Fans of their delicious dan ta (egg custard) will be disappointed to know that they are currently on vacation.  I guess they make so much the rest of the year that they can take a nice long vacation.  Good for them.  Bad for us. 

We were in the mood for some sushi.  So, we decided to try out a new Japanese restaurant in Emeryville called Miyozen.  New to us, but not to a lot of other folks.  It's actually been around for about 2 years now but we've never had a chance to try it out.  Good thing we did becsause it was definitely worth the visit.  Reminded us of what Sushi House used to be - good and inventive rolls, decent quality sashimi, pretty good prices.  We ended up paying $30 a person after ordering 9 rolls for 4 people.  Not too shabby at all.  They also have an all-you-can eat option on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.  So, we'll probably be coming back to see how that is as well.

Zabu zabu raised their prices to $25 per person and they now have all you can eat sushi rolls.  The service also got a lot better.  Not sure if we were just close to the owners or what, but I felt like they were a lot more attentive this time.

Now that we've had the food here, I can see why there's such a long line to get in.  The food is good.  The service is good.  The wait... still sucks (even though we got there at 10:50am).  But, part of it is just because people like to relax and eat slower when eating a dim sum meal.  Part of that is because they tend to be so popular that they run out of stuff (causes people to stick around longer to get the items that they want).  But, wow.  I'm impressed.  It's as good a dim sum place as I've ever had and our meal came out to about $30 for two people. I can't remember the name of every dish, but I can say a few things about the items I normally order. 

Shu Mai - gotta get this at every dim sum place.  Doesn't disappoint.  Plenty of shrimp in here.

Small pork chops - delicious.  Haven't had it in awhile.  Again, fairly standard.

Ham say gow - These are the warm, slightly crispy items that are mainly made of a chewy, gooey dough and filled with stuff inside.  Normally it's pork inside.  The ones they had had pork and some shrimp essence which overpowered the pork.  And, they were missing cilantro which was quite sad.  But, you'll notice that the items were lightly crisped and the oil they used must have been pretty fresh because the dough was still nice and white.  Big plus there.

Sesame balls - lightly fried balls filled with lotus seed or red bean paste and completed covered in sesame seeds.  These were by far the best I've had anywhere.  And, again, notice that it's completely white meaning that the oil they used was fresh.  Very impressed. 

Egg tarts - these were just ok.  The skin was nice and crispy but there waas too much of it.  Takes away from the egg tart inside.  Cindy countered that it was a bit too sweet.  I didn't think the inside was too sweet but I do think that it was too small.  =)

There were a few other dishes that we tried out but I didn't really know the names of.  And, I wanted some pork buns but was told that it would be 15 minutes before they had more.  So, we didn't wait for that either.  We'll definitely be coming back here though.