SUSHI BOATS!

Ok, you know I don't upload videos very often, but this one is so worth it. And, they've made posting videos much easier now, so I think I'll be doing it far more often. Just click below...

We were visiting my cousin at the hospital in SF, which is located right next to Japantown. And rather than facing rush hour traffic, we headed over to grab dinner before going home. We had known about the conveyor belt sushi place, Isobune, but hadn't tried it yet, and so this was a good opportunity to check it out.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, this is how conveyor belt sushi works. Basically you have dishes of food going by you. Each dish costs a different amount of money, which is dictated by the color plate that it's on. As you eat, you collect plates and in order to calculate your bill, the staff with tally how many plates you have of each color. It's pretty easy.

However, this place was truly awesome. If you actually watched the video, you 'll see that it's not just a conveyor belt. The plates of sushi are actually riding atop sushi boats that are chained together and floating along a little body of water. How much more entertaining could it be?

Ok, as for the sushi, that's a different matter. The sushi at a conveyor belt sushi place is never stellar, because it's not made to order. The thing doesn't get eaten until someone picks it up. So sometimes, the same plate is just riding around, as the food dries out and doesn't look so hot. Ideally, you want to go to a busy place so the food is turning. We went to dinner a bit early. So there was a mix of fresh stuff and not so fresh stuff. I gotta say overall, the food wasn't too bad. I had some pretty decent sushi, and it truly wasn't that expensive (and certainly cheaper than Kirala here in the East Bay).

Tom accumulated far more plates than I did, and he enjoyed the octopus the most. He didn't feel it was the freshest and best fish ever, but he also liked the variety and the experience of going. I wouldn't say that we'd rush back to this place, but if we're in the area in the mood for sushi, it's certainly a good place to grab a quick bite, without blowing a ton of money on sushi.

BUSHI-TEI, SAN FRANCISCO

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that most of my friends eventually move to SF. (Yes Leah, I'm waiting on you). The first one to move here has been Sue Min, she's here for at least 3 years for dental school, and it's really nice having a friend from the East Coast, who loves to eat as much as I do.

Unfortunately Sue Min is often quite busy with school, so we haven't been able to hang out as frequently, so when she called me up for brunch recently, I agreed to meet up with her. Sue Min now has a favorite brunch place, a restaurant called Bushi-Tei located in Japantown (one of the few places I know how to navigate in SF). It's a Japanese French restaurant that features a prix fixe brunch menu. Now, it's more than I would normally spend on brunch, but I rarely go into the city, so I didn't mind spending the money.

So here's the exterior of the restaurant

It's got this mix of modern and rustic - with some large wooden pieces inside. I liked this huge communal table they have running down the length of the restaurant made of some really cool wood. Sue min was a little late, but luckily, she'd chosen a restaurant next to one of my favorite stores in Japantown, Super 7. So I hopped over there and bought Tom a little key chain while I waited for her to arrive.

She did eventually show up and we sat at a table in the window. The restaurant was pretty empty (which is probably why they offer the prix fixe deal in the first place), but the waiter was helpful and pretty friendly (though a little pushy trying to up our bill with special lemonades and iced teas - we passed). So for the prix fixe, you're allowed to choose two courses from the menu. All of it is French-Japanese inspired food. After we ordered, we were given this lovely and adorable selection of breads and pastries.

They were all very fresh and quite yummy. Then my first course arrived I ordered a corn soup:

My soup was pretty yummy. It was kinda thin and not as corn flavored as my favorite corn soup served at Gotham, the restaurant that I used to work at in NY. But it was still very nice. Next up, Sue min and I both ordered the crab cake hollandaise:

I know. Truly decadent and a bit over the top, but they were really tasty. The hollandaise sauce wasn't too heavy and those crab cakes were basically all crab meat and very little filler. I enjoyed it quite a lot, but at this point, I had gotten quite full and only managed to finish one of them. I ended up taking the second crab cake home.

Lastly, I ordered dessert. I hadn't planned to, but Sue Min ordered dessert and I that encourage me to do so. I ordered something light - a trio of sorbets

There was a mango, green apple and pear. All were homemade and very light and delicious. The mango was my favorite.

Bushi-Tei was a lovely restaurant for brunch with a friend. Though I don't think I'll be going back any time soon (I ended up spend around $40, which is more than I'd spend at dinner for two normally), but it's a pleasant place to take someone like my mom (especially if she's paying.)