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Archive for Sashimi

Summer Miyagi

Dec21

Restaurant: Sushi Miyagi [ 1, 2, 3 ]

Location: 150 S Barrington Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90049. (323) 382-5635

Date: June 2022

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: Top Shelf Omakase Sushi

_

Great sushi is always a good excuse to pull out the beloved Champagnes and White Burgundies.
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The unassuming storefront on the largely ignored side street that is S Barrington Ave.
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The space is small but attractive (these are pre covid pics).
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This is chef focused serious sushi, and so we pre-ordered the largest omakase possible — Erick even egged them on to a larger than offered menu. This picture is also pre-covid, post there is a plexiglass barrier across the bar and no bar seating.

Chef Shinichi Miyagi says about himself on his website:

Born in Osaka, the art of sushi mesmerized the chef at an early age and decided to devote his life as a “Decchi” (apprentice) under Master Higuchi at the age of 16. He opened his first “Kappo” (traditional style of cooking in front of a crowd) restaurant at the age of 25, and moved to LA at 29, working in numerous well known Sushi restaurants in West LA, Beverly Hills, and San Diego.

Through managing a Sushi restaurant in Manhattan Beach (i-naba), now in present day, he found an opportunity to try his skills as an executive chef in Brentwood/Los Angeles. The chefs many years of experience in choosing the freshest fish, will surprise even the most sophisticated pallets of this beautiful city.

His methods and techniques in preparation follows the traditional Japanese style, bringing out the true flavors of the fish. The chef also prepares two styles of rice, AKAZU SHARI (Red vinegar sushi rice), and SHIROZU SHARI (White vinegar rice). The SHARI (Sushi rice) will alternate depending on the fish being prepared, and we hope you enjoy the eclectic flavors of the different vinegars being used.

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2008 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. VM 98+. Taittinger’s 2008 Blanc de Blancs Comtes de Champagne is simply breathtaking. I have tasted it many times over the years in various trial disgorgements and it has never been anything less than compelling. The final, finished wine captures all of that potential. Bright, focused and wonderfully deep, Comtes is a fabulous example of a vintage that expresses so much energy but with real fruit intensity, the signatures that distinguish it from other vintages (1996 comes to mind) that were similarly taut, but more austere in the early going. Although the 2008 impresses right out of the gate, it only really starts to open up with several hours of air. The 2008 Comtes represents the purest essence of the Côtes des Blancs in a great, historic vintage. Readers who can find the 2008 should not hesitate, as it is a truly brilliant epic Champagne that no one who loves the very best in Champagne will want to be without. (Drink between 2023-2048)
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Amuses. Oyster with caviar. Monkfish Liver with ponzu jelly. Deep fried River Crab. Steamed Conch in the back. The monkfish liver was particularly good for its type, super tender and not a hint of bitterness.
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Sashimi. Japanese Bonito with ginger on top. Japanese Halibut. Toro from Spain.
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Japanese hairy crab. Both some meat and a bit of leg. Very sweet and tender.
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Octopus egg in soy sauce with wasabi. I’m not sure I’ve ever had this. It was a texture a bit like a chewy rice, quite delicious.
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2007 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chenevottes. VM 91+. Deep aromas of pear, white flowers and clove. Sweet and lush but with ripe harmonious acidity keeping the flavors under wraps today. Best now on the long, vibrant finish, which offers a lovely combination of ripeness and energy. But distinctly firm-edged at present. Colin told me he thought that pHs levels in his 2007s were in the range of 3.2 but noted that he doesn’t pay attention to technical parameters as much as to the taste of the wine.
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Japanese red snapper.
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Hokkaido Scallop.
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Triggerfish with fresh liver from the same fish. Never had this particular variant. Lovely.
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Striped Jack from Japan.
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Oregon Giant Clam.
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Amberjack that was 10 days aged topped with Yuzu koshu.
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Japanese Sweet Shrimp.
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Norwegian Salmon.
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2007 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Charmes. BH 94. This is more expressive and a bit riper with ultra pure aromas of peach, apricot, pear and spiced white peach leading to ripe, concentrated and superbly precise flavors that display plenty of mid-palate fat and ample minerality that this part of Charmes always seems to impart to the wines and overall, this is a stunningly harmonious wine of finesse. (Drink starting 2017)
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Bluefin Tuna that was 19 day aged.
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Almost O-toro.
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Spanish Mackerel from Japan.
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Japanese Baby Barracuda.
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Black throat from Nigata prefecture.
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Goldeneye Snapper with Summer Truffle.
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Hokkaido Uni.
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Japanese Beef nigiri.
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2007 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. VM 96+. Bright yellow. Subtly complex nose melds Asian pear, violet, lavender, ginger, iodine and powdered stone. Tactile and dense on entry, then creamy in the middle, conveying an impression of great volume without weight. This extremely backward, youthfully understated Clos firms up dramatically on the back end, finishing with palate-saturating citrus and talc flavors that refuse to fade. One of the longest Chablis bottlings I tasted for this issue, this truly transcends chardonnay.
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Chawanmushi with Uni, Mushroom, and Tofu. Very soft.
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Crab Hand-roll.
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Anago Eel.
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Kohada.
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2005 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. VM 93. Taittinger’s 2005 Comtes de Champagne was a perfect way to commence proceedings. Orchard fruit and hints of brioche on the seductive nose are joined by a hint of lemon verbena filtering through with time. The palate is beautifully balanced, perhaps not as riveting as a recently tasted 2008, yet underpinned by a fine bead of acidity and exuding harmony on the apricot-tinged finish. This is drinking perfectly now but should give 15-20 years of drinking pleasure. (Drink between 2022-2042)
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Vanilla and Truffle ice cream. Not actually that big a fan of truffle in my ice cream.
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Cherry Gelato – a blend of Morello Cherry and intense Amarena Cherry fruit make this dairy gelato really pop — topped with Candied Amarena Cherries — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #amarena #morello #cherry
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Matcha Almond Latte Gelato – Ceremonial Matcha Green Tea and Sicilian Noto Romano Almond gelato base — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #almond #matcha #GreenTea #Sicily
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Sushi Miyagi is exactly the kind of sushi place I like best — all omakase and very traditional. This is some seriously good fish. Mostly just straight nigiri and a bit of spectacular sashimi and a handful of cooked dishes. This is really really good and instantly catapulted into the top westside sushi joints. Very friendly too. Intimate as well. Sushi at this level is all about the chef and Shinichi Miyagi is very talented.

Not for the sushi neophytes and roll loves, but fabulous for those of us who really enjoy great fish being showcased in a straightforward and delicious manner.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Mr. Miyagi’s Sushi Bar
  2. Sushi Miyagi Apres
  3. Yamakase Summer
  4. Brothers Sushi Two
  5. Summer at 71Above
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: BYOG, Champage, Gelato, Japanese cuisine, Miyagi, Sashimi, Sushi, White Burgundy, Wine

N/Soto Goodness

Dec15

Restaurant: N/Soto

Location: 4566 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016. (323) 879-9455

Date: June 2 & 11, 2022

Cuisine: Japanese Izakaya

Rating: Elevated Izakaya

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The N/Naka group — the original being one of LA’s top Japanese restaurants — has recently opened a more casual Izakaya (Japanese bar food) place. One of my former cooks (and friend) even works there!
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Classic Japanese frontage.
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Unless you look out on the street 🙂 in which case it’s classic LA frontage.

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Nice modern (polished concrete) interior.
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The menu.

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Fizzy non alcoholic fermented drink.
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2008 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut. VM 99. The 2008 Cristal is one of the most complete, most dazzling Champagnes I have ever tasted. A stunning wine from any and all perspectives, the 2008 simply has it all. Spherical in construction, with superb persistence. The 2008 takes hold of all the senses and never gives up. One of the many things that makes the 2008 special is a combination of ripe fruit and bright, piercing acidity. Marzipan, lemon confit, dried flowers and orchard fruit all build into the explosive, resonant finish. “We learned from the mistakes of 1996, when we picked more on acid than ripeness, as was the norm in Champagne back then” Chef de Caves Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon told me recently. “In 1996, the best fruit turned out to be the last picks, where the fruit was physiologically ripe. Today, we aim to pick all our fruit with that criteria.” (Drink between 2020-2050)
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From my cellar: 2007 Domaine Roulot Meursault Les Vireuils. VM 88. Slightly reduced aromas of soft citrus fruits and toasted bread. Ripe, round and nicely balanced; classically dry but not austere, with a flavor of orange dominating the palate. Not yet complex but offers lovely texture. Roulot bottled his 2007s between January and March of 2009, after storing them in cuves for five or six months. Incidentally his Bourgogne blanc, bottled in March, offers lovely floral lift and bright acid cut, and reminded me of a baby Meursault.
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2011 Domaine Thenard Montrachet. BH 91-94. Here too there is visible but not intrusive wood that sets off a very closed nose, indeed this is almost mute. There is excellent volume and power to the big-bodied, intense and equally closed flavors that possess plenty of underlying tension on the tight, focused and beautifully long finish. This moderately concentrated effort is very much a work in progress. (Drink starting 2019)
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Warm House Made Tofu. ginger, tosa joyu. Soy sauce on the side. Hiding in the soy milk it was made of this was soft and delicious tofu with a bit of bite from the wasabi.1A4A7497
Mentai Mochi. nori, mentaiko. Really delicious. High acid marinate on the onions and seaweed was really good.

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Cucumber & Wakame. tosazu, ginger. Jelly version of the classic sunomono.
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Carrot & Fennel Tartare. pickled fennel, chickpea miso, chips. Dips were good.
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Ankimo. Sumiso, seaweed, ponzu. Really delicious. High acid marinate on the onions and seaweed was really good.
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Brussels Sprouts & Salmon Skin. red onion, poached egg. Nice warm salad with good crunch.
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Sashimi Moriawase. chef’s selection. Uni, scallop, toro, and others.

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Sashimi Moriawase. chef’s selection.
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Blue Crab Handroll.
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Toro Takuan Handroll.
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Shigoku oyseters. Tosazu jello, ginger. Nice bright oyster.
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Shigoku oysters with uni. Tosazu jello, ginger. Nice bright oyster.
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Beef Tataki. seared zabuton, crispy garlic, ponzu. Perhaps a touch overseared.
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Sakamushi clams. Shiitake, dashi. Absolutely delicious garlicky broth.
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Maitake Tempura. green tea salt. Very tasty.

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Softshell Crab Tempura.
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Steamed Seabass. shiitake, kombu, egg. Very soft and pleasant.
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From my cellar: 2008 Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru. VM 94. The 2008 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru (from young vines in Musigny) is a powerful, inward wine. There is lovely depth to the fruit, but the wine remains tightly coiled at this stage, even if occasional glimmers of richness emerge over time. Cloves, cinnamon and a host of other spiced notes add complexity on the finish. This is another superb, textured wine from de Vogüé. (Drink between 2018-2028)
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2002 Nicolas Potel Grands-Echezeaux. VM 92-94. Red-ruby color. Penetrating, pure, highly complex aromas of raspberry, minerals, flowers and pungent spices. Wonderfully urgent and intense, with the mineral and pungent spice elements carrying through on the palate and giving the wine superb lift. Tightly wound but already showy. Finishes very long and nuanced, with fine, ripe tannins. From a selection massale planted in 1957. Very impressive.

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From my cellar: 1978 Camille Giroud Beaune 1er Cru Grèves. Awesome.
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Chicken and scallion and prime beef shoulder skewers (on the right).1A4A7874
Chicken Thigh with scallion.

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Lamb chop.
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Jidori Tebasaki. Jidori chicken wing. Nice and crispy.

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Kurobuta Sausage. Awesome!
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Unagi.
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Bacon Tomato. A little sour.
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Beef Tongue. butter lettuce, pickled red onion. Totally awesome, probably in no small park because of the pickled onions.
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Miso Baked Bone Marrow. umeboshi onigiri. Rice was really crispy and nice.
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Motsunabe. Tripe, daikon, cabbage. WIthout the funk this dish often has this was amazing.
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Trout and Ikura Donabe. This salty and slightly fishy rice was an awesome finish.
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The rice plated.
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Pickles, sesame seeds, and nori for the rice.
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Coffee Budino with jelly.

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Yuzu Boysenberry ice cream from Ginger in Culver City.
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Okinawa Yam Pudding, which has mochi (the balls), kokuto (Okinawa brown sugar), and adzuki beans. It’s topped with kokuto sauce that’s made in house and poured tableside. Very sweet!

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Melon Float. Vanilla ice cream with homemade melon soda (like Jidori but fancier). The melon soda was poured in tableside.
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Mango Sorbet.

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N/Soto is a very solid addition to the extensive LA Japanese food scene. It fills a niche (more or less) vacated by MTN, a place I miss a lot. It’s not quite as approachable to Izakaya newbies as that, but definitely upscale and a little more Caucasian friendly than more classic Izakaya like Hero or Takuma. And it’s WAY WAY better than the rash of more consumer friendly “sushi + robotoyaki” type pseudo izakaya like Kappo Miyabi. Those places can be ok, but the food is really uneven. N/Soto on the other hand is quite casual, not too expensive, and has very good execution for a fairly wide array of Japanese “drink friendly” dishes.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Molten Lava Goodness
  2. Hakata Izakaya Hero
  3. Japanese in China – Izakaya Akatora
  4. Matsumoto Maxsumoto
  5. Awesome Asuka
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Izakaya, Japanese cuisine, N Soto, Robatayaki, Sashimi, Wine

Ginza Onodera Checkin

Aug27

Restaurant: Ginza Onodera [1, 2]

Location: 609 La Cienega Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069. (323) 433-4817

Date: December 7, 2021

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: Fabulous nigiri, although expensive, not quite enough food, and minimal/no corkage

_

It’s been 4 years since I visted Ginza Onodera, and while I thought it was one of the best high end sushi spots I’ve been to, collecting others willing to brace the price tag is always a little challenging. But “Sushi Series” (in which Foodie Club tries all the best sushi places in LA) warranted we revisit.

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Post pandemic they have put in the plastic divider. Not clear that this does anything at all, but I guess it makes people feel better.

