The next fast food “craze”—sushi!

You know and I know-that at times us-Americans can over do a good thing. You do remember “mom & pop” video stores, don’tcha? If you don’t think that current food crazes…self serve yogurt, cupcakes and upscale burgers aren’t headed for a serious day of reckoning, you might like to think again. For sure, there are going to be a handful of survivors, but I’m willing to bet you a lunch of your choice, that in the next couple of years there are going to be a ton and I do mean a ton of very-very unhappy franchisees. Seriously folks, do you really think that Jeff Eats’ 1-mile square Boca neighborhood- needs something like 14 self serve yogurt joints, 9 upscale burger spots, 23 mom & pop red sauce Italian restaurants? Hate to sound like a quiz-master here, but do you know what overkill is?

From what I’m hearing and seeing, the next fast-food craze about to hit America…SUSHI!. The best way to describe this “concept”—think Subway, Blimpie’s, or your favorite sub shop…you know the deal, you tell the guy/gal behind the counter how to construct your sub-sandwich in this case it will be your “roll.”

Checkout a small company—how do you roll? at www.howdoyouroll.com. For right now, how do you roll?–has a total of 11 stores in 6 states. I know-that with only 11 stores this “chain” is a mere-blip on America’s franchise map. By the way, for our purposes, how do you roll? currently has 2-Florida locations–Gainsville and Jacksonville. For the record, last week I was in a –how do you roll? store which literally just opened in Tucson, Arizona right next door to the University Of Arizona. Wanna talk jammed? During the 3 days I was “out there” I saw a constant and steady line waiting to get in…Now I’m no expert on sushi, but a gut feeling tells me that this fast food sushi concept is going to be huge “around” college campuses–and there are plenty of college towns in America.

Mark my words…fast food sushi joints are the next craze. Now, how do you roll? may not emerge as the dominant player–but my money says, that the “concept” is going to spread like a wildfire…and of course, like yogurt, burgers, cupcakes will eventually get over-done.

Kiki’s Asian Bistro…”takeout/delivery” Chinese/Sushi joint in Boca Raton.

Let me make this one short and simple, this joint’s food is some-of-the-best-around. A recent outing had me “doing” wonton soup, egg rolls, bbq ribs, fried dumplings, general tso’s chicken, pepper steak, shrimp with lobster sauce, sweet & sour pork, roat pork fried rice.

Like I said before, takeout-delivery only. Prices are what you’d expect from a neighborhood “hole in the wall” joint. You can check men/prices at www.kikisasianbistro.com.

If you live or work in Kiki’s neighborhood, you now know about a realy-really good takeout joint.

Kiki’s is open Monday-Saturday 11:30am-10pm and Sunday 5pm-10pm.

China Garden & Kin’s Sushi…”mom & pop” Chinese joint with a sushi menu thrown in for good measure.

Let me make this one short-simple…won ton soup, roast pork fried rice, egg rolls, bbq ribs, fried dumplings, sesame chicken, sweet & sour pork, shrimp with lobster sauce all OK—definitely not the best Chinese stuff that I’ve had–but the sesame chicken was on the ‘pretty good’ side of the ledger

You can check menu/prieces at www.chinagardenkinsushi.com.

China Garden is open Monday-Thursday 11am-10:30pm, Friday-Saturday 11am-11pm, Sunday 11:30am-10:30pm.

China Gourmet…very good Chinese joint in Deerfield Beach, operative words here, VERY GOOD

Not sure if this is a trend—but I am finding that more and more South Florida Chinese joints—now. also have Japanese menus. So I guess, that China Gourmet is a “trendsetter” because it offers both Chinese and Japanese food. You can check both menus/prices at www.chinagourmet.info.

China Gourmet has been around for something like 40 years…kinda surprised that I hadn’t heard about it until 3-weeks ago…Anyway, using my “Jewish-Brooklyn” circa 1950 taste-test of- wonton soup, pan fried dumplings, bbq ribs, egg rolls, roast pork fried rice, sweet & sour chicken, pepper steak, General Tso’s chicken, shrimp in black bean sauce, vanilla ice cream, fortune cookie—I am happy to report, that China Gourmet’s food is very good.

