Golden Brown and Deelish

Took Jala2 out for lunch yesterday since I had a meeting downtown. She asked "Where do you want to go?" First thing that always pops into my head: Teriyaki! I have weakness for teriyaki joints. Love, love, luuuuurve them. And I ain't talking about no Benihana's, you know, the kind you find in just about every nondescript strip mall or hole-in-the-wall you see around here. Salty, sweet grilled meat on a big pile of rice, yum. It's Seattle's cheesesteak/hotdog/pizza equivalent, and for me, comfort food. It tends to be my go-to option for those days I don't have lunch prepared (which usually consists of leftovers from the night before) or I'm on the road or I'm on my own for any meal, really.

I have high standards when it comes to food, but that all goes out the window when I see "Teriyaki" on the front door, for some reason. I could be sitting down to a plate of grey, rubbery, tasteless meat slathered with sauce straight from the Yoshida's bottle and I'll still find a way to eat the whole thing with a smile on my face. I haven't actually been to a lot of the joints in the area, but that's mostly because there's so many of them and I've narrowed down my faves to a select few:

Happy Teriyaki: That to which all others shall be compared. Here's the thing-I always thought teriyaki came with a side of sauteed cabbage until started expanding my horizons. Sadly, too many places serve the same bagged iceberg salad with some nondescript dressing. Boring. I don't understand why; cabbage is just as cheap and it takes a minute or two to throw it in a pan and toss it around. Oh well. The meat is always nicely grilled and never tough. My preference is plain meat with sauce served on the top, rather than pre-marinated then grilled. Seems like, in that scenario, all I taste is the sauce. Bonus points for having, like, a gajillion stores in the area.

Kiku: Best menu choice, with a number of combo options and non-teriyaki items, such as udon and curry. The teriyaki chicken on the bone is particularly yummy and atypical for Seattle (and an exception for my anti-premarinated preference, but they do it so well). When I was in college and had extra cash (which was typically rare), I'd get the beef combo and scarf it down in 5 minutes. Also, try the Oyakodon, which is chicken over rice with egg on top.

There are plenty of others that I regularly stop into, like Yasuko's, Nasai and any of the Hawaiian joints (if I'm not already craving Kalua pork).

There's a deli down the street from my office run by the nicest Korean couple; the teriyaki isn't very good, but every once in awhile they'll offer bi bim bap. But that, as Alton Brown would say, is another show.