| rev:text
| - "We've only tasted the wine
We're gonna drain the cup dry"
- Leigh & Coleman
I was pretty scared when I came here trying to go to I-Naba and found that they were closed and Chabuya was open in place. I love good Soba noodles and I-Naba was the best in town by far. To my shock and surprise Chabuya was not just as good as I-Naba, but as a first impression goes, it was better in a few ways.
The menu is almost identical to what it was under I-Naba, specializing in fresh soba and udon, but containing several other Japanese dishes such as Chirashi, Katsu Don, Age Nasu, Oyako Don, etc. I couldn't help but compare everything I tasted to the previous incarnation that was I-Naba...the results are as follows:
We started our meal off with an order of Chawanmushi, literally "tea cup steam," an egg custard dish with a little shiitake mushroom, shrimp, chicken, and fishcake placed in a tea-cup-like container... it was enjoyable and comparable to I-Naba's.
While the Chawanmushi was good, we came for noodles. The noodles are not the dried variety. They are still made fresh in California and shipped in weekly. The noodles tasted and felt virtually identical to I-Naba's...which makes since as they come from the same source. A smaller amount of tsuyu dipping sauce was served with the noodles, but they were happy to bring more when I requested it. Chabuya's Ten Zaru contained a slightly more plentiful portion of tempura vegetables...a pleasant surprise...and I was happy to taste the same light tempura I was accustomed to.
My love ordered a hot Udon combination that came with a side of Zuke Tororo (Marinated raw tuna). I really started to take notice of Chabuya when I tasted the Zuke Tororo. This dish was certainly better than I-Naba's version...and I was a fan of I-Naba's.
Admittedly, I didn't have the occasion to taste several of the items on the menu...Could I be rushing with this 5 Star endorsement? For me, I-Naba was always about satisfying a certain cold soba deficiency. Cold noodles are a refined craving to be sure...some would even liken it to crack. Those individuals are just soba junkies! This is such a deeper, more fundamental craving. This is a spandex to the figure-skater kind of essential craving, and I am immensely pleased that Chabuya is here to quell that yerning. I'll be back...though it may take a while for me to venture into other parts of the menu...after all, that soba is so good!
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