Feast Blog

In all honesty, I’m not sure why this received a Michelin star…

There were two omakase offerings on the menu; one with meat and one vegetarian. I was intrigued with the vegetarian until I was told it was two courses with a dessert. That’s it? I’ll take the meat omakase which was five courses.

An amuse was brought out – a sandwich of tuna rillette between two crunchy crackers which were actually toasted slices of their house bread. Putting *some* rillette on a single slice would have been sufficient but an amuse (which in my mind should be taken in one bite) of two dry hunks of bread with not-enough fish just made for too big of a mouthful.

Sadly, there is no wine pairing with the omakase and so I was on my own in determining wine pairings for dishes that I had no pre-knowledge of. Big mistake. The waiter did tell me the first few courses were fish so I was fairly certain a white would work and ordered a Riesling (sorry, lost my notes on which one specifically). Also, this wine was served in a Pinot Noir glass… Bad.

The first course was a layered monstrosity of a giant wasabi leaf, champagne-poached oyster, blue fin tuna tartare, some coconut-based hollandaise, fresh uni, and American sturgeon caviar. I say it was a monstrosity as there was far too much going on and either the oyster or the tartare (or both?) could have been entirely left out. The flavor of the uni, caviar, and coconut was predominate so something as delicate as a champagne-poached oyster (which couldn’t be seen so maybe it WASN’T there!) was irrelevant. As was the tartare.

The next course was a composed salad of fresh heirloom tomatoes, topped with dressed frisée, and surrounded by slices of sashimi of Arctic Char. Recalling my disastrous visit to Valentino in Los Angeles, I wonder why chefs insist on pairing tomatoes with raw fish — the textures and flavors are so disparate and I’m curious if there exists any good examples of this sort of pairing as my two sojourns into that particular pairing have been exceptionally bad.

The Riesling finished and not remembering what was coming next, I ordered a glass of Pinot Noir (standby knowledge – it usually goes with everything).

The next course was a hot fish dish of grilled Red snapper with crispy skin on ratatouille and hollandaise. This was a real hollandaise but there wasn’t quite enough of it to pair well with the grilled vegetables and dry fish.

The last savory course was American Wagyu, perfectly rare, served atop sliced Yukon Gold potatoes and baby shiitake mushrooms. There was a very good sauce with it but I’m afraid I don’t exactly recall its components. Regrettably, the sauce did not make up for whatever was done to the mushrooms which were stridently sharp and peppery. I didn’t bother finishing this course.

Dessert was an Orange “parfait” which was actually a scoop of creamy orange sorbet in some orange soup and topped with a small tuille cookie. This was paired with a sparkling sake which was a relatively nice pairing.

Overall, the service was very good but I question many things about the menu. For starters, in reading through the standard offerings, there doesn’t seem to be any evolution in the menu. Similar to my Gary Danko complaints, nothing is different than what I read when I first visited, 18 months ago. The addition of the omakase is week in its lack of wine pairings and I found the dishes overall to be ill-conceived although well-prepared.

I don’t need to go back.

In the space that used to be Bar Crudo is a restaurant called Swell. Quite frankly, it is so close to what Bar Crudo was in its realization as to be spooky. Well, similar in style, presentation and quality of seafood without the wait, crowd, or hype. There is also a more accessible menu insofar as small bites are concerned.

I learned all this late one afternoon when BFF Lisa and I were wandering around Union Square, trying yet again to decide where to eat that might be different and off-radar. I had completely forgotten about the restaurant’s existence after Bar Crudo departed and considering it was a Tuesday, we weren’t even sure it was going to be open. Walking in around 7:00 in the evening, we were really pleased to get a table. Once we finished our meal, we were more surprised they weren’t packed.

While we pondered the menu, we decided to start with a dozen oysters and I ordered a glass of Riesling from Chile to accompany — mostly because I have never tasted a Chilean Riesling. Our waitress instead suggested something I had never tried, Picpoul de Pinet, by Felines Jourdan from Languedoc. She was really fabulous; not only in the wine recommendation but also in bringing me a taste of the Chilean Riesling and a Domaine Auchere Sancerre, which I would have normally ordered with oysters. Her suggestion was spot on and a great complement to the oysters.

