New Edokko same as Old Edokko?

I tried New Edokko last night, and it gets a sideways thumb from me so far. To be honest, I would probably have just said that it's not very good if so many people hadn't chimed in to say they like it. And we ran into Jessica, Rosemary and Nicola there and Rosemary said she eats there frequently, so I'll give it another chance. The fact that I can walk to it quickly makes me really want to like it. I had planned on getting the challenge ramen but I wanted more than just chicken in my ramen so I went for the chanpon men. This was a ramen that was touted as containing pork, shrimp, squid, fish cake and vegetables in pork broth. I ordered it because I wanted a sampling of the various ingredients. It wasn't until after was done eating that I realized that my chanpon men actually only contained pork and three medium-sized shrimp. Lame! I would have said something to the server but I forgot what the menu had promised. The vegetables weren't too exciting, either and the cuts of pork were fatty. The selection of veggies was heavily weighted towards canned bamboo shoots, which are nasty as hell. To me they smell (and subsequently, taste) like pee. I'm making the ramen sound worse than it was. Once I added some of the pepper flakes on the table, which balanced out the flavor of the broth, it was OK. That was eight bucks and it was quite filling. GW got a roll that I can't remember the name of that was crab salad with raw tuna and green roe on top. New Edokko likes the crazy colors. I assume the roe was dyed and it looked a little unsettling. I expected it to taste minty or something. She said her roll was pretty good, but for 9.50 it should have been bigger or had fancier ingredients. I'm not sure how the other ladies enjoyed their meals. Two of them got the I Love You roll, which had a pink soy wrapper. I had a piece and the overwhelming flavor was sugar, which is a little weird for sushi. It had some sort of avocado fish salad inside and was pretty mushy with mayo. They have a decent selection of affordable sake. So this is not a slam, but it didn't impress me. I want to go back and try more of the noodle dishes, including the challenge ramen.

Has anyone tried Sweetfinger restaurant? I haven't been there since it changed names and I think, owners. I'd like to try it but I'm wary. The sign outside is pretty funny. An amateur artist drew a hand gripping some food (I guess the hand represents the "sweet fingers") but it looks more like a crab claw. It was empty last night. And once again, Taste of Thai had about three times as many customers as Chada. I just don't get it.

Warning: rambling paragraph alert. I hope nobody is braving the restaurant crowds for Valentine's day. Worst day of the year to eat out. I guess Josh P. is cooking another meal in Sac and I got a last minute invite (well, smiller did) but I already have plans. I got the Molinari sausage for my pasta at Corti last night, and after work today I'm going to Taylors to have the excellent cheese mistress help me with a cheese course. The cheese selection at Taylors is much better than Cortis. Maybe no one is going to know what I'm talking about here (Ella?), but when I was getting some of that As Do Mar tuna (seriously the best) that I read about on the Cortis newsletter (which they NEVER CHANGE) they had this whole line of Gio's brand canned pate maybe like six different kinds (including lobster) that had the most amazingly designed cans. They were SO COOL LOOKING. My powers of description fail me, but I wish I was all technological and could take digital pictures and post them. There is nothing about thisbrand on the internet that I can find. I will just have to buy them all and display them somehow or have a pate party. In general the designs on all the canned fishes and pates are really rad. Boy this is a pretty exciting paragraph. Jesus.