From: Patrick Salsbury (salsbury_at_sculptors.com)
Date: 10/16/02
Message-Id: <200210161939.g9GJdHD20406@bootstrap.sculptors.com> Subject: Aoyama & Yokohama - Los Gatos, CA Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2002 12:39:16 -0700 From: Patrick Salsbury <salsbury_at_sculptors.com>
Hi, all!
This list has been a bit quiet, lately, so I thought I'd post about
a few recent outings I'd had.
Friends of ours, Doug and Collette, were having a birthday party
for Doug at Aoyama recently, and about 8-10 of us went down for dinner.
(Apparently, Doug and Collette are friends with the owners, similar to my
relationship with Sung Ho of Shogun Sushi in Santa Cruz, so I got to try
out their favorite place. Now I need to get them over to Santa Cruz. :-) )
Aoyama and Yokohama are both owned by the same people, and I think
that Aoyama is the newer place, and handles the overflow from Yokohama.
It's so new that they don't yet have a liquor license, which actually works
out in your favor, since you can bring your own alcohol. We brought down
some bottles of saki and Japanese beer for the celebration, and a good time
was had by all. (I think there were a shortage of saki cups,
understandably, so if you have a faborite set, you might want to bring them
along.)
Aoyama has a double tatami (sp?) table in the front, with ample
seating for the 8-10 of us that were there. We probably could have fit
12-14 if we got cozy. There are also about a half-dozen tables and also
seats at the bar.
A few days ago I went with another friend to Yokohama, which has a
liquor license, doesn't have the tatami, but does have some outside dining
in front, like a European cafe facing the street.
In both cases, the fish was excellent. The cuts were good-sized
without being over-sized. The selection was wide, the service friendly. In
both cases, we were not at all rushed, so we got to sit around and enjoy
things at our own pace. They were attentive to our needs, but not in any
hurry to move us along. At Yokohama, the chef even gave us some albacore
on-the-house, which was a pleasant surprise. (We very likely got a
bonus-round at Aoyama as well, since they are friends with Doug, but I
wasn't in charge of ordering, so I'm not sure.)
In any event, I found both experiences to be extremely satisfying,
and am happy to add a couple new places to my list. I'll certainly be going
back there in the future. Might even make a good place for a sushi-list
outing, if we want to organize one. Then folks who live in the valley or on
the penninsula won't have to go all the way to Santa Cruz.
Speaking of Santa Cruz, there's a new place that opened recently on
Ocean St. & Soquel Ave. It's where the old Rock'n Tacos was, and is called
"Little Tokyo". Apparently, they are a sushi-boat style restaurant, which I
know some people don't care for. (I like them, actually. Then I can just
pick whatever looks appealing to me as it floats by.) I haven't been in
there, yet, but when I do I'll post a review.
Pat
Aoyama Japanese Restaurant
408-395-0560
217 North Santa Cruz Ave.
Los Gatos, CA 95030
I don't have the address for Yokohama, but it's about 2 blocks farther up
the street. Fairly close to the Bank of America, but on the other side of
the street.