EA Cafe

I've been eying EA Cafe since it opened in late 2020.

A new poke place, not horribly far from my house.  Even more exciting, at least to me, is that it is not just any poke place, but one that also has ... soft serve ice cream.  And not just any soft serve, they offer up Milk Cow, from Korea.  I'm familiar with the brand, and was overjoyed to see it nearby.  Oh be still my heart.

EA Cafe also is, uh, a cafe, with a line of espresso drinks, coffee, tea, slushies, smoothies (and milkshakes using the aforementioned soft serve!), and they have standard pastries and little cakes in the pastry case (purchased from local wholesale bakery, except for the Japanese cheesecake, which is the owner's speciality, and she makes herself). There is also a small sushi menu (basic rolls), a few appetizers, hot teriyaki rice bowls, and a few sides.  But in my mind, it is a poke and soft serve establishment - why get anything else?

"We have quickly become a favorite spot in the neighborhood as more and more people keep discovering our little shop. Our freshness and quality set us apart, so please come see for yourself and visit us at EA Cafe today!"

I was very, very worried that EA Cafe would not survive - brand new, starting right around COVID times.  Poke places, not exactly novel around here these days.  So many well established business were going under.

But somehow, EA made it through.  It helps that poke is really an idea takeout item, and, well, the quality at EA Cafe is high.  

I need to also give a shout out to the staff.  On every visit, the staff were incredibly friendly, and really truly created a welcoming, neighborhood vibe.  I believe the owners are the ones who run the entire place. 

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

I've ordered through Ritual (so easy!) and Seamless, but they are listed on several others as well, and you can also order in person.

Highly, highly recommend.

Curb Appeal.

EA Cafe is located at 3rd & King, right near the ballpark, an area that would normally be quite vibrant, with plenty of foot traffic ... if the stadium was operating, which it was not for the first ... year? of its existence.  The sidewalk sign, featuring the soft serve, quickly drew me in.

They have no seating (nor space for it), offering takeout only, which made the COVID imposed dining restrictions ideal for them.  Inside is quite tiny, just enough space for the pastry display case, the soft serve assembly station, and a small kitchen area out back.

Poke Bowls

"Treat yourself to a simple and delicious meal with one of EA Cafe's poke bowls. Prepared with fresh ingredients, our cafe presents a colorful array of bases, proteins, and toppings to choose from to custom build your bowl just the way you like it. We are quickly becoming a favorite within the neighborhood, so if you're in the area, please stop by and try one of our tasty poke bowls at EA Cafe today!"

My first visit, I was there for the poke.

For those who don't want to make decisions, the "Signature" lineup has already curated selections, but of course, highly opinionated Julie wanted to design her own.

Custom Poke Menu.

Custom bowls are available in 2 sizes, regular (2 proteins, $10.95) or large (3 proteins, $12.95).  Reviews, and friends who had visited before me, warned that the regular is massive, far more generous than most places.

The poke lineup is reasonably extensive - not the most extensive I've seen, for sure, but, plenty of options, including some upgrades. 

Bases are just sushi rice, brown rice, or mixed greens (alas, no kale, no chips options here, nor, uh, zoodles if those are your style).  Proteins are equally simple: classic salmon and tuna, along with tofu for the vegetarians, and two types of crab salad (regular or spicy).  Unagi is available for an extra fee.  I give +1 point for the spicy crab option, but -1 point for it being a protein, rather than a topping as is common.

Next up is the mix-ins, the ones that get integrated into your base, again, standard, basic, but decent lineup: edamame, red onion, cucumber, sweet corn, green onion.  

Only 3 sauces are available: standard poke sauce, creamy spicy mayo, and "sesame sauce".  Not extensive, but hitting every category.

Toppings, limited to only 4 for free (or all for $3 extra) include seaweed salad, ginger, pickled radish, cabbage, masago, wasabi, and furikake, along with extras like kimchee, avocado, and tamago for $1 each extra.  I was thrilled to see the masago and tamago.

The only area I really felt was lacking was the crunchy toppings ... there were ... none?  No crispy onions nor shallots, no renkon chips, etc.

Still, a reasonable lineup, and I was more than happy to craft a bowl.

Build Your Own Regular Poke Bowl.
Regular. $10.95 + Extras = $14.95.
Base: Mixed Salad.

So, yeah.  My glorious creation.  I asked to have my sauces on the side, rather than added on, so I could add them at my leisure, a request that was easily accommodated.  I also splurged on some upgrades, like unagi and tamago.

Digging into this was glorious, as it was really loaded up with goodies, so many more than what you can just see here.

For a base, not being a rice eater, I went for the only salad option, the mixed greens.  The greens were clearly crazy fresh, super crisp.  A nice mix of assorted baby lettuces, spinach, etc.  No complaints, although, yes, I prefer kale.  The portion was quite generous, although it didn't take away from all the other goodies loaded into my bowl.

Spoiler: This bowl was fabulous.  *****, would absolutely get again.

Toppings & Proteins:
 Spicy Crab / Unagi (+$3) / Tamago (+$1)
Ginger / Masago / Pickled Radish / Seaweed Salad

Picking proteins was easy.  I adore crab, I was drawn in by the unique unagi offering, and, well, I always get tamago at sushi restaurants as part of "dessert" ...

The proteins were all front and center on top, and they were fabulous.

The real attraction to this bowl, or at least the item I was particularly interested in as it is far more rare to find at a poke shop, was the unagi, which did cost me a $3 upgrade.  I'll admit of course that I was slightly skeptical, as this is not a very high volume place, not a sushi restaurant, etc, but my risk was rewarded with 4-5 slices of warm bbq unagi that I truly adored.  Beautifully soft, melt in my mouth, just, delicious, really, although quite sweet.  I'd gladly get this time and time again.  I wished I could order *just* unagi nigiri, actually ...

