Panaderia y Taqueria Gonzalez

Rating: Very good
Meal: Dinner for 3
Price:  $25.23
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  3 tacos lengua, 1 chicken burrito, 1 bean and cheese burrito, 1 horchata
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

We finally reached my hometown in the US (Newberg, OR) and for dinner we stopped by the Panaderia y Taqueria Gonzalez, my favorite Mexican restaurant in town.  There are other places that do certain things better (i.e. the "wet" sauce of Marthas Tacos in Lafayette, if it is still open, is better), but for your basic burrito supreme, this place is hard to beat.  However, since we weren't that hungry and I am trying to watch the carbs, I ordered 3 tacos with lengua, thinking it would be smaller.   Ha!  I could only eat two, and am having the 3rd for breakfast!  My wife ate about 2/3 of her chicken burrito, and even my son gave up after a heroic effort to eat his bean and cheese (Mexican white cheese, natch) burrito.

Putting the "bakery" in "Panaderia"

Of course, because this is a Panaderia in addition to being a Taqueria, I had to take a picture of the baked goods section, of which many a customer partook as we awaited our food.  A pity I don't care too much for Mexican baked goods.

3 enormous tacos lengua

Oh, my son begged for some horchata, which is a favorite, and we capitulated.  It's still delicious, though still stupidly sweet.  There must be a way to make a healthier version...

The burrito, possibly the least photogenic food in existence.

Ditto...

Phở Hùng

Rating: Excellent
Meal:  Lunch for 3
Price:  $40
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Beef pho, lemongrass chicken, teriyaki chicken, fresh spring rolls, taro root bubble tea
English Menu: Yes

Smoking: No

Wow...so this was unexpected.  We arrived in Portland were picked up by my brother, who currently lives on the east side of Portland.  As we discussed lunch options, he suggested Vietnamese, as they are apparently now popping up everywhere like mushrooms.  We were like, yes!  Bring it on!  Because finding good Vietnamese in Japan has been liking looking for a needle in a haystack.

So he took us to a spot nearish by and as we entered the place, BAM! it hit me in the face:  the strong, rich smell of beef broth and those special spices you only seem to find in an amazing pho broth.  We tried several different dishes, but sadly only one pho, thought it was more than plenty to feed two people.  My son and I had some of the chicken dishes, which weren't that great, but the pho truly blew us away.  Even the little dishes of broth that came with the chicken dishes were incredible.

Now I know that there may be better pho in Portland, but for us, this first taste of excellent pho in years places it at that category and deserving of that rating.

First Class Rice

Rating: Very good
Meal: Lunch for 3
Price:  5240 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  3 teishokus plus an egg and salmon roe
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

Well we are off on a trip back to the US and had to fly out of Narita, sadly.  We tracked down this "first class rice" restaurant consisting of Kyoto style teishokus.  All of our dishes were delicious and we'd eat there again in a heartbeat

Suehiro

Rating: OK
Meal: Dinner
Price: 950 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes: Kalbi cheese mock, Chicken curry cheese mock, sesame balls
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

This is a very odd place.  It was very popular with the neighborhood kids, that's for sure...had a kind of 50's neighborhood diner vibe going on.  Their specialty is "cheese mock" which I could find zero references to on the Internet.  So maybe this is an original idea?

Not very photogenic food

What is a cheese mock you ask?  Well, it starts with a thin, crep-like base (slightly sweet) within which is placed any combination of sweet or savory items.  How is this different than a crepe?  I'm not sure...but apparently it is.  I had a kalbi beef and chicken curry cheese mock.  It took forever to make them...and it was stiflingly hot in there.  When they finally arrived, I found out that he apparently thought I wanted them to go, so I ended up with everything in a to go bag.  I proceeded to eat them there, very carefully, as the temperature of the cheese inside was molten.  In addition to the cheese and meat, there were other things:  mayonnaise, lettuce, fusulli noodles, camembert cheese.  It was surprisingly tasty, though I wish the base crepe wasn't so sweet.  I also got some sesame balls, which were very homemade and tasted great.

While I'm rating the food an Ok, I still really liked the place for its unique qualities.  If I lived in the area I'd probably be a regular.

Cup Noodle Museum Noodles Bazaar

Rating: OK
Meal: Lunch for 2
Price: 3100 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes: Seven half-size ramen dishes
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No
  

Pretty sure this was from Indonesia

I've been in Japan for 6 years now, and until this weekend I'd never made it to the Cup Noodle Museum in Yokohama.  Well, my wife and I decided to spend Saturday in Yokohama and it was finally my time.  I was most interested in the "Noodles Bazaar," and area of small ramen stalls each serving a unique international take on instant noodles.  You can get full or half sizes, along with some dessert and drink options.

An eastern European take

I wanted to try them all, so we did our best to hit the most interesting ones.  None of them were amazing, though if I had to pick, I'd go with the chinese beef based ramen, with the Thai and Indonesian being runners up.  We definitely got full, that's for sure!  BTW, all of the little shops use ticket vending machines, but there's English for everything so not too difficult.

This was a curry soup, not sure from where...

Now that I've done it, I probably won't go back unless we have visitors who want to go.

I managed to snag a picture of all of them except the cold Korean noodles dish.

Thai (basically tom yum)

Vietnamese Pho

Chinese beef ramen, my favorite

Yatai

Rating: Very good
Meal: Dinner for 2
Price:  5900 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes:  4 beers and several dishes, see below
English Menu: Yes (most of the items on the wall are translated)
Smoking: Yes

So the liquor store/teishoku restaurant Marunaga on my block has been replaced by a new izakaya called Yatai, although you might be confused as the only English on the sign is "Suka Yeahhhh!!" The kanji on the sign (confirmed by asking) is in fact Yatai and it's a reference to the little portable food stalls that used to be more common back in the day. It's a warm, welcoming spot that is friendly to English speakers.  They have a ton of different dishes all plastered up on the wall with English translations.  I ate there with a friend last night and we tried several.  The food was an Ok overall, but I really enjoyed the atmosphere and am looking forward to coming back frequently to try everything on the menu, so I'm bumping it up to a Very Good.

Garlic shrimp, not very garlicky

Gyoza

Vinegared fish

Menchi, deep fried meat

Nagoya style miso oden - my favorite dish

Ox tongue sausage - meh

Gyoza soup

Wan Din Ki

Rating: Not great
Meal: Lunch
Price: 1058 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes: Fried rice
English Menu: No
Smoking: No

My wife and I were in Karuizawa this weekend for a church retreat.  Most of the time we spent eating in our cabins with friends, but on the way out we all stopped at the outlet mall to get some lunch.  The mall is outdoors and sprawling.  We eventually found the food court and split up to get our various dishes.  Not wanting to be a total weirdo, I just reviewed my own meal.

I chose a Chinese restaurant that specialized in fried rice dishes.  I picked one that looked good and waited for my buzzer to go off.  There was a tasty hot oil chilly sauce available that I added liberally.  When I finally tucked into it, I was disappointed to find the rice kernels were hard, almost as if they weren't cooked all the way through.  The overall taste of the dish was very chemical.  Not good at all.

Two other people chose the same place, and we all had the same impression...steer clear of this one.