A wagyu beef kabob served over rice
The marketing cachet of Japanese-bred cattle seems to be rising. At least, I find myself writing about wagyu a lot more than I used to, as local restaurants and butcher shops embrace the notoriously marbled beef. Some take care to mention the stuff as part of internet advertised specials, particularly regarding the uber-expensive A5 cuts, rated among the world’s finest meats. More recently, the term most often translated as “Japanese cow” has found its way into restaurant names.
Place
2654 Jamacha Road Suite 101, El Cajon
For example, Wagyu Shawarma Grill, an otherwise low-key, Middle Eastern counter shop that recently opened in a sprawl of shopping strip on the Rancho San Diego side of El Cajon.
Bachi Bus doing business in South Park
The food trucks in South Park seem to be multiplying. Alongside the usual Mariscos/fish taco truck holding down the Target parking lot, there’s now a Sonora-style grilled taco truck. The Shawarma Guys truck is a Yelper favorite on the next block. And joining the party lately is the Bachi Bus.
Doing business since September, the colorfully painted Bachi Bus specializes in teppanyaki, also called hibachi, best known as charcoal-fired Japanese barbecue. The truck is a pandemic-inspired side hustle of a group of nightlife and sports marketing vets, as well as NBA player Thomas Bryant (starting center for the Washington Wizards ‘til a recent, season-ending injury).
Updated on February 18, 2021 at 7:45 am
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After landing on a popular restaurant rankings list for several consecutive years – including a San Diego food truck ranked No. 1 last year – not a single San Diego restaurant made the cut on Yelp’s “Top 100 Places to Eat in 2021.”
Yelp released its rankings Thursday here.
Absent from the list: any restaurants from San Diego County, a bit of a surprise since local eateries have landed on the list for the last few years and even topped it. D
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