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Cute little chop stick demon.
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On pulling out our wine we discovered that Ginza has recently disallowed corkage!  Eek gads. Hate that. We managed to beg them into allowing us to open 2 bottles if we bought 1 from the list, so we bought this.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Pale orange. High-pitched red berry, orange zest and jasmine aromas, with suave mineral and smoky lees notes adding complexity. Spicy and precise on the palate, showing very good punch to its strawberry and bitter cherry flavors. Opens up smoothly with air and picks up a bitter rhubarb quality that lingers onto the long, tightly focused finish. This bottling showed more brawny character than many past renditions of this <em>cuvée</em>, but with no lack of vivacity.
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2002 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot. VM 96. Taut, vibrant aromas of grapefruit, apple, pear, and powdered and wet stone. A great expression of rocks in the mouth, with extremely pure flavors of grapefruit and lemon. Conveys a powerful impression of sweetness allied to sheer energy. Fabulous, consistent wine with near-perfect balance and extraordinary length. As penetrating as it is today, I would not describe this wine as austere.
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2004 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. VM 97+. Krug’s 2004 Vintage is absolutely mesmerizing. Layers of bright, chiseled fruit open up effortlessly as the wine fleshes out with time in the glass. Persistent and beautifully focused, with a translucent sense of energy, the 2004 captures all the best qualities of the year. Moreover, the 2004 is clearly superior to the consistently underwhelming 2002 and the best Krug Vintage since 1996. Readers who can find it should not hesitate, as it is a magical bottle. (Drink between 2017-2044)
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Japanese halibut. Sake sauce.
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Octopus. Roasted green tea marinate.
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Chawanmushi. Uni. Caviar. Dashi.
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Barracuda. Seared.
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Bonito.
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Hairy crab with thick dashi.
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Monkfish Liver.
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Awesome pickled ginger.
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A few other pickles.
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Cruet (grouper).

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Japanese blue fin tuna.
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Saba.
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Japanese prawn.

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Ingredients at the ready.
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Japanese needle fish. Shiso. And shiso flower.
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Red miso.
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Baby White shrimp with uni.
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wild king yellow tail.
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Brined Hokaido uni.
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O Toro.
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Hok rockfish. Kinki.
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Tamago.
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Dark roasted green tea.
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coconut milk matcha panda cotta.

Overall Ginza Onodera has a very strong distinctive traditional style. The rich is basically oozing with red vinegar and has a strong assertive quality — but it does stay together well. The fish was very aged and marinated and each piece of nigiri crafted so as to balance with the particular qualities of the fish. I can’t fault the taste, texture, or presentation of nearly any of the dishes. They were pretty spectacular. And I love straight nigiri. Individually these are much more enjoyable than the odd combinations at Sushi of Gari for example.

And service was warm, very Japanese, and excellent.

My issues with Onodera are a high price point (about $400 for food) / quantity ratio. The price itself is high, but not outrageous at all given the labor involved (and certainly not offensive like Urwasawa). But are not ENOUGH pieces for my big nigiri appetite. I could easily have eaten 2-3 times as many. They might as well have just served me pairs. I would say that for pure nigiri QUALITY in volume this is the best I’ve had outside of Japan. Still, if you want to experience the exquisite art of perfectly crafted nigiri — Onodera is one of several top sushi places right now in LA.

But we were so hungry we went afterward to Tu Madre Tacos for infamous second dinner (see below).

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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The site of our second dinner.
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The menu. Erick and I put away all of the following tacos AFTER Ginza. Yep.
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Related posts:

  1. Newest Oldest Sushi
  2. Go Go Gozen
  3. Artsy Toppings – Sushi of Gari
  4. Kaneyoshi Take 1
  5. Shunji Second Stage
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Foodie Club, Ginza Onodera, Sashimi, Second Dinner, Sushi, Sushi Series, Wine

Shunji Second Stage

Jun16

Restaurant: Shunji [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Location: 3003 Ocean Park Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405. (310) 826-4737

Date: October 19, 2021

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: First rate omakase

_

I’ve been going to Shunji for years in its Pico Blvd location but very recently, during the pandemic in fact, he’s moved to a new space over on Ocean Park. So of course we had to go and include him in our Sushi Series of top LA sushi places.

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The outside is nearly anonymous.

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But inside the whole format and layout is totally different. Gone is the bigger space of tables and now there are two extremely elegant rooms with small gorgeous sushi bars. Each space has its own chef, Shunji himself in this case, and the format of the menu has been vastly simplified. No ala carte at all. Just omakase. Which is how I like it.
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New Shunji was so new that all the flowery Japanese congratulation signs were still up.
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Even the wood of the sushi bar is stunning.
1A4A6120
2002 Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Speciale Blanc de Blancs Les Chetillons. VM 97. The 2002 Brut Cuvée Spéciale Les Chétillons, the original release and aged on crown seal, is tremendous. Wow. Ample, sweeping and dramatic, the 2002 is utterly captivating. Smoke, graphite, ash, apricot jam and pastry are some of the many nuances that come alive in the glass, with a top note of reduction that is very appealing. On this day, the regular release is just a touch ahead of the Oenothèque. It’s hard to say exactly why that is, but I suspect that the post-disgorgement time is optimal. This is the finest bottle of the 2002 I have ever tasted. Disgorged July 2010. (Drink between 2018-2028)
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1996 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. JG98. I had not drunk a bottle of the 1996 Krug in several years, as I had deemed the wine still in climbing mode and I am not generally in the business of drinking Krug before its time. But, a friend recently opened a bottle and I was very impressed with how the wine is evolving in the bottle since its release. The bouquet is now starting to show some lovely secondary layering of complexity in its blend of apple, peach, a touch of sweet walnut, patissière, a refined base of minerality, caraway seed and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine flavors on the attack echo the nose nicely, with the wine’s full-bodied format sporting excellent depth at the core, still plenty of the vintage’s snappy acidity, great focus and grip and a very, very long and utterly refined finish. Though this remains quite racy structurally, I really like the point it has reached in terms of aromatic and flavor complexity and it is really not a crime to be opening bottles up at this point in its evolution, though it still has room to grow with further bottle age. A great, great vintage of Krug. (Drink between 2019-2060)1A4A6131
Vegetable purée. Uni caviar. Egg. This wasn’t one of my favorite dishes as it had a very distinct “Shunji” vegetal taste. Sort of a mellow carby flavor that distracted a bit from the uni/caviar.
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Matsutaki mushroom Faux Chawanmushi. Winter melon. Eggs. King crab.
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Halibut sashimi. Sauce of sake and salt. Shredded Plum. Very mild “salty” taste.
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Sake sauce.
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King mackerel. Seared skin side. Smoked with green tea. With sea salt and wasabi.
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1999 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. VM 93. Bright, pale golden yellow. Pure but subdued nose shows sexy floral, truffle and balsamic hints, plus a hint of mocha. Juicy and delineated more than thick on the palate, with its strong citrus and floral flavors given cut and lift by brisk acidity. Boasts terrific energy for a 20-year-old white wine. Quite penetrating and long on the aftertaste, dominated by citrus fruits. Perhaps not quite as complex as the ’00 but this wine offers broader appeal. (the yield in ’99 was 60 hectoliters per hectare) (Drink between 2019-2028)
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2008 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. VM 96. Bright yellow with a green tinge. Classic Montée de Tonnerre aromas of lemon ice, crushed rock, iodiney minerality and white flowers. floral, lemon ice, straight and classic. Tactile, juicy and utterly gripping–in fact still almost painful today. Powerful salty minerality and penetrating acidity currently dominate the wine’s lemon oil, grapefruit and floral flavors, with the wine showing a weightless impression. The dusty mineral-driven finish stains the palate and builds inexorably. (When I first tasted this wine from the barrel, I suggested that it might be the longest Chablis premier cru of the vintage.) Drink the 2010 for lunch now but hold this magical wine for another couple years, as its spring is still tightly coiled. This was my favorite wine of the tasting. The 2014 and 2010 vintages may be richer and deeper, as Isabelle Raveneau suggested to me three years ago, but this ’08 is utterly classic. (12.69% alcohol; 3.14 pH; 4.4 g/l acidity; the days were sunny but the nights were quite chilly during the relatively early harvest of 2008, which concentrated the sugars and acidity, noted Isabelle Raveneau) (Drink between 2021-2042)
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Fall bonito. Nori.
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Shunji at work.
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Abalone sushi with liver sauce.
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2006 Louis Jadot Chevalier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot. VM 96+. Full yellow. Broad, deep and initially quite closed on the nose, this opened to show white peach, crushed stone, and fresh hazelnut and almond. Then powerful, vibrant and palate-staining, with terrific cut to the flavors of white peach, lemon, liquid stone and white flowers. Wonderfully tactile wine with an almost painful intensity. Finishes with superb cut and length. This has only 3.8 grams of acidity yet conveys outstanding balance and verve. “If we had allowed the malolactic fermentation to finish, the wine would have ended up with less than three grams of acid,” Lardiere observed. A great 2006.
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2006 Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet. VM 94. Aromas of white peach and crushed stone. Sweet, dense and powerful, with strong minerality giving it a strong sappy quality. The ripeness here is almost exotic, and yet this very sweet, long wine comes off as young today. I’d wait four years. Interestingly, winemaker Philippe Prost believes that the ’06s are both riper and more primary than the saline, creamy ’05s, and that they need a bit more time in bottle than the earlier set of wines.
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Sweet white miso soup with shrimp in two textures and yuzu. Lotus root for crunch.
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2008 Paul Pernot et ses Fils Bâtard-Montrachet. VM 94. An almost completely inexpressive but relatively high-toned nose of lemon rind, acacia blossom, ripe peach and apricot gives way to almost painfully intense full-bodied and overtly muscular flavors that offer exceptional richness on the magnificently long, mouth coating and palate staining finish that is wrapped around a very firm core of ripe acidity. Chez Pernot, I typically prefer the Bienvenues but as good as it is, and it is very good, in 2008 I give the nod to the Bâtard, if only by a nose, no pun intended. (Drink starting 2016)
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Monkfish liver “pate” with toast.
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Duck.
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Prepping for the sushi.
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Ginger.
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Red snapper.
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Goldeneye snapper.
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Snapper.
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Pomfret.
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Shima aji (Japanese Mackerel).
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Blue fin tuna.
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Toro.
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O-Toro.
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Hokaido Uni.
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Sea Perch.
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Baracuda.
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Shirako with uni rice.
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Wild yellowtail from Hokaido, 10 day aged.
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Salmon Eggs (Ikura).
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Artsy Japanese ceramics.
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Sweet shrimp cured with kelp and dusted with botarga.
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Toro handroll.
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Eel. Super soft. Nice Japanese flavor.
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Tamago.
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Enoki mushroom miso.
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Japanese Pears and Grapes.
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Roasted Tea Ice Cream.
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Roasted Tea.
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The wine lineup.
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All and all Shunji is rather fantastic, easily in the large repertoire of top LA sushi restaurants. His move to the new location and increased focus on omakase has only improved his already great food. The meal is much more precise and orchestrated now with a natural progression of different techniques and seasonal ingredients. His very fine nigiri continues to shine. Just plain excellent.

And the whole setting is much more pleasant and calm without the bevy of tables behind you.

For more LA sushi reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Last Minute Shunji
  2. More Shunji Omakase
  3. Gasping Fish Shunji
  4. Shunji Sushi – Nonstop Nigiri
  5. Shunji Super Omakase
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Foodie Club, Omakase, Sashimi, Shunji, Sushi, Sushi Series

Brothers Sushi Two

May04

Restaurant: The Brothers Sushi [1, 2]

Location: 21418 Ventura Blvd, Woodland Hills, CA 91364. (818) 456-4509

Date: September 14, 2021

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi Kaiseki

Rating: Really wonderful modern style Kaiseki

_

This dinner is part of a “Sushi Series” (the others being here) in a vast array of epic Japanese sushi and/or Kaiseki dinners post lockdowns that all included myself, Erick, Joe and Bonnie — and often Larry, as is the case tonight. Herein we “endeavor” to visit or revisit most of the top sushi spots in LA.

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Larry has been coming to Brothers for years, but in 2018 recently Chef Mark Okuda took over and totally transformed the place into one of the Valley’s — and LA in general’s — top omakase destinations. Larry took us on a foray a couple weeks ago, but we immediately set up a giant even longer one for more people a few weeks later (this meal).

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But the inside is attractive and there is a large patio and this interior with an extensive sushi bar and a few tables.
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1990 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame. VM 94. The 1990 La Grande Dame is a shock to the palate after all the older wines in this tasting. Candied lemon, rosemary, dried flowers and spices are all super-expressive in the glass. The 1990 retain a good bit of brightness, especially for its age. The citrus flavors have still not moved into realm or more orangish tonalities, as is likely to happen over time. The 1990 can be enjoyed now and for the next 20 years or so. (Drink between 2015-2034)
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From my cellar: 1996 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. VM 97. Taittinger’s 1996 Comtes de Champagne is another highlight. The flavors are only now beginning to show elements of complexity, a great sign for aging. Gently spiced and buttery notes suggest the 1996 is about to enter the early part of its maturity, where it is likely to stay for another decade or so. (Drink between 2014-2026)
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1995 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. VM 95. Wonderfully subtle, complex aromas of white flowers, acacia honey, minerals, nuts and mushroom, with musky and leesy nuances. Oily, rich and smoky but with terrific verve and lift. Quite substantial and chewy for a young D.P. but not at all heavy. Yellow plum and strong soil tones in the middle and on the palate-staining finish. Offers a rare combination of richness and finesse. (Schieffelin & Somerset, New York, NY)
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2009 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. BH 93. Subtle wood sets off aromas of flowers, oyster shell and tidal pool that complement perfectly the racy, pure and strikingly well-detailed medium plus weight flavors that brim with minerality on the delicious, mouth coating and impressively long finish. This beautifully vibrant and concentrated effort should drink well young and age well too plus it’s more classic in style than many wines from this vintage. (Drink starting 2016)
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2010 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault Clos de la Barre. VM 92. Fruit-driven aromas of peach, apricot, pear and flowers. Then juicy and tight in the mouth, with strong citrussy acidity leavening the wine’s mid-palate sweetness. The long, peachy finish shows lovely finesse for this bottling.
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2011 Henri Boillot Corton-Charlemagne. VM 96. An utterly mesmerizing wine, the 2011 Corton-Charlemagne conquers all of the senses with its grace and harmony. Lemon oil, white flowers, pears and crushed rocks are some of the many notes that are woven together in the glass. The 2011 is perfumed, sublime and drop-dead gorgeous from the very first taste. With time, though, the wine blossoms beautifully as it fills out its broad-shouldered frame with tons of style. (Drink starting 2018)
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Marinated Jellyfish from Okinawa.
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3 Week Dry Aged King Salmon, Marinated Tomato and Burgundy Truffle.
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Smoke!

