15.178 Albacore Tataki

Cycle 15 – Item 178

1 (Mon) July 2024

Albacore Tataki

3.5

at MJ Sushi

-Palo Alto, California, USA-

with the Family, DJ’s friends

Summer Holiday in USA (Day 6 of 11)

In the San Francisco Bay Area.  With the Family.  Their first time in Northern California.  The immediate objective is to escort DJ and three of his friends to compete in the finals of a global logic competition at Stanford University, while taking advantage of the opportunity to show the family my hometown/region, including San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Berkeley, and visit my best friend Hahn, who lives in Los Altos, maybe even drop by my childhood home in Saratoga.  The itinerary is packed, nearly every hour scheduled with activities.  Stay tuned.

After three nights at a hotel in downtown San Francisco, next 4 nights at a rented house in Redwood City.

LUNCH

Dropped off DJ and his friends at Stanford University this morning for Day 1 of the International Logic Olympiad.

Afterwards, the rest of us had lunch at Harry’s Hofbrau, which W and IZ had missed out on a couple days back.

Reuben Sandwich is an American dish.  Comprises corned beef + sauerkraut + Swiss cheese + Russian or Thousand Island dressing + rye bread, all grilled.   Often associated with New York City, especially delis, where the sandwich may have been invented.

Must’ve had one while I was at Columbia, but I can’t recall.  Came close in 2016, during a mission to NYC, when I had lunch at the famous Katz’s Delicatessen, where I went with the hot pastrami sandwich instead (see 7.038 Hot Pastrami Sandwich) – one my all-time favorite meals in GMTD history – and had a side of sliced corned beef (currently, the Wikipedia page features a photo of the Katz’s reuben).

At Harry’s, it was okay.  Kinda dry, both the meat and the bread. Oh well.

In retrospect, we ordered too much beef.  Shoulda gone with the reuben, then maybe a Polish sausage and roast turkey.

GROCERY SHOPPING

What I miss most about living in the States, other than restaurants, are grocery stores.  Safeway, Whole Foods, Nob Hill, Albertson, Ralphs, Vons, Andronico’s, Trader Joe’s, Alpha Beta, Lucky, and of course 99 Ranch Market, not to mention the gigantic Korean supermarkets, like H Mart, California Market, which are bigger than supermarkets in Korea.

Located at 525 El Camino Real, Menlo Park.

Since taking up residence in Redwood City, I’ve spent a lot of time roaming the aisle of Safeway stores, including locations in Redwood City, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, and San Mateo.  More fun, even if I’m not buying much, than shopping for Prada shoes.

I love that drivers here just park normally, front first, rather than going out of their way to park in reverse, like Koreans do (“It’s easier on the way out.”)

DINNER

The itinerary had us eating dinner elsewhere, but we decided to go back to MJ Sushi, where we’d enjoyed a very nice lunch on Saturday (see 15.176 Prime Rib).

Still skeptical about the free drinks, I asked the server if the policy had any limitations, like one-per-customer limit, to which she replied, “Well, kinda, but we never really enforce it, and nobody really abuses it, so it seems to work out.”

I love the simplicity of American-style sushi rolls.  Just a few key ingredients, well-balanced and designed for harmony.  Don’t get why rolls in Korea have to be so overly complicated, overly sauced, which actually makes them taste less interesting (see for example 2.326 Salmon/California Roll).

Negihama Roll (3.0) + Salmon Skin Roll (3.0) + California Roll (3.0) + Spicy Tuna Roll (3.5)

Ostensibly, the rolls were the main event, but I featured the albacore tataki for this post primarily because the photo came out better, though it was also excellent in its own right.

Incidentally, albacore is unavailable in Korea.

In addition to the free drinks, free soft-serve ice cream, which we hadn’t noticed last time – WTF??!!

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See also RESTAURANTS IN USA)

(See also BOOZE)

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