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.

Old food-chat-board buddy, Jschyun, was my dining companion for the evening and this was her — what? — fifth or sixth visit (if you can believe that!). It was funny to watch Hiro recognize her upon our entrance. She insisted on doing the camera duty for the evening so that I could just relax and enjoy what was to come. The only regret is that I did not bother taking notes and when the onslaught of nigiri commenced, upon reviewing the photographs after the fact, all cannot be remembered specifically. I have to laugh a bit about that, though. In perusing other blogs to try and match some others’ recent pictures with what we ate, I learned that we easily had five or six MORE nigiri than what others have been served on similar dates. Jschyun and I are chalking that up to her presence; it seems she used to even eat a lot more than what we had that evening. I left stuffed so how her tiny little self is able to consume even more boggles my mind.

1. We started with a small crystal bowl of Junsai, a bit of fresh seaweed, a bit of fish (I thought shrimp, but Jschyun doesn’t think so), all topped with a bit of gold leaf. Elegant, refreshing and a wonderful start.

2. Next was a gorgeous, delicious offering of o-toro, topped with a bit of grated radish, a bit of green, more gold leaf and all perfectly displayed in a rustic, handmade dish with an exquisite broth.

3. An incredibly simple offering came next, a single slice of Japanese eggplant with dipping sauce. Clean and fresh.

4. Goma Tofu – A stunning little dumpling made of sesame tofu stuffed with fresh uni and some red snapper. A little more gold leaf and a delicate broth.

5. The sashimi offering – on Hiro’s famous hand-carved pillar of ice (which frosted, actually LOOKS like folded paper!). Seaweeds, Spanish o-toro, red snapper, and uni. The wasabi was fresh and very sweet.

6. Chawan-Mushi – Hiro’s sous chef, brother-in-law, Kim, instructed us to lightly mix the bit of wasabi hiding under the gold leaf. When he saw me scooping down the bottom to blend, he reached over with his chopsticks to show me that only the top gelée and wasabi were to be blended together. Within the custard were a bit of grated mountain potato and sweet shrimp. Elegant and enticing.

7. Tempura with uni, red snapper, a bit of greens. I can never not like a fried dish and tempura is a favorite. I could have eaten a number of these…

8. Seared fatty tuna – The stone placed in front of us was the cooking stone and while Jschyun was shooting pics, Hiro looked playfully annoyed as he reached over to cook her food while Kim cooked mine. So flavorful and rich it could have been mistaken for seared quality beef.

9. Shabu-Shabu – We had been watching Kim thinly slice foie gras and I had no idea that it was going to be cooked in a soup! The foie is added first to give the broth a level of depth and richness with the melting fat. Then the sweet shrimp (which we had been laughing at their movement during Kim’s dessication) and a bit of Wagyu beef. Again, Hiro was scolding Jschyun as he is obviously anxious that the foods being prepared are eaten within minutes and she was delaying. I was fascinated that the chef was so conscientious about the timing of the courses and their consumption!

10. Being served some of the chef’s homemade pickled ginger, the onslaught of nigiri was about to begin! First up was o-toro. Ohmygod. I apologize there are not specific notes on all of the nigiri. They were each remarkable and a great deal of the joy was the relaxed enjoyment while not analyzing and note-taking.

11. Seared Wagyu nigiri.

12. Aji nigiri.

13. Tai Red Snapper nigiri. If you look closely at the picture, you will see a fine dusting of yuzu on top. Much of the ritual of the evening involved Hiro slicing the fish for the nigiri while Kim watched intently, grating fresh yuzu in a small hand grater. Just as the pieces were ready, Kim would hand the grater to Hiro who, after topping the pieces with a light marinade of yuzu sauce and a light soy, would grasp a chasen (green tea whisk) to brush the grated yuzu onto the pieces. It was a ballet of culinary proportions.

14. Sawara Mackeral nigiri.

15. Shiitake nigiri.

16. Maguro nigiri.

17. Skipjack nigiri.

18. Red Snapper nigiri

19. Squid nigiri.

20. Ebi (Sweet Shrimp) nigiri. A beautiful presentation where Kim is scooping out the shrimp brains and pulverizing the offal into a “sauce” which is smeared on the raw shrimp. Stunning.

21. Kohada (Spanish Mackeral) nigiri.

22. Abalone nigiri. I enjoyed watching Kim prepare this. Only the “heart” of the abalone is used — the rest discarded. And is very carefully scored so that when eaten raw, is completely tender.

23. Spanish Mackeral Tataki nigiri.

24. Scallop nigiri.

25. Migugai (Giant Clam) nigiri.

26. Anago (Sea Eel) nigiri.

27. Tamago – Egg custard.

28. Grapefruit Kanten – A sweet bite with bits of grapefruit and wolfberries, garnished with a touch of 24k gold.

29. Wagyu nigiri — Okay, we couldn’t resist and I asked for one more serving as I had never tasted a beef so tender. Served completely raw, it absolutely melted in the mouth.

30. Sesame ice cream with green tea – Hiro whips the tea himself and the ice cream also has a touch of gold. Such a beautiful finish to an amazing evening.

