Diane had to pick up a “Book Club in a Box” this afternoon from the Jewish Community Library in San Francisco, so we all drove up together, planning to have lunch somewhere nearby. The people in the library recommended a place called King of Falafel on Divisadero, but they didn’t answer the phone, so we went with our original plan: go to Japantown and look around for a place.
We found parking easily enough at Japan Center’s garage. Diane and I had stayed at the Hotel Mikayo there once, before we moved to California, but we didn’t remember any restaurants, so we just went into the Center itself and looked around. We saw one sushi bar which looked quite appealing, but they didn’t have anything Jeff would eat. We saw a Behihana (it didn’t say “Benihana of Tokyo”), but moved on. Eventually, we chose Kushi Tsuru — it looked busy, though there wasn’t a line, and their menu had something for all of us.
Jeff, as usual, got the chicken teriyaki, and he was pleased. Diane and I got bento boxes with salmon teriyaki and maguro sashimi. The salmon teriyaki was good; the sashimi was blah, and there didn’t seem to be any wasabi available. I’d try somewhere else next time.
After lunch, we drove home and got ready for a friend’s triple-threat party: her 61st birthday, her near-retirement, and the burning of her mortgage (and she had a separate cake for each of the three events). Besides friends, family, and food, she also supplied a balloon-maker and a magician, Tye the Magic Guy. I’m not much of a balloon guy, but I enjoyed Tye’s show, despite (or maybe because of) the groaners in his patter. All in all, a good evening.