Wednesday, February 15, 2023

歌志軒USA 開店

※ 次はイスタンブールからの復路を記事にする予定でしたが、速報をはさみます ※

うちの近所に造っていた、歌志軒 U.S.A. が予定から半年くらい遅れて、先週2月8日に開店しました。

開店直後から、もう開店前に行列ができる大人気店です。
週末は数十人の行列で、爺には並ぶの無理ゼッタイ!!
本日、水曜日の10時45分。開店15分前に行ったら…既に前に5組並んでいました。

行列している、日本語を話すお客さんが「ここ、何だったっけ?」とか話しています。

「たい焼き抹茶アイスの店だったかも」
「そしたら、ロブスターロールの店でしょ?」

思わず会話に割り込みました…。

「ここはゴンチャだった場所です。ロブスターは左隣」

…と言い切ってしまいましたが、大間違いです知ったかぶり爺でごめんなさい!!
以前はこうでした。古都寿司が始めたラーメン屋の場所です。
ゴンチャは右隣で、抹茶たい焼きソフトはさらにその右隣。ロブスターは左隣なのは、あってる。

オーナーのティムくんと知り合いだと威張ったら、前に並んでいた高そうなお召し物のレディに高笑いされました。

「あら、あたしもです~♪」

前にいたレディは、なんとティムくんが修行していた大勝軒USAのオーナーの奥様でした。(激汗)

「ティムがここ始めちゃったら、客盗られちゃうんでね?」
「いえいえ…ホホホ」
「あ、でもSF店でブイブイにロブスターラーメン売ってウハウハですよね♪」
「ホホホホホッ!(汗)

失礼な会話をいたしました事、今年から Medicare に加入する老人の戯れ言と、ご勘弁ください。

そういう暇つぶしの会話の前後、開店数分前にメニューを配ってくれました。
全く同じ内容は 歌志軒USAのウェブでも観られます。僕はそっちで予習してきました♪

そして午前11時、開店です。
店内は予想以上に広い! 以前、古都ラーメンだった時には『支那人のなんちゃってラーメン』だと馬鹿にして、入った事がありませんでしたが… 間口の狭さに反して内部は広々していました。天井のぼんぼりもカッコイイ!

お店の奥の方はこんなです。
水曜日だったけど… 開店から15分ほどでほぼ満席になってしまいました。

儂はおひとりさまなので、壁に向かって反省しながら食するスタイルの席へ…。
オープン1週間なので、ピッカピカに清潔です。
もっともGが滅多にいないサンマテオなので、清潔に保つのは難しくはありません。

油そば専門店なので、調味料がいろいろ。辣油、酢、白胡麻、ガーリックにチリペースト。
でも…「ラー油」と「」って書いてあるの、読めない客が来ないか心配。

注文取ってもらう時に「玉子の黄身も♪」って頼んだら、日本語OKのサービスパーソンさんに変な顔された。

「オリジナル油そばに卵黄はあわないと思います」

そうなのか? だからオリジナルと塩味には黄身が載っていないのか??

「そう? じゃあ味玉にしてください」
「ありがとうございます。アペタイザは如何ですか?」

・・・なかなか商売上手?(笑)

「じゃあ、唐揚げをお願いします」
「いろいろフレーバーがございますが」

「は… はじめてなので、オリジナルで」←気分は真希波マリ・イラストリアス

そしてほんの数分で、唐揚げオリジナル風味 がすぐに届きました。
こんなです。揚げたて熱々なので、当然衣はサクサクですが… 内部の鶏肉が予想以上に柔らかい。レモンを搾って、マヨを塗りたくるか、または油そばと一緒にいただくとなかなかいい組み合わせでした。

で… 箸が届かないからちょっと焦った。
よく見たら… 調味料群の下に引き出しが。そこを開けたら、サイステイナブルな箸が入ってました。

最近は割り箸がどんどん減ってきてるけど、割り箸だって端材だし生分解性を保ってるから、充分にサイステイナブルなんだけどなぁ。やりすぎ感を感じてるのって1950年代生まれの儂くらいかなぁ。

唐揚げをスマホで撮ったり、箸を取り出しているうちに、真打ち登場。
オリジナル油そば味付け玉子 です。

パッと見は『スープかけ忘れたラーメン』にしか見えない…。(笑)

ものすごい種類の油そばとものすごい種類のトッピングがあるうちから、基本を試しました。

配達してくれた兄さんに、英語で言われました…

「底のほうにソースが潜んでいますから、よくかき混ぜてお召し上がりください。」

なんか、日本語ネイティヴな人間として、英語で日本の食品を解説されてプチムカ状態。

「うん。知ってるから。」←見栄張り。混ぜ蕎麦なんてろくに知らない。www

で… まるで朝鮮の食べ物みたいにテッテーテキにかき混ぜて、ソースを均等に行き渡らせます。
最後に味玉を載っけると、こんなです。さらに白胡麻と少量のガーリックを振りかけて。

