Rollin' in for Rolls at Cocoro

Remember that day when we ate s'mores for dinner?  That wasn't exactly our plan.  On that particular day, it was raining and cold and ultimately a bad day to go outside.  But we wanted Cocoro so badly, bad weather was no problemo for us!  

We were a bit late leaving the dorm, so we ran our hearts, souls, and feet out to catch the bus.  In the cold rain.  The thing is, there two are buses on the street and they are right across from each other.  Each heading a different direction.  We always take the one across the street so it was second nature to sprint across the street.  And while waiting for our bus, we watched the bus across the street come which made us even more impatient for our bus.  And just when we saw our bus down the street, we were like "Finally!  You know we were freezing our butts off..." and then, we realized, WE WERE WAITING FOR THE WRONG BUS.  In the cold rain. The bus that we were supposed to ride left right before our eyes and we DIDN'T EVEN KNOW.  So, we ended sadly sulking back to the dorm.  In the cold rain.

We finally made our way to Cocoro one week later.  HOORAH!

California Roll

Spicy Crunchy Scallop Roll spicy tuna roll topped with tempura scallops & asparagus and tobiko drizzled with spicy sauce

This is our favorite sushi roll at Cocoro.  It is a very colorful dish, making it pleasing to the eye.  And scallops are the best!  It was a party in the mouth with all the deep-fried goodness contrasting the stickiness of the rice. 

CoCo Roll prawn tempura and avocado roll topped with eel, spicy tuna, special sauce, and walnuts 

And to make this experience even better, we got a roll on the house!  When the roll came to our table, we realized it was the wrong roll.  The waiter told us, Keep it! Eat it!  Enjoy it!  And so we did.  Complimentary stuff are still the best. 

Rainbow Roll  california roll topped with tuna, salmon, halibut, yellow tail, and eel

Eaten by Jocelyn and Cathy.

Cocoro Japanese Bistro & Sushi Bar

2105 Pacific Avenue  

Stockton, CA 95204
(209) 941-6053 

http://cocorobistro.com/ 

Sophie's Crepes Can Make My Baby!

If you were to marry the wonderful French dessert, Mr. Crepe, to Ms. Japantown you get one beautiful baby: Japanese Crepe.  And must I say, that is one DELICIOUS BABY!  

I spent almost a whole day wandering San Fransisco's Japantown and every time I passed Sophie's Crepes there would be a line out the eatery so I made a pledge I would try one before I had to leave.

Japanese Crepe green tea gelato with red bean paste drizzled in matcha sauce

The sweet red bean paste is like the Asian version of Nutella.  It's such a wonderful alternative!  I think this is the first time I've had a crepe without Nutella.  As many of us know, Nutella is some of the best stuff out there and without it, crepes wouldn't nearly be as yummy.  I often wonder how the crepe industry did before the Nutella was invented.  Or for that matter, how the world did.  Must have been a sad, sad world.

The crepe batter was sweet without over doing it and had just the right amount crispy on the edges.  And they put enough green tea gelato in the crepe that by the time I got to the bottom of the crepe, I still had gelato with every bite. 

Eaten by Jocelyn.

Sophie's Crepes

1581 Webster St
(between Geary Blvd & Post St)
San Francisco, CA 94115

(415) 929-7732 

Searching for Good Ramen at Chop Chop Grill

One of my favorite foods of all times is ramen.  Now when I say ramen, I don't mean the instant kind that can be made in 2 minutes.  I'm talking about the legit bowls of chewy noodle, with flavorful soup that is stewed for hours.

Late at night, I often find myself craving a nice, hot bowl of ramen.  It's just so good!  Needless to say, I often find myself on the hunt for good ramen.  Today's stop: Chop Chop Grill.  

The cool thing about Chop Chop Grill is that you order from a touch-screen computer, so you can customize your entire dish!  For ramen dishes, you can order your noodles softer/harder, and take out/add any toppings.  It made me feel like I was 20 years into the future. So...pretty cool.

Miso Ramen

The miso broth was a bit watered down, but it still had decent flavor.  The ramen came with plenty of toppings, which I enjoyed, and the noodles had a good chewiness to them.  And the best part of the dish: the lovely egg with the yolk still soft and oozing!

The only "bad" thing about this dish was that the chashu was not very fresh.  It had that dingy taste, as if it had been cooked in a basement several months ago, frozen, and then just thrown into the soup.  (Okay, maybe not that bad, but it definitely was not fresh!)  

If the meat had been fresher, this ramen would have fared much better.

Tonkotsu Ramen

The Tonkotsu broth was much thicker than the miso one, so I liked this one better.  It was not as watered down, giving it good depth.  However, the meat was the same, so it took away from this potentially great bowl of ramen.  

Pork Katsu with Curry

All their curry dishes come in this cute tin pot, with the flame still burning!  So if you are a slow eater, your curry will be piping hot until the last bite!  

The pork katsu was perfectly cooked -- nice and crunchy on the outside, and juicy and tender on the inside.  The Japanese curry sauce was yummy as well, but you really can't mess up curry unless you water it down like crazy.  The curry here was actually quite thick and flavorful, with a gentle kick of spice (as customized with the hi-tech computer.) 

Eaten by Cathy.

Chop Chop Grill
1253 N Grand Ave
Walnut, CA 91789
(909) 598-7588