tani's kitchen

i do love me a hole-in-the-wall dining establishment. tani's kitchen is truly a hole-in-the-wall. in daly city's westlake center behind the nation's burger joint is a very small retail front (i'd say about 12 feet across?) which is split into two rooms; the front houses the kitchen, 4 tables of 2, and a bar seating 6 (all snugly), the other room back-of-the-house fare including bussing and storage. it has a greasy, rundown, yet greasy, homey feel to it. and everything - an 8 burner range, cold storage, assembly line, sushi bar, prep space, cash register, to-go container storage - is truly cramed in there. but i really can't call it efficient use of space either.

scott and i are seated at the bar where we can watch all the action happen. we had incredibly good timing and were seated immediately. typically when i drive past tani's, there's about 2-6 people waiting for a spot in this 14-seat "dining establishment." true to rep, 5 people show up right after us and ultimately end up waiting 30 min for their table.

why the long wait? it's basically a one-man show. while the cozy space behind the counter is occupied by no fewer than 4 staff, including a hostess/waitress, runner/line cook, dish washer/prep cook, and the chef himself, the production all depends on one man, the frenzied japanese chef that makes the sushi, fries the tempura, sets the donburi eggs, grills the ribeye, and simmers the udon broth. each order taken, whether dine in or take out, is given a target time for finish, each order being about 10 min. so you can possibly imagine why the long wait is what it is.

why do they wait? now here's an interesting question. i think the draw is tani's home-style, hole-in-the-wall style. nothing is polished, nothing is refined. it's good food served quick and cheap. but is it worth it?

i've read on yelp reviews the beef teriyaki is the thing to get. but this evening, we decide to sample other things. we start off with spicy tuna maki, 8 small pieces of sloppily slapped together rice, tuna, seaweed, and very, very spicy hot sauce. disappointing. not only did it look ugly, i only tasted hot sauce. the raw fish in the 2-foot long display case looked tired as well. i can't imagine it being refridgerated properly what with the blazing stove 2 feet away. this was $3.95. i'd pass on the sushi next time. especially after watching him prepare sushi orders to go. just doesn't look fresh.

next came a huge order of shrimp and vegetable tempura. at only $5.95 this is an amazing value. i watched the chef individually dip each piece in batter before tossed into a stockpot of hot oil on the stove top. yes, this place doesn't have a deep fryer. although one would argue that you don't fry tempura in a deep fryer, only a wok. anyway, while piping hot, the tempura batter was much too thick, almost a bready texture. i like my tempura crisp and thin. you're supposed to taste the vegetable, not fried dough. again, disappointing. variety was amazing though. shrimp, onion, squash, zucchini, eggplant, green beans, broccoli. but i don't know if that makes up for the heavy batter issue.

the enticing picture menu in the window up front was what influenced our entree choice, japanese hamburg steak. no i didn't spell that wrong, it is hamburg, not hamburger. i watched the chef pull out a mixture of ground meat and hand form 2 patties by slapping it between hand and hand. the result was an amazingly soft, tender, fluffy "hamburger" steak that was beautifully flavored, especially when lightly dipped into the accompanying soy vinaigrette and grated daikon. a fresh, green salad with japanese dressing rounded out the dish. (amazing that the greens hadn't wilted in the greasy, warm air of the kitchen.) this dish really shined. and at $7.95 it was amazing.

water glasses were filled regularly (hard to imagine it being otherwise, there's only 14 diners at a time) and we were in/out of there relatively quickly. but we watched a couple people wait about 30 min for their take out meal. everything is made from scratch and to order, so i guess that's another reason for the draw. i'm just not 100% sold yet. it does seem to get the neighborhood regulars - the chef and staff were chummy with a handful of people, but otherwise non-descript with other customers - and is a good value so maybe that's why it seems so popular whenever i drive by. in any event, i'm down to give this place another chance, especially the grilled beef teriyaki which looked amazing from across the counter.