marukai open in kearny mesa

japanese market marukai has opened in kearny mesa at the intersection of balboa and mercury, just west of 163. we stopped in today, and right now it's just a japanese version of a dollar store (named "daiso" - 1.50 and up), but there was lots of cool stuff, including all sorts of brightly-decorated cleaning supplies for the home. one weird thing was the undulating (bamboo?) hardwood floors - won't be much fun to remove all the racks and re-do that down the road. i picked up a bunch of cheap toys for my nephew and jay's neice and nephew.

according to a chowhound post, two other buildings in the same strip mall (with very difficult access due to the busy intersection there) will house a lifestyle store and a members-only market. hopefully there will be a food court in the latter that won't require a membership.

speaking of in-market japanese restaurants, after daiso we went to mitsuwa and had lunch at their noodle shop for the first time. i had a beef bowl with rice, and some cold udon noodles that hit the spot on a warm day (inside the store too). the sushi counter is a great option there too for a quick to-go meal.

after our japanese sojourn we hit the beach to escape the brutal heat (104 at the house today) and enjoyed the cool water and good waves, the best i've seen this summer. but our kearny mesa day was not done - jay had to stop at yogurt world, so i dropped into tapioca express in the same strip mall and had the best boba slushie (vanilla creme) that i think i've ever had. the place looks great inside too, especially compared to the dump of a vietnamese place the used to be there.

i remarked to jay how lucky we were to live in a city that has such a diverse population and what that means food-wise. it's a shame that, until recently, we haven't taken greater advantage of what kearny mesa has to offer in terms of restaurants... but there's plenty of time to change that.