A word about Japanese food: it's not really meant for Eds. Eds love it, but Eds are big people. They need a bit more than is usually served at these places. Fortunately for us, Ichi Ban didn't open until 5PM... and there was a barbecue place, Honeybear's, right across the street. What better way to occupy a half hour?
Honeybear's pulled pork sandwich was exquisite. Tender pork, wonderful tangy sweet oniony sauce. So good, in fact, that I went back to the counter and asked if their brisket was as good. "It's better. That's my favorite", the young man replied. So I had a brisket sandwich too, and a piece of sweet potato pie to top it off. (Yes, three pieces of pie in one day. I try to break all seven Cardinal Sins every day... and now I have even more to aspire to).
The brisket was indeed even better than the pulled pork. Tender, and robustly flavored so the BBQ sauce complemented it well but did not overpower. And so much! Both sandwiches were enormous, more than enough for an Ed on a regular day. The sweet potato pie was loaded with ginger (lower-case 'g') and a perfect accompaniment.
Ater that, on to Japanese. Oh, what a meal. We love our local Los Alamos sushi place, but this is a league apart. We started with an albacore roll with garlic sauce that was absolutely incredible. Ginger had unagi and didn't share. She seemed pleased with it. We both had tempura that melted in our mouths and left us full but oh so happy.
Phoenix is a big city, and not really very pleasant, but if one has to be here, there are certainly some benefits!