmon teriyaki was pretty dry, although the sauce was good. The small salad was one of the best bento box salads I've had -- real leafy greens with a nice dressing. The sushi was average. They were good sized pieces of fish, but the salmon was falling apart and the albacore didn't have the best texture. I've had worse, to be sure, but I've also had much better. The Hawaii 5-0 roll was interesting, but, again, the fish was just average, and there were only four pieces -- less than half the size of the other rolls. I also tried a piece of the very cute caterpillar roll, and that was okay, but not great. None of the fish really stood out. On the plus side, with the P-I folk there, Adam was on his best behavior. We should have newspaper reporters join us more often.

J Sushi Photos

J Sushi


Lunch Special menu with authentic soy stain


Miso


Giant Spider Roll & Caterpillar Roll


Caterpillar Roll & Spider Roll


Bento Box with Chicken Teriyaki and Sushi


Bento Box with Salmon Teriyaki and Sushi


Bento Box with Salmon Teriyaki and Sushi (again)


Hawaii 5-0 Roll


Koi Mural


Sushi Bar

05/06/08 - Fixed table stats
05/07/08 - Added link to Seattle PI