The sweet unagi was complimented nicely by my choice of spicy crab, a scoop of pretty standard shredded style crab (likely surimi?) mixed with spicy mayo.  It had a nice kick, no fishiness, again, seemed fresh.  I liked this too, would gladly get again.  It is also available as a side (as is the regular, non-spicy, version).

My $1 add-on for tamago got me 2 slices, and these were fairly generic.  I am not sure if they actually made in house (kinda guessing no), and they lacked a touch of the signature sweetness I love in a good tamago, but, $1 for two slices was pretty nice price, and I wasn't at a sushi restaurant, so still better than I'd expect.  I'd likely skip in the future, I had plenty of other protein with the unagi, crab, and edamame.

My toppings, again, limited to only 4 for free (boo!), were a bit harder, as I wanted them all, but, didn't really want to spend another $3 to make this a nearly $20 bowl ... so I just went prepared, brought my own wasabi and furikake, and, was tempted, really, to bring my own cabbage too ...

Anyway, the toppings were all fairly standard.  A small pile of generic seaweed salad (luckily, *not* the kind that got stuck in my teeth!).  A clump of standard sushi ginger.  Masago scattered throughout.  A pile of pickled radish, again, the pretty standard, scary yellow kind.  No complaints on any of these items, they all helped complete the bowl, I'll get them all again, no question, but there was nothing standout about them.

I was pretty pleased at this point.  And I kept digging ...

Mix-ins & Toppings: Closer Up.
Cucumbers / Edamame / Green Onion / Red Onion / Sweetcorn.

I opted for all the mix-ins: edamame, red onion, cucumber, sweet corn, and green onion.  

Like the base, I was impressed with the freshness of the veggies.  The cucumbers were not crisp exactly, as they were very thinly sliced, but I really liked them this way (I can be quite fickle on cucumbers!).  The red onion, almost shaved style really, adding just the needed hit of acid.  The chopped green onion was pretty easily lost in the mix, but it too added a bit of sharpness.  The edamame was a real standout, really, really fresh tasting.  I really don't think I've had edamame this good before ... anywhere.  It really shocked me.  The only mix-in that was kinda "eh" was the sweet corn, it seemed like it just likely came from a can?

The amount of mix-ins was extremely generous, particularly the cucumber, and the items were very well distributed throughout the bowl, down into the layers of greens.  I couldn't believe just how many mix-ins I kept finding!

Spicy Mayo / Sesame Sauce.

And lastly the sauces, which I had on the side, which I am glad I opted to do.  My bowl had soooo many great things going on that it didn't even really need additional sauces.  All the mix-ins and toppings (particularly seaweed salad) made it quite juicy, the spicy crab already had the spicy mayo in it, and the unagi was coated in sweet bbq glaze.  I added a little extra sauce, but, it truly didn't need much.

I was not sad to go home with near full containers of the sauces though, the spicy mayo was nicely done, yes, just creamy mayo, but it had some pretty decent kick.

The other sauce I believe was the "sesame sauce".  I ordered all three sauces (spicy mayo, sesame, and spicy poke), but only received two.  It was a slightly thick sauce, with, well, a sesame flavor to it.  Good to drizzle over everything, but, had I needed it, the poke sauce certainly would have been nice to have as well, as this didn't seem to have the balancing vinegar or soy I'd want in a basic poke sauce.

Side: Seaweed Salad. $5.

One day, I swung by just to pick up some seaweed salad to add to a poke bowl I planned to make at home.  I was thrilled to see it came with takuan as well, and a very generous sprinkle of sesame seeds.

Same standard seaweed salad I had previously in my poke bowl from EA Cafe, not house made, but, fresh, not too sweet, decent quality seaweed salad.  I was happy enough with it.

***+.

Desserts

As I mentioned, EA Cafe had more than just poke appeal to me.  It was also the promise of great desserts that lured me in.

"If you've got a sweet tooth, EA Cafe has the treats to satisfy your cravings. Already we are known for our Milk Cow ice cream, which we serve daily. You can also view our selection of pastries and cakes in our display case up front, featuring decadent delights such as tiramisu and mixed fruit tarts. Everything served here is of the utmost quality, so please visit us at EA Cafe and try one of our premium desserts today!"

Fruit Tarts.

Most of the desserts are not made in house, and look fairly generic, but the fruit tart really did look nice, clearly fresh fruit, not a frozen item.

Valentine's Day Dessert.

For Valentine's day, they even had special heart shaped cakes.  A nice thought on the owner's part to opt for something special.  But again, not made in house.

Cheesecake.

EA Cafe however does make one dessert item.  The Japanese cheesecake.  

I found this out when I mentioned to the staff member (owner ?) that I had a group of friends who had been talking about Japanese cheesecake, and have been looking for it locally.  She told me that she actually makes it, the one dessert item they make, because she loves it, and has one customer who has been buying it from her for years (before they had the cafe even).

I will try it sometime.

[ No Photo ]

Soft Serve

I somehow lost my photo of my soft serve.  I don't know how.  Was I too excited for it to snap a photo?  No way, I've long since trained myself to always snap first, even for rapidly melting ice cream!  I'll blame my phone :)

Anyway, the soft serve was everything I wanted it to be.  The flavor is just "milk", made by Milk Cow, and it reminded me so much of the milk soft serve in Japan, made from high quality Hokkaido milk (like the Cremia, from Silkream - the richest, creamiest soft serve I've ever had - or Coisof where the parfaits with milk soft serve base were showstoppers or many, many others).  This wasn't quite as creamy and dreamy as the product I had in Japan, and it is from Korea not Japan, but it was quite good.

I'll gladly get it again.