Having worked in the tech industry for almost a decade now, I've become intimately familiar with the concept of "good enough". The logic goes that nobody really occupies the low or high rung in the industry. With the industry being as commoditized as it is, there really is no low rung. The middle is the low rung. Nobody occupies the top rung either (except for maybe Apple). Diminishing returns are something you have to be perpetually aware of, as your customers are very likely to not appreciate whatever feature you spent the extra money on, but are going to be very grumpy about having to pay extra.
So the competition becomes about not who can come up with the best product, or the cheapest product, but the company that can best deliver the "good enough" product that hits that happy inflection point between cost and quality. Some companies do it very well, and in crappy economic times they do even better.
Unfortunately, the "good enough" zone of the restaurant world is populated with an endless plethora of chain restaurants with generic menus and consistent if not impersonal service. It's not all that exciting. Recently, more and more restaurant types are starting to explore the good enough space. Mizu is one of them.
Most regular readers of this blog know that I have local access to one of the best sushi places in the world, Sakuran Sushi. I would eat two meals a day there if I could, but the bottom line is that despite what a lot of you think, my food budget is not unlimited. Sometimes I just want some sushi, but I don't have a pile of money lying around so I can moan my way through a plate of toro. When I'm in this kind of mood, Mizu is where I go.
The Mizu we went to today is actually the renovated space of a really dirty, disgusting "Asian Seafood Buffet" that was put out of business by the first Mizu that opened a few miles away. I'm happy to report that the change in ownership has brought with it a completely new space and food that's actually pretty good.
This is my first plate of sushi. A smattering of different rolls, a bunch of nigiri (they use the fattiest salmon on Earth at Mizu) and some seared tuna. Nothing was mind blowing, but it was all high quality stuff and nothing like the denatured cat food that passes for sushi at most buffets.
This is Actual's hot food plate in the foreground. Along with the two dipping sauces she has potstickers, tempura shrimp and vegetables, chicken teriyaki and some other stuff. Her plate of sushi is behind it.
My second sushi plate. They put handrolls out that contained fresh deep fried shrimp. They were amazing.
Section one of the sushi bar. The top row items from left to right are mackerel nigiri, tobikko, some sort of octopus concoctions, then some varied sushi made with various salads. Bottom row starts with tamago. This is a fluffy chunk of egg on rice. Many traditional sushi mavens will tell you that the tamago is the true test of a chef's skill. It was actually pretty good here... as good as it would be at any traditional sushi place which means it was phenomenal for a buffet. Then there's inarizushi, rice that's been stuffed into a tofu skin. Last two items are seared tuna.
Section 2 of the sushi buffet consists of straight up single fish nigiri. All of the choices were fresh, again, surprising for a sushi buffet--although the turnover here is enough that they can keep things fresh. The aforementioned salmon is so fatty I think it had to have been farmed in water spiked with lard (this is not a bad thing... fish fat is tasty and good for you). The tuna is very generic, fresh, but like a slab of McFlesh.
Sushi bar section three... the roll section. Too many to list here, but all of the usual suspects from a usual sushi menu are present. They have a particularly good tempura roll, something I usually hate at most other sushi places.
For the non sushi eaters with you, there's a hot food bar that's better than most small Chinese buffets that don't have a sushi component. This is a really good thing if you have someone in your lunch group that hasn't made it to the 90s yet and doesn't eat "bait".
This is Actual's dessert assortment. In the foreground is her green tea ice cream. The plate contains some moist cake, a cream puff and a smattering of fruit. She says it was pretty good.
So, back to the whole good enough thing I was talking about. How much does this place cost?
$30.00?
$15.00?
How about $8.95 per person for lunch!?!
I love California.