Let me sum China Gourmet up for you—now follow me here…I enjoyed every dish that I had. With that in mind, no-one item totally knocked my socks off, like Bamboo Wok’s (review: 5/7/10) boneless ribs or pan fried dumplings…or Wingloon’s (review: 1/18/11) garlic chicken do. “Solid” is the best way to describe this joint. By the way, don’t let the GOURMET part of China Gourmet’s name throw you off, this is a neighborhood–mom & pop–combination plate specials galore- joint.

One final note, I didn’t try the Japanese stuff, afterall—this is really a Chinese restaurant.

China Gourmet is open Monday-Thursday 11:30-10pm, Friday 11:30am-10:30pm, Saturday 1pm-10:30pm, Sunday 3pm-10pm.

Ho Ho Restaurant is a neighborhood-no frills Chinese-Japanese joint located in Delray Beach. Its menu is divided into two-parts, Chinese and Japanese. You can check menu/prices at www.hohochineserestaurant.com.

Absolutely-positively nothing fancy here. Decent enough food at reasonable prices…plenty of combination dishes.

Of note, back in Brooklyn circa 1950s-1960s (if memory serves me correctly), there were no combo-restaurants…there were loads of Chinese joints, but to be perfectly honest with you, can’t recall-even one Japanese joint. Today, it’s a whole other story—sushi etc. are in vogue and Japanese joints are all over the place. In the Ho Ho case, I’d bet, that the owners are Chinese and that the Japanese menu is a-way to play both markets.

Now back to the food—applying the “Jewish-Brooklyn” Chinese taste-test– Ho Ho would not have been a major player in my Brooklyn neighborhood. Like I said before, decent enough food, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Just so you know, I did wonton soup, egg rolls, fried dumplings, bbq ribs, roast pork fried rice, General Tso’s chicken, lobster in black bean sauce, sweet & sour chicken. Everything was ok…but my neigborhood takeout joint does them-all better. On the Japanese side of the ledger, miso soup and shrimp tempura roll. Like its Chinese bretheren, ok—but nothing great.

To sum it up…Ho Ho is a neighborhood joint. The food is ok.

Ho Ho is open 7 days a week 11am-10pm.

Shinju Japanese Buffet…small-chain currently with outposts in Boca Raton, Coral Springs, Davie, Pembroke Pines and Miami. Check www.sushishinju.com for menu/locations.

Recently tried its newest location– which opened about 1-month ago in Boca Raton. Terrific assortment of Chinese/Japanese soups, hot/cold dishes, sushi-sashimi, desserts…habatchi and stir fry stations.

Now-I know that this “is” a Japanese buffet—but, I gotta tell you, that the wonton soup was absolutely delicious and the bbq ribs were some of the best that I’ve had in a very long time. I’ll even go as far and say, that these 2 items alone, make the price of admission (figure 20 bucks a head for dinner) worth the price. Just so you don’t think I’m a shill for this joint, the sesame chicken was just passable, same goes for the teriyaki chicken.

All in all… Definitely one of the better Japanese/Chinese buffets that old Jeff Eats has tried.

Shinju is open Monday-Sunday for lunch 11:30am-3:30pm, Sunday-Thursday for dinner 5pm-10pm, Friday-Saturday 5pm-10:30pm.

Beard Papa’s…last count 39 locations—fast food… “cream puffs, rice balls filled with ice cream, handful of other desserts. For right now, this small chain has 2 Florida locations, Aventura and Orlando.

You can check menu/prices/locations at www.muginohointl.com.

Not sure how long this “dessert” concept is gonna last…it sort of reminds me of the current cupcake and self-serve yogurt crazes making the rounds.

Anyway, stopped by the Aventura joint and tried chocolate and vanilla cream puffs—also had Japanese rice balls filled with vanilla and strawberry ice cream . DELICIOUS!

To be perfectly honest with you, old Jeff Eats found -Beard Pappa’s to be a real nice change from the standard food court -bourbon chicken and Sbarro pizza.

