Tag Archives: scallop

Dash Japanese Tapas and Sushi

Posted in Peninsula & South Bay by

While Old Town Sushi is all the rage in San Mateo, I discovered Dash Japanese Tapas and Sushi last year. It surely didn’t disappoint. I recently went again and fell in love all over again. The shop is inconspicuously located in the alley of downtown San Mateo next to the movie theater. There’s not much of a wait but reservations are recommended for dinner.

We started with the baked baby scallop with uni. This dish was amazing! The creaminess from the uni was well balance with the scallop and roe.
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Ijji

Posted in San Francisco by

Ijji recently opened in February but don’t wait too long to snag a spot. This traditional sushi restaurant is small and can seat about 16 people at a time. A credit card is required to hold your reservations. If you cancel, they will charge $100 per person so be certain you can make your reservations. Tip: go early to find parking. Ijji is located on Divisadero so street parking is tough to find. I was half an hour late because I was spending 30 minutes looking for parking. Luckily, I called the restaurant to let them know I was late looking for parking, and they were very accommodating. The restaurant is hard to spot since there is no sign outside but look for the wooden door.

I was seated at the bar and thoroughly enjoyed watching the chefs prepare the fish. I noticed the fish was stored in bamboo boxes instead of lined up on the counter. Every time the chef opened the box, I felt like like a giddy kid trying to peek inside a box of chocolates. I tried not to do this every time since all (chefs’) eyes are on you when you sit at the counter. Yes, even when you’re eating.

 The menu only offers appetizers, nigiri and sashimi. I went with the omakase option. Menu said it came with 10 items and an appetizer for market price. I assumed it was an appetizer and 10 pieces of nigiri. However, it turned out to be an appetizer and 9 pieces of nigiri. Looking back, I would have opted for ordering from the menu instead since the omakase was the same price as each nigiri combined. All the fish was fresh but I personally would have been fine going without a few of the “omakase” selections. I also opted to add a few pieces in the end.

We added the ankimo nitsuke to the omakase. It is ankimo (monkfish liver) marinated overnight in a soy broth. It tasted like salty, soy ankimo. I personally preferred the sweetness of the regular ankimo.

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Legal Sea Foods

Posted in Boston by

I landed in Boston in the evening, and after a five hour flight, I was starving. Luckily, around the corner from my hotel was Legal Sea Foods. This place first opened in Cambridge, Massachusetts as a low-key restaurant next to the Berkowitz family’s Legal Cash Market and fish market. Word quickly spread about its fresh and quality seafood. Now there have locations throughout the east coast and airports. Despite many locations, the place was packed. It was a 45 minute wait for a table. I walked around the block for a few minutes before heading to the bar to warm up with a glass of wine instead. Shortly afterwards, our table was ready.

The menu was filled with many seafood options cooked in different methods.  I wanted to try all of it from steamers to lobster to the fried mussels. It was hard to choose. Eventually, I decided on the the New England clam chowder, crab cake, baked oysters, and the ciopinno.

The New England clam chowder was perfect. It was creamy, full of clam flavor and whole clam pieces. I was surprised by this since it’s rare to have whole clam pieces. I enjoyed this chowder so much that I wiped the cup clean with bread.

As a crab cake lover, Legal’s signature crab cake was a disappointment. It had bits of apple in it giving the crab cake a hint of sweetness. The crab cake was fried so it had a consistency of a fried dough ball instead of the crunch from a pan seared crab cake. The one good thing was its huge lumps of crab.

As a recommendation from the waitress, we ordered the baked oysters. The oysters were topped with spinach, tomato, cheese, and breadcrumbs. They were cheesy delicious but since the oysters were huge, one baked oyster was filling. I was getting full at this point.

Somehow I managed to save enough room for the cippinno. The cippinno came with a small lobster tail, scallops, shrimp, calamari, littleneck clams, mussels and whitefish all cooked in a white tomato sauce. It was a decent cippinno but nothing decadent.

 If you’re drooling to try Legal seafood, they deliver throughout the continental U.S.

Ivar’s Seafood Bar

Posted in Seattle by

Growing up in the Bay Area, my standard of good clam chowder was what they sold at San Francisco’s infamous Fisherman’s Wharf. Boy, did I not know what good clam chowder was until I tried Ivar’s. The creamy, savory clam chowder with its bursting clam flavor and unexpected bacon makes it the best clam chowder I’ve ever had.

The smoked scallops won’t disappoint either. The scallops have a wonderful smoky flavor that balances out the sweet cracker that it’s served on.image

If you aren’t overwhelmed yet by the clams from the clam chowder, order the clam entree. Cooked in white wine sauce, it’s so good that you’ll slurp every last drop. My family kept fighting over this dish that we had to order two to keep the peace.

Swan Oyster Depot

Posted in San Francisco by

Swan Oyster Depot was established in its present location over 100 years ago in 1912 by four Danish brothers. They delivered fresh seafood throughout San Francisco using a horse drawn carriage. In 1946, they sold the business to the Sancimino and LaRocca family. Over time, the Sancimino children took over, and today they continue to run the business along with delivering fresh seafood throughout the city. Today the shop looks just like it did in the past. A long narrow seafood bar that seats only 18 with an antiquated register adding to its charm.

The oyster combo comes with oysters from around the world but I wasn’t able to catch the names. They were all very fresh and delicious, as acclaimed. My favorite were the small oysters due to their sweetness.

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Got their clam chowder bowl and crab cocktail. I would pass on the clam chowder. It was full of clam flavor but lacked body. I tend to like my clam chowder to be thick and filled with clams. The crab cocktail was delightful. Com’on it’s a bowl of shelled crab meat! 

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You can taste the freshness in the sashimi plate. It comes with salmon, tuna, yellowtail, halibut and scallops. My favorite were the sweet scallops. 

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Tip: Go early for there’s an hour long wait for a seat. Bring cash and lots of it. For two people, this meal can run up to ~$100.

(1517 Polk St, San Francisco, CA 94109)

Endo Sushi

Posted in Osaka by

A little unknown secret is Endo Sushi, located in Osaka’s fish market. There is approximately only a 10 min wait. The place is small and they will seat you with strangers at the same table. They offer 5 different sushi sets options for ¥1050 each. Each set comes with 5 pieces if nigiri.

I got two sets. The first set came with kani (boiled crab), akagai (arc shell), hotate-bashira (scallop), toro, and tachiuo (hairtail). I looooved the sweetness of the scallop.

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My next set came with ika (squid), ikura (salmon roe),

sayori (halfbeak), toro, and sake (salmon). I chose this one because I’m a fan of halfbeak. Overall, the fish was super fresh and sweet.

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There are no individual soy sauce plates. It is custom to brush the soy sauce from the communal bowl onto your sushi. If you want miso soup, you can order it as a side.

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(1 Chome Noda, Fukushima Ward, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan)

Sushi Dai


Be prepared to wait for Sushi Dai, one of the two acclaimed sushi restaurants at the Tsukiji fish market. By wait, I don’t mean 1-2 hours. I mean over FOUR hours. You have to be committed, or just wake up super early to be first in line. I got to Sushi Dai around 5 am and was immediately told it will be a four hour wait. So I waited….and waited….and waited 4.5 hours for:

Fresh and smooth toro

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