Ittyo – Cambridge

Sapporo had a line out the door…of the mall. Café Miami was bustling with business, and Tampopo is just soso. I’d normally wait for Sapporo, but my timing was pooro as I had less than an hour to eat before aerial silks practice. The food comes out fast, but I needed at least 15 minutes to digest.

People are all abuzz about Café Miami right now, and Ittyo just got tucked under their revamping wing. But judging by their grand total of one full table, I wasn’t the only skeptic in the house.

The Takoyaki fritters full of octopus shut my skeptical mouth pretty fast, and not just because it’s rude to chew with your mouth open. These great balls of fiery wasabi mayo were garnished with paper-thin flakes of something that wriggled like algae in an ocean, and they looked so unsettlingly alive that it took a while to get over and around them to the actual balls of octopus. But one little bite, and I was sold.

The takoyaki were a good size portion, and the size of the Shumai mattered as well. None of Tampopo’s itty-bitty-yo niblets but six sizable shumai stuffed with a bit of shrimp. The crab makes Tampopo’s taste marginally better but if you account for the size and barely-higher price, just say nono to Tampopo.

I’ve also tried the Noodle Soup with soba al dente and found no real difference to the wakame-flavored bowl of Tampopo. It’s a pretty basic seaweed broth so if that’s what you’re looking for, just pick one and gogo.

I had a crazy craving for a rice so I ordered the Teriyaki Chicken Donburi. I’d all but given up on this underrated classic that seems impossible to make well in an Asian kitchens. One common mistake is to douse a boiled, poorly-marinated chicken breast in sauce, but Ittyo definitely knew better. Here the teriyaki is a sweet glaze, which turned something ordinarily ordinary into something exceptional.  I licked my double-breasted bowl clean despite being optimistically half full from my appetizer.

I think I love Ittyo, but I don’t like long-distance relationships. Then again, the elusive, seductive Sapporo has proven its ability to make me go the distance, and Ittyo’s classic comforts have clearly caught a close second. And since it’s impossible to get a seat anywhere near Sapporo, I think I’ll spend more time saying “yo” to my new friend Ittyo.