South Bay: Izaka-ya
For an impromptu Berkeley get-together, my friends and I met up at Izaka-ya:
My friend and I had a bit of trouble finding the front door and ended up looking like idiots walking back and forth in front of the restaurant while our other friend watched from inside. Turns out Izaka-ya shares a door with the teppanyaki place next door.
Izaka-ya's menu consists of many small dishes. The three of us each picked one to start. My friend wisely chose the salmon toro (fatty salmon belly):
With a squeeze of lemon, it was perfect. Fatty, salty, beautiful.
I wanted to try the grilled beef tongue (no surprise there):
The tongue was sliced thinly and grilled just right. Not overcooked, but tender and juicy.
My other friend wanted to try the enoki wrapped in bacon:
How can that combination ever go wrong?
Because we were afraid that we wouldn't have enough to eat, we also ordered a squid okonomiyaki:
It was very good, but not quite as thick and awesome as the one I had in Taiwan.
It was very good, but not quite as thick and awesome as the one I had in Taiwan.
Halfway through eating all that, we wondered if we should order some more food. They were out of the pork belly (dammit), so instead of 3 additional dishes, we got 2. Thank goodness.
Chicken gizzard on a stick, oh yeah:
I love gizzard, but I think I prefer it fried or stewed. And in bigger pieces.
We also ordered the agedashi takoyaki:
Delicious, but eat fast or risk sogginess.
To really experience all that Izaka-ya has to offer will take multiple trips. And as with dim sum, it is helpful to go in groups in multiples of 3 or 4. You get to order more and try a bit of everything.
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