Walkin' Around Checkin' Stuff Out. #73
Cafe Yoto.
Cafe Yoto is a new udon noodle shop in the North Loop. If Homemade udon noodles are becoming a “thing”, I’m all for it. I could eat udon noodle soup everyday.
The space is cool, hip, modern, simple...very simple. Like all-white simple. So simple there wasn’t much to draw (the upper left of this drawing is a good representation of the space.
The soup was fantastic, very simple and the noodles were great...a little thicker than most udon noodles. Two thumbs-up on the shrimp tempura....they weren’t just an acceptable afterthought like at a lot of places.
The salmon and avocado tamaki handroll was also really good. Simple, great presentation, and the salmon was top notch. The kado donduri (sashimi on rice) on the otherhand...was fine. Pam really liked it, but I felt like it was overpriced by $10. Even if it was priced right I’d stick with the soup and handrolls.
It’s nice to see people giving a shit and wanting to do something better. I’m sure there are decent commercial udon noodles available that would work just fine, but I love that this guy is putting in the work to make something better. He came from a fancy sushi place in town so it’s cool to see someone go out on their own and do it right, especially in the world of “quick serve” food places.
There was a serious buzz in the place with a line for take-out and a wait to grab a seat, but this guy was in the zone. I have to assume he’s the owner...his concentration was focused squarely on making noodles from scratch. It was fun to watch how he handled the dough and inspected each noodle batch every step of the process.
Serious concentration and inspection of another batch of noodles.
He took great care in carefully setting each batch of udon into plastic tubs to rest. He took the kind of pride in what he was making that you won’t see in what most people do for their daily jobs. I hope people eat here and appreciate the level of labor and craft that goes into making something as seemingly simple as a noodle.
Davis Jones!
Dogs are the best. I can’t imagine not having one...and this little dude has been a blast. He recently turned 2 years old and sometimes he even starts acting like a dog and not a puppy. Sometimes. This is Davis crashing after a walk. Of course he snores...I’m sure it would drive most people crazy but he’s bulldog number 5, so I’m used to it.
The look I get when I’m 10 minutes late for dinner.
More Davis drawings??? Yes, more Davis drawings. The way the world is these days, we need dogs now more than ever.
How Davis looks after a couple gummies.
Morning photos.
Many mornings I wake-up to a text photo from Pam of the previous nights sleeping situation. While I have zero interest in seeing what I look like in a deep sleep, I do love seeing Davis and all the crazy sleeping and pillow hogging positions.
Dogs…they are the best.
Davis works himself into position to eventually take over all the pillows.