Sushi in the Golden State

This week has been strangely reversed.  When my weeks normally start headed downhill, hit the bottom at Wednesday, then slowly climb back up towards the end, this week started off fantastically well, then slowly fizzled to a lack-luster Friday afternoon.  I'm attending a concert tonight that should be promising, so hopefully some Schoenberg & Chamber Music will turn things around for me.

On Wednesday, I ended up dining solo, and decided nothing would be more comforting than my favorite cuisine: Japanese.  Since I am a quarter Japanese and grew up on the food, I am extremely hard to please.  There wasn't much time so I went to O-Toro Sushi, which is literally about 4 minutes walking distance from my school, and I was surprised to be blown away by the deliciousness! 

O-Toro Sushi

205 Oak Street

(between Gough & Octavia)

San Francisco, 94102

The only way to eat alone is to really pig out, so I ordered a hot Nabeyaki Udon to counter the cold wintery weather we've been having, and also ordered a Golden State Roll to satisfy the sashimi-lover in me.  Of course while I waited I was sipping on my hot Green Tea.  

Story:  My mother has been feeding me tea since I was a wee lass.  When I was a baby, mother's American friends would ask if I was drinking apple juice, looking at the color of the liquid in my bottle, which was clearly not milk.  And my mother would reply, "Nope, she's drinking tea!"  As a result, to this day I still guzzle tea like a camel.  In fact, in one day I could probably easily consume double the amount of tea than I could water.

Anyway, back to the food.  What initially caught my eye about the Golden State Roll was - I'm not going to lie - the name.  I guess you could say this whole lockout business has got me missing our Warriors, so I'll take any Golden State I could get at this point, even if it comes on my food.  Of course, I also love salmon sashimi so this was a double delight.  

I was completely impressed with how fresh the fish was, and the fact that the *real* snow crab inside the roll tasted great.

  

Then came the Nabeyaki Udon, which was also great.  I appreciated the fact that my egg actually came raw, which was nice because a) that means the soup is actually as hot as it's supposed to be, and b) I could take care of the egg the way I wanted to.  I hate it when the soup comes out in this impressive looking clay pot but is only moderately hot.  What's the point?!  The tempura was also delicious, and there was more chicken on the bottom than I could finish.

All in all, a great experience, and I will definitely be back!  Don't let the small front and simple menu fool you, this place is great.