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Smoked Dry Aged Amberjack Kanpachi.
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Sautéed Hudson Valley Foie Gras with Ikura and Mango. Amazing texture difference with the crunchy shell and soft interior.

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Sweet Corn Chawanmushi with Santa Barbara Uni and Japanese Watercress.
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Japanese Milk Bread, Toro, Takuan, Sweet Onion, and Caviar.
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Black Abalone with wasabi.
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Risotto (with the abalone).
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Monkfish Liver with a very sweet glaze.
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Steamed Hairy Crab from Hokkaido.
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Sweet and tangy sauce for the crab.
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Fried River Crab (eaten whole).
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Ginger.
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Hokkaido scallop and shimiaji dry aged 1 week from Japan.
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Japanese sea perch and golden eye snapper.
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Otoro and chu toro from Spain.
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Uni. Santa Barbara, Hokkaido, and Red Sea urchin from Japan
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White shrimp from Japan and Wagyu.
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Green tea cheesecake.
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Tea.
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Blue Cherry Gelato – a blend of Morello Cherry, intense Amarena Cherry, and Blueberry fruit make this dairy gelato really pop — topped with Candied Amarena Cherries — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #amarena #morello #cherry #blueberry

Burnt Basque Cheesecake Gelato — Milk steeped with Tahitian Vanilla Beans and Valencia Orange Peels and then blended with Cream-cheese and Egg Yolks, layered with house made “burnt” Caramel and topped with house-made Caramel Brittle, finished with the torch! — created by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #basque #cheesecake #caramel #brittle #orange

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The wine lineup.
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Some of the gang with Chef Mark in the mask.

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I was really impressed by Brothers. Not only was the fish superlative and the dishes every inventive, but Mark has a really refined sense of balance to his flavors. Nothing was overly sweet, or overly salty, or overly tangy — but instead hovered in that lovely space where all of the flavors hang in proper harmony.

Bravo! I’d highly recommend Brothers as one of the best “modern style” Omakase places in the city.

This second (even bigger) dinner was just as good, if not even better, than the first visit. Really really great place. I’ve been back a couple times for lunch since but have been waiting (for six months since this dinner) for their long awaited Santa Monica branch to open!

For more LA dining reviews click here.
Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.
Or for more Sushi Series dinners, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Food as Art – The Brothers Sushi
  2. The Valley’s Secret Sushi|Bar
  3. Hard to Find – Inn Ann
  4. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  5. Soko Sushi
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Brothers Sushi, BYOG, Champagne, Foodie Club, Gelato, Mark Okuda, Omakase, Sashimi, Sushi, Sushi Series, White Burgundy

Food as Art – The Brothers Sushi

Jan23

Restaurant: The Brothers Sushi [1, 2]

Location: 21418 Ventura Blvd, Woodland Hills, CA 91364. (818) 456-4509

Date: August 13, 2021

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi Kaiseki

Rating: Really wonderful modern style Kaiseki

_

This dinner is the third in (the others being here) in a vast series of epic Japanese sushi and/or Kaiseki dinners post lockdowns that all included myself, Erick, Joe and Bonnie — and often Larry, as is the case tonight. Herein we “endeavor” to visit or revisit most of the top sushi spots in LA.1A4A1564-Pano

Larry has been coming to Brothers for years, but in 2018 recently Chef Mark Okuda took over and totally transformed the place into one of the Valley’s — and LA in general’s — top omakase destinations. Larry took us on this particular foray for a “regular” jumbo omakase, but we immediately set up a giant even longer one for more people a few weeks later.

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The outside shows off this ugly 1940s or 50s valley building.
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But the inside is attractive and there is a large patio and this interior with an extensive sushi bar and a few tables.
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On the right is Chef Mark.
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2002 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart. 96 points. The 2002 Cuvée Nicolas François Billecart is outrageously beautiful. The ripeness of the Chardonnay is front and center in a Champagne that delivers the goods, big-time. An infusion of apricot, orange peel, crème brûlée, chamomile, hazelnut and honey give the 2002 its racy, exotic personality. I enjoy it most with bottle age, but the 2002 is undeniably beautiful right now. The 2002 is a stunning NFB. The blend is 60% Pinot Noir from the Montagne de Reims and the Vallée de la Marne and 40% Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs, done partially in oak (20%). Dosage is 4 grams per liter. (Drink between 2020-2030)
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2011 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault Clos de la Barre. VM 90+. Good bright yellow. Deeply pitched aromas of ripe peach, pineapple, hazelnut, smoke and vanilla, plus a hint of orange blossom (Lafon used no new oak for this wine). Then firmer and less round on the palate than the basic village wine, with an edge of acidity giving the finish a leaner, slightly boney impression. This needs at least a couple years of cellaring.
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2015 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons. VM 90. Pale, bright yellow. Very ripe but slightly muted aromas of citrus fruits, white pepper, honey and oatmeal. Quite concentrated but comes across as a bit youthfully aggressive and dry following the set of 2016s here, offering flavors of grapefruit, lemon drop and minerals. Offers noteworthy inner-mouth tension and dusty minerality but this citrussy premier cru will need time to harmonize in bottle. Didier Séguier bottled the 2015 crus in December of 2016 and January of this year. (A second bottle of similar quality was a bit sweeter and more pliant in the middle palate.) (Drink between 2019-2025)
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From my cellar: 1996 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Charmes. 93 points. Dark yellow, straw. Honey, toasted grain, flowers, straw nose. Lemony acidity, some caramel, baked apples, rich texture. A singular and beautiful bottle.
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Seaweed, cucumber, jellyfish. Bright vinegar flavors.
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Sweet Corn Chawanmushi.
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Smoked Amberjack (dry aged 10 day).
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Hudson Valley Foie Gras (Jeff Bovon), ikura, takuan, rice crisp “sandwich”
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The outside is a crispy rice disk and the inside was fantastic.
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3 weeks dry aged salmon. Summer truffle, pickled tomato, arugula. Very balanced.
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Tuna. River crab. Caviar. Tuna is almost sweet.
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Abalone from Japan. Tender. Wasabi. Truffle.
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Monkfish liver marinated with mirin and brown sugar. Seared. Super tender and sweet.
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Soft shell crab miso sauce.
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Ginger.
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Kohada gizzard shad.
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East coast 1 week dry aged snapper.
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Seafood chowder.
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Washington jumbo clam.
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Sweet shrimp.
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Shrimp heads return fried.
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Spanish toro.
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Japanese sea perch.
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Toro, uni (stored in sea water and steamed), shiso, takuan hand roll.
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White shrimp shiro ebo Japan.
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A5 Miyazaki nigri, seared.
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Japanese green onion. Never had this nigri before!
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Miyagi uni (not from either Hokaido or Santa Barbara).
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Golden eye snapper.
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Green tea cheesecake.
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Tonight’s wines.
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The fish locker.

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The knives did in this tired staff member.

I was really impressed by Brothers. Not only was the fish superlative and the dishes every inventive, but Mark has a really refined sense of balance to his flavors. Nothing was overly sweet, or overly salty, or overly tangy — but instead hovered in that lovely space where all of the flavors hang in proper harmony.

Bravo!

We immediately setup another even bigger omakase for just a couple weeks later!

For more LA dining reviews click here.
Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.
Or for more Sushi Series dinners, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Food as Art – Sushi Sushi
  2. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  3. Food as Art – Shiki Sushi
  4. Sushi Sushi = Yummy Yummy
  5. Mori Sushi – A Top Contender
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Brothers Sushi, Champage, Foodie Club, Kaiseki, Mark Okuda, Omakase, Sashimi, Sushi, Sushi Series, White Burgundy, woodland hills

Go Go Gozen

Jan19

Restaurant: Gozen Sake Bistro

Location: 521 N La Cienega Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90048. (213) 308-9393

Date: July 30, 2021

Cuisine: Japanese Kaiseki

Rating: Very good, but not mind blowing

_

This dinner is arguably the second in (the first being here) in a vast series of epic Japanese sushi and/or Kaiseki dinners post lockdowns that all included myself, Erick, Joe and Bonnie — and often Larry, as is the case tonight. Herein we “endeavor” to visit or revisit most of the top sushi spots in LA.

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Gozen bistro.
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A cozy looking spot for being right on La Cienega.
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Fairly large and stylish interior.
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We had a private room with a cool dragon decor.
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The menu — lots of options.
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Larry brought: NV Krug Champagne Brut Rosé Edition 21eme. JG 95+. The Krug Brut Rosé “21ème Édition” is from the beautiful base year of 2008, with the oldest reserve wine in the blend going back to 2000. The wine was disgorged in the spring of 2015 and is a blend of fifty-one percent pinot noir, forty-one percent chardonnay and eight percent pinot meunier. Ten percent of the pinot noir in the blend is still red wine from Krug’s own parcels of vines in the village of Aÿ. The blend is a slight departure from many releases of Krug Rosé, as hail in the village of Ste. Ghemme in 2008 dramatically cut back the quality of pinot meunier from this vintage, so that Chef de Caves Eric Lebel opted to use all reserve wines for the pinot meunier portion of the blend. The very complex wine offers up the characteristically refined and gently exotic bouquet that this cuvée is cherished for, wafting from the glass in a blend of cherries, a touch of pomegranate, orange peel, beautiful, savory spice elements, rye bread, a complex base of soil tones , dried rose petals and incipient smokiness. On the palate the wine is full, complex and still quite youthful in terms of structure, with vibrant acids, a lovely core, elegant mousse and a very long, perfectly balanced and seamless finish. This is already beautifully complex, but I would love to revisit it five to ten years down the road and see what the passage of time does to this beautiful constellation of aromas and flavors. (Drink between 2018-2050)
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5 Good Things.
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Marinated fish and onions.
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Taco (octopus).
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Monkfish Liver with Caviar.
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Seaweed salad.
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Steamed sesame tofu with uni.
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Marinated tomato.
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Dashi-maki Tamago (Japanese egg omelet) with Mountain Vegetables.
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Salmon roe in a lemon.
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Young Peach with Wine Jelly. Sure looks pretty.
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2007 Domaine Ramonet Bâtard-Montrachet. VM 94+. Bright, pale yellow. Rich aromas of stone fruits, yellow currant, lees and iodine, plus a complicating whiff of rye bread. Dense and powerful but not at all heavy. Quite youthfully closed but aeration brings up captivating inner-mouth floral character and penetrating talc-y minerality. Wonderfully precise, classy Batard with uncommon complexity.
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2007 Domaine Ramonet Chevalier-Montrachet. BH 96. Given the almost extreme reticence of the Bâtard, I was moderately surprised to see how wonderfully expressive this positively brilliant wine is already. The nose is simply stunning with a supremely elegant and kaleidoscopic range of spice, floral, citrus, stone and pain grillé notes that is the perfect complement to the racy, detailed and equally complex middle weight flavors brimming with the underlying minerality advertised by the nose, all wrapped in a driving, delineated and explosive finish. As good as the Ramonet Chevalier is, in the 10 vintages that it has been made, I can’t think of one where it’s the equal of the Montrachet. However, 2007 just might be that vintage. (Drink starting 2015)
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From my cellar: 2008 Domaine Ramonet Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. BH 94. Soft if not invisible wood sets off strikingly pretty and solidly complex honeysuckle, white peach and spiced pear aromas that give way to intense, delicious and equally complex middle weight flavors that possess ample concentration and outstanding balance and length on the palate staining finish. This is really classy juice and quite stylish as well. (Drink starting 2016)

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Sashimi “plate”.
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Chawanmushi Steamed Egg Custard with Japanese Sea Urchin.
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Softshell Crab Tempura.
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Three kinds of nigiri sushi. Toro on the left.
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Uni, Ikura, and rice.
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2001 Alain Hudelot-Noellat Richebourg. BH 94. While this has certainly matured since I first saw it from bottle in 2004, the original note still largely captures the wine with its deep, complex and spicy old vine aromas that are slightly floral in character. This brilliant introduction is followed by wonderfully harmonious and quite powerful middle weight flavors that are beautifully delineated and perfectly balanced while delivering superb length. In sum, this ultra-pure effort offers reference standard quality with more refinement than young Richebourg usually displays – plus it’s approaching readiness for prime time and could easily be enjoyed now though for my taste another 3 to 5 years would serve it well. Tasted twice in the last few months. (Drink starting 2015)
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A smoked dish.
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Roast Duck with Mashed Potatoes.

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Raspberry Granita.

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Red miso soup.
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The grilled meat dish.
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Yogan-Yaki A5 Japanese Kobe Beef.
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Condiments for the beef.
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Kamameshi (Japanese seasoned rice in a small pot) with Tuffles.
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We had several bowls each (I love good fried rice).

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Black sesame ice cream. Looks almost like a B&W photo!
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Matcha Tiramisu. Delicious.
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Our wines for the night.

Gozen was quite good. It’s tonally very Japanese and quite reserved. I probably prefer a slightly flashier style. Not all the way to Nobu style mind you, that’s too disconnected from the Japanese sense of balance, but maybe I like a touch more acidity and punch. And Gozen is expensive (as all top kaiseki and sushi places are). It does give you a lot of variety in flavors, ingredients, and style, but not very much actual nigiri (which I do love).

The wines were really singing too, particularly the Ramonets. Overall, a great evening.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.
Or for more Sushi Series dinners, click here.
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Related posts:

  1. Yasu a Year Yater
  2. Hard to Find – Inn Ann
  3. Burg at Kagura
  4. The Valley’s Secret Sushi|Bar
  5. Sumo Bowl Yamakase
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Champagne, Foodie Club, Gozen, Japanese cuisine, Sashimi, Sushi, Sushi Series, White Burgundy

Vespertine at Home

Sep22

Restaurant: Vespertine [1, 2, 3]

Location: 3599 Hayden Ave, Culver City, CA 90232. (323) 320-4023

Date: September 11, 2020

Cuisine: Modern chef’s take on Japanese

Rating: Top flight takeout

_

Boy it’s been a long time since I made a food post. Sigh, quarantine life. I still haven’t been in a restaurant since March 11, 2020. Total record for my life as I’m sure that from my birth 4-5 weeks was the record (during summer camp in the early 80s!). Now, that being said I have been cooking up a storm but they aren’t elaborate enough to write up unless I start cooking posts. And we’ve had some good takeout but the pictures are usually ugly. But this particular dinner was a bit different and photoed fairly well.

