Pinkerton Food

Takoyanen (Delica)

Takoyaki Yum

Sorry for the dearth of posts lately. Life has been...life. Anyways, I have recently discovered an increased interest around Japanese cuisine. Ramen and Izakayas have been popping up everywhere. The possible new foodie obsession? Takoyaki! Basically pancake batter filled with octopus and other stuff is thrown into a pan with little ball-shaped molds. Sometimes they're referred to as dumplings, other times they're called pancakes. You can decide for yourself. Takoyaki is usually served at festivals and other outdoor type events along with Taiyaki (A fish shaped waffle that has azuki filling. It is also super-noms).

In recent food bloggery, two locations in which to find Takoyaki have been mentioned: the Ferry Building Farmer's Market on Thursday and the Temescal Farmer's Market on Sunday. Surprised that they are both Farmer's Market? I wasn't either. Delica is currently offering the aforementioned morsel on the former day. It's run under the name Takoyanen. I arrived quite early, so the goods were made already, which actually was a slight disappointment, since they were not fresh. However, I enjoyed the fried-ness of the octopus. It tasted similar to the bags of fried squid you can get at any place that sells Asian snacks.

If you're in the East Bay and don't want to make the trek, check out Takoyaki Yum. The funny thing is they're actually not in the Farmer's Market. They are across from it at 491 Cavour St. Although the takoyaki was fresher and made in front of me, it still needs some improvement. They were a bit too gooey for my taste, and the octopus lacked flavour. However, I understand somewhat, since fresh octopus is hard to come by. Points for toppings though. The slurry of sauces (Kewpie mayonnaise, okonomiyaki sauce, wasabi mayo) along with bonito flakes and dried seaweed made a tasty combo, but was it just a way to mask the blandness of the morsels themselves? Idk. Right now, I'm leaning towards Delica's because both the takoyaki and sauces did not lack flavour. That being said, they did lack a bit of warmth.

Takoyanen
Ferry Building Marketplace
One Ferry Building

Takoyaki Yum
491 Cavour St.
(Across from the Farmer's Market, which is in the DMV's Parking Lot)

P.S. Just in case anyone was wondering, the use of Pinkerton refers to the slang definition.