Dinner @ Dosa - Fillmore

I've yet to find Indian food in San Francisco that I really like.  I guess I haven't tried too hard, but there doesn't seem to be anywhere that people really love.  Which is sad, because I do really love the spicing in Indian food and paneer can be sooooo delicious!  Amber had been the only place in the city I've actually returned to, but after our last experience there, I'm really not intending to go back any day soon.  And they are opening a new Amber Dhara in the city soon, but our experience at the one down in Palo Alto was fairly mediocre, so I don't have all that high of hopes.  Do you have an indian place you recommend?

Anyway.  I had been to Dosa in the Mission years ago, and got ... the dosa.  I remember it not being particularly memorable.

 Kerala Chicken: Boneless, chiles, cilantro, mint, grated coconut, tomatoes, cauliflower & spices, with rice.

But a couple week's ago I attended a cooking demo at Macy's by the owner and executive chef Anjan Mitra, where he made the Kerala Chicken.  It was really delicious.  The spices in this dish were incredible.  The chicken was moist.  The veggies lightened it up a bit.  The curry and rice ... so good!  During the demo the chef talked about how they start every day by grinding up the spices fresh.  The demo was about 2 hours long and almost the entire first hour was devoted to the spices!  I was quite impressed and added Dosa to my list.

And then at Thursday's Taste of the Nation event, we got to try the Hyderabadi Shammi Kebabs (minced lamb, cardamom, peppercorns, ginger, fennel & lentils, pan fried with mint raita).  While I didn't love them, the spicing was again really impressive, the best spicing of the night, by far.  So I bumped Dosa up even higher on my list!

When Sunday night rolled around, the night that many places I want to go to are closed, I was happy to see that Dosa was open.  Seemed like a good time to try it out!  We went to the Fillmore location, since at the demo the chef talked about how the Valencia and Fillmore locations were quite different due to the sizes of the kitchens and overall restaurants, and how they could do a lot more at the Fillmore location.

The restaurant was really lovely.  High ceilings, large windows, very modern.  It seemed like it belonged more in SOMA.

Service was pretty bad.  Not horrible, but there were a bunch of little issues, and a general lack of attention being paid to us.  It seemed like whenever we needed something, it took a while to flag someone down.  A few of the more notable issues: beer was ordered, it was never delivered.  Our plates/utensils were not changed out between apps and mains, even though our plates were soaked in all sorts of sauces.  No serving utensils given for appetizers.  Dishes were just plunked down in front of us with no explantations.  Completed dishes were not cleared when they were finished, more food arrived with no space to put it.  But strangely plates and utensils were taken away very quickly from people who had maybe stopped eating.  Long wait for dessert menus, long wait for bill to be picked up.  I asked for some leftovers to be packed up, specifying that I wanted things separate (the rice and the curry, so that they'd keep a little better), but instead everything came as one, not only with my rice and curry not separate, but with the fish from another dish mixed in too.  Our waitress was really weird.  I had noted in the reservation that it was a birthday celebration, and absolutely nothing was done to acknowledge this.

I went expecting some good spicing and flavors.  Unfortunately, the food just wasn't very good.  This was really disappointing after enjoying the dishes at the two recent events.  And the food for the most part certainly wasn't at the price point, no matter how lovely the restaurant itself was.  I was also surprised by how oily everything was.  I'm used to indian food feeling fairly heavy from all of the coconut milk or cream in the curries, but I wasn't really expecting so much oil.  Meh.  Crossed off the list.  Still searching for good indian food ...

Complimentary papadum.

These were oily and salty.  Not much other flavor beyond the oil, which didn't have a fresh taste.  Not served with any dipping sauce.  Disappointing, but I appreciate the complimentary snack.

Dahi Vada:  Lentil dumplings topped with cool Straus organic yogurt, piped with tamarind & mint, mildly spiced. $9.

This looked amazing.  Under all the pretty sauce was a single big lentil patty.  "lentil dumplings" said the menu, so this wasn't quite what we were expecting.  This was a dish that Yelpers had all raved about.  I rather expect that they just found it pretty.  Sigh.  I've seriously gotta stop trusting the Yelpers!

The lentil dumpling was mushy and didn't have much flavor.  No one really wanted it.  The yogurt was refreshing and the tamarind and mint swirled in did create some nice flavors, we used up this sauce with some bread and that was kinda nice.

Would not order again.

Lotus Stem Day Boat Scallops: Cilantro, chiles, mustard, maple sauce, w/ fried lotus stems. $12.

We asked how many scallops came in this dish and were told three.  We expressed happiness at this answer since three of us were planning to share it.  We got ... two.  Service--.

Turns out, we wouldn't have wanted a third anyway.  These scallops were not good.  Way overcooked.  The scallops were incredibly chewy. Fishy. Stringy. Completely flavorless. I really wish I hadn't kept trying this and had just stopped after one bad bite.

The fried lotus chip was really greasy and oily, and again, had a stale oil flavor that was unpleasant.

The green sauce (cilantro based?) didn't have much flavor and seemed really oily.

The red sauce however was creamy and delicious.  I used it for bread and everything in sight.  And then just ate it by the spoonful.  I would have licked it up, but the plate was taken away from me :)

It is unfortunate how bad these scallops were, as I do love seared scallops and that sauce was so delicious.  And for $12 it seemed like a good value.