麺は中太麺で、儂には少しだけ茹ですぎ。あと1分くらい茹で時間が短い方が好みかな。
ソースはこってりしていて、確かに、さらに卵黄を加える必要がないくらいリッチです。
叉焼は薄切りだけど、柔らかな仕上げで風味も出しゃばらない。メンマは上々の出来。

いま心配なのは、このへんの飽きっぽいアジア系の若造どもが熱心に行列してること。
油そばは汁なし麺なので、個人的にはラーメンに類するもののなかではニッチだと思う。そんで、ラーメンって普通はスープで勝負している部分が大きいと思うので、汁なし麺がどこまで奮闘するか、やや心配です。

でも、暫くはこの大行列が続いて、開店が遅れた分を早くリクープして欲しいです。

   §

今回のおまけ写真。サンマテオにはそろそろ春が来ています。
佛教会第弐駐車場のゼラニウムを入念に検査する、ちーちゃん。

毎朝の、ネコの散歩が辛くなくなってきました。
風はまだ冷たいですが、日差しは暖かく感じられます。

こちらは近所の薬屋、ヲルグリーンズの駐車場。
品種は同定できませんが、八重桜が既に満開を過ぎて、散り始めています。

2月はこのままサンマテオでノンビリです。でも来月はアテネと東京へお出かけ。
今年はまだまだ旅する予定になっています。そろそろペースダウンしなくちゃ…。


12 comments:

  1. This is unrelated to the article, but I was surprised to hear that a stylish club lounge has opened at the Crown Plaza in Okayama.
    It's like the saying "you don't know what's in your own backyard".

    The Lounge Access Common Service:
    On the 20th floor, during the specified times, you can enjoy drinks, snacks, and sweets from the exclusive menu while taking in the (Okayama's poor local) view at the restaurant and bar floor.

    Tea Time (tea only): 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
    Tea & Cocktail Time: 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

    So it seems you can enter the "Sen" bar lounge on the 20th floor from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
    Timing-wise, won't you want to do the cringe-worthy act of bringing your own Magcorol to the lounge to drink before coming to our clinic ? (Of course, I know you're not a troublemaking YouTuber.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yamada Denki sensei,

      I think you are completely mixing up the communications between personal emails and blog comments... :)

      As per I replied by email, IHG started installing club lounges within Crowne Plaza branded hotels to support better opportunities for their frequent stayers who achieved over 40 nights last year and decided to receive Annual Lounge Access Membership. InterContinental branded hotels are already equipped with Club InterContinental. Now Crowne Plaza hotels (hereinafter referred to as “CP”) are installing “Crowne Club Lounge” in their properties and even CP San Mateo introduced one which I can’t believe it… btw. CP San Mateo is the accommodation for ANA crews as well. (lol)
      Under such circumstances, it is totally understandable ANA CP Okayama arranged the lounge access as their already-built sky-view bar/lounge “Sen.”
      However, the pitiful point is; their lounge opening hours are only afternoon tea to cocktail hours, 15:00 to 19:00, no breakfast service is given for lounge users. This is a kind of very negative impression for me as a “”lounge beggar” who raids lounge amenities as often as possible,

      So, I have to plan appropriately how I can maximize my stay fruitful at ANA CP Okayama with having a whole gallon of Maguro-call or Chlamydia which will be given from you, doctor.

      Delete
  2. I certainly mixed up my private email with your blog.
    Let's get back to the topic of the article.

    This must be a very popular shop where a line forms even before it opens.
    If there are dozens of people in line, it's impossible to stand in line for you, an old man.

    Actually, when you went there on Wednesday at 10:45 a.m., 15 minutes before opening, there were already five groups of customers in front of you.
    Japanese-speaking customers were saying, "What was this place ?"

    "Maybe it was the shop that sells Taiyaki with matcha ice cream."
    "No, it was the shop that sold lobster rolls, wasn’t it ?"

    You couldn't help but interrupt the conversation...

    "This is where Gong Cha used to be. The lobster shop is on the left."

    You said it confidently, but you were completely wrong, weren’t you ?
    I agree you were a know-it-all old man ! (lol)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oops...
      I missed this one and combined my reply on the following one together.
      Sorry. please refer to the followings. <(_ _)> ペコリ

      Delete
  3. You mentioned when you boasted that you knew the owner, Tim, the lady in the expensive-looking clothes in front of you burst into laughter and said, "Oh, me too !"
    I find it a bit strange that, even though she's the wife of the owner of the shop where he trained, was she okay with waiting in line ?
    Wouldn't you think he should have given her special treatment ?

