My favorite Japanese restaurant closed earlier this year without notice. I'd been going there since 2002, and even after we moved to Hawaii and we came back to Washington on vacation, we'd make a stop by to eat there. It was a nice family run place that had a good following of regulars, and the atmosphere was always cordial and warm. If you were a regular, you had your own chopstick case and chopsticks 'assigned' and your own masu - a box cup for sake. I had my own chopsticks and case that had my name placed on a label on it, so that when I sat down (usually at the sushi bar), the sushi chef would find mine and hand them to me just as I got my starter of miso soup and taco salad.But just before we moved to Hawaii, the husband and wife team that owned/managed the place split up. And I think some of the regulars may have followed where the husband went (which I have no clue of), and the business dipped just a bit.
I liked the wife and the husband. It was a shock when the wife told me one day that her and her husband had went separate ways because they seemed like a good team. She was a very nice lady, and managed the restaurant well enough afterward I thought, and even kept the same staff on board - which included a Mexican cook who knew how to make every Japanese dish on the menu the way it should be. ML always ensured that they were included in the annual Christmas card mailing when we were in Hawaii, and I know they appreciated it because the wife kept the cards displayed by the cash register area.
The price was right for lunch - $11.00 for a meal similar to this one, the Salmon Combination Bento, a favorite of mine. The one in this picture was the dinner version as I was having a beer with it. (I didn't order beer during the lunch time meal.) In fact, I could walk in for lunch and the proprietress would greet me and say, 'salmon combo bento?' - to which I would almost always say yes, unless I was craving something else on the menu.
In my quest to find a replacement after discovering the doors had been shut for good, it's been pretty futile. The salmon filet and tempura that the next restaurant I tried a lunch bento at was way less in quality and quantity, and the atmosphere was not as hospitable.
I'm still looking and will report when I do find a Japanese casual restaurant that will be almost as good, because I don't think there will be one as good as they were.
