Damn, forgot the camera again. Hoshi is not a place to order sushi rolls. You probably will be disappointed. And you might be taken aback when their grilled fish entrées reach your table as it is the whole fish, head, bones, fins, tail and all. This is a place to drink with buddies and practice your japanese, or get adventurous à la carte if you don’t speak any, since the waitress struggles to explain the menu but all she can muster is “ahhh, hmm, those are two totally different fish… it’s hard to say but they are both really good”.

Well, I should have told her that I don’t like fish that smell and taste like stagnant water, because the Houbou Shioyaki (salt-grilled Searobin), was the worst fish I’ve ever eaten. And I grew up on an island. Not only that, I certainly wasn’t prepared to have it glaring at me while I picked at its mealy, mushy flesh, so I ate its eyeballs. That wasn’t to spite it really, it’s a childhood thing I used to do with fresh fried whole fish (eyeballs, marrow, fins.. yum!) The taste certainly wasn’t their fault; it just wasn’t a good choice for us. Not much luck with the Miso-Marinated Black Cod either. It was burnt to a crisp on one side and still raw on the inside. The consistency was like a bland butterfish, flaky and perky, like chicken fat beneath the skin, but the raw bits near the vertebrae were fighting us as we jabbed it repeatedly with four chopsticks. Why so stubborn, panda bear?

The spicy tuna rolls were more like spicy rolls.. where’s the tuna? Plus, they did not incorporate chili goodness into the fish flesh itself, rather sprinkled togarashi (ground chili pepper) across the tops. This was a far cry from the creamy mayo-n-tobiko types or the awesome *cartwheel cartwheel* sesame oil-laced ones at Genki Sushi. This is a catch-22 case against craving authenticity fer sure.

The Yaki Onigiri (grilled musubi) were unadorned, drenched in shoyu prior to grilling so they were chewy and smoky and salty. I prefer my yaki onigiri lightly crisp, but these were presented on an adorable woven tray which was perfectly fitting, perfectly rustic. I must say equally rustic were the streamers of calligraphy-esque special items plastered on every square inch of wall in this teeny place. Thankfully, they graciously provide an Excel spreadsheet looking English translated hard copy. There’s a whiteboard near the doorway with the Daily Specials posted and I could read things like soba–negitoro tsukimi–kanjikanjikanji–katsuo tataki, flexing my two weeks worth of Japanese class, oh yah!

We had two types of fried squid: the legs used for the Karaage were tough, flavorful little tourniquet tubes, and the cute little chewy puffballs of debeaked Squid Mouths were like chewing gum, oily fishy chewing gum, in a good way. I loved ‘em!

The cardigan-ed waitress forgot my Hamachi Sashimi order, but I forgive her because she was so nice. The other waitress who didn’t say much yet ironically spoke better English, was decked out in goth gear, and it was amusing to be helped by both a librarian and a vampire.

I’ll definitely be back for the delectable Ebi Chawanmushi (shrimp baked in plain flan, basically), springy Sazae Tsuboyaki (grilled turban snail , and the three-way Fugu (blowfish) dinner (details to come), because Hoshi is not a place to order “safe”, it is the best izakaya place to experiment!

Hoshi
246 Saratoga Ave - Santa Clara, CA - (408) 554-7100
HOURS: M-F 11:30a-2:00p; M-Sat 5:00-9:00p

About the Author:

dreamlogic.net -- KRISTINE KOBAYASHI-NELSON

Kris Kobayashi-Nelson is an avid food adventurist who has tried everything from jellyfish to sea cucumber to chicken gizzards. She is a vegetarian by day, pescetarian by night.

 

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