31. Barley tea. A way to clean the palate and relax while paying the bill. Yes, this meal was $500 a person (I alone drank sake). In retrospect, it was the most well-deserved and easily spent $500 I have ever spent. Worth every single penny.

The post Urasawa – Los Angeles first appeared on Feast Blog.

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.

We next opened a 1999 Verget Puligny-Montrachet “Les Enseignères” which had a lovely creamy entry, with a touch of pear and apple in the complex, engaging mouth feel. With this we ate the tempura ahi tuna sashimi with fresh uni sauce. This is a large round of tuna which has a thin tempura coating; just enough to entice without being overbearing and the redolently rich uni sauce. The brightness of the wine was emphasized by the thick, rich texture of the uni sauce and cleanness of the tuna.

Next came a platter of sizzling calamari and rock shrimp salad served in a won ton cup with Chinese chili paste. Of the entire evening’s offerings, this was the least successful. The calamari was slightly on the chewy side and it was mostly comprised of a bunch of fried fish on plain greens. The sauce did not bring the two major components together as one would have thought.

Max then had opened a La Croix Blance Vosne-Romanée (silly me, I didn’t get the vintage). This was a rich, elegant red which we paired with the roasted Cantonese duck with fresh plum sauce and steamed bao stuffed with pickled greens and shiitake mushrooms. The duck was perfectly prepared with a delightful crispy exterior. We picked apart the duck meat to stuff in our bao, scooping up the plum sauce. Getting full, the order of fried rice was packed up to-go before it ever got to the table.

However, despite bulging bellies, a miniature dessert platter was brought out which contained some molten chocolate cake with fudge sauce, crème brûlée, chocolate pot de crème, fresh fruit, and vanilla ice cream with a single scoop of mango sorbet. A perfect amount of small sweet bites to satisfy. The service was stellar as always, despite the crowd (lots of graduation parties). Wolfgang even made a brief appearance which surprised me; I hadn’t seen him at one of his own restaurants in over a decade (not that I frequent his restaurants…) In all, a fabulous birthday meal which was only surpassed by the love and friendship of my dining companions. Thanks B&M!

The post Chinois on Main – Santa Monica first appeared on Feast Blog.

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…

We arrived to this tiny, 24-seat establishment to see “Reserved” signs all over the restaurant. Okay, so it must be popular. Snagging a seat at the bar, we got to watch husband-and-wife team, Tomo and Megumi work the entire restaurant. With strains of industrial shamison music in the background, Tomo is the master of the charcoals and moves with the speed of svelte leopard. Megumi, his wife, elegantly clad in kimono and obi, acts as waitress, hostess, server, and dishwasher. When we indicate that sake will definitely be ordered, Megumi presented us with a basket of glass cups from her refrigerator; pre-chilled, we get to choose which cup we wish to drink from. Of course wanting to eat as many different flavors as possible, we ordered the “Bincho,”  the largest chef’s selection of ten skewers for $25.00. We let Tomo know that challenging meats were definitely acceptable. While Tomo was preparing our skewers, Megumi started us out on our sake as well as some edamame and cabbage salad. He double-checked, “You sure? It is stuff like liver and gizzards…” You betcha, Tomo!  Our skewer selection was as follows:

• Meatball (better than Shin-Sen-Gumi’s!!!! Could it be true?)
• Thigh with leek (I adore leeks)
• Thigh with chopped onions (might have been my favorite chicken dish of the evening; complex and rich and we wanted to eat every single bit of onion after the meat was gone)
• Wings, flattened with a crispy exterior (a tad salty, but tasted great)
• Thigh with cheese (the least successful of the night — well, just plain wrong actually. The grilled meat, dipped in teriyaki sauce, is then topped with a slice of plastic-wrap cheese-like-product until melted)
• Thigh with perilla leaf (complex and elegant)
• Cartilage (deep fried and very fresh tasty with its chewy interior contrasting the light crunchy breading)
• Liver (oh yeah, baby, it is getting good. Even Mr. Rick who is not a liver fan ate more than a single bite)
• Hearts (so tender and interestingly served fileted instead of served whole as I am accustomed to having them served)
• Gizzard (I am giddy at this point)

Knowing we were going to want to taste other bits on the menu, we also ordered the shiitake mushroom skewer which is stuffed with chicken meat and served with ponzu sauce. Another dish was eggplant soup, tender chunks of eggplant fried and served in a rich broth with a ton of green onions and topped with grated pickled daikon radish. This was an incredibly rich, complex soup despite the limited ingredients.

We also ordered a skewer of ginko nuts and a rice ball, but at this point in the evening, the restaurant was packed and it was obvious that Megumi and Tomo were a tad overwhelmed. With a bit of a delay, our meal had settled sufficiently to where we realized we didn’t need more savory. Canceling those last two dishes, I did order dessert, a final skewer of grilled marshmallows. Cheeky and a bit unorthodox, I’m sure. I didn’t care. It was a charming, fun finish to a delightful evening. It might actually make me considering moving back to my old home…

Yakitori Bincho
112 N. International Boardwalk
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
(310) 376-3889

The post Izakaya Bincho – Redondo Beach first appeared on Feast Blog.