Azuma Sushi & Robata Bar

Azuma is located in the heart of the Rice Village area ( 5600 Kirby Dr, Ste 5, Houston, TX 77005), right off Kirby. The decor is modern, with a hint of traditional Japanese flair. The wait staff, hostesses, and even the managers have been friendly and very helpful the past few times I’ve been. Azuma also has a nice wine & sake list, which I have yet to sample. I’ve been here 3 times in the past two weeks. I’m really loving this place.

Sushi. I’ve tried several times, and I must tell you, as much as I’ve tried to eat sushi, I can’t. Sushi and I just aren’t meant to be. So, I try everything else and this time around I tried their shrimp tempura, which is served with miso soup & rice. Their miso soup is delicious and I love the tenderness of the jumbo battered shrimp. They also have a variety of beef, seafood, pork, and chicken dishes. Another dish that you must absolutely try is the Azuma hot rock beef. You can choose from their standard beef or their kobe beef. Basically it’s about 6 oz. of beautifully sliced beef which comes with this extremely hot (so hot it’s red) rock that you in turn cook the beef on. They offer a side of their mango ginger sauce and their terriyaki sauce for dipping the meat in. It was inventive and the rock stayed hot until I cooked all my beef.

P.S. My friends who’ve had the sushi thought it was really good, so I’ll just have to take their word for it. And, when they say spicy tuna roll, they really mean spicy tuna.

Azuma also serves robata dishes. These are different meats, seafood, pork, chicken grilled on a hot plate. Now, the grilling is mainly done in the back and what comes out are these cute and tasty grilled appetizers. I’ve had a few of the items already and I would highly suggest the Japanese short ribs. Oh they’re my favorite. Also, my friend enjoyed the lightness & taste of the grilled calamari (pictured above).

I’m a little upset that I couldn’t get a better photo of Azuma’s friend banana tempura w/ice cream. It was good, but you can’t really go wrong with banana tempura, and ice cream makes everything taste better. I would have to say that the dessert menu could have more items on it, but what they do have, and I don’t have a photo of, is MOCHI ICE CREAM. For those who’ve never had mochi before, it’s a Japanese sticky rice dough with an ice cream filling (mochi wiki). At Azuma, they serve you with green tea, red bean, mango, and vanilla mochi. The green tea is my favorite. It’s light and cute and full of yum.

–Chelle

Belated superbowl dip

Mmm… dip! Anyhoo, I ended up doing a few five layer dips for the Super Bowl and they were devoured in no time. Made one for the anime club @ girlfriend’s (TK’s) campus and they also left it for dead. Figured I’d put this simple recipe up and let you give it a go. It’s basically all made from items you can find at your local grocers.

Osaka’s Quick Five Layer Dip

1 16oz can of refried beans (fat-free or even vegetarian made for the good kids)
1 can of Tostitos brand salsa con queso
green onions
black olives (sliced for best results!)
1 16oz can of your favorite variety of salsa (I used a simple medium spiced one, but I really want to do one with black bean and corn salsa with cilantro that I’ve made from scratch plenty of times before)
a blend of shredded mozzarella, cheddar, monterey jack and asadego cheese
1 8 or 16oz container of sour cream

Basically layer these items in the order that I mentioned, and garnish it with any diced green onions and olives you have left over. Makes about 2-3 quart sized containers worth, although you can do one at a time. Doubt it if one dish’ll last long though. XD Bon appetit!

By  Osaka, one of many nicknames for Thomas, an aspiring lyricist from Buffalo NY, and guy of good nature and wisecracks. He loves to cook occasionally, trying new recipes that not only taste delicious, but entertain the eyes and tease your palette. Yet another watcher of the Food Network, he usually dabbles in the kitchen of his job where he works in foodservice.

Tell them to acquire my personality for a show too! I’ll rhyme in the bistro while baking cookies or grilling tuna steaks with a spicy chutney!