Bhatura: Oversized, soft, puffy wheat bread. $5.

Whoops, forgot to take a photo of this thing when it arrived.  It was too insane for me to focus and remember to photograph!  You can't tell from this, but it was massive!  Huge!  A giant puff of bread!

I had read about this from the Yelpers who all said to get it.  It was something sorta like a fried dough you'd get at a state fair, but really thin and not covered in powdered sugar.  It was served with tamarind and mint-cilantro chutneys.  It was hot, but quickly lost its heat once we punctured and deflated it.

We had intended for this to come with our entrees to have to dip into the curry, but it arrived after the appetizers and long before the mains.  We dipped it into the chutneys it came with, but I didn't find those combinations particularly interesting.  It also just seemed weird to dip something so heavy and fried into such light sauces.  It went better with the sauces left from our appetizers, but I really would have preferred it with my curry.

Interesting to try, but I probably wouldn't order again.  Again, too fried with bad oil taste.

South Indian Moons: Chef’s selection of five different uttapams.  $13.50.

I didn't get a bite of this, but the person who ordered it devoured it in record time.  I'm not sure if he loved it or was just hungry.

Mango Prawns: Karnataka-style, green mango pulp, tomatoes, chiles, mustard seeds.  $17.  Coconut rice side $3.

This was my favorite dish.  5 prawns, 3 chunks of mango, in sauce.

I liked the sauce in this quite a bit, it was really flavorful and decently spicy.  I guess I'm mixing up my north and south indian cuisine by wanting this, but I really wanted some naan or something to dip into it.  It was fine with the rice, but I really wanted something bready to get even more sauce!

The prawns were fine, not particularly noteworthy.  The mango was soft and sweet, but the 3 little chunks felt a little insufficient.

They recommended that we order coconut rice to go with it.  I see why you'd want rice, but the sauce did overpower the rice completely and I wasn't able to enjoy the coconut flavor in it.  Regular rice would have been fine.

Green Mango & Paneer Dosa: Shredded paneer (unaged farmer’s cheese), green mango, spicy achaar (relish) & spices.  Served with fresh coconut & tomato chutneys and sambar.  $11.

The dosa again failed to impressed me.  Filled with panner and mango, both of which I really enjoy, but didn't really work here.  The paneer was just kinda there and the mango was pretty flavorless.  And again, more oily and fried that I was expecting, with the same stale oil taste!

The tomato and coconut chutneys were both pretty tasty, definitely needed to dip the dosa into to get some flavors.

Maybe I just don't like dosas.

Fish Moilee: Sustainably-caught, pan-sautéed in a moilee (coconut) sauce w/ spices, served with curry leaf rice, vegetable poriyal. $29.

This was really disappointing.  We joked about not knowing what sort of fish it was.  It was some sort of white fish, kinda overcooked.  Not offensive, but it offered nothing.

It was served on top of really mushy rice.  The rice was green with some sort of spices, but the flavors weren't particularly interesting. And the rice was really, really mushy and pretty gross.

Also alongside of it was the vegetable poriyal.  This was some sauteed veggies.  Pretty flavorless cubes of assorted vegetables, carrots and asparagus maybe?  And then there were some random, underripe, not good tomatoes.

The sauce was the highlight, but it didn't have the flavor complexity I was expecting.  And it was pretty oily.

Really, really not worth remotely close to $29.  Would not order again.

Passion Fruit Custard: Cool and fragrant, thinly topped with coconut tapioca. $9.

I was really looking forward to dessert.  I love puddings, custards, tapioca.  I'm excited for berry and stone fruit season to arrive to transition into eating a lot of crisps/crumbles/pies/etc, so I've been trying to get my fill of pudding style desserts before that happens!

Anyway, this was gross.  It looked pretty unappetizing, with the coconut sauce spilling all over the place and a random inedible garnish on top, but I still had high hopes.

The coconut tapioca layer was particularly bad.  The tapioca balls were a horrible mushy texture.  There was no coconut flavor.  It was just goopy.

The passion fruit custard part was definitely more of a pudding than a custard, fairly runny and not a great consistency.  It had a passion fruit flavor, but just tasted really fake.

There were also some slices of mango on top, the best part of the dish.  And some sort of cookie.

Definitely wouldn't order again.  Another dish where I wanted to like it so badly that I kept trying it, but really, really didn't want anything to do with it.  Luckily, my favorite frozen yogurt place was down the street, so we went there to get more dessert aftwards.

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Bluxome Street Winery's Meet Market

Every last Saturday of the month, Bluxome Street Winery will be hosting an artisan's market from 12 - 4.  This past Saturday was their first market.  Being a wine merchant, the vendors were specifically picked to be ones that paired well with wine.  Being the artisan market lover I am, I had to check it out!

The set up was such that you would get a glass of wine, and then wander through, tasting all sorts of products with your wine.  It was well set up, with big wine barrels arranged around the floor to use as stands to put your glasses down, etc.  There were a decent number of vendors and the crowds weren't bad at all.  It seemed like the artisans themselves were there behind the tables, rather than just staff members.  They were all very friendly and happy to talk about their products.  The range of vendors was pretty unique: jams, sauces, oils, chocolates, crackers, honeys, cheeses, pies, fish, pasta, etc, etc.

