Finding a good bowl of udon noodles in San Diego was a difficult task until a couple of years ago.  Tajima in the Convoy area has decent Nabeyaki Udon- I prefer the one across the Mitsuwa Market rather than the original store on Convoy.  Then Yumeya opened a couple of years ago in of all places Leucadia about 5 minutes from my home.  Its a family run restaurant and their udon is homemade (teuchi), its like having pasta “al dente”, a slight resistence when chewed.  Its the best in San Diego.  In the summer you can get it cold – its not on the menu though.  Their tempura is also good, a good combination with udon.

In the winter, Yumeya serves oden kansai-style, which I prefer.  Since the family is from Osaka, their takoyaki is excellent.  Actually, everything on their menu is really good…miso butterfish, brown rice salad, koroke, kushi-yaki…

Originally the customers were mostly local, but the word has gotten out about this place and its getting increasingly crowded.  We tried to go last Saturday, but there was a 2 hour wait. 

On another note, we had really excellent toro sushi at Shirahama this weekend.  It was amazing.