Vespertine is a very unusual confluence of all sorts of artsy weirdness. It’s helmed by Jordan Kahn formerly of Red Medicine and currently of Destroyer across the street. I’ve generally been fond of Jordan’s unique culinary style. Since the pandemic started he’s been doing “out of the box” fancy takeout meals, and this one has a Japanese theme.


Above is the building where the restaurant is located, but I wasn’t there, Erick picked up the food and we ate elsewhere socially distanced.

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Vague intro.
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The instructions and menu were irritatingly available only online and referenced via QR code — true this saves on paper — but it did require me to squint at them on my phone all night.1A4A1608
Japanese style hand towels!

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And a nice chopstick box.
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Paul brought: 2011 Domaine Matrot Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. VM 94+. One of the brighter wines in the range, the 2011 Meursault Les Perrières bristles with pure energy and pedigree. White flowers, crushed rocks, white peaches and graphite all take shape in the glass. Elements of razor-sharp minerality support the vivid, crystalline finish. Today, the Perrières is pretty buttoned up, but it should open up with further time in bottle.

agavin: clean and nice
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The menu for the night.
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Along with reheating instructions. The problem here is that while these would work okay for a couple sharing the meal by themselves it doesn’t work so great with a couple of us social distanced (in far corners of the patio not physically interacting). There is no easy way to get it heated so we just dealt with the luke-warm temp.

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From my cellar: 2011 Joseph Drouhin Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. JG 94+. The 2011 Meursault “Perrières” from Maison Joseph Drouhin is also outstanding, offering up a deep and very classic bouquet of apple, passion fruit, iodine, hazelnuts, chalky minerality and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, crisp and very minerally in personality, with a rock solid core, excellent focus and balance and a very long, pure and laser-like finish. This is a stunning example of Perrières, and like the Laguiche Morgeot, it will only need a handful of years in the cellar to start drinking at its peak.

agavin: lovely
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Setup for the tofu dish.
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Fresh silken Tofu “Kingugoshi”. Fresh silken tofu made to order. Inspired by Tousuiro, served with a variety of Shojin Ryori accompaniments.

This was one of the less successful dishes. The tofu itself had a very nice texture but a slightly bitter taste, probably from the base used to set the tofu (sometimes ash or calcium sulfate). The vegetables were better, with that definite Japanese vegetable taste and some good textures.

It should be noted that the dish shown here, and all the dishes, were intended for two people to split. We gluttons got a “pair” each because even if we had wanted to share it would have been unsafe and complicated.
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Vegetables to top the tofu with.
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A salt that’s probably basically natural MSG.
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Erick brought: 2007 Etienne Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. JG 95. The Sauzet parcel in Combettes were planted in 1950, and these old vines have produced a magical wine in this great vintage. In fact, premier cru Puligny simply does not get any better than this! The bouquet is a beautiful and classic mélange of lemon oil, peach apple, crystalline minerality of enormous complexity, spring flowers and a gentle framing of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very pure and racy, with a rock solid core, brilliant focus and balance and a very, very, very long and racy finish. Pure liquid beauty.

agavin: sadly a bit advanced
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Handmade Soba “Hourai.” Cold buckwheat noodles cooked and chilled to order. Served with traditional accompaniments inspired by Honke Owariya.

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The toppings.
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What’s most likely a dashi (and shiyo) broth.
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This dish was much more successful than the tofu. Pretty excellent anyway. And it was cold, so the lack of heating didn’t matter. Basically it’s just good soba. Maybe not as good as at a top flight soba spot, but very impressive for a non-Japanese chef.
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From my cellar: 1996 Alain Hudelot-Noellat Clos Vougeot. JG 93+. I am a very big fan of the Clos Vougeot at Domaine Hudelot-Noëllat, which I find consistently to be one of the best examples in the Côte d’Or. The 1996 is a lovely example of the vintage that hails from the plus and buffered camp, with a lovely core of pure fruit fully carrying the structure of the vintage. The bouquet is deep, complex and quite sappy in its blend of plums, black cherries, woodsmoke, a touch of venison, coffee, a great base of soil and a stylish framing of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and impressively pure on the attack, with a fine core, ripe tannins and a long, focused and tangy finish. This is certainly approachable today, but in terms of complexity, it is still a tad on the primary side and a few more years of bottle age should be rewarded with even greater aromatic and flavor complexity. A lovely 1996.

agavin: pretty excellent.
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Black Cod “Hitsumabushi”. Black cod grilled over Japanese Charcoal, charred and lacquered with kabayaki glaze. Prepared in the style of Atsuta Houraiken Honten.
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The toppings and some green tea to turn it into tea rice later.
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Instructions.
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More or less assembled. This is basically like BBQ eel, but black cod. Now he did a good job, but it would’ve been much better with the eel. It was pretty good with cod, but a touch blander (aka less fatty). The sauce wasn’t as sweet as usual either.
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Erick brought: 1996 Camille Giroud Pommard 1er Cru Clos des Epeneaux. The nose is slightly fuller than the 2000 but stylistically similar. The palate has a little extra dimension, but there is an amazing family resemblance to the 2000 – amazing considering the different vintages and elevages. I’d say they need a similar time to maturity too. Would be a great buy.

agavin: nice
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Kurobuta “Tonkatsu.” Breaded Japanese cutlet with accompaniments. Prepared in the style of butagumi.
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Some miso soup, tomatoes, tonkatsu sauce, ginger, and cabbage.

This was a good dish, but the batter was excellent, but it suffered from being too “cold” (reheating was hard). Additionally I wasn’t sure what to do with the cabbage as it normal tonkatsu places I always eat it with a vinegary dressing which wasn’t here. Actually love the stuff with the dressing.

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Sashimi. Inspired by the preparations of Takayoshi Yamaguchi. This was very solid sashimi. Nothing complicated but very good.
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Toppings.
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Matcha Cream Puff. Crispy choux pastry filled with matcha cream. Inspired by the “yatsuhashi” cream puffs of Kiyomizu Kyoami. Very nice cream puffs. There was a very strong green tea note to the cream which was bracing but nice.
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Fruit Sando. Japanese milk bread filled with whipped cream and fresh fruits. Inspired by the beautiful fruit sandos of Coffee Nikki. These are VERY Japanese, and I’ve had them and similar many times in Japan, but I can’t say that I love them. Like white bread with whipped cream and fruit. haha.
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Taiyaki. A warm crispy waffle, shaped like a fish, filled with sweet vanilla custard. Inspired by the epic “Magikarp fluffy custard taiyaki”.

Actually kind excellent. Would have been better warm and fresh from the oven, but still good.
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Our wine lineup.
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Overall, we had a great evening. Great company, great wines, and great takeout.

Now in absolute terms the meal wasn’t totally epic by my standards, but it was one of the best “fancy takeouts” I’ve ever had. They really do a good job packaging it and things survived the transit and the considerable length of our leisurely evening quite well. Yeah, it would have been better there, but considering, it was about as good as you get. Trying to imagine how it would have been on site, and therefore forgiving temperature issues and the takeout plating (which is awesome for takeout plating) I’d say that some dishes would even there have some of the same issues, like the cod not being as “rich” as a great piece of Japanese BBQ eel. But it would have been even better. Still this was an incredible job for a non-Japanese chef stepping out of his comfort zone. Strongest savory dish was the soba which was excellent.

I do have a minor beef with the enforced “2 person” sizing as it only really works for close couples. These things as plated don’t split well. Given that we are huge eaters (at least Erick and I) it was okay to have 2 full meals each, but that’s not cheap.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Food as Art – Vespertine
  2. Eating Tuscany – Boar at Home
  3. Sumo Bowl Yamakase
  4. Matsumoto Maxsumoto
  5. Katana – Stripping it all Down
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Burgundy, Champagne, Foodie Club, Japanese Food, Jordan Kahn, Sashimi, Sushi, Vespertine, Wine

Mr. Miyagi’s Sushi Bar

Oct23

Restaurant: Sushi Miyagi

Location: 150 S Barrington Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90049. (323) 382-5635

Date: Sept 10 & October 1, 2019

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: Top Shelf Omakase Sushi

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Great sushi is always a good excuse to pull out the beloved Champagnes and White Burgundies.
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And I was excited to hear that a new high end omakase sushi place had opened in Brentwood — in the conveniently located but anoying to park at junction of Barrington Ave and Place.
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The space is small but attractive.
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This is chef focused serious sushi, and so we pre-ordered the largest omakase possible — Erick even egged them on to a larger than offered menu.

Chef Shinichi Miyagi says about himself on his website:

Born in Osaka, the art of sushi mesmerized the chef at an early age and decided to devote his life as a “Decchi” (apprentice) under Master Higuchi at the age of 16. He opened his first “Kappo” (traditional style of cooking in front of a crowd) restaurant at the age of 25, and moved to LA at 29, working in numerous well known Sushi restaurants in West LA, Beverly Hills, and San Diego.

Through managing a Sushi restaurant in Manhattan Beach (i-naba), now in present day, he found an opportunity to try his skills as an executive chef in Brentwood/Los Angeles. The chefs many years of experience in choosing the freshest fish, will surprise even the most sophisticated pallets of this beautiful city.

His methods and techniques in preparation follows the traditional Japanese style, bringing out the true flavors of the fish. The chef also prepares two styles of rice, AKAZU SHARI (Red vinegar sushi rice), and SHIROZU SHARI (White vinegar rice). The SHARI (Sushi rice) will alternate depending on the fish being prepared, and we hope you enjoy the eclectic flavors of the different vinegars being used.

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2017 Guillaume Selosse Champagne Ville-sur-Arce Largiller Extra Brut.
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From my cellar: NV Jacques Selosse Champagne Rosé. VM 94. The NV Rosé is laced with the essence of crushed rocks, mint, chalk. white pepper and cranberry. Chiseled and vibrant in the glass, with tremendous energy, the Rosé is fabulous. This release is based on the V.O. blend of 2011, 2010 and 2009 vintages, with a touch (3-5%) still Pinot from Francis Egly, vintages 2011 and 2010. Disgorged November 7, 2018. (Drink between 2018-2026)
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Marinated Sardines from Japan with dashi. Lovely soft delicate fish with the strong sardine oil flavors in perfect balance with the vinegary marinade.
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Shigoku oyster from the pacific northwest. On the left with uni and on the right with caviar and yuzu. In the front is Japanese plum.

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Buri with ponzu, daikon radish and green onion. Delicate and delicious sashimi.

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On the left, monk fish liver. To the right, octopus (tako) with mozzarella, then tomato and on top seaweed from Okinawa with mountain yam. All scrumptious.
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Toro tartar with caviar and wasabi ponzu. The nobu classic but perfectly executed.
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Fresh king crab, grilled. Simply sweet crab meat.
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2005 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières. VM 92. Complex, leesy aromas of stone fruits, flowers, smoke and nutty oak. Dense, suave and ripe, with nuanced, lightly sulfidey flavors of white fruits, flowers and nuts. Layered and quite long. This, too, has turned out very well.
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Tai sushi.
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King mackerel sushi.
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2010 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles. VM 95. The 2010 Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles 1er Cru is an absolute killer wine from the late Anne-Claude Leflaive. Lucid in the glass, it has a crystalline bouquet with crushed stone, a touch of oyster shell, Nashi pear and citrus peel. The terroir seems to just burst from the glass. The palate is cool, calm and collected. The acidity is nigh pitch perfect, the tension palpable from start to finish. This is a live-ware Les Pucelles: edgy and citrus fresh, yet utterly composed and befitting a wine that frankly is Grand Cru in all but name. Tasted at Fook Lam Moon in Hong Kong. (Drink between 2019-2035)
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2010 Pierre Morey Bâtard-Montrachet. BH 92-95. Here too there are vestiges of the malolactic fermentation present. The palate impression though is completely different compared to that of the Perrières as the intense and overtly powerful flavors are substantially bigger and even more intense, indeed almost painfully so, before terminating in a citrusy, explosive and stunningly long finish. While this is certainly large-scaled it is not without a certain refinement and this should amply reward long-term cellaring, in fact it will require it as this will not, in all likelihood, drink well young. (Drink starting 2020)
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Baby barracuda sushi.
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Blue fin tuna sushi.
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O-Toro sushi. The rich tuna belly never disappoints — at least not at a place this good.
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Shima Aji (striped jack) sushi..
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Black throat sushi.
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Golden snapper sushi with truffle paste.
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2008 Giuseppe Quintarelli Cabernet (Franc) Alzero. 94 points. This was great. Shared with me at a restaurant. Had an Italian feel for a Cabernet. Very red fruit driven, with some roses and balsamic. Closest other wine I’ve had to this was the 2007 Sassicaia, but this wine has more energy and elegance. A different take on Bordeaux blends then most Bordeaux and even less like most Super Tuscans or Napa Cabernet. Elegance, acidity, and polish. Drinking nicely now.

This bottle has an unusual story as we had all of the sushi bar but one seat and that last chair was occupied by an older gentleman in the music business. We got to talking during dinner and he was extremely nice. Turns out he doesn’t really drink wine anymore but was a collector and he went out to his car and brought back two bottles of this extremely are Giuseppe Quintarelli. Now I’m a GQ fan — I even use his olive oil in some of my creations — but I didn’t even know he makes a Cabernet. It was great though.

The gentleman also picked up a huge portion of our tab too — just because he was that kind of guy! Thank you!
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A5 Wagyu, truffles, uni, Mizutaki mushrooms.
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A Yama-like bite of quail egg, uni, and toro.
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Ikura (salmon roe) sushi.

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Uni sushi.
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t
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Sardine sushi.
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Torched butterfish sushi.
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Seared Toro with shoyu koji. So rich it tasted like beef.
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Fermented squid guts — I gotta say, I like these.

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Toro handroll.
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Green tea ice cream. Much denser and less creamy than my gelato.
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I brought these though, homemade old-fashioned chocolate fudge — made by me.
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The wine lineup.
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And the people lineup.

Sushi Miyagi is exactly the kind of sushi place I like best — all omakase and very traditional. This is some seriously good fish. Mostly just straight nigiri and a bit of spectacular sashimi and a handful of cooked dishes. This is really really good and instantly catapulted into the top westside sushi joints. Very friendly too. Intimate as well. Sushi at this level is all about the chef and Shinichi Miyagi is very talented.