Unfortunately, I wasn't all that impressed with anything I sampled.  The highlight was definitely the rotu pacchadi from Sumana's Soul Spreads.  This is a south indian spread, normally mixed with ghee and rice, but she also recommended it as a spread on crackers, bread, sandwiches, pasta, etc.  I could also imagine using it as a dip for veggies.  I do sort of wish I had purchased some!

• H & H Fish. These folks just started selling at the Ferry Plaza Market on Saturdays too! At that market, they have a large variety of ridiculously fresh fish, and a few prepared items. They also run a fish CSA. At this event, they just had some of the prepared items.
• Tombo poke:  “Raw sashimi grade tombo tuna, sesame oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds, chili, ginger, spices“. Tasting notes: A little oily for my taste, tuna was a little mediocre, not particularly flavorful. [ Decent quality tuna, but nothing standout. Sesame flavor was a little strong. ]
• Smoked Salmon.  Tasting notes: Did have a decent smoky flavor, really firm texture.  Nothing standout. [ Fine, but nothing standout. ]
• Ceviche: "Fresh local rockfish (snapper) cooked in lime juice seasoned with onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, cilantro, chili peppers, spices". Tasting notes: Pretty tasty! Quality, fresh snapper, nice marinade, fresh veggies.
• Butter Love Bakeshop. She had some sweet and some savory pies. All used the same crust, which she was sampling out, covered in cinnamon and sugar.
• Pie crust: All butter.  Tasting notes: Not particularly flavorful nor flaky. Just crust. [ Just crust, nothing standout. ]
• Butter pie: “Pecan pie without pecans”. Tasting notes: I had high hopes for this since I love pecan pie, and it sounded a lot like Momofuku’s crack pie.  It was just sweet though, and lacked any dimension whatsoever.  Would have been better with ice cream or whipped cream.
• Orland Farmstead.
• Queso Fresco, Jalapeno: “A fresh mexican cheese”.  Tasting notes: Soft, nice kick from jalapeno. Also available plain.
• Formage Blanc: Tasting notes: Creamy, not particularly noteworthy, a little tangy. Also available as "tortes" topped with things like tomato or cherries.
• Feta: Cow’s milk.  Tasting notes: Not nearly as flavorful as feta normally is, reminded me more of ricotta.
• Granny Jams. I don't have the details on the jams I tasted, but they were all based on wines. Quite nice.
• Champagne peach: Tasting notes: Really subtle peach flavor that comes through on the finish.  Not too sweet.  Really nice.  Would be great on crackers with a mild cheese.
• Cabernet?: Tasting notes: Incredible red wine flavor, really smooth.  Would be awesome with some seared foie gras!
• S & S
• Hawaiian style BBQ sauce: “Sweetness from pineapple and guava, saltiness from soy sauce, a subtle spiciness from chiles and fragrant aroma from garlic and ginger.” Tasting notes: Just BBQ sauce, not particularly interesting.  Didn’t pick up on the sweet/salty at all.
• Chili Place. Chili, in vacuum packs, you freeze it and then just boil it in hot water.
• Red Veg Chili: Tasting notes: beans, bell peppers, corn, some spices.  Not particularly flavorful or spicy. Beans weren't particularly interesting. Veggies were lost in it.
• Bay Area Bee Company. Local honey maker, with a bunch of different honeys from different neighborhoods. I sampled a few (Portero Hill, Tenderloin) and was surprised at how very different the flavors, colors, and consistencies were.  Turns out, honey isn't just honey!
• Ariel’s Crackers. These were really awesome crackers.
• black + white sesame seed + sea salt: Tasting notes: Really delicious.  Crisp, flavorful from olive oil, seeds added great flavors.
• caraway + sea salt: Tasting notes: Same great crackers, but I liked sesame seeds more. [ Strong caraway flavor. Really awesome crackers, crisp, amazing flavor from olive oil, really quite good! ]
• Oaktown Jerk
• Sesame Teriyaki: Tasting notes: Not very sweet, not very teriyaki, very chewy.
• Pineapple Basil: “Sweet pineapple zing with the wonderful robust infusion of
• fresh Thai basil“. Tasting notes: Not very sweet, didn’t taste  basil, very chewy.
• Community Grains
• Polenta: “Organic Red Flint ‘Floriani’ Cornmeal”.  Tasting notes: Fairly hearty tasting, but not well cooked, just mushy.
• Virgine’s Vinegar
• It was just … vinegar.
• Big Paw
• Garlic olive oil: Nice garlic flavor, not very complex oil.
• Biscotti Di Bianchi
• Cranberry Semi-Sweet Biscotti: Hard, not very flavorful, didn’t get much cranberry or chocolate flavors.
• Sumanas Soul Food
• Sesame Rotu Pacchadi: “Sesame seeds, onion, coconut, tamarind, jaggery, jalapeno, curry leaves, grape seed oil, water, salt”.  Tasting notes: Really tasty, complex flavors.
• Kale Rotu Pacchadi: “Kale, peanuts, coconut, onion, jalapeno, lime, grape seed oild, water, salt”.  Tasting notes: Delicious.  Great kale and peanut flavors.  Fun texture from the nuts that were chopped up in it. [ Really great spicing, delicious stuff. ]
• Other
• Farm Girl Flowers: Uh ... pretty flowers?
• Mara’s Pasta: They were gone by the time I got there.
• Cocotutti: I have been sampling their chocolates at several chocolate events lately, will post reviews of them seprately.

