I CAN’T BELIEVE I ACTUALLY DID IT!!!!

1 year
52 new restaurants

The mind.  It boggles at the scope of what I’ve done.

For the final restaurant of 2014, I chose some of my favorite food; sushi.  Zensei Sushi, located in the San Diego neighborhood of North Park.  I love me some sushi and was eager to celebrate this last dinner of my challenge with my friends:

Craig-Jackie’s lucky and mysterious other half, picture unavailable

David-Technical writer, singer, robot super villain

Durwood-Best friend, comedian, San Diego’s go-to young black non-singing actor

Jackie-Awesome Soprano, fellow East Coast transplant, Has a Vegas story or two

Jason-Rocky Horror performer, 75th level-coffee snob, token minority

Joey-Future music professor, Sazerac drinker, makes a mean cup of coffee

Kelsey-Project manager, Advanced level foodie, Has been known to drop it like it’s hot after a few cocktails

Mandy-Writer, Top-shelf level geek girl, lives in my pocket

Samantha-My co-star in “Five Course Love”, Aubrey Award winner, A sometimes Amish Jew

Suzanne-My Italian soul sista, Can throw down in the kitchen, the cultured one who pronounces everything correctly.

A big thank you to everyone who helped out with this blog both in this picture and not in this picture. Thank you also for being so obsessed with my silly descriptions of you all.

Once we were seated (kind of an ordeal as we were a big group in a very small space) our server, who was lovely, informed us that only one of their two sushi chefs had shown up for their shift so our food would be coming out at a slower speed with only one person preparing it.

For appetizers, Samantha and Jackie both ordered the Tempura Avocado.  Samantha called it ripe to perfection, which she loved.  While the first two slices were delicious, after a while she began to only taste tempura.  Mandy & Joey started with Miso Soup.  It included sesame seeds, which Mandy doesn’t care for but said the soup was good.  Joey likened the tofu to the kind that comes in freeze dried packets.  He much prefers larger blocks of tofu.  Instead of an Oyster shooter (which they were out of), Jason got Stuffed Oranges (Spicy scallops and crab on rice, wrapped with fresh salmon), which is a favorite of his.  This dish also stood out with others who tasted it.

Durwood had the Fried Chicken Gyoza, which he felt was good but pretty standard.  Suzanne got an Orion Beer.  This isn’t a beer that’s usually found on a menu here in the states so she enjoyed that.  Jackie and I both ordered the Firecracker (Their version of a jalapeno popper).  While she found it nothing outstanding, Jackie did enjoy it.  It was a bit spicy for my whimpy tastes but it was very tasty.  Particularly nice with soy sauce.

My punk ass yankee tummy didn’t like the heat but these were delicious.

For main courses, Samantha, David & Kelsey each ordered the Sancho Roll (Shrimp tempura, gobo, cream cheese, avocado inside with spicy crab, sweet sauce outside).  Samantha found the carrots really crispy with delicious crab and great shrimp tempura.  Kelsey found the roll to be very balanced with nothing that tasted like filler.  David called it his favorite roll of the night.   Samantha  and David both followed it with the 30th & Upas roll (Spicy tuna inside, with tuna and avocado on top, and secret spicy sauce),  Which Samantha called amazing.  She loved the salsa and cilantro.  She appreciated the fact that the spice didn’t overpower the tuna flavor.  David also called it delicious.   Less impressive to Samantha were the spicy mayo, which lacked kick and a ponzu sauce that was far too salty for her.  Kelsey also had Seared Ahi Sashimi Salad.  She found the salad to lack a lot of flavor.  While the fish was seared beautifully, Kelsey felt it need something more.  Mandy got the Spider Roll (Soft shell crab, masago gobo, cucumber, and avocado), which she said was well made and well sized.  She followed it with a Yellow Submarine Roll (Eel, crab, cream cheese, avocado, golden tempura, topped with eel sauce).  The roll includes Jalapeno, which is not Mandy’s favorite but she felt it worked really well.   Durwood had the Dragon Roll (Tempura‎ shrimp, cucumber, cream cheese and crab, eel and avocado outside).  He said it was excellent, which each ingredient being present in every bite.  Worth coming back for alone.    Suzanne got Tuna & Salmon Nigiri, both of which she said were good.  She also ordered a Dream Roll (Spicy‎ mix of cucumber, gobo, onions, masago, tuna, yellowtail and crab inside with avocado, thin edible lemon zest and seared pearl white tuna inside).  She enjoyed how fresh it tasted and the tuna was of particular note for it’s buttery-ness.

Joey (following a dashed attempt at ordering out-of-stock Salmon skins) ordered the Takoyaki, which is is a ball-shaped Japanese snack made of a wheat flour-based batter and cooked in a special takoyaki pan. It is typically filled with minced or diced Octopus (tako), tempura scraps (tenkasu), pickled ginger and green onion (Thank you wikipedia!).  Despite the fact that he compared the cabbage to the Kroger cole slaw blend, Joey said the Takoyaki was pretty solid.  He followed it with a Salmon Roll, which he said was acceptable.  Jackie had the Dragon Roll and the Uptown Roll.  She said they were both well made and well sized but tasted similar to each other.  Craig got Shrimp Udon.  He felt the noodles were good but the broth tasted like little else other than salt and the shrimp used in the soup were tiny.  David also had the Chicken Katzu (Lightly breaded chicken with Japanese bbq sauce, served with steamed rice and steamed vegetables), which he said was fine, if standard.

For my main course, I ordered the Maui Wowi (Crab,‎ avocado, cucumber baked with a special spicy sauce then layered with mango salsa).  I found the tempura a bit tough but the flavors were nice.

Spicy Tuna is everything. I just love it.

I also had the Pizza Roll, not to be confused with Pizza Rolls which I would still have gladly eaten.   This roll is Smoked salmon, avocado, and dynamite sauce, all finished in the oven.  While the roll was tasty, the baking part did made the rice hard and the whole thing was a bit greasy.  Which I realize only makes it more pizza like.

On a scale of Little Caesar’s to Pizza hut, I’d say this pizza roll was a solid DiGiorno.

So overall it seems our feelings on Zensei Sushi were positive.  The service was great under pressure.  While there were some hiccups, they took very good care of us.  The food was good and well priced.  While I was not bowled over by anything I had, I would definitely not turn down an opportunity to return.

So, that’s it!  The last restaurant in the challenge.  I’ve had many readers ask what happens from here?  Well, I do plan to continue this blog into the new year. While I will not be dining at a new place every week, I will still be trying some new places and blogging about the places in San Diego that I already love. I want to thank everyone who read this nonsense that I post every week, especially those that comment, like and share my posts on social media. I never thought this blog would catch fire and be read by people all over the world that I don’t even know! I appreciate all of you and wish you the best in the new year. Thank you for taking and continuing this journey with me.

Sincerely,
Anthony Donovan
The Boy who ate San Diego