First Impressions

Anzio Landing is a non-descript stucco building tucked into the far corner of Falcon Field, next to an office park that resembles a chain hotel. It’s been around for as long as I’ve lived here (almost 20 years), and has generally maintained a low profile– the occasional advertisement in a local free-newspaper being their primary sign of life.

The interior decor seems conflicted, as part of the decor is aeroplane-themed, while the entrance is decorated with faux-finish doors to create the impression of an Italian bistro. Once you get past the front entry, the effect is servicable. Each place setting had cloth napkins and two forks– although both in the same size– as befitting the market segment they’re reaching for.

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Figuring out where to go to lunch has become quite the challenging process, so today when it was decided that we were going to go to a place a little more original I have to say I was intrigued. The place of choice was Anzio Landing located on Higley Road just South of McDowell Road. The restaurant itself allows for some decent views of the mountains while also being able to watch the planes and helicopters come in and out of the Falcon Field Municipal Airport. The inside of the restaurant is decorated with vintage aircraft parts a equipment, giving the place the real feel of being at the airport. (more…)

First Impressions

The Landmark doesn’t belong in its neighbourhood, a region long since relegated to railroad tracks, thrift shops, and used-car lots. Its classic architecture is speckled with several brass plates identifying the historic-building lists it’s on. Its classy appearance clearly suggests “bring your fancy date or parents here for dinner and show them you’re a success.” Except that you have the feeling that their car will probably be stolen while you’re in there.

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Today we all went out for lunch at The Landmark Restaurant in Mesa, AZ. On the way to The Landmark I nearly passed the place because it looks to be more like a church than a restaurant, and perhaps at one time it was. Upon arriving and sitting down I couldn’t help but be surround by a weird vibe, I felt as if I were an eight year out to lunch with my great grand parents. The place was packed with senior citizens and the typical winter snowbirds in Arizona. The church like establishment along with the older aged crowd let me know that this was clearly not a place for a person my age.

Putting the vibe behind I was ready to eat and to see what kind of offerings The Landmark had. (more…)

Last week lunch was held at the new Famous Dave’s Legendary Pit Bar-B-Que on Dobson Road, just a few blocks away from the new Tempe Marketplace. The restaurant itself looked like any typical BBQ, pretty similar to the Lucille’s BBQ we ate at previously (see Lucille’s review), with obnoxious decorations coating the walls. It’s not to say that the decorations are going to affect the what their food taste but they can be distracting and perhaps even annoying. Some people may enjoy seeing all of the different decorations but in my eyes a little goes along way, don’t completely paint the walls with nonsense but rather sprinkle a little decorations here and there.

Moving on to what really matters, the food. (more…)

First Impressions

We arrived late to meet our party already seated and having been served drinks. While this restaurant didn’t put the same effort into external styling as Lucille’s (see previous review), the insides were a cacophony of antique-look trinkets. While some restaurants use legitimate antiques, most of the ones on the walls of Famous Dave’s were cunning parody, advertising barbecue-flavoured fishing lures and Dave’s brand whatever. While cute, it eliminates any chance of taking the place seriously. Of course, they’d find many other ways to make us not take them seriously by the time the meal was done.

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First Impressions

Although Got Sushi looks indistinguishable on the outside from the juice bar, and indeed, the bank alongside it, the interior decor is done in that traditional Japanese-restaurant look, carried off tastefully, if slightly to excess. Lots of bamboo and screens, but not so much as to make navigation diffcult. Our party of six was seated immediately.

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We finally made it out to our first Japanese restaurant this week. I few of us diners are pretty big on sushi while a few other are not so much, to make for an interesting crowd. The place we stopped at was called Got Sushi on 6744 E McDowell Rd. in Mesa, AZ. The place was that of a typical strip mall sushi restaurant, nothing too classes but of well standards.

