Lunch #76: Tsukushinbo

Today the MSG150 crew ate at the last restaurant in our Japantown route. We have now eaten at every International District restaurant west of I-5. This is a feat that has never before been attempted and will surely win us a place in Guinness. Or at least a Guinness. I'm buying.

We set out for Tsukushinbo again today which, as we learned last week, is closed on Monday. We showed up at 11:40 to find out that it doesn't open until 11:45. Luckily the sun was out and soon we were in to give it a go.

Tsukushinbo, Seattle
Address: 515 S Main St, Seattle, WA, 98104
Cuisine: Japanese: Sushi, Japanese: Noodles
Average rating: 3.6 chopsticks
Lunch date: 5/12/2009 @ 11:45:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 3 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 14 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 45 minutes
Chopstix quality: Smoothed Wood
Do they use MSG?: No
Where is the owner/chef from?: Kawasaki, Japan
Number of tables: 9
Number of occupied tables: 6 (66%)
Number of business lunch tables: 4 (66%)
Number of "local" tables: 2 (33%)
Healthcode Score: 10
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Katsu Don - $6.75
Rating:

Geary's Review

Tsukushinbo is the most hole-in-the wall and likely the most authentic Japanese restaurant in Japantown. And, if they were going for the run-down restaurant feel they nailed it. The sign and storefront are in need of an update and a good wash. The interior is dark and also in need of a good wash. There are short curtains that hang over the doors just low enough that your head (at least my head) gets a light brush that as a result have started to turn a little brown along the edge. All of the plastic chair cushions are cracked with exposed foam. Mine also had a small helping of last night's dinner crusted too it which I had to brush off before sitting. Our server was nice, possibly the daughter of the owner, and passed out menus and answered questions. Although, either through profiling or neglect, she failed to bring us green tea for our meal. However it wasn't all bad. In fact the food was mostly good.

I ordered the Katsu Don to see how it stacked up to Ichiban, my current favorite. It was $1.20 cheaper which was a good start. It was very good, however, my dish somehow had a big dollop of cold, uncooked egg white that was hard to overlook. I tried to stir it in, but the rice and bowl weren't quite hot enough to cook it so it just turned the rice a little gooey. However, I'm not chicken when it comes to raw egg so I dove in anyway. Like Ichiban, there was lots of sauce and the pork was nice and tender. I ate every bite.

If you're looking for a sterile Japanese dining experience, you'll have better luck across the street. However, if you are looking for an authentic, family run, slightly grungy Japanese restaurant experience with tasty food then look no further. You won't be disappointed.

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Sanma Shioyaki & Tonjiru with Rice - $7.50
Rating:

Emmett's Review

Well god damn. You could walk by this place and not even know it exists, but once the door opens, you enter a warm, welcoming, inviting place. There is a sushi bar in the rear right corner, and a smattering of tables fill out the rest of the room. There's a white board of specials that all look intriguing.

On the Tuesday we visited, the daily special was Sanma Shioyaki with Tonjiru. I can't recall ever having Sanma, or Mackerel Pike in English, but it was a short fish about an inch in diameter. Briefly before my meal came over, I saw the Sushi Chef with a blow torch, and I can't help but wonder if the blow torch was doing it's number on my Sanma. It was delicious. A little bony, and it took some work to get the fish off, but it was juicy, savory, and delicious. The Tonjiru was the star of the show. Basically Miso soup with sliced pork. Why didn't I think to try this before? In a word, awesome. The special was rounded out by a mediocre green salad with some macaroni thrown in. Forgiveable. All for $7.50.

Besides being a delightful surprise (and relative bargain), the daily special menu is tempting me to come back. Jay Friedman gushed recently about their Top Secret Friday shoyu ramen. I can't wait to stand outside on a Friday morning at a quarter til noon to try this.

Thank you Tsukushinbo, for reminding me why I do this. 5 chops.

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Oyako Don - $6.50
Rating:

Adam's Review

11:45AM is a weird time for a restaurant to open. Normally, we would get there after the time, but Dave is an early luncher, so we had to wait outside the door for 5 cold minutes.

