Dinner at Ideta
Went to celebrate a belated Mother's Day tonight so I took my folks to eat Japanese food at Ideta restaurant in Kalihi. Since I have lived in Salt Lake for practically all of my life my family and I used to frequent this restaurant a lot when I was a kid and all the way through high school. For some reason, I hadn't been back since. I guess because there are so many Japanese places to choose from and of course you want to try them all. But tonight I decided to go old school and check this place out again.Went in at around 7:30pm and the place was pretty empty. Just one other party of 4 in the restaurant. The interior looked smaller than I remembered but that's probably because it's been almost 20 years since I've been in the place and I was a smaller dude then.
All 3 of us ordered the same thing - the combination dinner A which comes with butterfish misoyaki, tempura, and sashimi. I know, it's kind of weird to have everyone order the same thing but hey, we all like all 3 of those items! And since I felt like eating some sushi too I also ordered an order each of hamachi and unagi for all 3 of us. That's a lot of food!
First came the miso soup and tsukemono. Miso soup was good and hot. I hate it when it's just warm. The tsukemono was a little weird to me so I didn't eat it and the soybeans were kind of flavorless. But no biggie, that's not what I came for anyway.
Then the hamachi nigiri arrived. Yum! Hamachi is my favorite and this fish was melt in yo mouth oishi! In fact, the fish was so moist and tender that it almost went down TOO easily! I wanted to savor it some more!
Then the unagi came. My 2nd favorite sushi. Nice and crisp skin, with the soft and tender unagi flesh. The sauce was done well, but I have to admit that I have had better unagi elsewhere. But this was still really good.
Then the combo dinner! Now this was a super deal. First you have the huge portion of butterfish misoyaki. This was sooooo good. The fish was nice and fatty and the misoyaki sauce was muy delicioso. Then there's the sashimi. 3 pieces of ahi, 2 pieces of hamachi, and 2 pieces of king clam. All very fresh and yummy. The tempura featured 2 nice large pieces of shrimp in light but crispy batter as well as carrot, kabocha, and fish tempura pieces. But I was so full from all of the eating that about halfway through the meal, I knew I wouldn't be able to finish everything. So I took evaluation of the table and made an executive decision. I opted to eat the sushi, sashimi, and butterfish and regrettably had to leave a few pieces of tempura behind. Just couldn't get it all down!Overall, Ideta is a nice, quiet Japanese restaurant that features good food for good prices. The combination dinner we ordered was just $24! The sushi was a little on the high but still within reason range at $7 an order. There's also plenty of parking and all you can drink hot tea. Check it out!
posted by Myong Choi at 11:49 PM
2 Comments:
You know I've never eaten there before. My parents and brother love it over there. Through the years it seems like every time they go, I always had some other engagement. Some day.
That hamachi looks good.
Oh, yeah, that was THE place me and my folks seemed to go often when I was a kid as well. Neat-o memories, w/the teppanyaki, Kanseki meals.
One time, at the end of a Little League season, the parents took all of us there, sat around the counter. The chef put a few shrimp in front of each of us on the grill lining the inside of the counter. He let it sizzle, then, exclaimed some exclamation, "HAI!" "YOSH!" something like that, started at one end, went around to each of us at what seemed like light speed, cutting pieces of the shrimp, serving it on the white plate in front of each of us, all with the obligatory "slash," "clang," other obligatory onomatopoeia that comes with an action like that. Well, after our own obligatory "oohs" and "hoah, woowwwww!" the chef goes, in a Japanese accent, "still sizzling, no?" The parents, sitting at adjacent tables, started laughing. We weren't; we were just staring at the sizzling shrimp. Ah, the stuff you remember from your childhood.
Me and the fellas go there off and on through past recent years. Not too recently, though. Nice to go to a restaurant that stays the same (decor and food taste). Guess we don't go too often with restaurants we now favor like Gyukaku. Benihana and Kabuki's great too. Ideta can compete w/'em all, so, we best huff it on down there.
Sit at the counter (someone told me they stopped that for awhile) at Ideta, see the chef make ya'll shellfish and meat items. 'Tis fun, freshly presented, and tasty above all!
Post a Comment
<< Home