pho express

i've been eating around the mt. sac area more lately, and have discovered some places i never knew were there. like pho express, which was right across the street. i'm not sure how long they've been open for, but i never knew there was a pho restaurant there. i was on my class break, and didn't want to smell like pho, but i decided phok it since i hadn't had it for a long time. i ordered the regular size with steak and brisket for $4.75. the sides were like every other place around here: sprouts, jalapenos, and basil. i love pho broth, so i always like to try a nice spoonful before adding any condiments. it was good. not a whole lot going on in the soup, but it was much richer and oily than pho hana or saigon noodle around diamond bar. my only complaints were that the portion was a bit small, and the meat you get was even smaller than i was used too...maybe 5 good sized pieces total. or is that normal? i don't even remember the last time i had pho before that...

i was still hungry and ordered a sandwich with chicken to go, and was pretty disappointed. first was the bread. i thought it was too thin, and reminded me of those oily slices of bread i once had at this chinese porridge place in sf. second was the vegetables. they put some salad in there no joke. there were cut up salad pieces of iceberg lettuce, carrots...and some kind of weird dressing with the mayo, that made it too rich and gooey for me...the chicken had some kind of chinese style flavoring going on with it too, but it wasn't too strong. it was 3.25.

overall, i thought it was ok. i don't plan to go anytime soon because there are 2 other pho places around db that i want to try, as well as some other restaurants around the area that i want to go to too.

btw sake sushi in that same plaza has a nice beer happy hour on mon-sat, 50% off beer, so i drank a big bottle of asahi for 3 bucks. they also have sushi happy hour too, i think its 30% off for dinner. good deal in my book for the beer. the sushi, well i only tried the ikura, yellowtail, and hirame, and none were very fresh, esp the halibut. but it might be a good place for rolls. the chicken teriyaki bowl i give a C. the sauce was generic, chicken portion was small, so overall an average type of chicken bowl.

domo arigato

domo's sushi and roll

It was one of those rare days where i got out of class early, giving me a chance to grab some dinner before my next class, since i didn't pack my dinner yesterday. i decided to go to domo's, having seen it many times across the street from mt. sac when i walked over to taco nazo. it said japanese fast food and sushi with an A health rating, so i went inside around 540. There was no one inside, but people started to trickle in, some ordering to go. After looking at the menu, i decided to get the spicy teriyaki chicken bowl and the spicy tuna roll. i always have to get the teriyaki chicken whenever i go to a japanese place.

the service was pretty quick. I was first given a bowl of miso soup which was average, and had some pieces of seaweed in it. I also got a nice cup of ice water with a slice of lemon. The spicy tuna roll first came out, 8 pieces for around 5-6 bucks, i don't remember exactly, and they were good sized pieces with not that much rice (like how todai does it), and it was pretty darn spicy. however, something was a bit off, but i couldn't figure it out. still it was ok, and i wasn't expecting the best quality anyhow. next my bowl came out, and i found out that the spicy meant having a bunch of sambal sauce dumped on it. it also came with some steamed veggies, mostly cabbage, with some stray pieces of broccoli, maybe some onion and carrot, i don't remember. my first bite was mmm mmm scrumptious and yummy. but as i really tasted it, it wasn't as good...i think it was because i was just hungry...i hadn't eaten lunch and had a light breakfast. it was a good sized bowl, but my chief complaint was that there was a thin layer of chicken, only covering 2/3 of the bowl...when i say thin i'm talking about white chicken meat sliced about a little under 1 cm thick...with some vegetables, and then a lot of rice. towards the end, it got a bit nasty because the rice had soaked up all the sauce. the chicken was cooked right, not dry, and the sauce, was a bit thin, but it kinda tasted like generic brand sauce, but maybe they made it, i dunno. i regretted ordering the spicy because if i had known it was sambal sauce, i would have preferred it to be on the side, but my fault for not asking. the bowl was i think 4.25 or something like that.

prices are reasonable. when i went in, i thought mom and pops place, because i think they were married, i'm not sure...it was a korean man doing the sushi and the woman doing cashier, taking orders, etc.... its a small place, maybe holding 25 people plus a small sushi bar for 5 . i'm not sure if they sell beer and sake there either....it seems they're more known for the rolls...i didn't try the nigiri

my plan is to try all the places around mt. sac....i've tried the tap ex, jack in the crack, taco nazo, and happy bowl or wok bowl or something like that.....so more to come later.