Yokosuka Food Corner - Blue Street and Beyond: Autoro-tei

The name makes perfect sense, don't you think? So what is "autoro" anyways? "Tei" is restaurant or pavilion and used in Gyorantei, Kurobatei, and Kushitei restaurant names. But autoro, or more precisely, あうとろう, does not translate into any Japanese word. One could split it up into Au to and ro and make some kind of meaning from it, but the meanings I tried to force didn't make much sense.

We all know or have been told that hiragana is for Japanese words and katakana is for English words. But thinking of that as a "rule" would be wrong. OK, so what English word could this be then? I'm not giving the answer so easily. In any case, let me just say that the practice of writing English words with hiragana should be outlawed.

あうとろうてい　is a good Yakitori joint just behind Shiori train station. Check the blog map for the exact location. On the scale of the unofficial Yakitori restaurant ranking guide I'd give this place a 6 or 7 on a scale of 10. Being just a bit biased toward Maido まいど (currently the gold standard) any place else is going to be compared to it, and faces tough competition. Being seated at the counter, I saw some things in the kitchen that perhaps point to a less mature operation. Where Maido comes across as professional, pre-briefed (yes I actually saw the chef and kitchen staff all walk out together from the back as the restaurant opened, as if they just held a pre-shift brief and pep talk) and perfection in execution, Autorotei comes across a bit less polished and content with where they are.
Having said that, bonus points are given for being in Yokosuka, having a comfortable setting, and for a few notables in the food.

Although the interior seems to be made entirely of unfinished plywood, it is warm and inviting.

Caesar salad

The Caesar salad was notably good. It may have had something to do with the bacon bits and the broken Doritos on top.

pork wrapped asparagus and gobo root

Shameless link to my deep fried gobo root page.

Deep fried chicken

The tebasaki or chicken wings were quite tasty but light on the meat. The chicken with wasabi and chicken with yuzu kosho were real good. The yuzu kosho seemed fresh (from a bottle at least, not a squeeze tube) and the chicken was perfectly cooked.

Although the salmon onigiri wasn't on the menu they graciously prepared them on request and were huge.

The kimchi pork was surprisingly good with the pork flavor coming out more than the kimchi.

English menus are available except for drinks. You can get all the standard non-alcoholic drinks such as green or oolong tea, calpis, and cola. There is beer, shochu, sake, plum wine and others. They did have a mikan umeshu that I've never seen before that I wanted to try, but I was driving that evening.