Not for the sushi neophytes and roll loves, but fabulous for those of us who really enjoy great fish being showcased in a straightforward and delicious manner.

I also came in here a few weeks later for a quick lunch. The lunch menu is very reasonable given the (exceptional) quality.

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Lovely little salad with homemade onion vinegar dressing.
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Miso soup, of course.
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BATTERA. Saba mackerel box sushi, salad and miso soup.

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OMAKASE SASHIMI. Chefs best choice of today, 8 pieces of sashimi, salad and miso soup.

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OMAKASE CHIRASHI BOWL. Chefs best choice of Sashimi pieces over a bed of sushi rice, salad and miso soup.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Food as Art – Sushi Sushi
  2. Sushi Sushi = Yummy Yummy
  3. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  4. Sushi Sushi Sushi
  5. Sushi Zo
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Brentwood, Chef Shinichi Miyagi, fish, Sashimi, Sushi, Sushi Miyagi, Wine

Otafuku – Carb Coma

Aug19

Restaurant: Otafuku

Location: 16525 S Western Ave. Gardena, CA 90247. (310) 532-9348

Date: June 21, 2019

Cuisine: Japanese Izakaya / Tempura / Noodles

Rating: Great noodles and tempura

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Asian Food Friday (AFF) is another of my fun food “groups” — composed of a bunch of Santa Monica guys that on certain Friday’s set out in search of great Asian eats.
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This time we headed off to Otafuku, recommended as one of the best soba and tempura places in LA — located in Gardena Little Japan. You enter through the less than glamorous back.
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It’s really an Izakaya, they have a lot of sochu on the wall and a very drinking friendly menu.
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Very casual small interior. Really nice staff.
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Pickled Vegetables. Japanese love pickles. Several radishes, Japanese Mountain Yam, cucumber, carrot, etc. Nice complex vinegar flavor. Good crunch.
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Japanese Omelet (tamago). Really nice savory omelet. Great fluffy texture.
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Small horse mackerel with fresh vegetable bowl. Very fresh mackerel, not at all fishy, with a good bit of ginger and various veggies.
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Delicious Small Tuna Bowl. Just straight up tuna sashimi.
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Fishcake Tempura. A battered chopped shrimp and scallop with assorted vegetable tempuras. This was the best “tempura mixto” I’ve had — and I always get it. Lots of tender shrimp and scallops in here. Perfectly crispy light breading.
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Sea Eel Tempura. Extremely “Big” sea eel tempura which is “absolutely unique” (with a few assorted vegetables). I’ve actually had eel tempura several times, but this was light and fabulous. Hannosuke has a somewhat similar eel. Not sure if it’s exactly the same type.
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Shrimp Tempura. Black tiger shrimps with some assorted vegetable tempura. Excellent. Classic.
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Vegetable Tempura. Shitake mushroom, red pepper, onion, asparagus, perrilla, enoki, sweet potato, Japanese Squash etc. I like the perrilla (shiso?).
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Broiled chicken leg. Really nice dark meat.
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Stir fried Kurobuta pork with ginger soy sauce. Like a pork version of the meat that goes in a beef udon bowl — delicious.

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The pork came with miso soup.
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Special Seiro Soba (cold). Specialty soba which is quite thin white noodle made of a mixture of special white buckwheat flour. The difference from the Zaru is used on heart of soba seeds. It’s that special!  Really nice light noodles. These were served with a bowl of noodle sauce I forgot to photo, plus some chopped green onions and wasabi.
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Kikouchi (cold). Dark brown noodle made of 100% buckwheat flour. Gluten free. Really great buckwheat noodles! These are also dipped into the dipping sauce.
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At the end they bring this broth you can add to the dipping sauce to drink it like a soup. Very nice too.

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Curry Udon. Great curry udon. Chicken, onions and curry. Lighter and more complex than most curry udons.
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I brought some of my gelato too:

Arancia Crema Fiorentina Zabaione — Marsala Orange Vanilla Zabaione base with Orange Variegate — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Very close to the oldest gelato flavor!! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #orange #Zabaione #CremaFiorentina

Salted Caramel Chocolate — House-made salted caramel forms the core of this base which then is layered with house-made Valrhona dark chocolate ganache and Valrhona milk chocolate chips — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — my best salted caramel yet — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #caramel #chocolate #Valrhona #ganache
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The owner loved my gelato so much they brought us free this fabulous flan with dark caramel. Really nice custard with a perfect creamy texture and contrasting caramel.

Overall, this was a great place. On the border of sketchy neighborhood wise, and very hole-in-the-wall, but super nice staff and really great food. Everything we had was quite good, particularly the tempura and noodles.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Không Tên – Brunch
  2. I-Driva to I-Naba
  3. Hannosuke Tempura
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  5. Happy Table 2X
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: AFF, BYOG, Gardena, Gelato, Japanese cuisine, noodles, Sashimi, soba, tempura

Matsumoto Maxsumoto

Jun05

Restaurant: Matsumoto

Location: 8385 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048. 323) 653-0470

Date: May 10, 2019

Cuisine: Japanese

Rating: Very good, and interesting, but expensive

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Erick, Larry, and I kept hearing through the rumor mill that Matsumoto in Beverly Hills had one of the best Japanese Omakases in town so of course the Foodie Club had to saddle up and go.
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They are located on Beverly in a busy strip mall — like most other good LA Sushi joints. The “Beverly Hills” location is more like West Hollywood.

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It’s non-assuming for sure.

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The interior is pretty typical Japanese restaurant.

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We had prearranged this giant special menu! It was so long, they refused to start dinner later than 6:30!
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From my cellar: 2006 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon. VM 94+. The 2006 Rosé Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon is powerful, intense and also classically austere in its make up. Crushed flowers, mint, red berries and cranberries are all finely sketched. The 2006 finishes with striking mineral-driven precision, and while it doesn’t have the opulence or exuberance of the 2002, it is still a very pretty and appealing Champagne. The Elisabeth Salmon is 50% Pinot Noir and 50% Chardonnay, with about 8% still Pinot Noir. Dosage is 6 grams per liter.
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1995 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. VM 94. The 1995 Krug is gorgeous. I chose it because one of my guests loves Krug and I thought the 1995 would have the right amount of complexity to pair beautifully with the smokiness in Saison’s caviar. Although the 1995 Krug is not a truly epic wine, it is in a sweet spot right now. (Drink between 2018-2023)
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Appetizer plate:

Uguisu Tofu (back left). Sugar snap pea tofu.

Hotaru Ika Sumiso (lower right). Cooked firefly Squid (seasonal) with miso vinegar.

Nasu Agebitashi (back right). Eggplant cooked in sweet soy and dashi.

Wagyu Miso Zuke Negi Maki (left). White green onions wrapped with miso marinated wagyu beef.

Hotate Ebi Satsuma Age (front). Light fried fish cake made of scallop and shrimp.

Ama Ebi Ceviche (center). Diced Sweet Shrimp with home-made yuzu salsa.
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From my cellar: 1993 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. BH 92. A fully mature and expressive nose of elegant secondary fruit and floral aromas introduces intensely mineral-driven, pure and beautifully well-detailed middle weight flavors that possess excellent depth and fine length. This is drinking perfectly now and should continue to do so without effort for at least another decade. Tasted only once recently.
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2015 Bret Brothers Viré-Clessé La Verchère. VM 88. Pale, bright straw-yellow. Ripe peach, orange zest and passion fruit on the nose, with a touch of leesy complexity. More exotic than the Les Crays but less harmonious today, showing a more glyceral texture, then surprising acidity. The stone fruit flavors convey very good depth, plus a slight mineral edge.
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Soup (Suimono). Hama Sui. Cherry stone clam in clear soup.

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Kim brought this great unfiltered sake.

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Sashimi (Otsukuri). Hon maguro (blue fin tuna), shima aji (striped jack), aji (Japanese grunt), sakura masu (wild cherry salmon), hotate (scallop).
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Notice the fin beneath the fish.7U1A0637
Grilled (Yakimono). Hokke Matsumae Yaki. Grilled atka macherel marinated with kelp (overnight).
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Fried (Agemono). Chi-ayu tempura & Soramame Kakiage. Deep fried young sweetfish w/ Sansho Pepper sea salt & depp fried fava beans with sea salt.
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Side Dish (Naka-Zara). Kani Miso Cheese Koura Yaki. Hairy crab innards (mixed with crab meat, egg & scallions) grilled with cheese in the shell. This was a unique prep of crab guts — awesome and slightly like a Japanese crabby tuna melt.
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Uni Flight. Three kinds of uni. I think all Japanese.
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1987 Cellier des Samsons Fleurie!
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Small Dish (kobachi). Mushi awabi. Tender cooked abalone with okra.
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1978 Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru Grèves. BH 89. Mostly bricked through. The expressive and attractively layered nose is composed of full-on sous bois, earth and herbal tea scents. I very much like the complexity to the well-delineated and punch middle weight flavors that exhibit a subtle minerality on the linear finish that displays an acid-tang that is enough to mildly dry the finish. This is pretty and very ’78 in character though the balance isn’t quite perfect. Drink up.
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We added a wagyu sushi flight.
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Pretty bowl for:
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Steamed (mushimono). Kinki and kabu nibitashi. Rockfish steamed with sake and turnip cooked in light soy and dashi.
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And because that giant menu wasn’t enough we added some more meat — I think this was duck.
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Then the sushi (shokuji) started to come:

Sumi ika (squid) and kegani (hairy crab).7U1A0709
Nodoguro (seared black throat perch) and toro (supreme toro).
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Kuruma ebi (prawn).
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Hokkaido uni (sea urchin).
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Plus we wanted MORE. A final flight of sashimi!
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2005 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Clos Häuserer. VM 90. Pale straw-gold color. Aromas of orange liqueur, white flowers and minerals. Vibrant and clean, with ginger and nutmeg spice notes contributing energy to the peachy fruit. I find this brighter and more precise than the Clos Windsbuhl. It’s sweeter but also livelier, thanks to a juicy sugar/acid balance.
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Bessert (mizugashi). Baked sweet potato cake and fruits.

Overall, Matsumoto was really good and we had an epic meal — their super sized omakase + a bunch of extras. Certainly we were full. The courses were all extremely well prepared, but it is a very pricey place and leans toward a highly traditional Japanese taste tonality that isn’t that splashy. Newer style places like ootoro are more flashy and crave-worthy — and Hayato, which is also very traditional, is somehow more refined and modern at the same time. So Matsumoto ends up being a lot of money and very good, but you can get more bang for your buck elsewhere. Certainly glad I tried it though.

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1959 Franchino Marco Gattinara Lo Spanna. Old, old Gattinara (which is like baraolo, being a Nebbiolo, but made up in the far north of the Piedmont).

Afterward, we stopped by Kim’s resteraunt, Khong Ten and kept drinking — combining with the sake to make me very slugging in the morning.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for epic Foodie Club meals, here.

Related posts:

  1. Uh no, Takao again!
  2. Sushi Glutton – Takao Three
  3. Sushi Sushi = Yummy Yummy
  4. Sushi Sushi Sushi
  5. Shiki Times Three
By: agavin
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Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Burgundy, Foodie Club, Japanese cuisine, kanimiso, Matsumoto, sake, Sashimi, Sushi, tempura, West Hollywood, Wine

Eating Hawaii – Orchid Court

Apr26

Restaurant: The Orchid Court

Location: 1 N Kaniku Dr, Waimea, HI 96743. (808) 887-7368

Date: April 4, 2019

Cuisine: Vaguely Japanese

Rating: Uninspired

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This write up is from our five day early April 2019 visit to the Big Island of Hawaii.

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Night 3 brings us to another restaurant at our hotel, Orchid Court. It’s typical for resort hotels to have a bunch of restaurants at different levels and this is the “second tier”.
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The menu. This one is vaguely Japanese and is very small. Mostly a bunch of basic basic sushi/sashimi and and rolls. Then a grill section (with sides) like a tiny steakhouse.
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Mai Tai. Good.
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Wasabi bread.
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Kaiso Salad. Seaweed, tomato, maui onion, babu arare, citrus.
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As I’ve been low carb, ordered pretty much all the sashimi. Very expensive per piece. This was like $30 of sashimi and is very dull, only the most basic types. No “treatment” like at most LA places. Just a chunk of fish. Quality was solid though.
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Kurobuta Pork Chop and Hamakua Mushrooms in scallion butter. This is also expensive, at $35 + $8. The mushrooms were good. The pork chop just fine.
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Some chocolate ice cream.
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The atmosphere at Orchid Court (which is the breakfast restaurant) is okay, but the menu is way to limited, and just “fine.” They really could use something much more creative.

For more Hawaii dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Hawaii – Brown’s Beach House
  2. Eating Hawaii – KPC
  3. Ozumo – Japan invades the Mall
  4. Eating NY – Baker & Co
  5. Food as Art: R.I.P. The Hump
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Big Island, Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii, Japanese cuisine, Orchid Court, Sashimi

Takao Reprise

Feb04

Restaurant: Takao [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

Location: 11656 San Vicente Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90049. (310) 207-8636

Date: December 27, 2018

Cuisine: Japanese / Sushi

Rating: 8/10 creative “new style” sushi

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I’ve already covered Takao in some detail HERE and then separately here, here, and here, but we went back (we go often). The full menu and some information on the history of the place can be found through the first link. However, I haven’t written it up in a while so I thought we’d take another look.

This particular meal is another take on the medium sized omakase, which is a very good deal (in a relative high-end sushi kind of way).

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From my cellar: 2010 Joseph Drouhin Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches Blanc. VM 93+. Bright yellow. Gingery peach, toast, crushed stone and smoky minerality on the slightly reduced nose. Rich, sweet and plush, with a touch of spice to the ripe, smoky stone fruit flavors. Boasts an almost glyceral sweetness today, but this very young wine needs time in bottle to lose some of its baby fat. Philippe Drouhin notes that this wine always gets reductive during elevage and that this quality takes at least a year in bottle to dissipate. He likes Clos des Mouches old, pointing out that the 2004 and 2002 bottlings are still young. But then Drouhin admits that he generally prefers older wines because he dislikes the aromas and flavors of new oak.
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We start off with abalone, monkfish liver, and sweet shrimp with caviar.
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Three kinds of live octopus sashimi.
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New Style Tai Sashimi with truffles.
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Toro and uni.
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Mushroom and fish egg custard. Traditional Japanese egg custard with mushrooms and fish. Like creme brulee without the crust or the sugar and with fish!
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Pan fried crab cake with aioli.
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Grilled mackerel.
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Pan seared wagyu.
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Sushi — I would have eaten 5 plates.
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Clam miso.
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Coffee jelly with fruit and ice cream.