I myself prefer makizushi, or rolled sushi, while a few of the others partook in nigirizushi, or hand rolled sushi. The rolls I ordered were the Las Vegas Roll and the Crunch Roll. Both of which I am familiar with and regularly enjoy. There nothing too special or off in the deep end however they are decent rolls. The Las Vegas Roll is smoked salmon, cream cheese, kanikama, and avocado which is deep fried and topped with unagi sauce. Got Sushi’s Las Vegas Roll was pretty good however I wasn’t a very big fan of their unagi sauce. I feel that a few of the other sushi places I have been to have had better unagi sauce. It didn’t completely discourage me from eating the roll, at it was still a good roll, but it did weaken my opinion of the roll. The Crunch Roll is a pretty generic roll so to speak. It consists of crab mix, cucumber, and shrimp topped with tempura crunchies and ugani sauce. The ugani sauce on the Crunch Roll was much more delight full that the ugani on the Las Vegas Roll. I can’t quite exactly put my finger on the distinguishing factor but I did prefer the Crunch Roll over the Las Vegas roll.

On top of the rolls we had a variety of other sushi and lunch plates. All from what I tasted or could tell was pretty good. The whole dining party seemed to be pleased and full. Even the ones that were not so enthusiastic about getting sushi seemed to be content. Overall it was a good experience. The restaurant had good food and good service. I could definitely wouldn’t mind going back and would recommend it to anyone in the area looking for a good Japanese meal.

Now I love sushi and am no stranger to the raw fish delicacy, but make no mistake, I am no connoisseur either. However, one of our lunch party was not only familiar with sushi, but with the restaurant itself. That in itself made this dining adventure a real treat.

The restaurant was not only a traditional sushi house, but also a Japanese BBQ, complete with table-side grills in part of the dining area. We were greeted and sat in a very timely fashion, and our drink orders were immediately requested. They offered a lunch menu as well as a order form to select your fancy. I am a big fan of “nigiri-zushi” or finger rolls as well as both “futo-maki” and “hoso-maki”, or sushi rolled in seaweed, whether it be large with multiple ingredients or small, singular ingredients. Such a fan that I have even attempted to create my own sushi dinners, but alas, I am better at other things for sure.

Our experienced diner made recommendations and placed our orders for us, and the waitress seemed pleased that she did not have to explain to each one of us every little thing, which may be a burden on a regular occasion for her. One thing I have learned about sushi and the employees at sushi houses, that it is best to know what you want to have or try what sounds good, but don’t spend a lot of time asking what everything is, and I think this is out of respect for the art of sushi and also the Japanese culture itself. The other thing I have learned about sushi, a sushi chef will do amazing things to woo over their patrons, so ordering something you are unsure of will at least result in a beautifully arranged dish.

With that being said, I opted for the salmon (”sake”), grilled eel (”unagi”), yellow tail (”hamachi”), and the Mexican roll. Since others were ordering, we would share and try each other’s choices, which is really the way to do sushi as far as I am concerned.

Sipping on my ice-tea, our first place arrived in just a few short minutes. That was refreshing since I was hungry and really in the mood to eat. As we passed the plate around everyone had a sample, and somehow I even managed to knock one of our party’s soy sauce on the table. At least he was forgiving, since he is the owner of the company. Good job Brendan!

We dove in and it was clear upfront, this was going to be some of the best sushi I have ever had. The fish portions for each peice were perfectly sized, not too large or small, both of which I have had. The freshness was really noticeable which is VERY important in sushi, but I have also had the experience of “not so fresh” sushi. And the rice was perfect consistancy, sticking together but not too clumpy. I really do not enjoy picking up a piece with my chop sticks and having it fall apart on the way to the soy dish. This was perfect sushi as far as I was concerned.

I also enjoyed the rolls we had ordered, some of which were deep fried and very tasty, like the Mexican roll. The waitress must have timed the delivery of the plates perfectly, because just as we were about to finish one plate, she showed up with another. I do believe that this is traditional, and am always impressed of the choreography of the chef and the server.

To finish the meal off, the experienced member of the party ordered a breed of shrimp that came complete with heads on the side. Not only did this make for a “WOW!” plate as far as aesthetics are concerned, but really reminded me of a Cajun crayfish plate. He offered me a roll and a head, but I only opted for the roll itself, I just wasn’t in the mood for the heads today. I have had the pleasure of crayfish heads, which he assured me were extremely similar, but since he ordered, I decided to skip the delicacy.

Overall I would rate Got Sushi very good. The service was excellent, the food great, and the experience was perfect. But I also have to hand out props to Tanner, the one that ordered the shrimp at the end and made sure that lunch was as expected and pleasant.