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Cooking Demo: Scala's Bistro

Today's Williams-Sonoma Guest Chef Demo was by Pastry Chef Tim Nugent from Scala's Bistro.  I went there once several years ago, but I honestly don't recall a thing about the meal.  I also tried their "Brandade with Walnut Levain & Pickled Asparagus" on Thursday night at the Taste of the Nation event, but wasn't too impressed with it, it was veeeeery salty.

Anyway, today's demo was by the pastry chef and thus a sweet creation: apple pie! Probably due to the horrible weather, very few people showed up to the demo.  And since we weren't going to actually sit there for the full hours it takes to bake the pie, he already had pies in the oven, so there was TONS of hot, fresh pie available for the 12 of us who showed up.  These demos normally give fairly generous samples, but this was a full slice of pie, and they were happy to give you more if you wanted it.

The recipe is for a double-crusted, seriously loaded up with apples, pie.  It is a monster that takes 3 hours to cook!  I learned some good tips, in particular, about the importance temperature plays.  He uses frozen shortening and butter, and grates them with a box grater.  Water is ice cold.  The entire pie is chilled for an hour before you bake it.

The chef was really informative and I enjoyed his demo.  Also, did I mention, fresh apple pie straight out of the oven?

Apple pie.

This serving was kinda sloppy.  What you can't see, is that this is a classic double crusted apple pie.  The top layer should be crust, not apples, but the server piled on some apples on top of mine (there is a second crust there, it is just buried).

The bottom crust layer was crispy and a little bit caramelized, I liked it.  The top crust layer, and standard crust crust however weren't all that interesting.  Not particularly flavorful nor flaky.

The apple filling really disappointed me.  It was well cooked, the apples were done really well, not too mushy, keeping a nice texture.  There was a good ratio of juicy/saucy stuff to apples and crust.  But the flavor just wasn't there.  As you can see from the recipe, there aren't any spices added besides sugar, so it just kinda fell flat for me.  Perhaps I just needed some fresh whipped cream with it.  Or some ice cream.  Or some cheddar cheese.  Any of those would probably have made this fabulous, particularly as it was served warm and fresh out of the oven.  A cinnamon ice cream would have been particularly delightful.

Recipe: http://www.lifeissuite.com/2010/10/tim-nugents-apple-huckleberry-pie/ (although the one he made today did not have the huckleberry).

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Cooking Demo: Plant Cafe

Today's cooking demo at the Ferry Building was a double!  Executive Chef Sascha Weiss and Pastry Chef Susan Stampke from Plant Cafe each gave a demo.

I've been to the Plant Cafe a few times.  They are one of few places that has dog friendly outdoor seating, so when a pair of my friends first got their puppy, we went there often.  I was never all that impressed, the eggs in the eggs benedict were never poached well, the signature Plant burger was awesome once, mediocre the other times, and truly horrible the last time I was there, and the scallops were ... inedible.

Today's cooking demos seemed to be a pretty good reflection of the restaurant.  There were nice things about each of the dishes, but overall, meh.

Spring gnocchi with pea tendrils, peas, parmesan.

The savory dish was a simple gnocchi, served with some quickly blanched peas and pea tendrils, topped with a little parmesan cheese.

The gnocchi wasn't very good, just kinda mushy, with no real flavor. The chef was struggling with keeping water boiling given the wind and cold temperatures today, and I do wonder how much that effected the cooking of these, as it took several minutes for them to cook, and he said they should normally cook within a minute.

The pea tendrils and peas however, were delicious.  Fresh vegetables, barely cooked, just being allowed to shine.  Really good!  The parmesan went well with the peas too.

I was surprised at how easy to make this was.  I could easily imagine trying it myself :)

Recipe: http://www.cuesa.org/recipe/ricotta-gnocchi-english-peas-spring-onions-and-pea-tendrils

Hazelnut and chocolate ricotta napoleon, strawberries, meyer lemon sauce.

Buttery layers of phyllo dough, with a dark chocolate and hazelnut ricotta filling, topped with some shaved chocolate and chopped hazelnuts, with strawberries on the side, and drizzled with meyer lemon sauce. Meh.

This was not a sweet dessert.  It may look it, but it barely had any sweetness to it.

The phyllo layers were decently flaky and contained a little sweetness, but not much.  They were hard to cut through and pretty flavorless overall.

The filling was a strange consistency, with chunks of the chocolate and hazelnut it in, making it not very smooth.  It wasn't sweet at all.  I didn't like it, somehow the ricotta and hazelnut just really didn't go well together for me, creating a strange bitterness that was not enjoyable.

The strawberries were yummy, but they were just strawberries.  I'm excited for berry season!

The meyer lemon sauce was tart and didn't really work with the bitter ricotta and hazelnut filling.

Lots of work to deal with the phyllo and just really not good.  Maybe if I was expecting it to be bitter/savory I'd have liked it more.

