Honda Ya-Tustin

sashimi bowl

takoyaki

synchronized eating

steamed crab shumai

chicken salad with mayo cod roe dressing

seared tuna with ponzu

zaru tofu

ika sashimi

When asked what cuisine I couldn't live without, my answer comes out pretty readily. It's Japanese. I mean, Spanish is pretty exciting, French is wonderful, Vietnamese is my idea of comfort food. But when it comes down to it, if not for Japanese food, there would be a great big gaping black hole of culinary misery in my life.

What I find really great about Japanese food is that there is a duality about Japanese cuisine--the elegant minimalist side most obviously embodied by sushi and sashimi, which is probably what it most popular. Whoever first decided that fish can be eaten raw, well that person is just miraculous.

But just as wonderful is that Japanese food also includes saucy fatty gluttonous foods that often include all sorts of mayo, deep frying, and big flavors. I'm not sure but I think a lot of Japanese bar food may have developed with the onset of Westernization (think: mayo).

And also presentation: Japanese food is just so beautiful to look at. Japanese sweets are unbelievable. I can hardly eat them, they're so delicately made.

That's not true. I can eat them.

When I was in Japan last Winter we saw these tiny candies (the size of a pinky toenail) with really detailed faces painted on each one.

My family loves Honda- Ya because we can get both sides of Japanese food at once.

We always order takoyaki there, which I think can be qualified as Japanese street food) are these doughy balls of octopus and bonito flakes. I have fond memories of going on a road trip in Japan with my mother's side of the family and stopping at the Japanese equivalent of a truck stop and ordering takoyaki from a street vendor and passing around the styrofoam plate around the car.

My mother always orders the chicken salad at Honda-Ya, which is okay but I think the mayo cod dressing is a little heavy on the mayo for my taste.

Sashimi, of any kind: always good.

Anything with ponzu sauce I will inhale.

Not pictured:

bitter melon, bacon, and stir fried tofu

tanuki udon

side note: it looks as if I may be going to Japan this coming Winter! It's my grandmother's 80th birthday and to celebrate she wants to take a trip to Japan with all her daughters and their daughters. no boys allowed. We're still trying to decide between Vietnam and Japan. I might be rooting for Vietnam since I've never been.

Honda Ya

556 El Camino Real

Tustin, CA 92780

714.832.0081