gutfud - the food, es ist gut

Wagamama noodles was one of my “splurge” meals in my poor student days.  Some noodles, some edamame and an elderflower juice was easily £15, which translated to $30 given the weak dollar at the time. But I loved it. Trendy, clean, consistent quality of the noodles. Back in the day, there were only three Wagamamas […]

After a week of detoxing, we needed sushi. Edomasa!!

Nothing huge or fancy, just some tea to drink, and eel handrolls, roe sushi, a little California roll, and half a dozen assorted nigiri to split between two people.
Past entry.
Edomasa
2710 De La Vina Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
www.edomasasushi.com

Oh woe is me. I ate at Kobachi and didn’t have my camera with me.
I assumed I’d be eating off the menu with my friend Cynthia, but we arrived at opening and it wasn’t busy, so I thought I’d try to ask for omakase and they did it. It’s hard to even remember what I […]

Cindy’s in town! We all trooped over to Kobachi for her first night visiting.
First, what’s new. Beer on tap! For my birthday I received a copy of Oishinbo’s Izakaya Pub Food and the first story is about a master beer pourer in Tokyo. The main character has been talking up the perfectly poured beer to […]

It should be fairly obvious by now that my most frequented restaurant in town is Kobachi. And why not. I live close by, the food is good, there’s so much to choose from on the menu, and the small portions mean I can dabble and order lots of little plates.
I came here for my […]

Finally back home, after a business trip to Las Vegas and a flight home from hell. We reward ourselves with a dinner at Kobachi, this time thoroughly scrubbing the menu for new items and ordering them.
What’s new, operations:
It’s temporarily closed for Monday, lunch and dinner service. Before it was just lunch service that wasn’t available. […]

Some people come to Vegas to gamble in the casinos. I took a culinary gamble at Tokyo Japanese Restaurant and hit the jackpot.
Glitz and bling doesn’t dazzle me. Feeling the soul of a chef in the food does. And this unassuming restaurant off the strip overwhelmed me with good vibes and good food.
For those […]

My food friend Michael, of Big Sur Bakery fame, came through town briefly. So I had to have one last dive into Kobachi awesomeness with him before I disappeared into gambling hell that is Las Vegas.
Michael’s restaurant only has a beer and wine license, so this was a good opportunity to sample soju for cocktails. […]

When friends visit from out of town, especially friends from the Bay Area who have plenty of access to wonderful food, the only place that provide a wonderful, memorable experience just by its very existance is Kobachi.
Mattpaul and Lisa were passing through for a couple days and this was Stop Number One.
[…]

Late evening dinner, Maxwell is back in town, we decided on noodles at Itsuki.
The upper State area, just on the cusp of Santa Barbara and Goleta, now has the best selection and variety of asian food, from Japanese (Shintori, Itsuki, Kobachi, Edomasa) and Chinese (Madame Lu), even Thai and Vietnamese. Wish they were all within […]