Recipe: http://www.cuesa.org/recipe/strawberry-napoleon-chocolate-hazelnut-ricotta-cream-and-meyer-lemon-syrup

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Taste of the Nation

Tonight I attended the SF installment of Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation event, a benefit to try to end childhood hunger.  There were ~50 of the area's top restaurants there serving up 1-4 dishes each, along with some breweries, wine makers, and mixologists.  Plenty of tasty nibbles and sips to be had!  You can see the full line up here: http://www.strength.org/sanfrancisco/participating_restaurants_wineries_and_mixologists/

The most fun part for me, besides the eating of course, was that at almost every station, the executive chefs were there themselves.  They were friendly, personable, and happy to tell you all about the exciting things going on at their restaurants.  Most of the places were already on my TODO list (or are places I've been to recently), but of course, I added a few new ones.  The list never ends!

I decided not to take photos this evening, as there were far too many dishes to take photos of, and managing a drink and all of the food was enough of an ordeal in itself, I couldn't imagine also attempting to take photos.  I'm also not going to review each and every dish, again, there were just far too many.

But, some things were particularly noteworthy:

• Asparagus is especially delicious right now.  AQ had a particularly good dish with asparagus prepared several ways - some grilled, some in an amazingly flavorful puree, some compressed.  The Village Pub had a fantastic asparagus panna cotta with lemon creme fraiche - creamy, full of asparagus flavor, yum!  I'm loving the culinary trend of savory custard/pudding/panna cotta/brulee/etc. 
• Peas are also delicious right now!  Spruce's Bellwether Farms ricotta gnudi with fresh peas was pretty delightful - soft gnudi, delicious sauce, and plenty 'o fresh peas.  Jasper's sweet pea deviled egg was the winning deviled egg of the night, the pea really making a light and fresh dish out of something normally heavier feeling (which was a pretty big contrast to Marlowe/Park Tavern's version, which was served warm and topped with aged provolone, pickled jalapeño & bacon).
• Interestingly, the most unmemorable dishes of the evening were the ones I thought I'd like the most: the assorted seafood dishes. Tuna conserva from A16, tuna and caper stuffed peppers from Casa de Case, halibut crudo from E+O, razor clam ceviche from Fifth Floor, brandade from Scala's Bistro, smoked oysters from Commonwealth, and shrimp & pork wontons from Slanted Door were all good, but failed to leave much of an impression.
• Dosa wins for the best spicing of the evening.  The flavors in their Hyderabadi shammi kebabs were incredible.  A lot of other places actually really lost in the spicing department, in particular, a lot of dishes were really over salted.

Steak tartar, black truffle soil.

Wagyu Beef, Smoked Mushroom Puree, Pickled Mushrooms, Wild Greens

• Most dishes were presented on interesting serving-ware, but the most beautiful plating of the evening, hands down, goes to Alexander's Steakhouse and Prospect (images from their Twitter posts).  Alexander's steak tartar was served in a little plant pot, topped with black truffle soil, and tiny adorable flowers.  Stunning.  And Prospect's Wagyu belly was beautifully topped with pickled mushrooms, onions, and greens.
• Cupcakes and burgers are still just awesome.  Luella's ground sirloin slider with bone marrow butter, topped with aged white cheddar on a soft house-made bun was just as delicious as you'd imagine, even when being prepared catering style like this.  And Kara's cupcakes, while ridiculously heavy on the icing-to-cake ratio, were the perfect sweet finish to the evening.
• Speaking of catering, RN74 really does a great job! I still haven't eaten in the restaurant itself, but their two dishes this evening were among my favorites, and every dish I had at the last event they catered were great too.  Tonight's comte walnut tart was fantastic, a mousse-like whipped comte cheese, full of flavor, paired wonderfully with the red wines we were drinking. While I'm definitely a dessert-o-holic, and never go for the cheese platter, dishes like this could convince me to change my mind!  They also had the most interesting dessert offering, a black sesame profiterole, filled with passionfruit cream, with some stewed rhubarb on the side.  Really balanced flavors and textures, with the fairly savory bready profiterole, the sweet gooey passionfruit filling, and the slightly sour rhubarb.  Even my non-sweet liking friend enjoyed a bite of this.
• I was surprised by how much things met my expectations - even in this strange catering-like setting, restaurants really represented themselves accurately.  For restaurants I was familiar with, the ones that I've particularly loved had some of the best dishes of the evening.  Ones I've been underwhelmed with were underwhelming here as well.  And ones at the top of my lists to try out turned out to be pretty great.  I was also impressed by what some of the places were able to pull off in this setting, particularly Osteria Coppa, where they were serving up a freshly made nettle gnudi.  This was the sort of dish that would not taste very good had it sat for any length of time, and they were executing it really well!

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Dinner @ Aziza

I've been feeling a tiny bit burnt out on eating so much of the same sort of food (lots of French, American, Californian), and was looking for somewhere to go with a vegetarian friend, so tonight we decided to try something totally different: Moroccan!  But of course, Michelin starred Moroccan :)  Aziza has been on my list of places to try for a couple years now, but somehow I just had never managed to drag myself there before.