    "Well, since Tim started his own shop, he has stolen a lot of customers from you, hasn’t he ?"
    "Oh no, no...hohoho."(Is she quite anxious ?)
    "But you guys are selling lots of lobster Ramen at the SF location, aren't you? It must be going great !"
    "Hohohohoho !"(Does she have quite a bit of pride ?)

    Yes, I completely forgive your rude conversation and the ramblings of you, an old person, who will be enrolling in Medicare starting this year because I am also the same age as you (LOL).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 先生、絶好調でんがな…。

      The owner, Tim, originally planned to open this shop by fall, but everything goes slow this pandemic period, Kajiken finally opened last week, Feb-8. I missed the opening week because I was in Türkiye followed by a jet lug and missing of apetite for a while. This was pity.

      And… yes I didn’t remember where those shops were. We call this area as “kiss of death” means, every restaurant or bar only survive within a year, then close the door. If you open a food business in San Mateo, they say the chance of success is lower than 5%. This means, only one restaurant out of twenty can survive here in downtown San Mateo… I am living in downtown for 15 years so far, and I saw numbers, numbers of restaurants and food services are opening and closing. This is the main reason I decided to not open coffee shop corner in my studio even we are just in front of the station. The license of food protection management helps me a lot for being foodies, though.

      After all, Kajiken’s venue used to be an unsuccessful ramen shop under sushi shop. But Kajiken is totally a different variety – Aburasoba from Nagoya and it’s franchised a big name. Tim is very clever and brilliant, learned at Waseda University, so his shop must be success. But honestly confessing… not tjis much success, please. I don’t want to make a line for eating at here in weekdays.

      Delete
  4. The fact that it's almost full within 15 minutes of opening on a Wednesday is amazing.
    It's common in Japanese Ramen shops for solo diners to sit facing the wall, but rather than eating while reflecting, it's good to be able to concentrate on savoring the Ramen, isn’t it ?

    It's only been open for a week, so it's great that it's sparkling clean.
    I'm not familiar with your world, but why isn’t it difficult to keep it clean in San Mateo, where the G rarely visits ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yamada Denki sensei,

      This restaurant became full within 15 minutes on Wednesday, and it opens 11 am. Asian noodle eaters are insane. But they are fickle as well, so I don’t think this “making line busy” situation remains in weekdays. Taishoken had similar situations when they opened. Now they are reasonably busy in weekends but easy to find a seat on weekday lunch.

      In San Mateo, super dry summer – humidity is very low and this is not a good environment for G’s. They can live in sewage but not inside of the restaurant if the shop appropriately install anti-insect equipments on their drainage. But G can comfortably live in south side, Mountain View or San Jose. Or downtown San Francisco is dirty enough for them. (eeuu…)

      Delete
  5. I'm also worried that there will be customers who can't read things like 'rayu' or 'vinegar' if they're written in Japanese.

    Also, I think I might want to ask for 'extra egg yolk' as well.
    Even if they tell me that ”the original oil noodles don't go well with egg yolk,” I might still say ”please give me the yolk” because I love eggs to begin with.

    If you compromise, you might be a really good salesman, like suggesting, ”Thank you. How about trying our appetizer ?"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yamada Denki sensei,

      Sometimes, I have somewhat similar situation in foreign country like Türkiye where I can’t read their language well. At least in restaurants, I am okay in Japanese, English and Spanish speaking countries, plus German, French and Chinese. Written Chinese is no problem for us and we know their most of spices except some local specialties.
      Fortunately, over 95% of customers are Asians – mostly Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese. Furthermore, Even Caucasians in SF Bay Area are able to use chopsticks very well – sometimes better than me, which is the sign they know Asian spices. Therefore, no significant trouble is happening, I guess.

      I do like egg York. But the concern and suggestion of service person was right. The sauce was rich and probably contains some egg yolk already in there.
      Before I’m placing my order, I was seriously thinking whether I should try their Karaage today or not. So her question “any appetizer?” was kind a kick starter for me, and the chicken was superb. Next time, I’ll try Negi-Shio or Butter SHoyu flavored Karaage with Campbell(F) san.

      Delete
  6. This 'fried chicken in original flavor' is literally freshly fried, so the coating must be naturally crispy.
    And if the chicken meat inside is unexpectedly tender, squeezing lemon on it, spreading mayonnaise, or enjoying it with oil noodles would be a great combination.

    I also recently realized that disposable chopsticks are decreasing rapidly.
    But as you said, disposable chopsticks are made from scraps and are sustainable enough.
    I, too, born in the 1950s, feel like we are doing too much in terms of sustainability.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yamada Denki sensei,

      As per I already replied, ther Karaage chicken is good. Because original flavor is good, I am expecting Butter-Soy or Leek-Salt are my favorite, but Wasabi or some spicy ones are not my taste.

      and… Yes! There’s nothing wrong with disposable chopsticks!! Those are already sustainable enough, You idiot!! (I’m pointing my finger to Generation-Z or younger who are 意識高い系)

      Delete