Dragonfly (9) $$$

If you are looking for a relaxed downtown evening of good food, classy drinks and engaging conversation, look no further than 18^th and Capitol. Dragonfly specializes in sushi and Asian fusion both modern and innovative.

Yesterday I met some friends there for New Years Eve dinner. We meet here fairly often because most of us like sushi, but if you don’t there is something for everyone, like their dragonfly burger.

On this occasion I ordered a duck bun appetizer, and the Terminator roll.

The appetizer was served traditionally Chinese, with the exception of the cut of duck. This duck was little chopped pieces from off the bone, parts of the duck that are hard to get too and ugly to serve as an entrée, probably the back and neck. It wasn’t fresh duck but it wasn’t tough and old either.

I was both pleasantly surprised and disappointed about the roll. The terminator roll is shrimp tempura, spicy tuna, topped with salmon, ahi, yellow tail and torched scallops. The scallops were particularly good; perfectly seared but left mostly raw, they were fresh, moist, and they left a very clean taste. However the roll did rely heavily on the sauce. I like my fish as pure and fresh tasting as possible, I believe too much mayonnaise sauces or cream cheese hide the taste of the fish.

For atmosphere Dragonfly receives a 10. It has a large open air feeling inside, a large patio for summer, a trendy location and happy hour Monday thru Friday. They also have wine tasting on the second Saturday of the month during the art walk.

Dragonfly usually rates about $ for two people ordering an appetizer and an entrée each, plus a drink. On this occasion we spent about $$$$$$ but that’s just because it was New Years Eve.

I give Dragonfly a 9 for taste even though I didn’t like a lot of sauce on my sushi. The fish was still fresh, and all the elements of the roll were proportioned well. But next time I will have to remember to order my sauce on the side.

It is often hard to find parking in downtown and the midtown areas, but Dragonfly has valet parking. The Valet is shared between all four restaurants on that corner so you can valet from either side of the street.

Over all I have to give Dragonfly a 9 out of 10. It’s a fun trendy place to eat dinner or get lunch. Dragonfly even serves breakfast.

1809 Capital Ave. Sacramento, CA 95814

Murata's Cafe Hana (8) $

Café Hana is located in Kintetsu Restaurant Mall. Amid the other traditional Japanese restaurants, but is more of a delicatessen than a restaurant. I stopped on this occasion just to have desert after a couple hours of shopping. The case line was filled with beautiful tempting treats like, mango mousse, chocolate éclairs, Swedish princess cake, black forest cake, and fruit tarts.

My husband and I decided to share a chocolate raspberry mousse. (I am not usually a fan of mouse of any flavor but I tolerate chocolate the most). I am happy to announce that I was pleasantly surprised. The mousse was very rich, but not too sweet. It had a smooth light texture, but did not taste frothy. The garnish raspberry was fresh, and the chocolate leaf was made of a sweetened dark chocolate. Half way through we found the raspberry mouse filling. This mousse, like the chocolate, was light and not too sweet. It was almost fresh tasting.

The only down side was that I was unprepared to like it so much and I ended up eating more of it than I had anticipated. I had to send Kris back to buy a glass of milk to go with it.

Café Hana receives a 6 (out of 10) on the atmosphere rating. It has quite a few tables all surrounding a large rock indoor fountain and part of the café is actually a florist giving it that garden café feeling.

Price wise; it was very average for the kind of drinks, chocolates and pastries you would buy at any other delicatessen or coffee house. I give it a $ because the dessert was big enough and rich enough to share and we could also have bought a drink each for under $20.

For taste and quality I give the chocolate raspberry mouse a 7, because it was pleasant, light, sweet and fresh, but I would not make a special trip just to have dessert there.

Over all I give Café Hana a 8. Though the food was very good, the cafe has a cute atmosphere and the price was very competitive it is a very small café, with a very limited menu. Its not a place to stop for a meal.

Other places of note in the Kintetsu Restaurant Mall:

Nippon-ya. Its not really a delicatessen or a café but they do sell mochi and other imported candies. Each product is carefully displayed and is explained in English for the inexperienced mochi shopper. My favorite is the pineapple chews wrapped in edible rice paper wrappers.

Isobune, San Francisco (5)$$

Isobune claimes to be the “original” sushi boat restaurant and was the first to use the floating boats to deliver sushi in the United States. Located in the San Francisco Japan center, Isobune boasts a unique atmosphere to stop and rest from a day of shopping and sight seeing.

Today when I went I was unlucky enough to become hungry during the peak lunch hour. If possible avoid arriving before 2:00 on a weekend or you will have to wait a long time to be seated like I did. There is good news, even if you have to wait to be seated, once you find that special spot at the counter, instant gratification! All you have to do is reach out and pick a good looking boat. Don’t worry if you miss on the first try it will come around again.

For fun and atmosphere Isobune receives a 7, (10 being the highest).

Isobune is not really a cheap restaurant but you can get out of there very reasonably if you eat light, so I give it $$.
The price of the dish is distinguished by the color, (blue costs about $2.50 and gold costs about $5.25) just stack them up to the side and your waitress will total them up at the end.

For quality and taste I have to rate Isobune at a 4 on this occasion. I was not impressed with the selection of sushi it mostly being uni, salmon and mackerel. The fish was relatively fresh and the eel was warm from the kitchens but my baby octopus was old and tough tasting. I believe those little red cephalopods are pickled somewhere over seas and then imported. Though you can’t argue with how easy it is to rip open a plastic bag and serve cold, I did not enjoy the experience.

I can say that the avocado used in all the hand rolls was very fresh and of a much better quality then what many sushi restaurants use. Their produce supplier definitely deserves kudos.

The toro leaves a lot to be expected but two pieces are served on a gold dish, so they are at least a very good “deal”.

Over all I give it a 5, a fun place to grab a bite to eat. Sushi lovers (eel, salmon, tuna lovers) can go crazy on their favorite rolls and compile a mountain of dishes before breaking the bank and if you go, do not miss their frozen peach sorbet served inside a actual frozen peach.

1737 Post Street, Japan Center, San Francisco (415)563-1030

1451 Burlingame Ave. Burlingame, CA 94010 (650)344-8433

Other attraction of the Kintetsu Restaurant Mall of include:

The Kinokuniya book store,
The KSG Kinokuniya stationary and gift store,
The four Asakichi stores: incense, iron works, kimono and art stores
Not to mention numerous novelty figurine stores.