Palo Alto’s Demi Excels in Japanese Comfort Food

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The omurice at Demi.
The omurice at Demi.

As my knife and fork slid into the lofty, fluffy omelet to reveal a mountain of fried rice inside, I immediately felt like I was back in Japan.

Omurice or omelet rice is one of the many delicious mainstay dishes that I fell in love with while traveling through that country. So, when I read that there was a new place in downtown Palo Alto serving it, I was all over it.

Demi is the recently opened namesake restaurant of Chef Demi Ebara, who hails from Kyoto. She is also the owner of Demiya, which has five locations in the Bay Area.

Both concepts specialize in yoshoku food or Japanese-style versions of Western dishes that are homey and comforting. It’s the type of food that you can find served in Japan not only in mom-and-pop places but on upscale tasting menus, too.

The snug, light-filled dining room.
The snug, light-filled dining room.
A few seats at the counter also are available.
A few seats at the counter also are available.

Demiya is more of a fast-casual restaurant with an emphasis on Japanese curry dishes, while Demi is a kicked-up, sit-down restaurant.

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Pizza Antica Frozen Pizzas Worth Your Freezer Space

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Pizza Antica's Margherita pizza -- the frozen variety.
Pizza Antica’s Margherita pizza — the frozen variety.

The original Pizza Antica in San Jose’s Santana Row has been churning out impeccable, freshly-baked Neapolitan- style pizzas since it opened in 2003.

But it took a global pandemic for the company to try its hand at the frozen pizza game. It has now gone all in with a commissary kitchen in San Francisco that churns them out.

Roberts Market in Woodside was once the only market that stocked the Pizza Antica frozen pizzas. Nowadays, its reach has been extended to the freezer cases at Bay Area Draeger’s, Mollie Stone’s, Zanotto’s, Nugget, Diablo Foods, Bi-Rite, Lundardi’s, Andronico’s, Piazza’s, Target, Cal-Mart, Marvel Foods, Berkeley Bowl, Piedmont Grocery, Oliver’s, Bianchini’s, and Woodlands.

A couple weeks ago when in Woodside, I stopped in at Roberts specifically to grab a couple of the Pizza Antica frozen pizzas. Having sat down to the ones at Pizza Antica many times, I was curious as to how the frozen ones stacked up.

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A Pleasing, Unexpected Tea

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Waste not, want not -- a soothing tea made from the silks from corn on the cob.
Waste not, want not — a soothing tea made from the silks from corn on the cob.

On a trip to Tokyo last year, my husband and I trekked to a charming, out-of-the-way shop specifically for one thing and one thing only.

We ended up, however, equally enamored with something that came with it that was wholly unexpected.

At Shun Raku, opened by two couples, the specialty is Hokkaido soft serve, that impossibly rich, milky, naturally sweet tasting ice cream made from the milk of Japanese Jersey cows. It did not disappoint. When its towering swirls arrived in a cup to our table, so did complimentary glasses of a warm, clear beverage with an attached sticky-note with a hand-drawn smiley face and the words, “hot corn tea.”

It had the delicate, soothing taste of unadulterated sweet summer corn. I’d never had anything like it before. And I was smitten with it from the get-go.

So, when I recently happened upon a recipe for “Corn Silk and Honey Tea,” I just had to try it.

This easy recipe is from the debut cookbook,”Rooted in Fire” (HarperOne), of which I received a review copy.

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Summer Tomatoes and All That Jazz

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Sweet Sungold cherry tomatoes get an Indian-inspired treatment in this summery dish.
Sweet Sungold cherry tomatoes get an Indian-inspired treatment in this summery dish.

Each year as spring comes around, I start to contemplate what tomato seedlings to plant in my backyard planters.

All four of them.

Yup, that’s it. That’s all I have room for in my tiny yard.

Three of my four planters call for some mulling. But with the last one, there is never a doubt. That one is reserved for Sungolds, the bright orange cherry tomatoes that pop with as much sweetness as candy.

Many of them actually go straight into my mouth, plucked from the branches one by one while I’m still pitter-pattering in the yard. (Don’t tell my husband.) But some do make it into my kitchen, where they’re destined for green salads, grain salads, pasta dishes, and ricotta toast.

Thanks to New York’s Rachel Gurjar, a Mumbai-born chef, recipe developer, and food writer who attended the Culinary Institute of America, though, I now have another showcase for these itty-bitty tomatoes with the outsized flavor.

Her “Paneer with Sungold Tomatoes and Basil” is like an Indian riff on the classic Italian Caprese salad. It not only subs in the fresh Indian cheese known as paneer for the mozzarella, but adds a pinch of cumin seeds for earthy savoriness. It’s not served cold or at room temp, either, but cozy warm, too.

This inspired recipe is from her debut cookbook, “East to East” (Chronicle Books), of which I received a review copy

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A Big Appetite for Okonomiyaki

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Negi pork okonomiyaki modanyaki-style at Fugetsu.
Negi pork okonomiyaki modanyaki-style at Fugetsu.

Okonomiyaki is like the Everything Pancake.

It boasts tender meat or seafood, a heap of shredded cabbage, a sunny side-up egg, and plenty of saucy sauce all over the top.

Tall and impressive, it is a whopper of a meal.

It is guaranteed to fill you up — and then some.

Inexpensive, it is a popular, casual, after-work meal best enjoyed with beer in Japan, which is where I fell hard for it while traveling there.

Unfortunately, you’ll have to look long and hard to find it at Japanese restaurants in the Bay Area.

Two restaurants melded into one.
Two restaurants melded into one.

So when I read about okonomiyaki-centered Fugetsu in downtown Sunnyvale, I knew I had to visit. While there are Fugetsu locations in San Jose and Santa Clara, they are more like takeout markets.

In contrast, the Sunnyvale Fugetsu is a sit-down restaurant. Actually, it’s really like two restaurants in one. Apparently, when Fugetsu’s lease in Santa Clara ended in 2021, the decision was made to move it to Rokko Japanese Restaurant, which is operated by the same owner.

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