From nobody@nowhere Wed Jan 24 23:15:09 2001 From: Richard Threadgill Subject: Dinner Wednesday, 7/1 Kamei, Mountain View To: kabuki-west Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1998 16:57:14 -0700 Message-ID: <2649.898819034@wonderlan.midgard.net> Sender: richardt@wonderlan.midgard.net Status: RO This Event: Wed 7/1: Kamei, Mountain View Coming Events: Thu 7/9: Jose's, Palo Alto Wed 7/15: Le Cheval, Oakland Wed 7/22: Mandarin Gourmet, Palo Alto Wed 7/29: Afghan House, Sunnyvale Thu 8/6: Suraj, Redwood City Wed 8/12: Cha Am, San Francisco Wed 8/19: Il Postale, Sunnyvale Wed 8/26: Hunan Home's, Los Altos Thu 9/3: Paradise, Mountain View Wed 9/9: Fondue Fred's, Berkeley Wed 9/16: Sono Sushi, Mountain View Wed 9/23: * open * Wed 9/30: Kuleto's, Burlingame Thu 10/8: Blue Nile, Berkeley Wed 10/14: El Paso, Mountain View Wed 10/21: Hunan Gourmet, Sunnyvale Wed 10/28: Passage to India, Mountain View Thu 11/5: Ploy Too, San Francisco Wed 11/11: Cenzo's, Palo Alto Wed 11/18: Han Gen, Mountain View Wed 11/25: Kathmandu West, Cupertino Thu 12/3: La Mediterranee, San Francisco Wed 12/9: Amarin Thai, Mountain View Wed 12/16: Swagat, Mountain View Wed 12/23: Hobee's, Cupertino Wed 12/30: Brandy Ho's, San Francisco Chris Hull maintains a Kabuki web page at http://remarque.org/kabuki. Time: Wednesday, July 1st, 7:30 pm Place: Kamei 240 Castro Street Mountain View Description: Kamei is an excellent Robata (Japanese grill) House in Mountain View on Castro Street. While it has been repeatedly slammed in ba.food for various reasons, I have brought large and small parties there with excellent results. The cuisine is not your typical Japanese sushi + teriyaki plate fare, and I suspect that accounts for the high variation in people's reactions to it. While unfamiliar with the particulars, I would draw strong analogies to North Indian vs. South Indian cuisine, or Szechuan vs. Cantonese. Bonus points to anyone who comes to dinner with the history of Robata Houses. Robata is like tapas or maza, lots of little relatively inexpensive one or two person dishes that are generally ordered in quantity and shared. Grilled veggies, marinated beef, kushiyage (breaded cutlet), various pickles, tempura, and udon dishes are done there and done well. Don't expect great variety in sushi-- a few types and some sashimi. Vegetarians cheerfully accomodated with a wide selection-- the grilled mushrooms are superb! Generic but tasty bento box dinners available for the faint of heart, but we'll tempt you with the wonderful yakitori skewers (chicken & scallion). Service is slow but friendly. Expect to pay $1.75 - $4.25 for typical robata which serves 2 - 3 persons a generous sample. Depending on your appetite, you'll probably spend $12 - 15 if you arrive hungry and go a little nuts ordering things, ie a typical KW. :-) Sake available but no plum wine, sadly. Kamei is on Castro Street in downtown Mountain View between Villa and California Street on the right side of Castro when you are heading toward El Camino from Central/the train station. It is easily walkable from the Mountain View train station (not to be confused with the Castro station which actually stops at Rengstorff). For those unfamiliar with the area, a variety of ATM machines are available nearby (just a couple blocks up the street past California Ave). Kabuki was last at Kamei on May 26th, 1996. Directions: Public Transit: Take CalTrain to the Mountain View station. Kamei is just down Castro as you walk toward El Camino. By Automobile: Mountain View is near the south end of the peninsula on the West side of the Bay. Take 101 to Mountain View, and take the Moffet Blvd exit. Turn away from the bay, and continue down Moffet into downtown Mountain View. Moffet Blvd becomes Castro Street when you cross Central Expressway and the Train tracks; Kamei should be on your right several blocks past the tracks. Parking Note: You probably want to park in the train station parking lot; Its a short walk, and parking on Castro is moderatlely loathsome. [review by Strata] -RichardT