Noodles & BBQ

I'm vacationing in San Francisco having participated in a marathon last Sunday. Now that the running is over and the recovery has begun, we get to the good part – eating my way across the city.

It should be said that when it comes to Japanese noodles, I'm a bit of a nut. Udon, somen, soba, ramen, I could eat my weight. So yesterday when my lovely wife suggested that we stop at Mifune, a noodle shop in the Japan Center, during a bus ride across town, I was more than enthusiastic.

My soba were delicious as were E's ramen, but noodles aren't the real topic of this post. As an appetizer, I also ordered kushikatsu because I had never heard of it and because both the picture on the menu and the plastic replica in the window outside looked tasty. One really can't go wrong with breaded, deep-fried pork chunks on a stick. Imagine my surprise when I tasted the accompanying dipping sauce only to discover that it was mighty similar to Memphis BBQ sauce. I haven't had much of a chance to look, but I can't find any recipes confirming the ingredients. I tasted Worcestershire, vinegar, soy and pepper. I think the only thing missing was a tomato product and perhaps some sugar. I believe this bears further investigation as it pertains to development of The Sauce.

E took some pictures of our lunch, but I can't download them from her camera. Instead, here's a shot of kushikatsu I found on the Interweb.