New Year meal: Obento-ya, Minneapolis

I took my wife out to Lunar New Year / Valentine's lunch yesterday at our local Japanese izkaya Obento-ya. The food was wonderful and the service super-prompt and attentive.  (They were having a rough patch this past summer but the operation seems to be back on top.) Business has picked up for them, too - if going to dinner you'll definitely want to make reservations.

Prices are quite reasonable - we got all this and a pot of tea for just $30:

This is the "house ramen" - as you can see this is a pho-sized bowl with lots of kelp and noodles, and a generous amount of pork! The tea egg is extra & was done perfectly; beautiful golden yolk that blends perfectly with the broth.

This is the Makunochi bento - their "combo" platter showing off all the wonderful things they can do to protein. The yakitori beef could be put on a bun & put Arby's out of business... the salmon was crispy on the outside and wonderfully chewy inside... shrimp the perfect combination of savory and sweet.  In the upper left corner - Japanese potato salad, creamy like mashed potatoes with Qupie mayonnaise and bits of apple (!) in it.  They could sell this by the tub.

The bento combo comes with a cup of their miso soup, too; just the thing on a cold wintry day. So simple but it gives me such joy to smell and taste this!