Umaimono Fair

Torrance to Costa Mesa:An Umaimono Fair Crawl Part 3

Posted in Umaimono Fair on July 29th, 2008 by BB – 3 Comments

Arriving at the Costa Mesa Mitsuwa shortly after 1pm, we scored parking in the underground garage and set our sights on seeking out our two remaining targets: BBQ beef tongue and shina soba. Under severe questioning, Mitsuwa staff spilled the beans: the BBQ beef tongue was no more. Bugger!

Happily, Kujiraken’s shina soba counter was still bustling with activity and more importantly, soup. In the absense of chewy tongue to share, we bought a bowl each to fill every last square inch of stomach area. Thankfully, the soup arrived scorching hot with a quarter inch of hot oil on top because we couldn’t find a seat in the entire food court! After a few minutes and triangular hawking of tables, we quickly swooped on an opening section at a high-top table.

read more »

Torrance to Costa Mesa:An Umaimono Fair Crawl Part 2

Posted in Umaimono Fair on July 29th, 2008 by BB – Be the first to comment

Saturday, May 17th I set out to sample more Umaimono Fair treats. Since the event was only until the 18th, I enlisted the help of a few friends to share the large amounts of food available. On our hit list was the shark’s fin ramen, BBQ beef tongue, and the shina soba.

Stomachs empty, we arrived ready for battle at the Torrance Mitsuwa. Tokyo’s Chibakiya was offering shark’s fin ramen exclusively at this location for the fair. There was no line(erm…$18 a bowl) and we received our order quickly. The ramen was nicely presented in a ceramic bowl with a real spoon-a step up from the regular plastic bowls offered from other vendors.

read more »

Torrance to Costa Mesa:An Umaimono Fair Crawl Part 1

Posted in Umaimono Fair on July 25th, 2008 by BB – 1 Comment
Img_2574.jpg

In mid-May, Mitsuwa hosted the Umaimono Gourmet Fair showcasing a variety of food stuffs in their food court and via hallway vendors. A sucker for all things new and delicious, I couldn’t hold myself back from the drive down to Torrance on opening day, May 17th. This despite future plans to return that weekend for an intimate event that would span from Torrance to Costa Mesa, sampling exclusive dishes at each store.

  read more »