Triangle Trip

I highly recommend two sushi restaurants in San Francisco’s Union Square area.  No big fancy, upscale restaurants where they overcharge for mediocre sushi.  In fact these two places are relatively close to each other in Nob Hill (a few blocks from Union Square).  I am a frequent visitor of these places when I want quality and fresh nigiri or sashimi.

1) Ryoko’s Japanese Restaurant – This place is hard to see, with two doors which immediately leads down stairs to the restaurant.  Ryoko’s is located on Taylor near Post. Portions isn’t very large, but the sushi quality is great.  First good sign upon entering is Japanese people run this Ryoko’s.  They know what they are talking about when they make suggestions about sushi.  They always have sushi and sashimi specials which they import in from Japan.

The fish at Ryoko’s is great. I don’t know if its just the freshness or quality, or the way the chefs cut the fish.  It just melts in your mouth.  Albacore and Himachi are my favorite which I always get, but if they have toro available, I’m going to get it.  And if you bring your non raw fish eating friends, don’t worry the rolls here are excellent as well.  Ryoko’s have a a lot of different rolls, and my personal favorite is the spider roll.  The crab is fried to perfection and not mushy like other places.

Ryoko’s menu is quite extensive, from appetizers and salads to entres, sashimi and rolls, modern and traditional.  We always get the salmon rice balls, delicious!

On weekend nights, Ryoko’s have a DJ who plays music, so the place will loud. Don’t expect fine dining, but more of a hip and trendy sushi restaurant. The downside is this place only opens for dinner, but the upside it opens until 2am.  Late night eaters, and party goers, come eat at Ryoko’s before you go out.

2. Sakana – Sakana is a small casual restaurant.  I come here to eat with my roommates, or friends when we want to relax.  The fish quality here is amazing, and the selection of sushi is outstanding.  Alongside Sakana’s menu, they have a specials of all sorts of weird things I never see in normal sushi restaurants.

When I come to Sakana, I come for the sushi, no rolls, no noodles, no teriyaki.  This place is for some high quality and variety of sushi.  When I have a sushi craving, I come here, and my stomach is completely satisified.

Virgin America is flying from point to point as opposed to using a hub and spoke model like the larger US carriers. The point to point flights work well on regional hops but don’t think they work as well on coast to coast flights. The coast to coast flights cost too much to operate when you have planes that are 1/4 full.

Virgin America flies from NYC and Boston to Los Angeles and San Francisco. I have been going coast to coast on Delta an United for the past four months, and the coast to coast flights are rarely full. Although I haven’t been on a Virgin America flight but I can’t image they are packed or even 50% full.

United probably has the most loyal business travele customers and they can’t fill up the United P.S. flights which has less seats than Delta and other airlines due to the larger business class cabin. If you have Virgin America miles (I am not even sure how it works), I highly recommend you use them now before they go under like the Virgin retail stores. I don’t see how Richard Branson and his hedge fund partners are making money here.

If you’ve ever flown United’s Premium Service flights from New York’s JFK to LAX or SFO and had the misfortune of getting a middle seat you might’ve missed one of the key features of that aircraft’s configuration: power outlets.

Power outlets on United? Yeah right, you may think. But it’s true. Underneath the middle seats there is actually a power outlet. So next time you are stuck in a middle seat on a United P.S. flight, don’t be so glum, at least you’ll have power.