Category: Tokyo

Saiko Sushi…Sensational Sushi!

I’ve eaten at Saiko Sushi several times and think “I should really write about this place in my blog.”  Well the time is now – this place deserves some kudos!  Both the food and service are fantastic!  The wait-staff and owners are friendly and appreciative of their customers.  Something I find very refreshing!

My first visit to Saiko Sushi was when the place was merely a couple days old and my last visit was just a couple of weeks ago.  It has consistently served fabulous, fresh food.  Another plus (because I’m a wine girl) is a reasonable corkage fee if you choose to bring your own wine (they offer a decent albeit small wine selection as well as beer and misc. non-alcoholic beverages).  The sake selection is extensive if you prefer to sip on the rice wine variation.

This last visit I was dining with my lovely family.  We started with Edamame.  They offer the basic but always delicious sea salt version and a house version with celery salt and garlic.  After that we enjoyed the raw special of the day inclusive of halibut, micro cilantro (totally made the dish) and a tasty sweet sauce.

They have a few fru-fru offerings.  I appreciate the forward thinking but stick with the more traditional flavors and leave the goat cheese to someone else.  For our entree we split the Tokyo Dirty Rice – with descriptor words like shrimp, bacon and pineapple we couldn’t go wrong!

Even my daughter likes it.  She always orders the teriyaki chicken and thinks the mashed potatoes are some of the best.   Of course she’d go just for the “Godzilla” movies playing silently on the flat screen.  Yes, I even have Saiko Sushi to thank for introducing her to some of my childhood culture.

Don’t leave without trying dessert.  A sushi joint is not usually what you think of when you think of great sweet endings but they take the time to dream up such fun creations that you just have to try it.  That evening their creative minds conjured up pomegranite creme brulee and a green tea ice cream sandwich.  The ice cream sandwich was tempura battered….need I say more!


Saiko Sushi – 116 Orange Avenue, Coronado CA 92118, (619) 435-0992

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Enate Cabernet Sauvignon – Merlot

I am amazed sometimes at how life’s paths come together. I was living in Japan in the late 1990’s just starting to spread my “wine wings.” My friend, Lynn, and I were great partners in crime, seeking out places to buy wine. On one of the many adventures, we stumbled on this very stylish Enoteca in Tokyo. It became my favorite place. I would stock up and haul bags of wine back to my home on the train that was often filled like a sardine can.
That is when I found the Spanish wine, Enate, specifically their cabernet sauvignon – merlot blend. It was inexpensive and some of the best everyday drinking wine I’d tasted. I drank it regularly from the first day I found it until my feet left the ground of the Kanto Plain for America.
After relocating to America, I started looking for the wine I had grown accustomed to drinking and enjoying so much. I couldn’t find it in any store and even spoke to a few wine distributors. One offered to see if he could get it if I’d be willing to purchase several cases. By that time, I was living in Southern California with no air conditioning and no wine cellar. Lynn, my compatriot mentioned earlier, made a trip back to Japan during this time and was kind enough to get me a couple of bottles……..still the wonderful taste I remembered.
It was here where life’s paths collided. I had almost forgotten about my pal, Enate, until this past September when I was sitting at a wonderful tapas restaurant in Barcelona. As my husband and I were looking over the wine list, I was elated to discover that they had Enate – they even had the cabernet sauvignon-merlot blend! As I was sipping on a glass with great delight, a rush of memories came back about life in Japan, the Enoteca in Tokyo, the sardine can trains, etc. I like how wine has a way of taking you back to the moment when you first discovered a favorite bottle.
It was then that I decided I needed to find out where to buy this pal of mine and take it home. It didn’t take long……it was waiting for me at “El Cellar de la Boqueria” a quaint little store in the very lively “La Boqueria” market. Two cases came home with me and I’ve been savoring them sparingly in hopes of somehow not running out until I know for sure where I can get my next stash.
Tasting Notes: Enate Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot, Somontano, 2006
This medium bodied wine has a ruby red color with tastes of blackberry, vanilla and spice rounded out by a toasty finish and balanced acidity.
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