Sushi House - 22030 Farmington Rd, Farmington, MI, 48336 · (248) 426-0203 and Tofu House - 22042 Farmington Rd, FarmingtonMI 48336 · (248) 426-6788

Once again, I apologize for being lazy. But here's a Buy One Get One Free post...

General thoughts for Sushi House - Sushi House has been around since around 2001. Back in the day, they used to have a $10 per month membership where you can buy sushi at $1 a piece off their $1 menu. These aren't the leftover pieces or something you should be paying $1 anyway, these are normal size, high quality sushi. They still have the same thing today, it's just $25 instead of $10. Here's the Dollar Menu. Clearly, they're doing something right, because Sushi House had expanded to invade the next space over, doubling its size from what it started with in 2001. They have created a long list of very innovative rolls. Here's the full menu. 

Foods tried -House Special Bento Box (at lunch and dinner) - The dinner box is shown. I've also had a few other things there, but this is basically what I go there for.

Thoughts - 

1. Look at the size of that meal!!! I've had this multiple times, not once could I finish it. Couldn't finish the lunch portion either. For one thing, you can't beat the presentation. The Yakitori (basically pieces on a stick) was tender and not drowned in the sweet sauce, the Gyoza clearly just came off the frying pan, the Tempura is fresh and not overly battered, the Salmon and Tuna sashimi are also of the right texture and color. Fresh tuna is supposed to be dark red, fresh salmon is supposed to be bright orange. Check and Check. There's absolutely nothing bad I can say about the quality of the food, I "almost" kinda wish the portion was a hair smaller so I can actually finish it all at once and don't have to bring any leftovers home. Honestly, what all in this box can reheat well? Anything fried becomes soggy, any meat will become overdone, sushi/sashimi won't be raw. So, I usually finish the box, but not without complaining about how amazingly full I am and I need to be wheeled out of there in a chair or something cause walking becomes tough after their House Special Box.

Final thoughts - I'm really proud of what Sushi House has become. The restaurant is successful enough to expand into 2 spaces, the quality of food didn't suffer in anyway, they even offer sushi making classes. I like that you can also do online order for take out.  Sushi House takes pictures of patrons and put them on their walls (on their website these days). I know my friends and I have made it on the wall before, but who knows if that picture is still around somewhere. I think my ranting and raving about just that 1 dinner item alone indicates that I will certainly be back (when I need to cheat on my diet a little (a lot).) I absolutely recommend it to anyone that enjoys Japanese food.

**********************************************************************************Tofu House - see beginning of post for the front of the restaurant. Here's the inside - 

General Thoughts - Tofu House opened in the summer or fall of 2011, by the same owners of Sushi House, serving Korean food. You can also order food off the Sushi House menu as well since they're right next door. I'm pretty dang sure this was the original Sushi House space, but I'm not 100% positive. The menu isn't extensive, but again, one menu item keeps bringing me back when I need some comfort food.

Foods tried - Soon Du Bu - 

Thoughts - For $9.95, in true Sushi (Tofu) House style, you get an obscene amount of food. You can get it mild, medium, and spicy. You have 4 options for what goes with the tofu - beef, kimchee pork, seafood, or mixed. I myself always get the Mixed Spicy.

This whole thing is an experience. First of, you sit down to a hot cup of wheat/barley tea and they leave the pitcher. Then they bring out 2 pieces of silken tofu in soy sauce (center left, hiding behind the entree stone pot) as an appetizer, and 4 side dishes - broccoli, tofu skin (both non-spicy), kimchee, pickled radish (both spicy). After about 15 minutes, they roll out this cart with the rest of the meal - a fried fish, a stone bowl of rice, and the boiling hot stone bowl of the Mixed Spicy dish. The Mixed Spicy consists of squash, lettuce, scallions, clam, squid, oyster, beef, and pork in my choice of the super spicy broth. The yellow thing in the entree is a raw egg. I love egg and it's part of the experience, so why not? They scoop out the rice for you in the small bowl, and they leave the original stone bowl the rice came in at your table for later (see the white spoon in a metal bowl at the upper right corner). I'm not kidding when I say the entree is boiling hot like a witch's cauldron. After about 15 minutes, the server comes back over, takes the pitcher of tea already at your table and pours it into the stone bowl of leftover rice. It sizzles for awhile, and then the rice that was stuck to the bowl gets scraped off and you get served with a rice soup. Talk about an experience.

