I found a great Sushi place in the Financial District of San Francisco. I think they are only open for lunch.

Sushi Umi has lots of vegetarian choices too!

I think I found my new favorite roll!

The Garden Roll: asparagus tempura, garlic eggplant & avocado $4.95

It’s really, really good! Try it.

132 Bush Street (Between Sansome & Battery)
San Francisco, CA 94104
415. 834.9898
11AM to 3PM M-F

http://sushiumisf.com

I found a new sushi restaurant in Mill Valley that I love, Amberjack Sushi! I’d been there years ago but forgot about it. It is a tiny place with only 5-6 tables. I happened there on accident last week when my sister was in town. I wanted to take her out for sushi and my usual favorite place (in Sausalito) was closed on Monday. It was Labor Day and we wanted to avoid the freeway so we headed to downtown Mill Valley to explore our options. While I was driving around decided where to park I remembered that in the last week two different people had suggested I try Amberjack. I was happy to find it open and to find a seat available!

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and freshness of the food. We started with Seaweed Salad and it was fresh and crisp (the way I like it). We tried a new roll I had never heard of called the Cherry Blossom made with tuna, yellowtail, cucumber, avocado & kaiware.

When the bill came I noticed it was much lower than it usually is at other Sushi places in southern Marin. Amberjack has made it to my list of favorite southern Marin restaurants. Amberjack Sushi is a tiny place so please keep that in mind when planning to go out during busy times. They are located on E. Blithedale near Sunnyside.

72 E Blithedale Ave
Mill Valley, CA 94941
415-383-1327

Earlier this week I attended the Bay Area Bloggers Society meeting that was being hosted at the Video Blog Marketing studio in Sausalito. This is where I met the very interesting and dynamic Mary Cary. I asked Mary if she would share some of her favorite Bay Area places with us. She agreed!

What do you love most about the Bay Area? The weather and the outdoor spaces

Where is your favorite place to hike/bike in the Bay Area? West Marin – love road biking out there or on Mt. Tam

Favorite place to listen to live music? I like to play live music (I play guitar in Terry Lauderdale Band, TerryLauderdaleBand.com and my favorite place to play is Slims in San Francisco or The Cow Palace.

Favorite place to take your dog? Running around near Old Mill Park in Mill Valley

What is your favorite restaurant in the Bay Area? Sushi Ran Sausalito

What is your favorite place to get coffee or tea? Peets Mill Valley

Where do you shop for clothing? Shadows San Anselmo or Famous in Mill Valley for local folks – or Hot Topic for my Band Gear.

If you had an out of town guest coming to visit that had never been to the Bay Area where would you take them? Marin Headlands, Tiburon or West Marin

Anything else you would like to share with our readers? Thank you for reading!  Reading is good for the brain!

Tell us a little bit more about you:
Having my own record label for the past 10 years and developing websites, identity branding, social networking, search engine optimization, editing and producing great music, sound and video blogs was the perfect next logical step to putting together my new company, Video Blog Marketing – marketing for local businesses.

Mary’s specialties are: New Media Marketing, Website Development, WordPress Blog Development, Professional Branding, Video Production, Music/Sound Production, Motion Graphics Production, Local and Worldwide Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Networking, Shredding Guitarist/Producer/Songwriter.

Follow Mary Cary on Twitter @videoblogmarket

Last week we took our oldest daughter shopping for her prom dress at Gioia Boutique in San Anselmo which just happens to be located right next to Sushi 69. We stopped for sushi lunch before beginning the prom dress selection process. I had great plans to write up a fabulous post for Sushi 69 but my friend @SFDoug beat me to it. He writes so eloquently I thought I’d just send you to his blog to read about Sushi 69 instead of boring you with my rambles.

You may wonder why it is called Sushi 69. (Get your mind out of the gutter!) It’s called Sushi 69 because their address is 69 Center Blvd, San Anselmo, CA.

In case you are wondering I do eat more than just chocolate… I like Sushi too.

I have come to realize that Marin County is full of great Sushi restaurants. This past weekend I tried an old favorite that I have not been to in years. I went to Robata Grill & Sushi in Mill Valley right off of Highway 101. I really like the atmosphere of Robata, they have lots of semi private booths to sit in so it’s a great place to go when you want to have a conversation with the person you are dining with and actually hear everything they have to say.