I'd heard great things about the appetizers and desserts here in particular, so we went heavy on those items.  We ordered everything that people rave about: the flatbreads and spreads, the basteeya, and the farro risotto, plus some other things that the waitress recommended, or that sounded good.  Nothing was standout.  I can't pinpoint any direct reason why - ingredients seemed quality, no execution issues, spicing was fine ... it just wasn't particularly good.  I really don't understand why they've had a Michelin star for so many years in a row, or why the SF Michelin inspector just tweeted today about how good it was, naming dishes we had in particular.  Hmm.  Our entire group thought that everything was mediocre and certainly not worth the price or journey.  I won't be going back, unless someone really wanted to (the tasting menu sounded amazing, really really appealing dishes, but we weren't up for that this evening ... I might be convinced to try it sometime).  The biggest disappointment for me is that the dishes I was most excited about from the online menu (foie gras mousse, walnut tart with black sesame ice cream) were no longer available :(  I really wish places would keep their online menus more up to date!  I know it isn't always practical for places that change menu items constantly, and we are in spring transition mode right now, but I get so excited for a certain dish that it can be pretty heartbreaking for it to not be there.

I don't have much to say about the restaurant or service either.  Like the food, forgettable.  Decorated nicely enough, friendly enough staff, nothing really interesting to note.

Spreads: chickpea, yogurt-dill, piquillo-almond, flatbread.  $11.

This is, without a doubt, the most raved about dish on the menu  Basically every single review you read mentions this dish.  The amusing thing to me is that everyone disagrees on which of the trio of spreads is the best, but everyone says you must get this!

The flatbread comes fresh off the grill, really nice and warm.  They get bonus points for that.  And once you are about halfway through the bread, they offer to bring more, and start it grilling then, so that you always have perfectly fresh, warm, grilled bread. More bonus points for that.

The flatbread was pretty good, for flatbread I guess.  Oiled and spiced, with obvious grill marks.  I wasn't crazy over this, maybe I just don't love flatbread?

The piquillo-almond spread was very, very smokey.  It was a fairly thick consistency and had intense flavor.  I thought I'd love this one, but it didn't really do anything for me.  I love smokey flavor, and this was sorta just too much, not balanced enough.

The yogurt-dill dip was light and refreshing.  Our entire table thought it was the best of the three.  The piquillo-almond spread was improved if you mixed some of this with it, to balance out the smokey intense flavor.

The chickpea was basically a really smooth hummus with some garlic in it.  I didn't think it was particularly flavorful or good.  I've had much better hummus.

I probably wouldn't order this again.  I was very surprised to not like this much, since soooo many people have raved about it, and I do like spreads and dips quite a bit (my favorite part of going to the farmer's market is sampling all of the mediterranean dips!  Bring on the assorted hummus, aubourgine, babaganoush, yogurt spreads, etc!)  It looked like a pretty measly portion, and I was originally worried that with a group of four we wouldn't each get nearly enough and was ready to order a second one immediately, but it turned out, no one even wanted to finish this.  Sorta small portion for the price, particularly when so many places include some sort of bread as a complimentary starter to your meal.

Sweetbread, bone marrow, romaine, lily bulb. $16.

I was curious what this list of ingredients would arrive looking like.  The waitress did warn us that the bone marrow would be in the sauce, that we wouldn't be receiving a bone.  It was ... four assorted chunks of sweetbreads, battered, fried, tossed in a little sauce, and garnished with four baby romain leafs and four tiny slices of fried lily bulb.

I didn't pick up on the bone marrow flavor at all. In fact, the sauce was pretty tasteless.

I have no idea why there were little romain leafs on here, they were too tiny to add anything, but kinda large for a garnish.

The fried lily bulb was tasty little crispy bits, but absolutely tiny and lost.

The sweetbreads were decently done, well fried, not too greasy, but they kinda just tasted like chicken.

I wouldn't order this again, bland and uninteresting.  Portion a little small for price.

Ocean trout, avocado, radish, pearl onion. $14.

Recommendation from the waitress and by far the best thing of the night.  Perhaps the only dish I actually would say I liked.

The trout was really quite good.  The texture was perfect, slightly firm, but still soft and enjoyable to eat.  It was lightly cured, just enough to give it some complexity but still allowing the pure flavor of the fish to come through.  There were six round chunks in here (the round shape was a little strange, but whatever), which seemed like a good portion for the cost.  The trout was also topped with a tiny bit of black salt.  It was the prefect amount, as it was really intense, and any more would have been way too much, but the tiny bit accenting the fish really nicely.

The radish slices and leafs added a fresh springtime feel to the dish.

I only had a tiny chunk of the avocado since I'm allergic, but it seemed fresh and complimented the trout well.

The pearl onions were a complete surprise - they were pickled! They had a great flavor to them.  I can't say they paired with the trout all that well, but with the radish they were fantastic.  I'd love them on a salad.

I'd get this again.

Geoduck, fennel, rhubarb, ginger, shiso.  $16.

I had geoduck for my first time just a couple months ago at Quince, where it was served as a side to a main dish.  I'd heard of it before, but it is a fairly rare ingredient, and one I just hadn't really had the chance to have before.  I fell in love with it on the spot.  So amazingly good.  That was a cooked preparation.  When I saw geoduck on the menu, and my fellow dining companions were interested in having it too, I was very excited!

After I ordered it, the waitress asked if we knew what geoduck was.  Then she sorta stopped herself, saying "well, you knew how to pronounce it, so you must know!", but proceeded to warn us that it was a raw preparation.  This was a theme of the evening: I'd order the dish, and the waitress would warn us about it.  I wonder if they have a lot of problems with people expecting different things than they receive, which I could easily see, given the vagueness on the menu.

