Sushi!

Zilla Sake
1806 NE Alberta St.
Portland, OR 97211
503.288.8372

Erik: Sometimes I have a realy hard time making decisions. I'm especially bad at thinking of places to go eat when I'm put on the spot. I'll have a mental list of like 10 different restaurants I want to try and then when Erin asks me where we should go they all fly out my head. This was the situation last night, so I started browsing online to see if anything popped out. Nothing did, but looking at googlemaps reminded me that I live 7 blocks South of Alberta Street. Of course! There are so many restaurants up there, and I always forget how close I am.

The decision was made to just wander the street until something looked good. Zilla Sake looked good, and we weren't disappointed. It's a smallish place, and we were seated near the back in a tall booth. Perfect for taking pictures! No one could see us! Service was quick and friendly. Our miso and edamame came quickly. Zilla puts a little twist on both of these standbys, by throwing some sesame seeds in the miso and including ginger as well as the standard sea salt on the edamame. Both were excellent. The artfully displayed sushi came out soon after that. It wasn't mind blowing, but it was definitely satisfying and above average for moderately priced sushi. The veggie roll, which included asparagus, was especially good. I'm definitely no sushi snob, but I can tell you that this place is much better than most other sushi places I've been to, at only a slightly higher price range. Sake has never been my thing, but if you're into it there's a novella sized Sake menu to choose from.



Erin: I am short on words tonight. Two things.
First thing- At one point during our dinner Erik looked at me and said, "Is the food really this good or is just me?" It was not him. The food was really good. Someone in the kitchen was paying particularly close attention to flavor. I love when restaurants put a new twist on an old dish.
Second thing- Our waiter had really long armpit hair. She was cute, I wanted to give her a nickname.
To sum it all up- if you are looking for a great sushi place give this place a try.