Final thoughts - I friggin' love the Soon Du Bu, definitely on par with (and probably more than) the House Special Bento Box. I will be happy to bring anyone that wants to go. I'll never forget the Soon Du Bu, this sets the bar very high for all the other Soon Du Bu's I'll try in my lifetime. I have yet to find one that's comparable.

University Cafe - 621 Church Street Ann Arbor, MI 48104-3045 - (734) 662-7162

General thoughts - I've been coming here since 1998 and I've remained loyal to this place even though other similar places have popped up. Across the street from this place is Pizza House (which is also a great spot), but if U-Cafe (as it's affectionately known on campus) is open, I'll pick it over Pizza House any day. Here's the menu. The food hasn't changed much since 1998 and the food is consistently delicious. I'm going to list some of the menu items that I've tried over the years. As I go back and try new stuff I'll update this. Along with any entree, you get a bowl of rice and 4 sides - 2 spicy (kim chee (picked cabbage), picked radish), 2 non-spicy (broccoli and bean sprouts seasoned with sesame oil)

Foods tried - Yakimandu, Jam Bong, Mandu Ramen, Galbi Tang, Kah Soo Dong, Dolsot Bi Bim Bop

Thoughts -

1. Yakimandu - This is your standard potstickers and comes with your soy sauce which has chopped green onions in it.  The potstickers are made with pork. You can also order them steamed. There's 8 in an order and they are cooked just right. The skin isn't too chewy and it's definitely cooked to that lovely golden brown color. The pork is well seasoned.

2. Jam Bong - I was looking for a spicy noodle dish and I landed on this one because once in awhile I feel like seafood and this one has plenty of it. They don't kid around with this whole spicy thing. It does make me sweat, but it is so delicious. I can't promise this is a spiciness everyone can tolerate, but if you love spicy food, this is a good one. I'm sure if you asked nicely they can put it in their non-spicy broth but I've never tried so i honestly don't know if they would do it or not.

3. Mandu Ramen - This is hands down my favorite and I've gotten this for the last 15-20 times I've been there because not only is it delicious, it's almost $2 less than the other entrees. It uses the same mandu (dumplings/potstickers) as the Yakimandu. The broth is spicy as well which is perfect. The mandu is very well marinated because of the spicy broth. The ramen is cooked just right. The ramen I cook at home is like theirs about once out of 10 times. The eggs are scrambled and there are some vegetables. Since I love spicy food, I dumped all of the kim chee and picked radish in with everything else. I don't like radishes, but I wanted the spicy stuff off the pieces.

4. Galbi Tang - This is a non-spicy noodle dish. The noodles are a little different. It's thick see through rice noodles so the texture is different as well. Galbi is sliced short ribs. The meat is so tender it falls off the bone. The only reason I haven't gotten it more than once is because I discovered Mandu Ramen. If they ever add the Galbi into the Mandu Ramen, I'll probably never order anything else.

5. Kah Soo Dong - This dish is very similar to a Katsu Don at a Japanese restaurant, except this is made with strips of meat (I usually choose pork) that are not breaded. The cooking method seems to be quite similar and the eggs are around the same consistency as the Katsu Don. It's basically strips of meat sitting on top of white rice with soft scrambled eggs poured over the top + whatever sauce is used. I've asked for it to be made spicy and it was a good addition to the dish.

6. Dolsot Bi Bim Bop - This is a classic Korean dish. The difference between this is regular Bi Bim Bop is that the bowl is pre-baked so that it's incredibly hot. Then once you put in all the rice and all the other stuff in it, the rice continues to cook because of the bowl and starts sticking to the bowl. This is one of the few instances where burnt rice is a good thing. All the meats and veggies are topped with a fried egg (usually sunny side up or over easy). The whole idea of it is that you can pop the yolk and mix the yolk into the dish and add to the taste of it. A red sauce is also provided for the Bi Bim Bop. It looks spicy but it's not really spicy. I'm not quite sure what kind of sauce that is, but I know I don't see this sauce used for anything else.

Final thoughts - Was it Very Yummy In My Tummy? Oh yeah! Will I go back? You know it! Going to U Cafe is like having a Korean mom cook for you. All the ads around the restaurant are either maize and blue or in Korean. Most of the staff speaks minimal English. You order at the counter and they bring it out to you. They also pick it up at the end. I wish there was one closer to me so that O'Sushi would actually have a competition for my business. I've tried other similar restaurants that have popped up at the U of M campus over the years, but in the end their attempts at copying U Cafe's menu are futile because U Cafe has this whole Korean food thing on the lockdown.