Anyway, there were some slices of raw geoduck, a few chunks of fennel, some compressed rhubarb, and a foam of some sort.  None of the components in this dish really seemed to go together whatsoever.

The geoduck wasn't very good.  Slightly chewy as you'd expect, but had a very strong ocean taste to it.

The fennel was inedible.  Impossible to cut even with a knife.

The rhubarb was nice, compressed into some little logs, providing a sorta sweet yet tart component to the dish.  The only bite I liked in this dish.

I have no idea where the ginger or shiso were, I didn't see nor taste them.  I'm not sure what the foam was, it didn't have any flavor either.

Would not order again.  No one wanted to finish this dish either.  Price a little high for the amount of geoduck, as the most significant thing on the plate was the fennel.

Duck confit basteeya,   raisin, almond. $22. 

This is their signature dish.  Spiced duck confit, raisins, almonds, wrapped in filo dough, topped with powdered sugar.

This arrives as one giant duck pie, but they cut it up for you and serve it.  I found this annoying, since we had one vegetarian and had to explain not to give him any, and then they gave me a far bigger piece than I wanted, etc, but once we tried to cut the remaining piece ourselves later, I understood why.  Our knives just butchered it, causing the whole thing to fall apart.

Anyway.  This was another dish that everyone talks about.  Apparently a few years ago it used to be a more traditional version with chicken, but they switched it to duck confit somewhere along the way.  The restaurant clearly considers it their signature item, the waitress recommended it, and like I said, all of the reviews talk about it.  None of us were particularly excited about duck confit, but figured we HAD to try this.

In concept, I could see liking this.  From reading the reviews, I knew it would be fairly sweet.  Meat pie?  Check!  Filo dough?  Check!

But, I just didn't like it much.  The filling was well spiced, and the mix of savory duck and sweetness from the raisins did work.  The filo dough was crisp and buttery, but I felt like there wasn't nearly enough, it was mostly just the filling.  The powdered sugar went well with the filo dough, but it is funny to see powdered sugar not on dessert or brunch!

I wouldn't order again.  And $22?  It was big, but not that big (it was an appetizer).  Again, a dish that no one particularly wanted to finish.

Green farro, scallop, himalayan truffle, carrot.  $22.

This was a risotto style dish.  Again, as I ordered, the waitress gave a warning that the scallops would be chopped up and integrated into the dish.  If I hadn't already read about this, I could easily see expecting a seared or grilled scallop atop some farro, with carrots on the side or something.

This was the most highly recommended entree I saw in reviews, and the waitress said it was one of the best.  And I love scallops, farro, and truffles, so it seemed like a clear winner.

The scallops, as the waitress said, were diced and mixed in.  They were totally lost.  No flavor whatsoever.  The only thing they did was add a little different texture from the farro grains.  Extremely disappointing since I love scallops.

The carrot was a surprise: lightly pickled, in tiny little cubes, and raw!  They provided a great crunch and flavor.

The himalayan truffles were generous, with a very strong earthy, woodsy flavor.  They added the only real good flavors to the dish.  Note: these aren't anything like french truffles, much more similar in flavor to just any old wild mushrooms, which was a good thing since we had a truffle hater amongst us.

The farro was overcooked in my opinion.  Definitely more mushy that I like it, no where near al dente.  And green?  I don't get it.  The sauce was just kinda oily and heavy and didn't have any flavor.

This was just really disappointing.  There wasn't any flavor to the majority of this dish, it was like a mushy, flavorless porridge that was somehow made of farro and scallops, but you'd never know it.  The carrot and mushroom were actually pretty tasty, but they couldn't save this dish.  We didn't come remotely close to finishing this.  (I took it home to eat the next night, and the flavors had developed a little bit more, but the sauce got even more oily and kinda nasty).

Brassicas , couscous, almond, castelvetrano, harissa. $19. 

I didn't have this, but our vegetarian dining companion seemed to enjoy it enough.

Tisane, herbal, fresh mint. $5.

Well, shame on me for expecting just mint tea.  I guess I knew that Moroccan tea is usually sweet, but I wasn't expecting it.  I just wanted a nice cup of warm mint tea, and this was crazy sweet and not at all what I wanted.  My dining companions took this off my hands and seemed to enjoy it.

Chocolate brioche french toast, green cardamom, coffee, hazelnut. $10.

We were there just a day or two after one person's birthday, so I mentioned this to the waitress.  They wrote Happy Birthday on one of the desserts we ordered and included a candle.  Thanks, but most Michelin starred places do much more for birthdays!

Anyway.  I wouldn't really call this chocolate brioche french toast.  It was more like a small moist chocolate cake.  It was served warm, which was nice, but it wasn't particularly interesting.

It was served atop a bunch of coffee soil, a decent pairing, but there was far more of the soil than of the "french toast" itself.

And then there was a huge pile of cardamom flavored cream.  I think we all expected it to be ice cream, or something more custardy, given how much there was (bigger than the cake part itself), so we all took big spoonfuls of it, but it was just a cream.  A spoonful of it was pretty awful on its own, a little with the cake was ok, but the cardamom didn't really go well with the chocolate.  There was way too much proportion-wise for the dish.

