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.