Beard Papa’s is open Monday-Saturday 10am-9:30pm and Sunday noon-8pm

The “name” may throw you off…the words “Chinese”–”Japanese”–”Asian”–”Fusion” are nowhere to be found. So there is no confusion, Dragon Gourmet is a Chinese-Japanese-Asian-Fusion buffet-joint in Plantation.

This one is a KEEPER. Clean…good food…huge and I do mean HUGE selection of stuff (didn’t count– its website says that there are 200 different items)…very reasonable prices, figure max 16 bucks a head (it all depends when you get there). You can check menu/prices/photos at www.dragongourmetbuffet.com.

Over the past few months, I’ve done 1-dinner and 2-lunches…the food was consistently good. On all of the “outings”…Dragon was busy and the food was constantly turned-over, which is IMPORTANT when you are talking buffet. Just think of what freshly made fried chicken tastes like after its sat in a heated steamed “chafing” dish for 45 minutes or so (but that”s a Golden Corral story for a whole-nother day).

To be perfectly honest with you, Jeff Eats is a big-fan of buffets. Can’t remember, the last one that I didn’t enjoy. May need a psychiatrist to figure this one out, but just looking at mounds and mounds of food just-sitting-there-for-the-taking, gets me going.

If you are a fan of Chinese-Japanese buffets, I think that you will really like this one. Special shout-out to the General Tso’ chicken, pan fried dumplings, egg rolls, sweet and sour chicken.

Dragon is open Monday-Thursday 11am-10pm, Friday-Saturday 11am-11pm, Sunday 11am-9:30pm.

Yokohama Sushi is a Japanese-joint located in Boca Raton. Actually, there are two Boca locations, one at 9168 Glades Road and another at 60 North Federal Highway (561) 392-9328.
You can check menu/prices at www.yokohamasushi.net.

Tried this joint for dinner the other night. To be perfectly honest with you, Japanese food isn’t my favorite cup of tea (you now know why, there are so few reviews on the subject)…that said, sometimes to keep peace with various friends and family members, old Jeff Eats gives in. So here goes–thought that the miso soup, fried dumplings, steak stir fry, fried rice, shrimp teriyaki were delicious. Not a fan of sushi or sashimi, so when you try this joint, you can let me know how this “stuff” is. As a point of reference– My friends, Linda & Bob and my wife thought that the crunchy salmon-spicy tuna-shrimp tempura rolls were excellent. These same folks also advised me not to buy Google’s IPO at $85 in 2004. So, like I said before—I look forward to your thoughts on this joint’s sushi-sashimi offerings.

Not sure as to who exactly owns Yokohama. The bet, a “husband & wife” team…in any event, the nicest and most pleasant people run the Glades’ location.

Yokohama Sushi is open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner.

This review is about Japango an “Asian Fusion” joint which opened a couple of weeks ago in Boca Raton…there is another Japango located in Parkland, same owner, same menu, same prices…but I haven’t been to that one.

At this stage of the game, let’s go to Japango’s website www.japangomenu.com for menu/prices/photos.

This is a very easy review to write…Japango has delicious-moderatley priced food. Last night I “sampled” in no particular order—bbq ribs, chicken teriyaki, stir fried noodels, fried rice, miso seafood soup, shrimp tempura…like I said before– delicious. I will tell you, that the bbq ribs and fried rice were as good if not better, than the top stuff I have eaten down here in Chinese restaurants.

Japango is an upscale looking joint, but the tee shirt-shorts ensemble works. The menu has a great combination of Japanese, Chinese, Thai items…so if you aren’t a sushi eater, you are covered.

Word of mouth…I have heard that the Japango in Parkland is also a dynamite restaurant—always packed. that joint is located at 7387 North State Road 7, Parkland, Florida 33073, (954) 345-4268.

Japango is open Monday-Thursday 11:30am-10pm, Friday 11:30am-10:30pm, Saturday 4:30pm-10:30pm, Sunday 4:30pm-9:30pm.