Good-bye is always hard to say!
It’s true, I am saying good-bye to my beloved Imura family. My work is done (for now) but I will retain my employment as an “on-call” chef here.
As I become older in retirement (54 this year) I want to do more before I am physically unable. It’s a short window of time I have left to explore the world. So, I am off into the wild, to explore, work and play across the globe.
But before I go, I wanted to say THANK YOU to Imura Japanese Restaurant. This company and the family that owns it, took a chance on me, when they didn’t have to or need to. They unknowingly gave me a new identity as I transitioned from a long career in law enforcement to the restaurant business. The Song family trained me and took great care of me as I progressed into a sushi chef.
Some industry standards and some unique foods of Imura!
The hamachi kama is a popular appetizer at Imura. It’s a cut of cheek bone of the yellow tail fish. Grilled and then lathered in teriyaki sauce with a dash of green onions.
The Karaage chicken are deep fried chunks of chicken. I like mine with the karaage sweet chili sauce on the side. Way better than those fast food joints!!
Garlic, chili pepper flakes mixed with the edamame. It adds solid flavor to this dish!
Our combo fried rice is the freshest in town. And personally, I think it tastes better than any local Chinese restaurant in Watsonville.
Bibimbap is a great tasting Korean dish we serve at Imura. For me the best part is the sunny side up egg. It’s served on a bed of rice with a mixture of veggies and meat.
Our pickled Korean veggie side dish.
The Sunrise is a nice appetizer type meal. It has fresh tuna wrapped around sushi rice with tobiko and quail egg on top. Tastes great!
The Yakitori skewer is a great little appetizer. It has zucchini and chicken grilled on our grill with teriyaki sauce. Super tasty!
Of course, for you Bento Box lovers, we have plenty to choose from. The one pictured comes with Galbi (short ribs) gyoza, shrimp/vegtable tempura, miso soup and salad.
The Galbi plate is a wonderful tasty dish of marinated short ribs on a bed of caramelized grilled onions. Another favorite dish of mine to eat.
The hand rolled salmon skin roll. The salmon skin is grilled and chopped up into small pieces with avocado and daikon sprouts, sweat sauce and a drizzle of ponzu sauce.
When I created the “Bomb Squad Roll” in honor of my former team I served on, I had no idea how popular the roll would become with our customers.
Not on the menu: it has fresh tuna, dynamite paste, sriracha sauce and cream cheese in the middle. Spicy tuna, sweet sauce, sriracha sauce, tempura crunchies, spicy mayo, habanero infused red tobiko and jalapenos on top!
A heat packed roll for all the spicy lovers out there!
The Ceviche Roll! This off the menu masterpiece has been perfected by Master Sushi Chef Brian Y.
It has shrimp tempura and avocado in the middle. Salmon on top with the ceviche mix.
I won’t give all the ingredients away from the mix, but it does have octopus (tako), lemon juice and cilantro in it. Just to name a few.
We have many variations of sushi combo plates like the one pictured here. But really, if you don’t see what you want on the menu, we can always create a plate for you, as long as we have the ingredients to get it done! Any chance a sushi chef gets to be creative…they love it!
My Dear Colleagues
In today’s world, law enforcement is at greater risk than ever before when doing their job. It’s always been a risky profession, but these brave men and women, do it everyday with pride in their noble profession.
Yes, every business has a few bad apples, and we are no exception. All we can do is work hard and train hard, so we can be our best everyday.
Imura Japanese Restaurant is law enforcement friendly and provides “safe food” for law enforcement personnel to eat.
We appreciate that we have regular customers from local law enforcement on and off duty. Thank you Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, Watsonville Police, Capitola Police, Santa Cruz Police, CHP and Monterey County Sheriff’s Office for being awesome fans of our food!
If I forgot an agency I apologize. It was not deliberate. I just didn’t know you came to visit us.
A Few Special Guests
We have other special guests that come to visit Imura. Our friend’s from across the parking lot: Jose, Amelia and Johann Espinoza (owners of El Palomar and Cilantros). We have local judges from Superior Court that dine with us. And we have our local news anchors who come to enjoy some great sushi rolls!
Thank you for hanging out with us at Imura!
My Imura Family
I had a lot of fun with these two guys during our “Sushi Chef After Hours”. We visited a lot of local bars during our time off. This photo was taken at Capitola Beach on a late summer afternoon. I named it: Sushi Boyz of Summer.
Our servers play an important and critical role as ambassadors for Imura. They are the first people our customers interact with at the front door! These two ladies do a fine job of it! And it’s always nice to have a shot with them after we all get off work…Cheers!
We did a number of gatherings during our days off. Mainly Sundays. This event was a Sunday football party. My kind of church!
Halloween was a fun day at work this past year! We had Chef Waldo and Chef Samurai in the house!
The Sushi Chef Boyz hammer out the orders with blazing speed! Sometimes 5 chefs during dinner shift was not enough.
At least once a year we take our food on the road and travel to events!
One of the greatest joys of working for Imura are my co-workers! I thoroughly enjoyed my time with all of them.
Working side-by-side with them and enjoying our time off together, created a sense of family and bond, which equaled a great time for everyone who walked into Imura. I will miss my daily interaction with them, but look forward to working with them again, as an “on-call” chef, when the chance arises.
Final Words
The formula that makes Imura so successful is this: the owners are humble, smart business people, who truly take great care of their employees. In turn, their employees care about the company, the food, and most importantly, their customers.
Each successful employee takes the time to be personable with their guests, making their guests feel like they are part of the Imura family, each and every time they dine with us.
That’s what brings our customers back to our restaurant. Sure, you have to have good food, but you have to back that up with great employees. The restaurant is only as good as its employees are. Everything else falls into place when that happens.
Have a Happy New Year everyone!!!
Come visit Imura and have a great time with us! We are open Monday through Saturday. Closed on Sundays. We have Wi-Fi available.
We are located at: 1994 Main St. Watsonville, Ca. 95076. (831) 761-8799.
Check out our website at http://imurasushi.com
Another well done and informative article, Thanks Paul!
Thanks Kevin!
This was an amazing article Paul. I really appreciate your thoughtful content and the praise you give others when you write a piece for your blog.
Thank you for the kind words Chief! I’m so glad you liked my article. Happy New Year to you!!