Shame on me for not writing this up sooner. My birthday present to myself this year was a trip to Los Angeles to see old friends and to finally dine at the mythic Urasawa. There was as much anticipation in approaching this meal as there was in going to the French Laundry for the first time; so much has been written about it and its masterful chef, that one can almost anticipate disappointment. I mean, how special and remarkable can ultra-expensive hunks of raw fish be after all? Suffice to say, that nary a meal in my past can surpass what I experienced at the hands of Hiro Urasawa. Yep, its true. It is the best meal I have ever eaten in my entire life, bar none. No mis-steps, every taste a revelation, every offering better than the last.
The continuation of the birthday celebration occurred with darling friends, Becky and Max at Chinois on Main in Santa Monica. Beautiful, charming people — the camaraderie outshining the food, which was fabulous. We started with what was probably my favorite dish of the evening, soft shell crab with fried greens and a green sauce. Beats me what the green sauce was, but these had to be the largest, freshest, and most stunning example of a soft shell crab I have ever experienced. Perfectly fried with a nary a touch of grease, all future crabs will be compared with these. We paired this with d’Herbert Champagne, Blanc de Blanc Brut (all wines brought by the generous Max!)
Next was a sashimi of fluke and tuna tartare with sevruga caviar served with a light ponzu sauce. I am such a sucker for great crudo and the combination of fluke served alongside the tuna with its avocado smear works exceptionally well.
I have become a broken record on the state of Yakitori in San Francisco; you can’t throw a dead cat in any neighborhood of that illustrious city and not hit a Japanese restaurant, yet there is a not a single yakitori establishment anywhere in it’s small confines. Yeah, I have heard of a few in South San Francisco or down on the peninsula, but in San Francisco proper, there is nary formal barbeque utilizing the essential Kishu Binchō-tan, or charcoal wood. This means my occasional trips to Southern California always necessitate a visit to a Yakitori restaurant, of which there are a plethora (go figure). Shin-Sen-Gumi has been my go-to yakitori for years but on the occasion of hitting L.A. for my birthday, old friend and local food writer Richard Foss suggested a new joint he had heard good things about, Izakaya Bincho in Redondo Beach. It was slightly surreal because Redondo was where I called home for almost a decade and left over seven years ago for the wiles of Napa (eventually decamping for San Francisco). Odd to walk the boardwalk, hear the Saturday night mating calls from nearby Naja’s, a local watering hole, and see the changes in a neighborhood I had known so well…