Daimonji changes hands.

[elfs]

Change is hard, especially when one of your favorite restaurants changes hands.

Daimonji is a Boeing institution, the sushi joint closest to the Seattle Georgtown manufacturing plant. It has been one of Omaha's and my favorite places for a long time. Omaha especially enjoys the donburi eel, while I've always bought the Boeing Special Sushi Plate.

There is no Boeing Sushi Special anymore, just as single sushi dinner. Edamame and miso used to be gratis parts of the meal, but now edamame is an add-on, tacked to the end, and delivered hot to your plate-- which is odd to me, because all the other sushi places I've been to serve it at room temperature.

The rice on Omaha's bento was prepared sushi rice, not traditional short-grain, and the vinegar flavor was off-putting. My sushi was excessively spicy; the sushi chef was highly apologetic (apparently, my reporter's notebook unnerved him) about the spicy mayonnaise mix he blended himself.

Omaha's favorite bento had also been taken off the menu.

The waitress who took care of us was highly defensive about the edamame when we expressed surprise. Later, Omaha put down her credit card, and when the waitress came back with it she handed it to me. I guess she assumed it was mine, which was highly unprofessional.

Sadly, this means that Daimonji has gone from being a great sushi restaurant to being an ordinary one, with little to recommend it. Like Miyabi's descent from a great place to eat sushi with the kids to yet another mall-rat oriented beer-and-sushi joint.

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Hey, for the record, I was at Miyabi a couple of times a few months back, and it had gone back to being most excellent.... it got compliments from both a Canadian friend with a distinct bent towards Asian cuisine, and my former LA co-worker contingent, who are used to Good Sushi in their own area... So perhaps it's time to switch back?

Too bad about the demise of Boeing Sushi. Some folks don't know to leave well enough alone. Sushi joints are delicate places anyway; it *is* the nuance that makes them special... if I was contemplating changing one I would do something like put out a survey and see what my everyday clientele thought was good bad indifferent or needed switching up (or DIDN'T)....

I would bet a sushi dinner that the server didn't look at the *name* on the card. Not just unprofessional, but *sloppy*. Definitely time for a new (old?) sushi joint. *sigh*

[omahas.livejournal.com]

Well, the name on the card wouldn't have told them anything. It's my name, which is gender neutral. But most places we go to, if there is a miscommunication about the card, will come back and address the *table*, not a particular person, if they don't know who gave the card to them in the first place. That was what was unprofessional. That and she immediately addressed me as "hon" when she turned to me. :P

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

If you're older (than us) and Southern you can get away with "hon"... I'm guessing she wasn't.

*sigh*

(And most people assume city/state names are female... radarrider has run into that *many* times...)

Agreed about simply sitting it on the table if there is confusion...

[urox.livejournal.com]

I've been to places where the edamame was hot. I actually prefer it that way, but don't know what is supposed to be acceptable.

As for credit cards, there was a recent article that most wait staff return cards to the guy because that is the majority of cards placed.

[omahas.livejournal.com]

Ah, we're still living in the 19th century, are we? Sigh.

[urox.livejournal.com]

Me personally, I'm just lazy and figure if my husband is going to carry his wallet, I don't want to have to additionally carry my purse.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_candide_/]

I'm actually able to enjoy sushi again, since I have a place that I trust where I can get it. It's over on the other side of the river, but when epinoid and I are in New Paltz, we often end up there.

The place in question started out as a Japanese home-cooking and noodle-shop. Everything she does is very authentic. We often go there and just get onigiri for lunch.

When Yoko decided to add sushi, I thought that she was, sadly, bowing to the pressure of The Market, which says "Japanese Restaurant"=="Sushi". The sushi chef that she hired is actually Japanese, and moved up here to basically go into early retirement. I have a feeling that Yoko-san gave him a lot of freedom to define what this position is for him. It's probably far, far lower pressure than the places he worked (or ran; I don't recall) further south, closer to Manhattan.

epinoid ordered chirashi last time we were there, and the bowl wasn't mostly daikon. 'Nuff said.