Another intensely satisfying Japanese meal down the gullet. As you see, we keep going back to Takao and while the style remains the same, the ingredients mix it up substantially each time. I would have liked a tempura course tonight. Solid place. More reviews here:  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].

For more LA area sushi, see here.

Related posts:

  1. Uh no, Takao again!
  2. Takao Top Omakase
  3. Takao Sushi Taking Off!
  4. Takao Two
  5. Food as Art – Takao
By: agavin
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Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Brentwood, Japanese cuisine, Omakase, Sashimi, Sushi, Takao

Rooftop Umeda

Jan23

Restaurant: Umeda

Location: 6623 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 965-8010

Date: December 12, 2018

Cuisine: Modern Japanese

Rating: Pretty good Matsuhisa style Japanese

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Tonight’s dinner is an interesting mash up gang containing about half people from the old Foodie Club dinners of the 2015-2016 time frame (helmed tonight by Walker) and a whole bunch of Will’s friends (previously unknown to me but very cool).

For me this was the start of a bruising 5 night out holiday run.

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It takes place at Umeda, a modern Japanese restaurant. But firstly…7U1A2686-Pano
Walker is also friendly with the building owner and designer and so we went upstairs before the meal to his private rooftop deck.

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A rather awesome little Hollywood lookout.
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Chef Takuya Umeda who started his culinary career in Sapporo, Japan in a sushi restaurant between 1981 to 1987. He fell in love with the art of sushi. With his heart and passion set on becoming the best sushi chef, he started working in London at Saga Japanese Restaurant between 1987 to 1995.
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Clean light wood interiors.
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The kitchen is very organized.
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The wine theme was Champagne!

2007 Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Coeur de Cuvée. VM 95.  Interestingly, the 2007 Coeur de Cuvée comes across as a bit more youthful than the 2008 tasted alongside it. Another year in bottle seems to have only brought out the wine’s freshness and energy. Freshly cut flowers, pears, mint and almonds are some of the signatures, but it is the wine’s vivacity that I find most striking today. The 2007 is a bit less creamy and multi-dimensional than the 2008, but it is impressive just the same.

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1969 Perrier-Jouët Champagne Réserve Cuvée Rosé!
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Oyster with caviar and miso sauce. A touch sweet, but great.
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1995 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut. VM 96. The 1995 Cristal (Late Disgorged) is fascinating to taste, as it is quite different in style from the original release. Because of the extra three years or so on the lees, the 1995 Cristal (Late Disgorged) has picked up a reductive note that is not typical of Cristal. Scents of lime, crushed rock, lemon and slate gradually open up in the glass. The 1995 remains taut and chiseled, with crystalline purity and exceptional overall balance. The wine feels wonderfully alive as it tempts all of the senses with its compelling personality. This is a superb showing from Roederer.
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2006 Dom Perignon Champagne. VM 96. Powerful, dense and tightly wound, the 2006 Dom Pérignon is fabulous today. To be sure, the 2006 is a broad, virile Champagne, but I find it compelling because of its phenolic depth and overall intensity. Chef de Caves Richard Geoffroy adds that August was quite cold and wet, and that ripening only happened at the very end of the growing season. Although numbers alone can never explain a wine, I find it interesting that the 2006 has more phenolics than the 2003. Readers will have to be patient, as the 2006 is easily the most reticent Dom Pérignon in the years spanning 2002 and 2009. I am confident the 2006 will have its day, but in its youth, it is not especially charming or easy to drink.
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A first little round of sushi:

White fish (maybe snapper) with shiso, toro, uni, mackerel, and hand pickled ginger.

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2004 Ruinart Champagne Dom Ruinart Brut Rosé. VM 95. A wine of exquisite beauty, the 2004 Dom Ruinart Brut Rosé has the pedigree to drink well for several decades. The 2004 is an especially vinous, textured Rosé. The berry, floral, spice and mineral-drenched flavors are finely sketched in this dramatic, strikingly beautiful Rosé from Ruinart.
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The next round was Nobu style sashimi (I think the chef worked for Nobu at some point, maybe at Matsuhisa).
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New Style Salmon Sashimi. With olive oil, sesame, chives. This dish (popularized by Nobu) hides the fish, but it is tasty.
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Oyster with ponzu. Love these.
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Snapper with garlic.

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2006 Ruinart Champagne Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs. VM 96+.  One of the highlights among this year’s new tête de cuvée releases, 2006 the Brut Blanc de Blancs Dom Ruinart is a powerful, almost tannic Champagne built on structure and intensity. Then again, much of the Chardonnay here comes from the Montagne de Reims, where wines tend to naturally be quite broad. Even though it’s now ten years old, the 2006 is much less expressive than either the 2002 or 2004 at a similar stage. I expect it will be quite a few years before the 2006 is truly ready to drink. Over the years I have been fortunate to taste Dom Ruinart back to the 1970s, and while I don’t think the 2006 will need decades to be at its best, it certainly does look like a long distance runner. There is plenty of citrus and floral driven intensity, although the bouquet is less toasty and open than it often is. In short, the 2006 Dom Ruinart is a wine for those who can be patient. It will be a fine investment for those looking for a wine to cellar to commemorate special occasions. Lot L AJSXAC.
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More sushi.

Kanpachi (probably) with chili, a silver skinned fish, eel, and ikura (salmon roe).

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2011 Pessac-Léognan de Chevalier Blanc. 90 points.
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More sashimi, often called taradito in this context owing to its Peruvian influences.
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The classic yellowtail jalepeno.
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Scallop with yuzu and chili.
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A light fish with a tangy sauce.
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Tuna in a lettuce wrap.
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J.M. Labruyère Champagne Grand Cru Prologue. BH 90. A discreet if mildly fruity nose consists of citrus, white peach, yeast and a whiff of brioche. The juicy and attractively vibrant middle weight flavors are shaped by a moderately firm if not especially fine mousse, all wrapped in very dry and crisp finish that offers reasonably good depth and persistence. This is appealing in its fashion even if it is less distinguished than its two stable mates.
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1995 Charles Heidsieck Champagne Blanc des Millénaires. VM 95. The 1995 Brut Blanc des Millenaires shows just how compelling this often overlooked vintage can be. Layers of lemon, pastry spices, crushed rocks and savory herbs literally jump from the glass in this exquisite, perfumed, beautifully delineated Champagne. The 1995 shows lovely flavor complexity and nuance from its extended time in bottle, yet it also retains plenty of freshness, verve and acidity. This is a great showing from Charles Heidsieck. The 1995 was made before the tenure of the house’s current team, headed by CEO Cécile Bonnefond. It will be very interesting to see what develops at this historic property over the coming years.
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Persimmon with mushrooms and cheesy cream sauce. This was the most unique dish of the night. I don’t usually like persimmon but this was pretty good. Weird though with the sweet and creamy.
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Mysterious underwater champagne.
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2015 Samuel Billaud Chablis Grand Cru Blanchot. VM 91+. Bright yellow. Ripe peach and ripe pear aromas are enlivened by flowers and white pepper, with the spicy oak element complementing rather than overwhelming the nose. Tight and strict in the mouth, with its lemon and softer citrus flavors framed by an edge of acidity and a peppery accent that I did not find in the Vaudésir, Preuses or Bougros. Conveys a slightly astringent stoniness but this wine is ripe enough to expand in bottle and absorb some of its acidity (4.3 grams per liter) with four or five years in the cellar. Perhaps it was not a bad idea to pick this fruit earlier than anticipated.
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Old style sushi. I like these pressed heavily marinated old school sushis. Although these aren’t SUPER old school or anything. And the roll in the back with the rice paper is decidedly “LA”. For some reason, LA ladies decided that rice paper was healthier than seaweed — which I’m sure it’s not since seaweed has about zero calories and lots of nutrients.
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2014 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne. BH 92-95. Moderate reduction presently renders the nose difficult to evaluate but there is lovely intensity to the strongly mineral-inflected and muscular big-bodied flavors that display fine cut and plenty of punch on the pure and relatively refined finish that delivers flat out superb length. This is potentially excellent though note well that it’s going to require plenty of bottle age to realize its full potential.
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2008 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. BH 96. Here too the elegance of the nose is simply stunning with a layered and perfumed aromatic profile trimmed in an almost invisible touch of oak that allows it to ooze Chablis character and in particular, a fine minerality that continues onto the impressively concentrated and palate staining flavors that possess striking precision on the explosively long and bone dry finish. This is a great Les Clos that will make old bones.
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Kobe beef skewers. Not, I think, serious A5. But tasty.
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From my cellar: 2006 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Rosé Brut. VM 96. The 2006 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rosé is at once rich and refined, a simply fabulous Champagne Rosè I won’t soon forget. Intensely perfumed, with the Pinot Noir-derived red berry and cranberry flavors that are not just concentrated, but also remarkably pure. It is one of the better Rosé bubbles I have had in the last year.

I also opened but forgot to photo:

1979 Drappier Champagne Carte d’Or Brut. 94 points.
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2014 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc. VM 93. The 2014 Smith Haut-Lafitte Blanc has a lively, crisp bouquet with mineral-driven citrus fruit, fine chalk and flint-like scents, dare I say almost Chablis-cum-Bordeaux! The palate is well balanced with crisp acidity, quite vibrant with good depth although the second half is missing the tension that I hope for, certainly what those splendid aromatics deserve. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
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More rolls. Interesting stuff in them and sweet sauces. Yummy though. I was still hungry and had to eat other people’s rolls. lol.
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2014 Jean-Michel Stephan Côte-Rôtie Côteaux de Tupin. VM 91. Bright violet. Smoke- and spice-tinged blue fruit and violet aromas show excellent clarity and a hint of cured meat. Sweet and sappy on the palate, offering concentrated dark berry, floral pastille and allspice flavors plus a subtle suggestion of gaminess. The very long, lively finish features firm, minerally cut, an echo of juicy blue fruit and dusty tannins that add shape and gentle grip.
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Meatball ramen soup?

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The gang pretty much took over the restaurant.
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1989 Zind-Humbrecht Tokay Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Vendange Tardive. 95 points. Brilliant. A wow from the first sip; deep gold in colour with stunning aromatics – an array of honey, florality, light botrytis spice, apricots, and peach compote all coming together, and a palate that’s also tremendously complex and very light on its feet with bright acids cutting through the copious sweetness here. It’s a fantastic dessert wine, and I’m glad I have a bunch more – this seems to be at peak right now.
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Like Matsuhisa, Umeda forgoes the whacky Japanese desserts in favor of Japanese influenced modern desserts like this red bean green tea parfait.
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The first of many large batch holiday flavors — Peppermint Gelato — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — peppermint candy base laced with peppermint bark! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #peppermint #candy #holiday #winter

A new variant on an old flavor — Cold Pressed Expresso Gelato — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — cold pressed expresso base (usually I hot brew it) with Valrhona Dulcey Stracciatella! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #expresso #Dulcey #Valrhona #Stracciatella #ColdPressed #ColdPressedCoffee #coffee

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The full wine lineup!!

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After dinner it was back up to the roof for more drinking.
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And a deadly Scotch!

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Overall, a blast of a time, if a tad exhausting (got home at 2am which is rare for me).

Food at Umeda was quite good. I had low expectations actually coming in as the website pictures looked all LA ponzu style Japanese. Probably most people who come here eat that but his Omakase was certainly more interesting. Part Nobu-style, part his own thing. A bit Hollywood but always tasty. Building is lovely too. Great Champagnes and crew as well.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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Related posts:

  1. Newest Oldest Sushi
  2. Valley High
  3. Art and Ruinart
  4. Yamakase Seven
  5. Sushi Zo
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: BYOG, Champagne, Gelato, Japanese cuisine, late night, rooftop, Sashimi, Sushi, Takuya Umeda, Umeda, Walker

Blue Ribbon Sushi

Nov25

Restaurant: Blue Ribbon Sushi

Location: 1079-1001 Monument St, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272. (310) 907-9899

Date: October 2 & December 5 & 23, 2018 and August 10, 2018

Cuisine: Japanese / Sushi

Rating: Solid sushi, if a touch “typical” and American mainstream

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Blue Ribbon Sushi is the only “exotic” place (and not really that exotic) in the new Palisades Village Complex.
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The space is small but very cute with a big patio facing on the green.

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The menu looks pretty decent.

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Shishito peppers with miso sauce and bonito flakes (12/5/18). Not bad. A bit sweet and spicy.
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House salad (8/10/19) was pretty good.
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Miso Eggplant (8/10/19) was very (temperature hot), slightly sweet and salty and not bad.

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Tiger Shrimp. Wasabi Mayo. Good, but a touch over fried and quite salty.
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Hamachi Uzuukuri. Thin sliced hamachi. Ponzu sauce, Jalapeno, Togarashi, micro cilantro. Classic. Sauce was a bit too soy sauce.
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Kanpachi (I think) with yuzu kosho (12/5/18). Better than the soy sauce above.

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Scallop sashimi (12/5/18). Scallops were good but I didn’t like the pairing of the chili paste. Would have preferred yuzu and salt.

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And low and behold, ordering it a year later (8/10/19) it had yuzu koshu and salt. Better, still very salty, and would be better with just fresh yuzu and sea salt.

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Live Santa Barbara Spot Prawn Sashimi (8/10/19). Tender and tasty.
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The heads came back deep fried. Ate everything but the eyeballs!

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Lobster Sashimi (8/10/19). Slices in the back might be a fish, not sure. The back right is the lobster itself — excellent. Then in the front they turned the claws into lobster nigiri (nice) and those interesting shredded cooked lobster rolls.
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Black Snapper Carpaccio. Black snapper sashimi, yuzu, kosher truffle oil, salt. Tasted too much like truffle oil. Sauce was very similar to the first one, masked the fish. So wasn’t really a success.
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Salmon Carpaccio. Sliced salmon, Tomato Asian Mix, Ponzu sauce, truffle oil, olive oil and sea salt. Despite the slightly different sounding difference the sauce basically tasted the same. Didn’t really really properly tailored for the fish.