To be honest, Don buri dishes have never sounded that appetizing to me; they sounded really boring. After everyone got done raving about the Don Buris at Ichiban (and my experience was crap there), I decided to go with the Oyako Don. Hot dang! It was good. The little marinated chunks of chicken thighs (my favorite part of a chicken), mixed with well-cooked eggs (not runny but not dry) and the sweet sauce they put on the rice was a winner. I spiced it up with some Shichimi, and enjoyed it some more.

Overall, I think the Don Buri was good but will remain a dish I keep on a back burner. It's good, but it's simple and gets old after a whole bowl of it. If the windows in our office opened, I could throw Geary, and hit Tsukushinbo. I'm pretty weak, so let that give you an indication of how close this place is. I'll definitely hit this place up again, for both it's proximity and good food.

Luncher: Dave

Lunch: Oyako Don - $6.50
Rating:

Dave's Review

Tsukushinbo is an unassuming little place, and a little dingy; it's showing some definite signs of age and neglect. This maybe isn't the place to impress a date. That said, you don't eat the decor, so down to what matters: this was a darn good bowl of oyakodon. I love donburi -- if it's on the menu, that's what I'm getting. To me it's comfort food: steaming rice, scrambled eggs, sweet mirin-and-dashi sauce. This bowl was exactly what I wanted: the balance of sweet and salty in the sauce was spot on, the eggs weren't overcooked, and the chicken was tasty enough. The bits of seaweed and the pickled radish garnish were great, and the unexpected strips of fish cake were a nice textural contrast. And as a bonus, the price is right. I can definitely see this place making its way into the rotation, at least for me.

Luncher: Torrey

Lunch: Curry Udon - $7.25
Rating:

Tsukushinbo Photos

Tsukushinbo


Good News!


Specials


Menu Cover


Tsukushinbo Menu


Tsukushinbo Menu (cont.)


Sanma Shioyaki & Tonjiru with Rice


Oyako Don


Oyako Don


Katsu Don


Curry Udon

Lunch #75: New Hong Kong Restaurant

Though not complete with Japantown, we were dismayed to find our next joint, Tsukushinbo, closed that day. Intrepidly we proceeded into the vast unknown, eastward up our old friend Jackson, under the freeway and into our central station: the Pacific Rim Center. This place is a veritable cornucopia of all things Pacific. We passed the hair salon, travel agency, to our mark: the New Hong Kong Restaurant. The adventure begins.

New Hong Kong Restaurant, Seattle
Address: 900 S Jackson St, Seattle, WA, 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Dim Sum
Average rating: 3.5 chopsticks
Lunch date: 4/37/2009 @ 12:00:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 0 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 27 minutes
Chopstix quality: Nice Plastic
Do they use MSG?: Yes
Where is the owner/chef from?: Vietnam, but ethnically Chinese
Number of tables: 35
Number of occupied tables: 4 (11%)
Number of business lunch tables: 4 (100%)
Number of "local" tables: 8 (200%)
Healthcode Score: 10
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Family Style Dishes

• Tofu Shrimp Ball
• Tofu Shrimp Roll
• Fried Shrimp Ball with Sweet Mayo Sauce
• BBQ Pork Bun
• Eggplant with Shrimp
• Shrimp and Cilantro Dumpling
• Shu Mai
• Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf
• Pea Vines with Garlic

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Family Style - $11.50
Rating:

Adam's Review

More Dim Sum! We haven't had Dim Sum recently... so this was pretty exciting. I've heard that one good indicator of a Dim Sum restaurant is the number of Chinese people. This place was relatively empty, so I was a little scared to begin with, but we have a mission... so we sat down and ordered some friggin Dim Sum!

Hey Hey! The food is warm, fresh and pretty tasty... and because there were fewer people we got good service with the carts. We were always within eye contact with the server which made ordering round 2 easier. The fried food was crispy, hot, and tasty. The sticky rice was tasty, but kind of small. The Shu Mai were good. In general, everything was pretty danged good. Nothing is sticking out in my mind as "head and shoulders" delicious, but all of it was good.

