Celebration at Anzuya Koza

The evening Cliff returned from Korea, we planned to go out as a family to celebrate. Cliff had been living in a tent in the snow, eating MRE's and tray rations for almost a month, so we wanted to take him wherever he wanted to go. Coree was at a soccer game with a friend, but the rest of us were determined to press on.

The tsunami warning kind of threw things off, however...because that made everything on the water basically off limits. I scoured my brain trying to think of the perfect place (I hear more recommendations than he does). We had settled on Krishna's Indian food since it was already pretty late and Krishna's is just around the corner. But as we were turning, this place came to my mind and I said, "or we could go to the water restaurant." The boys, practically in unison said, "YES!" To which Cliff replied, "What's the water restaurant?" Could it be true? In the 1.5 years since Cliff has been back from his deployment, have I not once taken him to the water restaurant? It's true...we hadn't been back since. So, Anzuya Koza it is!



After stowing our shoes in the cubbies and climbing up the stairs...we walked across the glass to our booth, praying we wouldn't plummet into the depths below.



Can you see the people in the room below (over Jake's shoulder)?



They were having a great time. There were speeches and applause. I found myself wondering how they were connected and what they were celebrating.



See the shoes on the step? They are slippers provided by the house, in case you need to leave the room and don't want to put your own shoes back on. See the cabinet on the left? Those are the cubbies which hold your shoes.



Under the table shot. Glass floor.



Jake pointed behind me to get my attention and this is what I saw when I turned around.
"Pssst!".....



Heeheehee...I just couldn't help myself. He ducked back into his cubicle so quick when he saw my camera.



The food started arriving on gorgeous dishes. They seem to have stepped things up a notch since we were here almost 2 years ago.



Yummy avocado salad...



Beautiful roll...



Gyoza. A Japanese staple.



Troy had to get the ray-fin fries again. I couldn't bring myself to eat ray jerky. Just no.



Patrick had been dreaming about these bacon-wrapped quail eggs since last time.



Nomnomnom....



Jake can't quite decide if there's something else calling to him.



But Patrick feels pretty satisfied.



Suddenly, the waiter appears with more. Evidently, we were starving when we ordered, because there was a TON of food...



Except, see this lovely platter of sashimi? This gorgeous, $30 platter of sashimi? We didn't order it. We didn't know quite how to handle it with the language barrier...so we just ate it. Literally. {Then Cliff suggested it was something they pulled on all Americans, which made us laugh at the thought. More likely a picture-menu, pointing misunderstanding.}



The platter included so many interesting sea vegetables and other greens I had never seen. These little sprouts have a very strong flavor. I couldn't tell if I liked them or not.



But these, I love. Shiso leaves have a very strong flavor that you either love our hate. I think they're pure awesome.



Jake was thrilled with the bonus science lesson in shrimp dissection.



It didn't matter that we were all absolutely stuffed, dessert just seemed necessary. Troy opted (again) for the chewy, mochi-covered ice cream)



Yum. If you like that kind of thing.



Jake had the honey toast...which really seemed to have been kicked up a notch since our last visit.



Jake agrees.



The rest of us opted for this gorgeous chocolate lava cake with the classy cornflakes.



Loved the special spoon Cliff got with his dessert.



That's what I'M talkin' about! And the cornflakes really did add something nice to it.



Suddenly we heard familiar Sanshin music. At first we thought it must be a dinnertime show. Well, it was...but a private one. In one of the booths across from us, a group was having a jam session. All of the neighbors within our view seemed to enjoy it as much as we did.



As we were leaving, one of the sanshin players (who must have seen my enthusiasm) stopped us and motioned to ask if we'd like a photo with his instrument. Now that's my kind of guy!



I had a request of my own, which they seemed to happily oblige.