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Mango Salmon Sashimi (8/10/19). Not ground breaking, but fine.
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Toro Tartare. Tuna Belly, caviar & quail egg. The best dish of the night, probably. Solid enough for what it was.
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Sushi. Salmon. Tuna. O-toro. Fine, but boring. The toro was sold as O-toro but tasted like chu-toro to me.
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A sashimi plate (12/5/18) ordered at lunch. Not bad, but small and a touch “boring.”

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A similar sushi plate (8/10/19).

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On my third visit, at dinner with my son, I ordered some nigiri. Various white fish nigiri here (12/23/18). These weren’t bad, although leaning heavily on the yuzu kosho. I again didn’t like the scallop with the chili, although the scallop quality itself was quite good.
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Lobster egg battleship and Dungeness crab battleship (12/23/18). Good quantity of shellfish.

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Fresh water eel, uni, and ikura (12/23/18). All pretty good. Nigiri was moderately expensive, but pretty good.

I wasn’t super impressed with Blue Ribbon Sushi. Service was slightly green — but that’s fine as they are very new. The menu is okay, but execution is a little boring, heavy handed, or “white.” It’s like Nobu but a bit cheaper and considerably less interesting — and I’m not even that big a fan of the Nobu style of sushi. I like a more refined Japanese sensibility. I’ll go back to Blue Ribbon to see how it is on repeated visits, but I’m skeptical as if I would go repeatedly with so much other great sushi in LA.

My second visit (12/5/18) for lunch was better, as 3/4 sashimi dishes I ordered were solid, if not super exciting.

My fourth visit (8/10/19) was much better. Maybe I ordered better, maybe they have come into their own a bit, and I spent at least $150 just on myself as I ordered entirely sashimi — but it felt a bit more interesting and the fish was certainly good. They still lean a bit heavily on salt and the ultra salty yuzu koshu, but I’m upgrading my opinion to “good, if not super unique.”

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  2. Kiriko Sushi
  3. Food as Art – Sushi Sushi
  4. Sushi Sushi Sushi
  5. Mori Sushi – A Top Contender
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Blue Ribbon Sushi, Pacific Palisades, Palisades Village, Sashimi, Sushi

MTN – Upscale Izakaya

May07

Restaurant: MTN

Location: 1305 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA 90291. (424) 465-3313

Date: March 31 & June 28 & September 15, 2018

Cuisine: Japanese Izakaya

Rating: Good flavors, uncomfortable chairs

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Travis Lett has a little Venice empire helmed by Gjelina.

MTN, which is a modern, upscale, kinda westernized Izakaya (Japanese for “here, sake is served” or “stay/sit at sake shop”). The build out is cool and more than a little crazy with “burnt” or blackened wood.

And more inside. There is a weird open slot between the window going all the way up to the roof. It might even rain in when wet.

It was pretty crowded though, and there are ONLY BARSTOOLS both at a counter and at high tables. The stools suck and get really uncomfortable. Don’t come here if you are old or have a bad back.

Menu-san.

I brought this Ramen Roll remainder high end sake.
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Erika’s pickle plate (9/15/18). cucumber, lotus root, daikon, shiso burdock root wrap, sprouting cauliflower, napa cabbage, which kimchi. I love pickles.

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Tomato & okra (9/15/18). Tofu, wakame, ume, sesame salt, Japanese ginger.


Shisito pepper (6/28/18). garlic, ginger, three year aged miso, white sesame.

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Wild Japanese sea bream sashimi (9/15/18). yuzu kosho, wajima salt, finger lime, shiso bud.

Torched sawara sashimi. grated ginger, crispy garlic, scallon, yuzu ponzu. Delicious zesty fish slices.

Japanese medai sashimi. yuzu kosho, finger lime, sisho. Salty and with a very strong signature from the yuzu kosho (salt, green chili, and yuzu).

Japanese tai sashimi (6/28/18). yuzu kosho, shiso, finger lime. Straightforward by today’s standards, but really good.


Wild monterey salmon sashimi (6/28/18). shiso kosho, myoga, scallion, shoyu.


Baja kanpachi temaki handroll. avocado, cucumber, shiso yuzu kosho.

Finger stuffing good.

Santa barbara uni temaki handroll. daikon, wasabi, scallion. Yum, uni!
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Veggie temaki handroll (9/15/18), cucumber, burdock root, avocado, yama imo, kaiware, sesame, yuzu kosho.
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On the right, pork chashu temaki handroll (9/15/18). burnt ends, pickled cucumber, fermented chili sauce.


Handmade shitake gyoza. roasted kabocha, tofu, salted daikon greens, shiso, scallion. Nicely cooked. Good. Great for vegetarian gyoza. Pork would have been even better.

And on 6/28/18 when I returned, I got the handmade peads & barnetts pork belly gyoza. red kimchi, negi, ginger, black pepper.

APC_1353blue prawn simmered gyoza (9/15/18). shrimp, shitake mushroom, water spinach, market peppers, red onion, scallion, vinegar. I liked these steamed/boiled versions.

Roasted cauliflower. red miso, yuzu, tobanjan. Basically other than the sauce, a Gjelina dish!
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Sauteed sweet corn (9/15/18). shoyu butter, cherry tomato, scallion, Japanese citrus, shichimi togarashi.

Ocean Trout oyakodon. Basically a grilled salmon and salmon egg rice bowl. But the vinegar on the pickles was very nice with the rice.


A baked fish (6/28/18). I can’t remember which one.

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Grilled macherel kabayaki (9/15/18). ume, shoyu, pickled ginger, garlic, sansho, shiso, shichimi, brown rice.


Sake marinated jidori chicken wings (6/28/18). yuzu kosho, honey, goma, chive.


Mary’s duck breast skewer (6/28/18). Shio koji, japanese mustard, chive. Our waitress recommended this and it was great, to some extent because of the intense mustard.

Lone mtn wagyu beef tataki. ponzu, cucumber, crispy garlic. This tartly sauced thin sliced beef was spectacular.


Squid ink chahan (6/28/18). Koda farms white rice, lemon basil, ika, pork belly, amaranth, egg, fresno chili, pickled ginger, sudachi, fish sauce. Like a Japanese paella, sort of.

Grilled Japanese eggplant (6/28/18). Walnut miso dressing, lemon, scallion.

APC_1358
Chahan (9/15/18). koda farms brown rice, squid, pork belly, water spinach, cherry tomato, egg, fresno chili, pickled ginger, Japanese citrus, fish sauce. Sort of Japanese paella.

Wagyu beef sukiyaki. lone mtn ny strip, grilled young leek, maitake, shungiku, hakusai, yam noodle, warm gone straw egg.

With the egg. Really nice fairly traditional tasting sukiyaki, but with better than average ingredients. I don’t have sukiyaki often, but every-time I do i remember how much I like it.

We ordered this sake off the list. It was good, not as good as the one I brought, but certainly nice.

Expensive ramen!

Black sesame tantanmen. ground pork, black garlic oil, green mizuna, bean sprout, nira. Hard to split and not a typical ramen with its strong roasted black sesame vibe. Good though.

Dungeness crab ramen. miso, crab broth, tosaka, confit tomato, fresno chili, chive. I didn’t actually try this as the guys next to us at the table had it and allowed me to sneak a photo. But on 6/28/18 I had it myself and it was great. Really interesting complex flavors.

Charred Japanese sweet potato. miso butter, scallion katsuobushi, shichimi. Super rich miso/buttery taste. Gorgeous soft texture. Not what I expected but delicious.

APC_1361
Asari ramen (9/15/18). cherry stone clam, shio broth, tosaka, fresno chili, scallion, ginger, kaiware. Like a ramen version of that salty Japanese Asari miso soup — salty, but very good.

Yuzu meringue pie. Not as tart and bracing as I would have hoped. Yuzu can be VERY tart and this would have been a good excuse for it.

Overall, I was impressed by MTN. The setting was gorgeous and nice atmosphere. Loud though. And I wish the seats were comfortable. Really not at all. And I hate high stools. But service was very good and friendly in that contemporary LA way — i.e. at the good end of that spectrum, but not traditional really knowledgeable service.

The food was surprisingly excellent. Yeah it’s not totally traditional in all ways, feels snazzed up and touch whitewashed, but the flavors were generally strong, very Japanese (with the weird-to-Americans edge polished off), and extremely enjoyable.

MTN has a low Yelp score (3) and this is total BS. Too much whining about the $20-24 ramen from the peanut gallery. First of all, this isn’t even a ramen place. Yeah, it has some fancy ramens, but it’s not Shin Sen Gumi where everything is dirt cheap on the menu AND in the kitchen. It’s not just “order your bowl of ramen and toppings.” It’s a full Izakaya menu that happens to have a couple ramens. They don’t even really belong because they are very hard to split. But come on, that crab ramen is full of Dungeness crab meat. It CAN’T be $8 like a bowl of over salted mediocre tonkotsu. Plus they pay an Abbot Kinney rent and have a crazy blackened wood hipster build out!

On my second visit the food was just as good. The service was excellent. The seats were even more a pain in the ass (literally) and they had a bit of a kitchen backup on the ramen which created an extra 45 minute delay before we got it (as pretty much our last course). They threw in some extras and apologized a lot which was nice but my ass was starting to go numb.

On my third visit the food was perhaps even better, or certainly as good. Service was excellent again and I met the manager who was very nice. We didn’t have any of those pacing issues this time so my ass didn’t get too sore. Overall, really awesome modern take on Izakaya and the whole gang (of 5 who went) loved it.


For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Sushi Glutton – Takao Three
  2. Ramen is all the Rage
  3. Japanese in China – Izakaya Akatora
  4. Yamashiro – Castle on the Hill
  5. Sasabune – Dueling Omakases
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Izakaya, Japanese cuisine, MTN, ramen, sake, Sashimi

I-Driva to I-Naba

Mar11

Restaurant: I-Naba

Location: 20920 Hawthorne Blvd, Torrance, CA 90503. (310) 371-6675

Date: January 18, 2018

Cuisine: Japanese Tempura

Rating: Solid but not amazing Tempura

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Various people in my foodie circles had been floating the idea of a wine dinner to old school Torrance tempura joint, I-naba.

I ended up going with the Baby Killers (what I call one of my food groups). The reservation was for a blisteringly early — thanks Charlie! — 6:30pm which resulted in hideous traffic to it’s undistinguished mini-mall location.

The inside is seriously old school Japanese restaurant.

The even have a tempura bar — which is cool.

Cured duck with mustard. Nice, like a pastrami.

Amuse of marinated onions and some fish.

Sashimi plate with salmon, yellowtail, and another fish.

Fermented squid guts. A winter special — very briny and not to everyone’s taste — I actually like it.

Simmered chicken with taro. Chunks of taro and chicken soup. Pretty good.

Fried tofu in dashi soup. Very mild flavor but I love the texture of the fried tofu and the mild dashi flavor.

Pressed mackerel sushi. Very old fashioned — like 19th century!

Chawanmushi – Simmered egg custard dish. Always love these.

Stew of egg and some other stuff.

Deep fried pork cutlets.

Various tempura.

Even more tempura.

And more.

And my favorite tempura, the mixed everything (Kakiage).

Cold buckwheat soba noodles.

Soy sauce like dipping sauce and the traditional condiments of wasabi, green onion, and daikon radish. You dump them in the sauce and dip. Very nice soba.

So-so Japanese ice cream. (Overly grainy and frozen).

Red bean flavor.

Green tea.

Real genuine Sweet Milk Gelato that I made (and brought)! Meyer Lemon French Vanilla Gelato — looks simple, but the milk was steeped with Tahitian Vanilla beans and Meyer Lemon peel. I pair it in the bowl with Amareno cherry syrup too!

Here it is with the cherries!

And me serving.

Instagram fodder!

The dump included ice cream!

Tonight’s wines were great, but a total free-for-all as Charlie likes to do it. Because I’m lazy, I’ll just post the pictures.










As you can see, mostly Champ and Burgundy of both flavors.

More instagram posing.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable evening (except for the traffic), and the wines and company were fabulous, but I was a bit underwhelmed by the food. It was good traditional Japanese, and some dishes were very good like the tofu and soba, but the tempura in particular sat too long (possibly due to our large party) and was only good, not great. In fact, I like the tempura better at super casual Hannosuke. I had hoped for mind blowing tempura. That being said, the whole meal was tasty and a great deal.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Hannosuke Tempura
  2. Food as Art – Tempura Endo
  3. Mori Sushi – A Top Contender
  4. N/Naka Reprise
  5. Hurry Curry
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Babykillers, BYOG, Gelato, i naba, Japanese cuisine, Sashimi, tempura, Tofu, Wine

More Shunji Omakase

Feb08

Restaurant: Shunji [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 12244 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064. (310) 826-4737

Date: February 6, 2016

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: First rate traditional sushi

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Some of my cousins wanted sushi so we resorted to a bit of shock and awe — going out for Shunji’s omakase!

Shunji, which took over for the “Mr. Cecil’s BBQ” in this oddball looking building on Pico has developed quite a reputation.

At night, Shunji offers an amazing and advanced mix of traditional and modern raw and cooked dishes.

Chef Shunji Nakao was an opening chef at Matsuhisa in the day, then opened Asanebo, then The Hump (one of my old favorites). It has quickly risen to the top of the LA Japanese scene.

 From my cellar: 1998 Nikolaihof Riesling Federspiel Steinriesler. 90 points. “Riesler” is an archaic term for Riesling. Saahs wanted to see how a wine might age in cask without sulfur if it were an ordinary and not a grand wine to begin with. The first example was a glorious 1999, offered two years ago. So what do they do for an encore? Offer something even older. This is a masterpiece of time, nature and instinct. Less “humble” than that ‘99 was, and more insanely, dauntingly complex. I could detail its three paragraphs worth of nuance if I had 40 minutes to study it. Let’s just say, a perfect positive oxidation, a whole encyclopedia of wild flowers and herbs, a mélange of every possible salt, and the gentlest note of allspice and pink peppercorn.
 From my cellar: 2000 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru La Forest. Burghound 92. Almost always the best 1er in the Dauvissat portfolio and this displays real energy as it explodes from the glass with detailed green fruit notes and detailed and delineated medium weight flavors that are so pure they seem cut directly from liquid rock, all wrapped in a presently tight and austere but not closed finish. At 7 years of age, this is still on the way up and there is absolutely no rush to drink up, indeed I would suggest that 2010 will see this at its peak, where it should hold for some years. This would give many a grand cru a run for its money. Beautiful juice and aging slowly toward something very special though it could be drunk now with pleasure. Multiple, and consistent, notes.

agavin: a great bottle, mature and complex with a nice Chablis acidic finish.