The bill came, and after two rounds and only a moderate amount of Dim Sum... the bill was $11.50 per person, which I felt was pretty high.

Good food. Doesn't meet the gold standard of Jade Garden. Fast Fresh and good.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Family Style - $11.50
Rating:

Geary's Review

I really don't understand this building. It looks like a parking garage from the street. The restaurant is very nice inside with more of an upscale feel like Ocean City and less of a lived in feel like Jade Garden. There were lots of open tables (not a great sign) and we were seated right away. We started with some shrimp rolls and eggplant. They were good, but not very hot. There appeared to only be two or three carts serving the entire restaurant. The steam cart arrived soon afterwards and turned out to be more successful. We added Shu Mai, Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf, various dumplings and put in for an order of Pea Vine Greens. The Sticky Rice was out of this world. It was the best sticky rice we have had in our tour. It was chocked full of meat and shrooms and was moist, steamy, and full of flavor. The Shu Mai and the Shrimp and Cilantro Dumplings were also stand outs. The Pea Vine Greens were great as well, however I have never met a pea vine green I didn't like.

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Family Style - $11.50
Rating:

Emmett's Review

This place was a trip. Big sign! New building. Very lively as we enter. And we're charging up Jackson now, on our way to Little Saigon, so we're giddy with anticipation at what we might find.

Overall - expensive, not too varied, but adequate dim sum. I didn't find the flavors or variety as compelling as either Jade Garden or Harbor City. I put this more in line with House of Hong. To be sure, it was a satisfying meal, but not displacing Jade in my book.

Luncher: Dave

Lunch: Family Style - $11.50
Rating:

Dave's Review

So, there are enough dim sum places in the ID that to me picking a place is all about tradeoffs. Overall, the food was quite good. Everything fried was crispy, everything dumpling-shaped was dumplingy, all the basics were spot on. In New Hong Kong's favor: the pea vines were great. Of course, it's (early) spring, so they'd better be. Also notable was the eggplant with shrimp, which was nice and sweet. Downsides (especially compared with jade garden, which is kind of the gold standard): price was a bit higher than I remember Jade Garden being. Also, this may have just been bad ordering on our part, but we didn't get any of the big thick rice-noodle-wrapped meat rolls, which are one of my favorite standard dim sum items.

Still, everything we had was good and there was plenty of variety. Would I come back? yeah, pretty happily. Would I consistently choose New Hong Kong over jade garden? that's not so clear. Is that partly because it's a long uphill walk to get there and I'm lazy? yes. yes it is.

Luncher: Ross

Lunch: Family Style - $11.50
Rating:

Ross's Review

Overall, I’d say it was fine dim sum. I wouldn’t avoid it, but didn’t think it was worth seeking out. There were a few very good plates, but overall it was neutral. That said, I haven’t had dim sum in years, so I wouldn’t trust me on this one.

Luncher: Jared

Lunch: Family Style - $11.50
Rating:

New Hong Kong Restaurant Photos

New Hong Kong Restaurant


New Hong Kong Restaurant


Pacific Rim Center (not a parking garage as you may have assumed)


Tofu Shrimp Ball, Tofu Shrimp Roll, Fried Shrimp Ball with Sweet Mayo Sauce


BBQ Pork Bun


Shu Mai


Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf


Shrimp with Cilantro (half eaten)


Pea Vines with Garlic (half eaten)

Lunch #74: Ichiban

The lime green sign calls. MSG150 heeds. Ichiban it is.

Mt. Fuji on sign. It mocks the Fuji near by. We mock both the same.

We find Ichiban. We are welcomed in to sit. Our hot tea arrives.

Menus are green too. "No sushi" explains the sign. We eat no sushi.

