Ilya in San Francisco

I was looking through some old pictures and I found this - our friend Ilya from when he visited us in San Francisco. Note the sweatshirt - he bought it from a middle-aged guy on Irving Street in front of Alvin's (Scrumptious Coffees and Teas) who happened to be wearing it at the time. He graciously accepted Ilya's (repeated) offer of $10 American currency in exchange for this thrilling bit of Bostonia. Alvin, watching this debacle exchange, came out and told us about how back in the '80s he had to buy a $200 NKOTB jacket for his daughter when she was in high school, because she absolutely had to have it. Apparently it's still in her closet.

Ilya is seen eating some pot stickers at Iroha, our favorite restaurant in Japantown. We would go all the time for fabulous bowls of ramen. A lot of people love Mifune, but for my money it's Iroha every time. I loved the gyoza (dumpling) ramen, corn ramen, miso, shoyu.....their noodles are the bomb.