The service at Robata Grill & Sushiwas great, the food was fresh and delicious and the ambiance was nice. Can’t ask for much more. I was a happy camper.

I had my usual favorites: seaweed salad, sake salmon handroll and a rock-n-roll.

Celia had a hamachi handroll and decided to try their special pork lettuce wraps.

Robata Grill & Sushi
591 Redwood Hwy
Mill Valley, CA 94941
Tel: 415.381.8400
www.robatagrill.com

We tried a new Sushi place this past weekend to celebrate our anniversary. The place is Tsukiji Sushi and it is located in downtown Mill Valley. Tsukiji Sushi restaurant is beautiful, the service is great and the food is delicious! We will definitely go back. We started out with a small bottle of the house hot Sake, a cup of Miso Soup, a Seaweed Salad and the Spinach Sesame Salad.

Then we ordered our usual favorites (Salmon Sake, Hamachi, Rock-n-Roll, etc). Lately, we have been being more adventuresome and trying new things each time we go out for Sushi. We asked the waitress for suggestions this time. She suggested the Butterfish. Wow! The Butterfish was amazing, creamy and kind of just melted in your mouth.

Tsukiji Sushi
24 Sunnyside Avenue
Mill Valley, CA
415.383.1382

MoreMarin published a great review about Tsukiji with pictures (so you can see how pretty the restaurant is). I don’t think my cell phone photos do it justice.
You can read the MoreMarin review here.

Miso Soup

I found another great Bay Area restaurant. The last two days I went to Sushi To Dai For for lunch. I know going to the same restaurant two days in a row is kind of strange but when something is good, why not? Before Tuesday, I’d never been to this Sushi restaurant because I’m pretty faithful to my favorite Sushi Restaurant Sweet Ginger in Sausalito. However, I was in San Rafael for my Toastmasters meeting and my friend invited me out to lunch so I said sure!

I liked the décor, it was fun and hip. We were there at lunch so we each ordered a Bento Box off of the lunch menu. I got the Terriyaki Salmon with the California Roll. The box came with Miso Soup, Green Salad, Steamed Rice, Salmon and a California Roll. The food was fresh and delicious. The service was great.

I’d go back… actually I did go back today. LOL

Normally, I wouldn’t go to a restaurant two days in a row but I have a good reason for this. I was having a super productive day working away at my to-do list when the phone rang. It was Celia, she was at Mike’s Bikes talking about the upcoming Mountain Bike Clinic and she had just locked her keys in her car. She said if I brought her the keys she would take me out to lunch. (I would have brought her the keys anyway because I’m nice like that but hey I’ll take a free lunch any day). It just so happens that Sushi To Dai For is located right next to Mike’s Bikes. Poncho was with me this time so he hung outside the restaurant in the shade while we went inside and enjoyed the Terriyaki Salmon Bento Boxes. I know, I’m really not original, same restaurant two days in a row and I ordered the same thing two days in a row (but it was really good both days).

Sushi To Dai For is located in downtown San Rafael.
816 4th St
San Rafael, CA 94901
415.721.0392

I almost forgot to mention the last stop of our weekend around the world. We had Sushi in Sausalito. When you mention Sushi in Sausalito most locals will think of Sushi Ran which is a great place but I’ve discovered another gem of a Sushi place in Sausalito somewhat off the beaten path, Sweet Ginger!

Depending on your mood both are great choices! Sweet Ginger has a totally different feel and scene than Sushi Ran. I’d describe Sushi Ran as a hip, place to be seen Sushi and wine bar with a big city feel.

Sweet Ginger is simple, quiet, relaxing and YUMMY! The service is great. The staff always remembers us and the food is always fresh. I’m now hearing the song from Cheers in my head. After you are seated the waiter greets you with warm cloths to wipe your hands with. I like this touch.

I always order a Seaweed salad before my Sushi. Sweet Ginger serves a fresh and crisp Seaweed salad. I wish I would have taken a picture of the Seaweed Salad.

Sweet Ginger is located at:
400 Caledonia St
Sausalito, CA 94966
(415) 332-1683

A special thank you to these 3 Venezuelans for helping me sally around the bay that fun weekend.