Ichiban, Seattle
Address: 601 S Main St, Seattle, WA, 98104
Cuisine: Japanese
Average rating: 3 chopsticks
Lunch date: 4/23/2009 @ 12:10:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 5 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 30 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 55 minutes
Chopstix quality: Smoothed Wood
Do they use MSG?: No
Where is the owner/chef from?: Kyūshū, Japan
Number of tables: 9
Number of occupied tables: 4 (44%)
Number of business lunch tables: 3 (75%)
Number of "local" tables: 1 (25%)
Healthcode Score: 0
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Nanbanyaki (Spicy Beef Teriyaki) - $9.25
Rating:

Emmett's Review

This place has got the Tai Tung vibe going for it. The interior decor seems to be out of the 70s with little update. The sign outside appears to be similarly as old. The inside reeks of a deep-fryer, which is slightly unappetizing. But we're tough, we've been through the gauntlet already. Bring it.

I went with the Nanbanyaki, or Spicy Beef Teriyaki. The beef was sliced thin like steak-umms and was bursting with saucy flavor. The intensity was pretty high, and it came with quite a bit of meat. The appetizer was a small bowl of bean sprouts with toasted sesame, which was delicious. Not sure what it was called (the menu indicated that all lunch entrees come with 'Ohitashi', but my research indicated that this was a spinach dish). The Miso was adequate. Oh and again I got a slice of orange with my meal, which makes me feel like a kid again.

It was a decent meal, and a good amount of food. The price was high for lunch though, and the fryer smell was a bit overwhelming. I may be back.

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Yaki Udon - $8.95
Rating:

Adam's Review

Almost done with Japantown; only a couple of restaurants left. The first thing you'll notice when you walk into Ichiban is the smell of something unpleasant. Right now, I can't remember what it was but it didn't make me happy.

The second thing you'll notice is that the food is more expensive that you would expect. For lunch, I expect to pay $6.99 or less (if you've read Predictably Irrational, you'll notice this is my "anchor" for lunch food). Also, this place is kind of dingy and dirty (and doesn't smell good), so I might expect some inexpensive food (because they're not "blowing" their profits on decor). The server is nice and was obviously the owner of the joint.

The food was decent, but unremarkable.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Katsu-Don - $7.95
Rating:

Geary's Review

Even with two "Yes We're Open" signs, it's not completely clear that Ichiban is open until you peek in the door. The interior is a bit cramped and the kitchen is hidden by a wall made to look like the side of an old Japanese building in 1970. When we arrived there was a bit of a dirty fryer smell in the air. Yum. We were greeted warmly and given big cups and hot green tea. I ordered the Katsu-Don to compare against my lunch at Fuji. After our order was in we were served a bowl of miso and a small plate of cold bean sprouts with sesame oil and toasted sesames. The miso was good and had little crunchy bits of something that added a nice extra texture. The sprouts were great. They were crisp with a toasty flavor. I tried to save some to eat with my meal but failed.

My Katsu-Don arrived steaming and I dove in. It was substantially saucier than the Fuji version. That's a big plus for me. The pork was crispy, tender, and flavorful. The sauce had just the right mix of sweet, salt, and tang. I've had them all now and Ichiban is the best Katsu-Don in the ID. I'll be back.

Luncher: Ken

Lunch: Chicken Teriyaki - $8.95
Rating:

Ken's Review

The atmosphere was very dark in Ichiban, but the food was quite good. I remember feeling like I was eating in someone’s paneled daylight basement. The food came out in its own time, each dish as it was completed. I had the teriyaki chicken which was tasty and delicious. I don’t think I left a grain of rice on my plate. So, all in all I would say a 2 on the atmosphere scale and a 4 on the food scale, leaving me with a 3 overall.

Luncher: Jared

Lunch: Katsu-Don - $7.95
Rating:

Ichiban Photos

Ichiban


Ichiban is number one


They are sorry.


Ichiban Menu


Green Tea


Specials. No sushi fish.


Sprouts and Miso


Nanbanyaki (Spicy Beef Teriyaki)


Yaki Udon


Chicken Teriyaki


Katsu-Don