Vegetable puree with crispy onion and crab. I’d guess the vegetable was eggplant or something similar. There was a dashi base giving it that vaguely fishy (in a good way) extremely Japanese vibe. Soft texture and very pleasant.

Bites and slurps. Left to right. Marinated baby eel, with a fabulous sweet and tangy marinate. Pickled bamboo shoots, nice and crisp. Brussel sprout. Marinated tomato. The purple ball was potato and gorgonzola cheese with some cured persimmon (very interesting and nice). The orange ball was monkfish liver with caviar, super rich.
 Oyster soup. One of those classic Japanese light broths with two oysters. Yum.

Cod sperm mousse. Yes, again with the cod sperm, this time mixed with tofu to make a creme brulee-like confection.

Sashimi. I’m not sure of all the specific fishes here, but they were delightfully fresh.

Tomato tofu. This Shunji classic is a block of sticky tomato paste made from 5 Japanese tomatoes. It has been glommed together into a tofu-like texture with a mild but very fresh tomato taste and topped with a shiso pepper. It was pretty good, even by tomato-hater standards.

Sukiyaki with pickled egg and smoked pickles. A lovely bite of classic (tasting) sukiyaki. The egg and pickles were eaten with the truffle rice below.

Miso marinated cod. The Kyoto “classic”.

I’ve been wanting to try the truffle rice for a long time, so finally got an opportunity to place this special preorder.

The seasoned rice gets truffles shaved on it.
 Not one, not two, but three types! Southern French black, white, and Burgundy truffles!
 Mixed up it is eaten with the pickled egg and radish. Delicious and highly aromatic.
 the first flight of sushi. Not sure of all the fish. Some kind of toro, baracuda, uni, and a few others. All soft, and exquisite.

Special house marinated ginger. I’m a ginger fiend and this was amazing stuff. Super potent too like ultra concentrated ginger beer.

Sushi round two. Included chu-toro (amazing), kampachi, and other wonders.

A sashimi version of the same fish.

Roasted mild traditional tea.
 A round of homemade desserts. The red is mixed berry sorbet. The brown chocolate mousse (very strong and good), and the rightmost pink orange ice cream. The sorbets and ice cream have that fresh intense flavor, but a texture more like a granite, not the smooth mouth-feel I go for in my own gelatti and sorbetti.

All and all Shunji is rather fantastic, joining the large repertoire of top LA sushi restaurants. This was a really great take on sushi kaiseki style dishes, combining both innovations with a solid grounding in traditional Japanese flavors and seasonal ingredients. There was some really unusual stuff too (sperm!) and it all tasted fabulous. The nigiri was also top flight, with a lot of exotic fish and at the peak of freshness. Great great stuff. When you sit at the sushi bar like this talking to the chef, you always get the best stuff too — although the restaurant was mobbed and all the great plates making their way out into the room looked amazing.

The truffle rice was pretty awesome too!

For more LA sushi reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Shunji Super Omakase
  2. Shunji Sushi – Nonstop Nigiri
  3. Takao Top Omakase
  4. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  5. Mori Sushi – A Top Contender
By: agavin
Comments (5)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: cod sperm, Omakase, Sashimi, Shunji, Shunji Nakao, Sushi, truffle rice, trufflet, Wine

Shiki Times Three

Nov07

Restaurant: Shiki Beverly Hills [1, 2]

Location: 410 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. 310-888-0036

Date: August 26, October 30, 2014, and January 10, 2015

Cuisine: Japanese

Rating: Some of the best sushi I’ve had in a while!

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Shiki Beverly Hills recently replaced Enoteco Drago in the primo Canon Dr space right in the heart of Beverly Hills. It features extremely Japanese seasonal ingredient focused kaiseki and sushi. The space is elegant and modern, really not that different than it was as Drago.


Chef Shigenori Fujimoto was at Matsuhisa from 94-04 and brings with him both a traditionalist and “new style” sushi vibe. My friend Liz, who has impeccable taste, first brought me when she arranged a Sage Society dinner here. This post represents three similar Omakase blended together (two lunches and one dinner), so there are slightly more non-sushi courses represented than you might eat in one meal. Slight, given how large our meals were!



2012 Borgo del Tiglio (Nicola Manferrari) Collio Friulano Ronco della Chiesa. 92 points. A very nice, very dry friulano. A clean crispy cool weather Italian white that paired perfectly with sushi.


Chawanmushi (steamed egg custard) with ikura (salmon egg) and uni (sea urchin). Dashi. A wonderful blend of some textures and briny flavors.


Parfait of seaweed and various soft sea stuff. A very delicate flavor with unusual textures.

Kamamoto oysters prepared three ways, with a sort of mignonette, caviar, and uni!


Pepper and halibut salad. Fresh farmer’s market peppers.

Eggplant and Tai salad. Seared snapper with egg plant, dashi, and mushrooms. Really Japanese and delicious.


Halibut sashimi with truffles. Pickled tomato. Really a fabulous savory combination. The tomato is great too, and because it’s heavily marinated, it doesn’t bother me like a raw tomato.


2000 Bouchard Père et Fils Chevalier-Montrachet La Cabotte. Burghound 95. While discreet, there is a trace of wood that sits atop the ever-so-mildly exotic fruit and wonderfully layered aromas that are still admirably fresh even though they now display some mature notes. The exceptionally rich and overtly muscular flavors are quite forward though powerful as a still firm and prominent acid spine keeps everything in perfect balance on the magnificently persistent finish. This is classy juice that is knocking on the door of its prime drinkability.

agavin: This one started off so deep yellow, and with so much creme brulee on the nose that I thought it was premoxed, although drinking pleasant enough right now, but over the next 30 minutes or so it came into balance and opened up into an absolutely lovely Chevy. I don’t think it will last, so I wouldn’t hold them for too many years. I’ve open 4 bottles of it this year. 3 have been like this one, and 1 was so premoxed we could barely drink it. None have been pale and fresh/crisp. Now this is 14-15 year old white Burg, but I opened a 1991 Sauzet Chevy for New Years that tasted years younger! So the whole thing has me wondering where the large number of wines made in the new style that come off like this are going. I’m guessing we need to drink them!


Wild yellowtail sashimi with jalopeno. A variant on the now classic Matsuhisa dish.


Salmon with truffle sashimi. Another great.

Slow cooked fish, uni paste, and Japanese pickles.


Giant clam. Wasabi, dashi, seaweed. This was all about the texture. The big chunks of clam had a wonderful crunch.


Oysters. With a slightly sour pink suspension.


The next dish came in one of those cute tea pot/bowls.


Shrimp, mushroom, ginko soup. Inside is a broth with various seafood and vegetables.


This one had a slightly spicy suspension (you can see the chili flakes) and a strong acidity (you squeeze in the Japanese lime) and drink. Then pick out the seafood.


1995 Gros Frère et Sœur Clos Vougeot Musigni. 93 points. 1995 Gros Frère et Sœur Clos Vougeot Musigni. Like old cherries and truffles.

agavin: I love this vineyard, in part because it’s mild and elegant and quite a lot like Musigny (which it is adjacent to, being one of the best locations in Clos Vougeot). It paired perfectly with the beef below.


Wagyu sirloin and filet mignon, with vegetables. The meat melted in your mouth.


And daikon as accompaniment.


Fresh pickled ginger. Shiki pickles his own whole ginger roots! Super flavorful and stomach settling. I gnawed through two.


2000 Etienne Sauzet Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 93. Intense honeysuckle, fresh sliced peach and pear notes with flavors that are not quite as robust and powerful as the Combettes yet finer and more complex. This delivers exciting intensity and a degree of persistence that borders on the astonishing. The Combettes is perhaps grander but this is finer – it’s simply a question of preference, not quality.

agavin: Our bottle started off extremely closed. Paler and clearly younger (less premoxed) than the 2000 Chevalier above. After about 30-40 minutes it opened up into a lovely mature Grand Cru, gaining both the mineral and the floral weight.


Goldeneye snapper. Salt,  yuzu, and a bit of kick.


Japanese Barracuda. The best piece of this fish I’ve had.


A different seared Japanese fish that is only eaten in winter (for its high fat content). Really rich and delicious.


Jumbo clam with shiso. More texture, but fabulous.


O toro. As wonder a piece of sushi as one could hope for.


Wild Baby yellowtail. Wow!


Wild Spanish Mackerel (Aji). No fishiness at all.


Japanese gizzard shad (kohada). Also fabulous.


Orange clam. Soft (for clam).


2007 Simon Bize Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Aux Vergelesses Blanc. Burghound 90. As would reasonably be expected, there is just more here in every dimension with a more complex and more elegant nose that is layered and very fresh and this refinement continues onto the nicely concentrated middle weight flavors that display evident minerality on the sappy, intense and mouth coating finish that lingers and lingers. This is a terrific Savigny blanc and recommended.

agavin: This is a nice young Chardonnay that is drinking terrifically.


Sweet shrimp (Ama-ebi). Yum.


On one of the days the shrimp came with row! Even better.


And the heads of course can come back fried, or as Liz likes it above, grilled. Grilled really tastes incredible with a good shrimp like  this. You suck out the guts and brain basically (worth it!).


Or miso soup is an option with the head.


King mackerel. Not at all like Aji, but delicious.


Japanese squid (ika). With just the right firmness.


Hokkaido sea urchin (uni). Yum!


Santa Barbara Uni. Delicious.


New Zealand Sea Trout (salmon relative). Fabulous.


Halibut fin with salt and yuzu and pepper. This has a wonderful texture and chew, with some richness. Fin is a rare bit because there isn’t much usable meat in there.


Halibut fin with slightly sweet soy. Another take on the same meat. Both were good but I slightly prefer the first one.


Salmon eggs (ikura). No fishiness.

Anago (sea eel). With salt and wasabi.


Tuna (maguro). Also like toro.


A second wand of ginger.


Hokkaido scallop (Hotate). Just fabulous.


Red snapper (tai) with shiso. Yum!


Clam miso.


A toro and citrus peel handroll. Divine.


Yellowtail handroll.


Orange clam cut roll. Nice crunch.


Classic tuna roll. Not spicy!

Plum and shiso handroll. Incredibly traditional and with a sour “minty” taste.


Check out the inside with the plum paste.


Yuzu ice cream.

t

Panna cotta with fruit. Small and lovely.


Traditional mochi, saba sauce, and ice cream.


Wow. LA has lots of great Japanese, and I have good sushi all the time, but this was particularly awesome. Really the sushi itself was as good as it gets. Very traditional style too, which is my favorite. I love the acid washed Nozawa style too, but hand sauced traditional like this is my favorite.

For more LA sushi reviews click here.

Taco yaki?

 

Related posts:

  1. Food as Art – Shiki Sushi
  2. Food as Art – Sushi Sushi
  3. Sushi Sushi = Yummy Yummy
  4. Sushi Sushi – Small Omakase
  5. Sushi Sushi Sushi
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Burgundy, Japanese cuisine, Liz Lee, Sage Society, Sashimi, Shigenori Fujimoto, Shiki Sushi, Sushi

Kiriko Days – a la Carte

Sep03

Restaurant: Kiriko Sushi [1, 2]

Location: 11301 Olympic Blvd #102, West Los Angeles, CA 90064. TELL (310) 478-7769

Date: August 21, 2012

Cuisine: Japanese / Sushi

Rating: Very nice!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

It was Tuesday, and I’d just gotten back from a month of entirely Croatian meals, so I felt the burning need for sushi.

Kiriko filled the bill with its unassuming storefront on the corner of Olympic and Sawtelle, right next to the Yakatori place.


I’ve been here three times before, but always ordered the Omakase. This time I decided to get some of the more interesting dishes off the menu.


“Miso soup with fresh Nori seaweed.” This wasn’t interesting, but it was good.


“Soy marinated fresh salmon egg with grated daikon radish.” I love Ikura and this was a slightly different take on it. Really quite delectable with a nice soy/brine flavor.


“Shrimp and vegetable pot stickers.” Both temperature and spicy hot, they had that yummy pan fried thing going.


“Halibut tempura wrapped with shiso leaf and ume plum, served with sea salt.” Really yummy, like Japanese fish and chips. The fish was tender and soft without being mushy but it was the sisho that really sold it.


The salt as advertised.


“Homade smoked wild salmon sashimi plate (sockeye and king).” The one on the left tasted like lox, the right more just like fantastic salmon. Pretty darn awesome.


“Fresh albacore from oregon sashimi.” With a ponzu and garlic chips. Also pretty melt in your mouth amazing.


“Sea urchin and sea salt ice cream with salsa fresco gazpacho.” Now this is different, but good. The soup is a fairly straight up gazpacho flavor and the “ice cream” really WAS ice cream, made from Uni! Interesting combo and very refreshing.


“Seared kinki snapper with shiso pesto sauce.” The fish was incredibly tender and not fishy at all. Very interesting and delectable flavor/texture thing going on.


“Seared blue fin tuna with truffle butter flavor.” Wow! This was like Wagyu beef, but it was tuna. Pretty awesome.


“Anago seared sea eel sashimi with ume sauce.” The eel is blow torched and has a nice char to it, and the sauce is sweet and sour. Very interesting. Still, I might prefer the traditional BBQ eel, but this was very good.


“Seared scallop sushi.” Yummy, yummy. Also I like my scallop totally raw best.

This was my best meal at Kiriko (and all were good). Ordering off the menu allowed us to try some unusual things (like Uni Ice Cream!) and it really worked out. Inventive stuff. Good stuff. It’s really nice to see a chef being creative with sushi/sashimi and not following exactly in the Matsuhisa mould.

I wrote up a couple other meals at Kiriko or

Click here to see more LA Sushi posts.

Related posts:

  1. Kiriko Sushi
  2. Sushi Sushi Sushi
  3. Mori Sushi – A Top Contender
  4. Food as Art – Sushi Sushi
  5. Sushi Zo
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Asian, California, Ikura, Japanese, Japanese cuisine, Kiriko, Kiriko Sushi, Nori, Omakase, Sashimi, Sushi, Uni, Uni Ice Cream, West Los Angeles
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