Redding’s Tokyo Garden Japanese Restaurant

Of necessity, sushi restaurants are usually quite small, little more than a mini-van’s worth of seats. It takes time to turn out sushi and it does not lend itself to sitting around like McWhoppers, so the number of diners allowed in has to be limited. And this is not a food that can be turned over to summer job seekers: sushi chefs in Japan train for years before they ever lay knife to fish, though in America a 12-week course suffices.

There are numerous restaurants around town that attempt to combine several Asian cuisines with varying degrees of success. Now and then Femme de Joie has picked up a comely slice from a sushi roll to discover that what she is tasting is less like a delicate scallop roll than it is more like Nigiri Fish Bait.

A big reason for Tokyo Garden Japanese Restaurant's continued success is sticking to Japanese cuisine. The kitchen is focused and not so spread out with Cajun teriyaki or soba marinara that the purity and essence becomes dilute.



Tako salad, $5.95

Tako salad ($5.95) is a great way to find out if you like octopus. If you didn’t know, you might think this was bits of sweet, chewy squid. Tokyo Garden’s version makes a terrific appetizer with loads of piquant ginger and strips of seaweed. If you’re unsure, share this with a friend, but this little salad is enticing enough to keep to yourself.



Seafood noodle soup ($11.95 made with soba, $1 extra for udon noodles)

Femme de Joie had this on a blustery cold afternoon and it was just the ticket - a savory-sweet broth filled with soba noodles and a surfeit of scallops, fish, vegetables, and shrimp. Though the fish was overcooked, the rest was perfect and tender. The serving was much larger than the photo indicates and it isn’t a speedy meal to eat - you want to take your time to enjoy every bite, or you’ll wind up with a splattered shirt front.



Bento box lunch special #5 ($7.95) with beef teriyaki, assorted tempura, California roll, salad, and rice

Assorted tempura included fresh mushrooms, asparagus, and shrimp in a fragile-crisp non-greasy batter. Creamy avocado dominated the taste in the California roll - the “crab” taste was lost. Though the steak was tender and had good beefy flavor, the teriyaki sauce had a weird glutinous mouthfeel and a slightly off taste.



Spicy tuna roll, mackerel roll (saba), Crazy Monkey Roll

After Femme de Joie had spent a few months trying sushi at different restaurants around town and being disappointed, Tokyo Garden really delivered. The fresh clean taste of tuna came through. Fresh beads of masago (smelt fish roe) that popped in the mouth accented the rice and spicy sauce gave it a kick. Oily mackerel can either be overpoweringly fishy or bland, depending on how it was cured, but this version had a pleasant taste of the sea and texture. Crazy Monkey roll (snow crab, imitation crab, avocado, cucumber, topped with unagi (freshwater eel), masago, and special sauce) was almost as delightful to eat as it was to order: none of the tastes dominated or concealed the others. Each bite had a slight cucumber crunch that then melted into the softer crab and avocado.

If you’re not of a mind to wait for a seat at one of the sushi bars around Redding or you aren’t quite sure about whether you like sushi, Tokyo Gardens offers a more Americanized option. There are menu choices that will appeal to the fishphobic and more adventurous palates alike. Though fresh fish of a quality for sashimi and sushi is not cheap (do you really want to eat day-old discount salmon?), lunch specials start at $5.95, so there’s a little something for everyone here.

Tokyo Garden Japanese Restaurant, 1675 Hilltop Drive, Suite M, Redding CA 96002. Phone 530-221-6888, fax 530-221-5168. Open 7 days a week from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Lunch served from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cash, cards, no checks. Beer, wine, sake. Sushi bar. Loads of parking. Vegetarian and vegan options. Website at reddingtokyogarden.com.

Nipa’s Is a Taste of Thai in Redding

Long-time Reddingites will remember Shakey's Pizza used to occupy the space on Churn Creek Road where Nipa's is now. (By the way, Shakey's is still in business. Just not here.) After it closed, a string of faux pubs and eateries came and went – M. de Joie dimly recalls one called the British Pub. Nipa's seems to have found the long-term success the others lacked.

You'd never know now that the interior was a pizzeria with a vaguely ragtimey feel. Though there's a bit of schizophrenic decor – the brick fireplace seems incongruous with the gold statues – it feels cool and comfortable inside. Out in the parking lot by a tree is a display of live birds in cages. This somehow always makes M. de Joie feel a little uneasy, though the birds seem to be well cared for and their cages kept clean.

Service is invariably friendly, smiling, cheerful and helpful.



Calamari ($7.95)

Calamari as an appetizer ($7.95) wasn't anything out of the ordinary; it was like calamari you might get at any number of restaurants. Simply breaded and deep-fried, it was a tad floppy and a little greasy. The accompanying sauce was sugar, vinegar, and nuoc mam - not really anything to write home about.



Tom yum kung ($10.95)

A large serving of tom yum kung ($10.95), the Thai treatment of hot and sour soup, was presented in a metal hot pot with space for a candle or other warming device, only there was no candle or heater underneath. The rich broth was flavorful with lime, thai basil, cilantro, mint, lemongrass, plenty of large shrimp, button mushrooms and tomatoes. However, there was also a minefield of inedible lemongrass stalks, galangal, tough leaves, etc., which the unwary diner will spoon up and discover too late. Be warned.



Chicken satay

This amuse-buche of chicken satay on a stick was brought out covered in peanut sauce. It was neither hot nor cold, but was room temperature. Where had it been sitting prior to being brought out? The peanut sauce was a bit bland but the chicken was moist and flavorful.



Pad rahm with rice ($7.95)

Pad rahm with rice ($7.95) was a melange of mixed vegetables and chicken in peanut sauce, served at medium heat as requested. The thin sauce didn't have much flavor other than a rare burst of heat or taste of peanut butter at random intervals, and the sauce refused to cling to any of the other components. Small twists of chicken were tossed in with a random assortment of vegetables. Some of the vegetables were cooked very thoroughly; others, like an unusually large chunk of yellow crookneck squash, were barely heated through.



Green papaya salad ($7.95)

Green papaya salad ($7.95) was wonderful, a colorful toss of julienned green papaya, carrots, and green beans mixed with chopped peanuts clinging all over, along with chopped tomatoes, two prawns, and Thai basil. The only problem was that it was ordered medium heat but didn't seem to have any heat at all.



Green curry ($7.95)

The tofu in this green curry ($7.95) was delicious, fried until browned and tender inside. Green curry sauce didn't have much taste other than a little heat. Again, the vegetables were mixed - green beans were apparently the veg of the day because they were also featured in the green papaya salad. They were mixed in along with some not-quite cooked pumpkin, red bell pepper, and not-cooked zucchini.

Nipa's is a bit of a mixed bag. When the cooking is spot-on, it's delightful, colorful, and exciting. Many of the dishes are budget-priced and healthy. But there's a bit of carelessness in the kitchen with prep and execution, so it's anyone's guess if the dish you order will be a winner or a bit of a letdown. Still, it's worth a visit if you're in the area and looking for a quiet meal that's a little different from the same-old same-old of chain restaurants in Enterprise.

Nipa's Thai Cuisine, 2600 Churn Creek Road, Redding CA 96002. (530) 221-0966. Open daily, 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. Cards, no checks. Beer and wine. Vegetarian and vegan options. Parking lot.