In wanting to try as many dishes as possible, we started with the larger portion of a Chef Tasting Platter; four selections for $22. For $15, you can start with three. And getting one taste of each kind was perfect for the two of us as $11 for four intense and interesting samplings was very intriguing. Lisa and I indicated that we would be very happy if one of the selections would include sea urchin, a particular favorite of ours. Our first four tastes:

Sashimi Grade Yellow Fin Tuna – Ample perfectly squared cuts of yellow fin tuna sits atop slices of Haas avocado with a bit of shiro dashi and sesame seeds. Very rich and quite good.

Dayboat Scallops – Fileted scallops wrapped around matchstick slices of crisp, green Granny Smith apples all topped with wasabi caviar and yuzu aïoli. This was a stunner of a combination. The rich scallop with creamy aïoli provided a rich juxtaposition with the clean, juicy apples.

Smoked Ocean Trout – Prepared with red beet gelée, wasabi-crème fraîche, and quail egg. Here the red beet gelée was prepared and used the way seaweed nori would be in a classic nigiri offering, clutching the delicately smoked trout. The fish and beet preparation sat beneath the ever-so-slightly-spicy wasabi crème fraîche and perfectly hard-boiled quail egg.

Santa Barbara Sea Urchin – With Asian pear wrap, nori, apple aïoli, and jalapeño. Served on a slice of cucumber, the waitress advised us to consume the fish combination separate from the cucumber as the vegetable component would overwhelm the rest. What was the most anticipated of all the crudo offerings proved to be the most disappointing. Perhaps because we were dining on a Tuesday and very often fresh fish is not brought in but used from the weekend, we found the uni lacking in freshness and the preparation to be the least enticing.

Of all the previous four, it was the scallops which were the most exciting with the smoked trout a close second. The tuna was very good, but with so many avocado and sashimi-grade fish offerings in the city, it was not as memorable as the other selections. Still a little hungry and very intrigued with the rest of the menu, we decided on another Chef Tasting of Four, this time getting a few cooked items on the platter.

Rhode Island Fluke – With pickled ginger, citrus salad and rice crispies. An another interesting crunch component with the light rice crispy added a very textural element but the citrus and ginger were too similar in tangy flavors to balance out the clean fluke. It was only the addition of the little sea bean which made the dish more interesting.

Coconut Ceviche of Kampachi – Served with sea bean, red onion, and rice chips.  The texture of raw fish, pickled vegetable, and crunch with a hint of coconut was intriguing, but there was a little too much of the rice chip although I can understand why it needed to be that size, to hold the dressed kampachi.

Miso Black Cod Brûlée – Served with purple potato salad, this was a universally loved concoction. The black cod with its miso marinade and slightly browned exterior had a skillfully prepared amount of sweetness which paired well with the rich, creamy potatoes.

Tuna Tartare – Prepared very similarly to a tartare recipe I grew to love when I worked for Joachim Splichal’s Patina group in Los Angeles, almost a decade ago. Freshly cut tuna, dressed with with black sesame and a hint of sesame oil plated atop finely slivered and pickled seaweed. I could eat a large plate of this.

Lisa was not interested in dessert but the waitress described the flavors of a Crème Brûlée sampler and I couldn’t resist; ginger, miso, and coffee. Our waitress insisted it was not too much and that just a few spoonfuls of each flavor would not be too overwhelming. Lisa was determined to not eat more than a bite or two but within just one taste of each flavor and we knew there was no way to not consume each one – and scrape out a little at the end with our fingers… The ginger was spicy enough with a strong, piquant taste that I adore. The coffee was rich and pungent, the way I like it – almost bitter with coffee taste. But it was the miso which was the surprise. Almost the way a salted caramel gives just enough salt taste to counter-balance the sweetness of a caramel, the umami and saltiness of the miso worked enticingly well with the sweet candied top of the crème brûlée.

There were a handful of larger dishes I would like to go back and try; a lobster bisque, a beef tartare, and bouillabaisse. Glad to have rediscovered the spot and looking forward to repeat visits.

It has taken living in the city for three years to beat it into me that I have to get out of my comfortable neighborhoods. I had yet to eat at ANY restaurants in Inner Sunset and I have my eating buddy, Lisa, to thank for bringing me here. Apparently it helps to know the chef or at least insist at sitting at the bar to ask what is special and fresh. And apologies that the pictures didn’t happen – we were too caught up in the moment…

We started with the ubiquitous “Spoonfuls of Happiness” – two soup spoons, one filled with a tai-wrapped smoked ankimo dressed with a bit of truffle oil and tobiko, the other a preparation of uni with quail egg and house-made ponzu sauce. The spoonfuls are served with a specialty sake and being an ankimo fan, I thought I would prefer that bite, but the freshness of the uni and the subtlety of the ponzu made the uni the preferred bite.

