Guamanian? My interest was piqued and then even more so when I learned that the owners of this place were the same folks that did the now defunct Yokozuna's in Chula Vista...
A visit was in order and in tow with me and TC were KD and her daughter...
My sister's friend had also been here and liked it (she is also of Chamorro background like our friend). Turns out that Matua's Sushi Bar & Islander Grill (the name is nearly identical to the former Yokozuna's full moniker) has only been open for a few weeks.
If you are in west Chula Vista, you will find Matua's near the corner of E and Broadway. It's in a wierd location, between Yum Yum Donuts and a hotel. Look for the yellow banner and the archway. There is parking in the back.
I took these shots while my car was in the median waiting to make a left. They don't have proper signage just yet.
To make things confusing, Matua's shares space with Hi-Ball, a dive bar.
When you park in the back, you can go in through the back entrance...
which leads you to the Hi-Ball bar.
A pool table serves as an unofficial divider between the bar side and the restaurant side, although it's pretty easy to see which is which.
We got there before noon and there were already a few folks at the bar getting their drinks on.
This side of the bar had some Tikis...
The four top tables had their logo (which is covered) of a male islander's silhouette done in a tribal style while the bigger tables had Aloha print tablecloths, like how Yokozuna's used to do it.
Here's the other side of the bar with more tikis and a sign with a Samoan greeting.
"Talofa" is like "Aloha". I was surprised they didn't have "Hafa adai" for their Chamorro greeting.
While they do have Bento lunch specials...
we opted to get entrees while TC got a sushi roll and a Tako poke salad.
KD got the Chicken Kelaguen late while TC and I shared the Chamorro Combo. KDD got the non-islander entree of seafood pasta alfredo (which looked pretty good).
Just our luck that day...our server brought us over two half orders of sushi on the house!
We were given the Chel'u roll and the Gum'a Taotao (House) roll. This was such a nice and unexpected surprise!
Behind us was a small area where they sold Islander themed merchandise (shirts, jerseys, hats, and tank tops).
Here were the rolls, the Chel'u and the Hosue roll...
Everyone except KDD had a piece. Of the two rolls, I liked the House roll better (in the front) since it had smoked salmon on top.
TC's Tako poke with seaweed salad dressed with sesame soy and topped with julienned cucumbers, carrots, and garnished with radish sprouts.
We liked the plate on which it was served as well as the wasabi eye! There were bits of chopped up octopus with three larger thin cut pieces hidden within.
Our Chamorro plate (each plate comes with your choice of red or white rice and two sides of either mac, potato or cucumber salad) - Uncle Frank's ribs and chicken kelaguen.
We had to get two kinds of protein. Our waitress gave us finadene on the side (ours had a bit more heat per my request). The ribs were okay (a little on the tougher side) and could have used more marinade. TC liked my potato salad so much that she ate most of it.
KD's Chicken Kelaguen with cucumber salad and red rice.
The kelaguen is served cold (as it's meant to be) and had a mixture of roughly chopped and finely chopped chicken. KD liked her plate but made sure to save some for her husband. Below was KDD's pasta which was a hearty portion and contained a mix of shrimp and scallops.
To share, I got us the Islander Sampler platter which had two pieces of empanada (Chamorro style with a corn based dough and a chicken filling), three pieces of lumpia and teriyaki wings, and four pieces of shrimp patties (also known as bunelos uhang).
Of the fried bits of goodness on the platter, we liked the chicken empanadas the best. The dough was crisp and the lightly spiced chicken filling was delicious. The shrimp pattie (I keep wanting to call them fritters) was also really good. The finely minced shrimp filling had peas and carrots in it. The batter was not too thick. The lumpia I didn't even try and the wing that I had wasn't that great. There was hardly any teriyaki flavor to it.
Before leaving, the owner Ray Rodriguez stopped us to thank us for coming (he is in the Chargers jersey). He's a local guy from the South Bay and hails from the same area where I grew up.
I was glad that he resurrected another version of Yokozuna's and hope that his new restaurant venture is a success.
Here is the view as you leave the back parking lot...
Even though the restaurant shares space with a bar, the plus side is that there is a parking lot. You can't really park on E St or the neighboring strip malls. Service was great here and it was cool that we were treated to a couple of free rolls. The owner thanking his customers was also a nice touch.
I don't have any previous posts on Yokozuna's but as Yokoz (after the original owners sold it and it went downhill). I won't even link the Yokoz post since it was pretty lackluster. The original Yokozuna's opened in late 1999 and sold it in the mid or late 2000's. Yokoz closed in 2012 and that location is now an sushi place, unimaginately called iSushi.
Update - Darlene Horn has done a write up for Zagat:
"5 Fun Facts about Matua's Sushi Bar & Islander Grill" Jan. 30, 2014
Matua's Sushi Bar & Islander Grill (shares space with Hi-Ball Bar)
626 E St.
Chula Vista, CA 91910
They do have a phone number (I called it) but I can't seem to find it again on the web. Grrr.
There is no website (yet) and while they are listed on yelp,
The restaurant had a "soft opening" but only amongst their friends and those in the know (many were alumni from Ray's alma mater down South. According to our waitress (one of the original from Yokozuna's), their grand opening will be this coming Saturday the 18th; she mentioned that tickets for this event are being sold as well.
We will definitely be back with our friends to try their shrimp and beef kelaguen and their other sushi rolls. It's good to see the Yokozuna's crew back as Matua's.
2 comments:
The rolls look really good!
Hi CAB - They were! One of them had softshell crab (it didn't match up with the menu description) inside.
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