Fujiya Funbox

One of Vivi's favorite cuisines is Japanese.  Unfortunately, the Japanese steakhouse closest to our house is, IMO, a dump. It's about 100 years old and the decor has clearly never been updated nor has the place been cleaned.  We can go to Assembly Street, or St. Andrews or the Northeast to find good Japanese food.  But, there's something even closer.

Fujiya on Rosewood Drive is just a couple minutes from our neighborhood.  I've driven by it a zillion times but never ventured in.  I noticed on Facebook one day that my friend Eugenie was there, so I asked her about it.  Turns out she & her family go there pretty often.  So, I decided to give it a try.  I took Vivi to lunch one day a couple of months ago.  Since then, we've been back two more times.  

Is this the best Japanese restaurant in town?  No.  But it's a good one and it's so convenient for us to get there whenever the craving hits.  It's a small place, the hibachi chef is actually Japanese (the dump's chefs are Hispanics...I mean, that's just odd) and the wait staff is attentive.  So far, we've only been there for lunch and what I want to share with you is what a good deal they are for lunch.  They call it the "Lunchbox."  

Viv's beloved teriyaki chicken Bento

My shrimp Lunchbox

Connoisseur

It's a Bento box with your choice of shrimp, chicken or NY strip teriyaki, tempura, gyoza, salad with ginger dressing and either steamed or fried rice. Vivi loves the chicken so much, that she always plows right through that before trying anything else in her box.  The chef cooks at a hibachi table that you can see, but it's not at your table.  

We were excited to see that they offer red bean ice cream, but disappointed to learn that they didn't have any today.  If you have never eaten red bean ice cream or red bean seed pastries, do yourself a favor and order it whenever you see it show up on a menu.  Fujiya, Inakaya and the Blue Cactus are the only places I know of in Columbia who carry the ice cream. In the absense of the ice cream, we opted instead for strawberry ice cream mochi.  Good, but not red bean!  :-)

Like I said, this isn't the best in town, but it's pretty darn good.  What I mean is that this isn't high gourmet, but good, typical offerings of Japanese fare. I like the fact that it's a small, neighborhood place where we can eat lunch that consists of real food for the same price that someone else pays to feed their kids McStuff. The wait staff is always pleasant and they keep a close eye on you and take care of you.  It's a good experience and I especially enjoy my lunch dates with my little girl! 

Girls' Night Out

Neil was out of town for a couple of days this week, leaving us girls to our own devices Wednesday night.  So, we decided to make the most of it.  

We started with a play-date with a little girl who lives around the corner.  Vivian thoroughly inspected each of the kid's toys, banged out a few tunes on their piano, checked out the vermi-composting in the backyard, then we all headed out to the park for some good ol' fashioned playground fun.

Upon returning home, we got ready for our big night out together.  My sweet baby child is a pretty good litte eater.  While I haven't been able to get her to give sushi a try, she LOVES Japanese food.  So, we both had to get dressed up in fancy dresses, Vivian said.  She selected her entire outfit and then adorned her hair with as many bows and do-dads as possible.  She topped off this ensemble with a white faux fur cape, and we hit the road.

Fancy Schmancy

We went to one of those Japanese steakhouses, Sato in Forest Acres.  I knew going in that this particular place is my least favorite in town.  But, it's close to home and on this outing, that was most important.  First off, everyone that we encountered and passed by greatly admired Vivian's most fancy outfit.  She did look really cute, I must say.  We were seated with a family of mom, dad & their 7 year old girl and a couple down at the end.  Everyone seemed intrigued to see how a little kid would act and eat in a place like this.

This is not an actual photo from our dinner (full disclosure)

Well, this ain't Viv's first rodeo. My parents introduced her to Yamato's a couple years ago, so she knows how to handle a pair of kid chopsticks.  By the way, Yamato's blows the doors off Sato.   Vivian's meal consisted of a Shirley Temple, soup, and teriyaki chicken.  The chef showed her how to use her chopsticks to (effectively) eat rice with them.  I was so impressed; the child ate rice with sticks!  I can barely use chopsticks, so this is very exciting to this Mommy.  Anyway, she loved her meal and her big, grown-up Girls' Night Out.  We went home, got in comfy jammies and cuddled up on the couch to watch Food Network until she fell asleep.  

I just wanted you all to know.