I don’t know what it is about sushi that just calls for a craving every once in a while. Personally, I didn’t start eating sushi until I went to college, and I didn’t even *think* about eating sashimi until I got brave at Toyko Sushi in San Diego. Since then, I can’t get enough of raw fish and loads of wasabi.

Domenic and I went to Ichiro Sushi, which I found on yelp.com.

 

More sake bottles than I care to count is always a good thing.

 

They even have comics on the wall!! Sweet! I’ve been waiting for the new Super Sumo Samurai comic!!

 

Domenic trying to order in Japanese. Sike.

 

Uncle Fester likes sushi!

 

This roll was pretty good. I don’t remember the name of it, but they gave a generous portion of tuna in the roll, and most importantly, it was fresh!

 

I ordered the Chirashi – various sashimi over sushi rice. As you can see, you get quite a selection of sashimi!! Calamari, Shrimp, Tuna, Salmon, White Tuna, Yellowtail, Mackeral, and a couple others I didn’t know. The sashimi was fresh, the rice was tender and slightly vinegary like sushi rice should be.

 

There had to be at least 15-17 pieces in there. Needless to say, for $13 it’s a great deal.

Ichiro sushi is probably the best sushi place I’ve been to in Oakland. It certainly is a lot better than a lot of the other places in the area. The sushi is great quality, the prices are reasonable, and the service is pretty quick. They serve all the traditional Japanese fare, and have a great selection of sake.

The major knocks against this little sushi nook is its size and parking. Don’t expect be seated anytime soon if you have a party greater than 4 anytime during lunch. Most of the tables are four tops, and there isn’t a lot of room to really combine tables. The other downside of this restaurant is the parking. Being right in the middle of downtown Oakland, it’s tough to find a place to park.

As with most smaller sushi restaurants, the service is so-so at best, so they hit par on that.

I also have a personal checkmark for sushi restaurants: I’ll never eat sushi at a place where you can’t see the quality of the sushi before you buy. What I mean by that is…most sushi places have the sushi chef in front, with his sushi bar present, cutting the fish. Some places don’t have this, and have their sushi in the back away from view. I’ve learned to NEVER trust those places. Say what you will…they’ll always be sketchy to me!

My faith in Zachary’s has been restored.

Zachary’s is a Chicago style “Stuffed” pizza joint right in the middle of Rockridge in Oakland. It’s not really deep dish, but what they do is stuff their pizza, meaning a layer of dough, topped with cheese and whatever topping, another layer of dough, and that’s topped with their tomato sauce. If you go there most nights of the week, and over the weekend, expect to wait in line for at least 45 minutes.

A Zachary’s Pizza. Yummy!!

Zachary’s Oakland restaurant is smaller than you’d think. They pretty much jam you into the space they’ve got, and it makes for a real cozy(a.k.a squished) environment. The place is decked out in all this Zachary Pizza related art work. It’s kinda neat.

Art! Yummy!!

 

Kat, Domenic and I decided it was a good day to splurge on some pizza, and that’s exactly what we did.

We totally pigged out. Our order consisted of two medium pizzas: the Barbeque Chicken Thin crust pizza and a Stuffed Pepperoni, Mushrooms and Garlic pizza.

I thought the barbeque chicken was excellent. The bbq sauce wasn’t too tangy or too sweet, the cheese was nice and gooey and it looked like they used a mix of mozzarella and cheddar. The crust was nice and crisp the way a thin crust should be. I think they topped it with cilantro, and that was a really nice touch(it was hard to tell with the sauce overpowering). I almost would’ve liked it to have a slight kick, but other than that it was good.

The Stuffed Pizza

The reason I say my faith has been restored in Zachary’s is that I never used to like all the tomatoes they put on top of their stuffed pizza. It was always too overpowering! The flavors of whatever ingredients you’d order never stood a chance against the tomatoey dominance of the sauce. But this time was different: it was nicely balanced against the pepperoni and cheese, and I think the garlic even stood up to the tomatoes.

Totino’s on steroids!

Overall, it was a great time. The pizza was delicious, the service was good, and best of all there was no wait!! You’ve won me back Zachary’s. You beat out Round Table as my favorite pizza place lol.