Not wanting to get full on rice, we specifically requested sashimi — with two slices each of maguro, tai aka, sake, hamachi, and and kanpachi. Note that the fresh, real wasabi is certainly a treat.

Indicating we were definitely interested in “unusual” offerings, the chef made us a salad of light mizuna greens, thinly sliced cucumber, and baby raw whole shrimp and squid. I don’t recall ever having been served whole squid the size of my thumb. Incredibly tender and lightly dressed, this was an amazing offering.

As my client requested salmon, a special offering of crudo was presented — thinly sliced white salmon, so tender and bright.

There was also an unagi course, but I’m not remembering exactly how it was offered.

We finished up with my one request of the evening; ama-ebi, as my good friend, Lance (visiting from London), had never had a fried shrimp head before. Perfectly fresh sweet shrimp and the fried heads were light and crunchy. Just perfect.

I brought a potential client and I’m sure we must have been given some deals as we drank a lot of sake, ate a lot of sushi, and the tab was only $300 for four.

I like to delude myself that I have a pretty decent palate. And for some things, I think I do. But when it comes to sushi, I can’t hold a candle to my buddy, Lisa. This is a woman who — if money were no object — could eat at the likes of Urasawa six days a week and not grow tired of it. So it was sort of ironic when we went out to dinner one evening at a favorite noodle joint, Tampopo, that after we left (with full bellies, mind you!), we saw the newly-opened Sushi Aka Tombo with only a few people inside. Well Lisa rates every sushi restaurant on their Uni so I suggested we go in just for a single order; sort of to determine if there was a reason to go back. Let me tell you, not only do I have a reason to go back, but I am not sure I can find better sushi in San Francisco.

This review is, in fact, two separate visits. The first was Lisa and Cassy and I, sauntering in at almost ten in the evening, ostensibly to just try the Uni which, elegantly bedecked with 24k gold leaf was astonishingly fresh. But there were a few other treats being offered so we just *had* to stay. Baby squid were a surprise offering and proved to be very tender and bright.

(more…)

Fortune has taken me to Los Angeles a few times this year and undoubtedly one of the best trips has been to stay with jeweler friend Rose. Being compatriots in a great love of sushi, she and her boyfriend, Andrew, insisted on sharing her personal favorite, Sushi Gen at 422 East Second Street in downtown. I think Rose has a personal “in” with head-chef Masa, but I’m not complaining. We had to wait a long time to get in and apparently that is not unusual for the following this place has. We waited a good 45 minutes for the coveted seats in front of Masa’s station and it was well worth it.

We started with a bottle of Kubota Senjyu which worked well for the entire evening’s offerings. To sort of “cleanse our palate,” our first offering was halibut sashimi in ponzu, with just a touch of yuzu and the fresh green onions, this awakened our mouths with an immediate demonstration of a respect for the fish and how it is best showcased. Not wanting to get too full on rice, I requested more sashimi than nigiri and fatty tuna was the next presentation; so rich and satisfying. There were presentations of both Japanese and Spanish mackeral (I think I liked the Spanish a bit better), sweet shrimp with fried heads (yeah!), and red snapper.

Rose knows of my willingness to try anything new or different and we asked Mas for the most unusual ingredient of the evening. In this, Sea Cucumber to which his sous chef (sorry, didn’t get his name) gave us a little dance on what sea cucumbers look like in the water. I’m just thankful I got pictures documenting that hilarious demonstration! The salmon had perfect marbling and the dressing on the albacore was just enticing enough to bring out its delicacy. Another juxtaposition which was offered was the Ankimo; Rose likes it with miso while Andrew prefers it with ponzu. I got to taste both and I’m still not sure which is my favorite, both worked so very well and it was thrilling to have great ankimo as lately, so much of the livers I’ve been eating have been grainy and not fresh.

We should have been full, but we couldn’t stop ourselves, continuing with some shared nigiri; scallops, unagi, squid with uni, and yellowtail. Rose and I also shared some oysters and then we culminated on a roll that Masa makes for Rose specially: a toro maki that is topped with more chopped toro and green onion. That was about my breaking point – we were too full for words and quite ecstatic. I don’t get this quality of sushi in San Francisco, that I have been able to find. The freshness of fish and its presentation was very reminiscent of Urasawa at a fraction of the price. So glad to have a new destination restaurant in Los Angeles and great friends to share it with!