Adam Erace visits Izakaya in the Borgata and finds Michael Schulson’s take on a Japanese pub to be a sure winner.

Izakaya [Philadelphia Weekly]
Izakaya [Official Site]

Bumblefish, an Asian fast food business started in Virginia opened its fourth location and first in the Philadelphia area at 12 S 10th Street on Monday.

The menu includes over 50 items most of which are waiting in their self-service section. If they don’t have you want they’ll whip it up right away. Their soft spring rolls are their signature dish on a menu that includes veggie, cooked and raw sections. Prices top out at $9.59 for the Smoked Salmon Deluxe of smoked salmon and four pieces of sushi.

Bumblefish [Official Site]

Craig LaBan visits Misso, owned by Bruce Kim who many should know from his stint at Sushikazu in Blue Bell. He’s back now in Center City and is looking to make an impact on our rapidly growing Japanese restaurant scene.

But judging from three lovely meals, I’d say they’re catching on quickly (they’re even planning outdoor seats soon). The reasonably priced menu is hardly unusual, but Kim’s kitchen executes both the familiar dishes and his signature creations with a precision, quality of ingredients and consistency that so many others lack.

Kim’s more creative rolls – many of which he mastered at Sushikazu – are worth seeking out, like the pristine slice of tuna draped over a ball of crunchy rice topped with a dab of minced spicy tuna and a jalapeño chip. And the Area 51, which adds the crunch and sweetness of kiwi to lemony yellowtail.

Two Bells – Very Good

Misso [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Dine Out Japan has begun. Receive 20% off at participating restaurants tonight through Friday, April 18th.

This week The Bite focuses on the Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival and it’s eating and drinking options from tonight’s Sake Fest to the week long Dine Out Japan.

The Bite: Sampling Japan [Metro Philadelphia]

Bruce Kim brings his suburban Sushikazu-brand sushi to Center City under the name Misso at 1326 Spruce Street and it beats many of Philadelphia’s often middling sushi options.

But the pièce de résistance, the masterwork — the reason to visit, even — is the tuna ball. An orb of pink, fleshy, finely chopped tuna tartare obscures hidden bits of crisped flour, minced scallion and a judiciously applied smidgen of a spicy sauce (though sometimes the sushi chef uses wasabi). It’s rolled in vibrant orange masago and dusted with green flakes of shiso, each ball offering a spectrum of textures and flavors — crisp, soft, spicy, briny, vaguely oniony.

An order includes five balls (at Sushikazu you’d get six, but we can forgive this oversight) placed over a spaghetti-like tangle of daikon that absorbs the masago glow. Its naked presence, when the tuna is gone, will likely have you going for another round.

Misso Accomplished [City Paper]
Misso Sushi [Official Site]

Philadelphia Weekly takes a look at Kaizan at the Academy House and has a very hit-or-miss time of it.

Kaizan’s big-ticket item is the $22 Kobe ishiyaki. The dish comes with squash, mushrooms, six slices of American Kobe beef so well marbled they almost look white and a hot stone grill for DIY searing. After a few seconds on each side, it’s one beefy little orgasm after another. Strawberry ice cream mochi and green tea ice cream encased in funnel-cakey tempura make pleasing post-coital treats.

Kaizan brings modern Japanese to Locust Street [Philadelphia Weekly]

City Paper’s Trey Popp checks out Yakitori Boy, the karaoke lounge and small plates restaurant that has opened in Chinatown.

Yakitori Boy attempts to cater to this vast clientele by way of “japas” — a play on Spanish tapas. Think shortened sushi rolls and small barbecue skewers threaded with everything from chicken to gingko nuts. Food options come by the score, illustrated by garish color photographs on a laminated menu that’s an exercise in visual overload.

Unfortunately, the eye candy wasn’t too sweet on the tongue. Any kitchen that tries to make this many things for this many people has got a challenge on its hands, and Yakitori Boy doesn’t seem up to it. With the exception of the supplemental chef’s daily menu (more on that later), just about every plate that came my way was disappointingly bland. Unsurprisingly, given its sheer volume, much of the food had a faintly industrial character.

There Is No Spoon [City Paper]
Yakitori Boy

Trey Popp visits Kaizan Modern Japanese on Locust Street and comes out confused.

If every menu tells a story, Kaizan’s is of a piece with the splintered and contradictory narratives of Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon.

Sauced in Translation [City Paper]
Kaizan Modern Japanese [Official Site]

Elisa Ludwig visits Gaja Gaja, a Japanese and Korean quick service restaurant on South Street and recommends the miso soup and Japanese entrees.

There is nothing so comforting as the chicken katsu-don, breaded strips of chicken with rags of cooked egg and fried onion over a sweet mirin and soy sauce-soaked rice. Eat this for lunch or dinner and South Street’s catcalls and bodystocking shops will seem that much friendlier.

Gaja Gaja will fill you up right [City Paper]