MSG150: Seattle International District Lunch Food: Japanese: Noodles

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

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: 3 Chopsticks

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: 5 Chopsticks

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: 3 Chopsticks

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: 4 Chopsticks

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: 3 Chopsticks

Tsukushinbo Photos

Tsukushinbo

Good News!

Specials

Menu Cover

Tsukushinbo Menu

Tsukushinbo Menu (cont.)

Sanma Shioyaki & Tonjiru with Rice

Oyako Don

Katsu Don

Curry Udon

Monday, March 3, 2008

Lunch #32: Uwajimaya - Cooked To Order

Snuggled betwixt the Steam-table Chinese food and the register of Chef Kenzo's not-so-good Japanese food lies a little nugget of UFC deliciousness. The Cooked-to-Order counter offers Udon, Donburi, and Meat-in-Window (MIW)... all of which looked delicious. Chef Kenzo was looking like a chump next to the ladies running this counter.

Uwajimaya - Cooked To Order, Seattle
Address: 600 5th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: BBQ, Japanese: Noodles
Average rating: 3 chopsticks
Lunch date: 3/3/2008 @ 12:10:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 1 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 10 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 33 minutes
Chopstix quality: Smoothed Wood
Do they use MSG?: ?
Where is the owner/chef from?: ?
Number of tables: 0
Number of occupied tables: 0
Number of business lunch tables: 0
Number of "local" tables: 0
Healthcode Score: 0
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Duck Combo Plate - $8.50
Rating: 3 Chopsticks

Emmett's Review

This place was a whole five feet from our last visit. We're making progress, I think. This place looked intriguing - lots of good stuff on the menu - duck, pork, soba, donburi. This has potential, I can feel it.

I went for the Duck Combo. It comes with 1/2 of a hanging duck, some orange duck sauce, some brown duck sauce, rice, and veggies. The duck was good - hot, tasty, and delcious. Though there was 1/2 a duck, there were lots of bones. I had a good time working on it, and there was enough to share. The rice was overcooked and mushy, and the veggies were average. Definitely a great choice for a quick fix of duck.

To accompany this duck, I chose Pocari Sweat. Nothing like the salty sweet sweat of a Pocari to wash down the duck. It's nice, like American sport drinks but less sweet.

I was giddy to head back to the store. There's all kinds of good shit you can buy at Uwajimaya. It mostly makes the trip worth it. Mostly. For this trip I went for some Xylish Hyper Cool gum. The first ingredient is Maltitol. The second ingredient was Salt. Salt. It was quite refreshing, in a kick you in the face sort of way, but it mellows out quickly and has a nice menthol taste.

Oh yeah, and if anyone can make sense of this crazy "Web Accessory" I found on the Xylish web site, please let me know.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Oyako Donburi - $5.75
Rating: 3 Chopsticks

Geary's Review

If you don't look carefully, you might even miss this place. The BBQ meats are fairly obvious, but there is much more to this middle station of the Uwajimaya Deli. Sandwiched between the prepared foods and Chef Kenzo on the east and the often crowded steam table on the west, the counter known as "Cooked to Order" has three distinct menus. There's the Chinese BBQ meats served in various lunch combinations, the "Cooked to Order" section of Sukiyaki and various forms of Donburi, and 14 different Noodle Bowls of Udon, Saba, and Ramen noodles.

I took a short right down the middle and went with the Oyako (chicken) Donburi, a classic Japanese dish with chicken, onions, and egg simmered together and then served over rice. And, as I waited, it was in fact cooked to order.

The donburi was good, but a bit bland. I've had more flavorful donburi, but generally it's an issue I have with many casual Japanese dishes. It's usually quickly solved with the liberal addition of some chili sauce (typically of non-Japanese origin like Sriracha), but all I saw available at the Cooked to Order counter was some Japanese red pepper powder, which never seems to do the trick. I considered sneaking across the food court and snagging some sauce from the Vietnamese place, but I ended up eating it as is. There was lots of food and it made a satisfying lunch.

Update: I learned the following day that the steam table next door has Sriracha.

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: BBQ Pork and Roast Pork Combo Plate - $6.25
Rating: 3 Chopsticks

Adam's Review

This is Uwajimaya Food Court's (UFC's) "cooked to order" counter, but it's also their meat-in-window (MIW) counter. I'm a sucker for MIW, so I went for the BBQ Pork and Roast Pork Lunch Combo.

A more appropriate name for the Roast Pork probably would have been: "Roast Pork Fat with Skin." And get ready for this... it was delicious. I knew that I was going to have to run 10 miles after work just to burn the calories off (nevermind the impact it made on my arteries), but I couldn't stop eating the delicious morsels of blubbery goodness.

The BBQ Pork was good, and not too salty. The roasted meat tasted fresh, so I surmised that it was roasted in-house. Emmett confirmed the in-house roasting with the man behind the meat window.

The food here is typical MIW... nothing fancy. I felt really sad for my heart after eating this, so I have to drop my score down for this little place.

When in the UFC, this is not a bad option.

Luncher: Rob

Lunch: Fried Bean Curd Udon - $5.45
Rating: 2 Chopsticks

Rob's Review

Not much to say about this little corner of the UFC. I had the fried bean curd udon, and while the broth and the noodles were fine, the fried bean curd was unpleasantly sweet. Some people may like sweet things in their soup, but I don't. As I slurped up the udon, I kept thinking to myself that a few steps away was Samurai Noodle with exponentially better noodle soup. Ah well. I also did not realize that complimentary bottles of Sriracha are available down by the Steam Table cash registers, and a few squirts of that would have been a nice addition to the broth.

Luncher: Michael

Lunch: Beef Sukiyaki - $5.95
Rating: 4 Chopsticks

Michael's Review

I never would have thought to try this place if it wasn't for the MSG 150. It's a tiny little window hidden behind some trash cans. And yet it is so awesome.

I've been craving more Beef Sukiyaki every day since we at there. I want more Beef Sukiyaki right now.

So the Beef Sukiyaki was really good. That's all I'm saying.