Jimbo's

Pin It Now! This summer heat wave has me searching out more cold treats to cool me down.  Jimbo's is a small dessert shop in the middle of San Jose's Japantown that serves Bubbie's mochi straight from Hawaii.  Not just your standard mochi ice cream from Trader Joe's or Ranch 99, these mochis come in a wide variety of flavors.  About 15 flavors a month to be exact, with a couple as special flavors of the month.

All 15 flavors this month were:  green tea, mango, guava, strawberry, chocolate peanut butter, passion fruit, pistachio, chocolate coconut, lychee, strawberry dark chocolate, vanilla, and ultimate chocolate.  Vanilla and ultimate chocolate were the special flavors of the month.  While the the standard flavors were good, the taste shockers were pistachio, ultimate chocolate, strawberry dark chocolate, chocolate coconut, and chocolate peanut butter.  Although, they don't really tell you what each of the flavors were when they serve you the tray of bubbies, its sort of fun to guess which ones are what.

Biting into one of the more "exotic" flavors of mochi (this one is chocolate coconut), you can see the exterior (mochi) is a different color than the ice cream inside.  Also, the handmade bubbies have a slightly thinner layer of mochi, which I think works well with the ice cream.  Since they are handmade, the mochi is chewier and more delicate in texture.

The Jimbo roll here is a must get!  A sushi roll made with hot dog ($.75 extra for a hot link) and pickled vegetables (takuan) and a spicy mayo sauce.  A couple slices of amazingly crispy and fresh tasting takuan are give on the side for some added crunch.  The rice to hot dog ratio is spot on.  Just looking at this roll makes it seem like it would be heavy, but its actually quite light and a nice snack size.  Having had many a spam musubi and sushi roll in my lifetime, I left the store still thinking about how delicious this was. 

Address:                  Jimbo's
                                 170 Jackson St.
                                 San Jose, CA
 

Type:                       dessert/ice cream/Japanese/Hawaiian

Popular chomps:     ice cream
                                 mochi ice cream (bubbies)
                                 Jimbo roll
                                 black sesame sauce

Chomp worthy:        mochi ice cream
                                 Jimbo roll