There were also a couple dots of some foam and a hazelnut flavored candy.

Overall, nothing really good going on here.

Strawberry parfait, beet sorbet, rhubarb, kumquat, pistachio.  $10.

The birthday boy liked this one, so that was good.  I can't say it really came together for me though.

The beet sorbet was indeed a beet sorbet.  Very strong beet flavor.  I like beets, I like sorbet, I like creative desserts like this ... but beets and strawberries?  It didn't really work for me, at all.  I think the beet sorbet would have been really fun as a palette cleanser paired with something like a crème fraîche sorbet.  Mmm, yeah, I could see that really working.  But with this dessert?  Not at all.

The kumquat came as candied peel, just a few tiny pieces on the plate.  Just standard candied kumquat, but I find that quite delicious.  I wish there was more of it!  Went great with the rhubarb and strawberry flavors.

The rhubarb was in the sauce.  Kinda sweet and cloying to eat on its own, but it went ok with the mousse part.

The strawberry was in the sheets of fruit candy, which were like a fancy version of fruit leather.  Sweet, nice flavor, enjoyable enough, although awkward to eat.

The pistachio crumble got soggy really quickly from the sauce, and seemed too bitter for the dish.

The mousse was fairly light and fluffy and I didn't find it all that flavorful.  I think it was strawberry?

Overall, I couldn't really find any bites that made sense, no combination of the ingredients that worked together well.  I liked the kumquat and strawberry candy, but those do not a successful dessert make.

Lavender panna cotta, malted vanilla ice cream, walnut cake, rye.  $10.

This was my favorite of the desserts.  I ate pretty much this entire thing myself.  It wasn't worth ordering again though, just better than the others.

The panna cotta was decent, well set, good consistency.  It had a strong lavender flavor that I didn't particularly care for, but was as advertised.  It was atop a crunchy, sweet, filo dough? base, that was delicious.  I'd have preferred this to be a different flavor, but it was done well for what it was.

The walnut cake was just ... cake.  I didn't taste walnut.  It wasn't particularly moist or flavorful or anything.  Just ... cake.  Just there.

There was some stewed fruit on here as well, we think it was prune?  Not really sure why it was there, it went ok with the boring cake.

The malted vanilla ice cream was delicious.  Creamy, good flavor.  Yum!  I really enjoyed it with the crumble on the plate.

Speaking of the crumble, perhaps that was where the rye was?  I'm not sure.  Whatever it was, it was tasty, and I'm glad there was so much of it.  It went well with the panna cotta, although it was a little hard to cut off a chunk of the panna cotta and try to get some crumble with it.  But as I said, it went really well with the ice cream.

I don't really understand why a panna cotta would come with a side of ice cream though.  I'm glad it did, as I genuinely enjoyed my spoonfuls of ice cream and crumble.  They were the highlight of the meal actually.  But panna cotta with cake?  Panna cotta with ice cream?  Hmm.

Mignardises: raspberry gelee, "nutter butter", caramel chocolate crunch.

And ... moar dessert.  Yes, as usual, I had a lot of dessert.

The raspberry gelee wasn't very good.  I wouldn't have been able to identify what flavor it was if we weren't told.

The "nutter butter" was just two tiny, thin, crispy, peanut butter cookies with some pb filling inside, but it tasted exactly like a nutter butter.  Or, at least, what I remember nutter butters tasting like.  It has been years since I've had one, but I used to eat them all the time, as my grandmother always had her cookie jar full of them :)  Brought back so many memories!

The caramel chocolate crunch was a soft caramel layer with crispy rice puffs in it, topped with chocolate.  The caramel wasn't that great, the chocolate was just a forgettable milk chocolate, meh.

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Sushi @ ICHI Sushi

I rarely eat out on Saturday nights.  It is always such a hassel to get reservations at places that take them, and waits are always long at places that don't.  But it was pouring out, so I decided we'd take advantage of the fact that everyone hibernates when the rain comes out, and try out luck at going somewhere that is known to have waits.  Like sushi!  As you know, I've been on a quest to find a good goto sushi place - somewhere with really high quality fish, good atmosphere, and where I don't need to wait 3 hours.  I've been slowly working my way through my big list of recommendations, hoping to find somewhere that I can fall in love with.  It still hasn't happened, and I've hit up almost all of the recommendations I've received at this point.  I still love the appetizers and rolls from Sushi Zone, I just wish it was possible to go there and not wait 2 hours :)  And the omakase from Sushi Sam's is still my favorite nigiri, but it is all the way in San Mateo, and definitely on the pricer end (although, it comes with dessert, decent dessert at that!).

Anyway, tonight we checked out ICHI Sushi, in Bernal Heights.  Relatively new (only a year or two old).  There were a handful of tables, plus 9? seats at the sushi counter.  We walked in at 7pm and could have been seated at a table immediately if we had wanted, but I'd read a lot of reviews that all said the same thing: sit at the counter, in front of Tim, and get omakase.  The estimate for a wait was only 30 minutes, so we went to run errands while waiting, and they called us when our seats were available.  Not bad at all.

Like everyone says, sitting in front of Tim is a good time.  The chef/owner is friendly and personable, happy to tell you about the products he is working with.  He is clearly proud of his work and his ingredients, and his passion shows through.  He's sourcing ingredients from the places he truly feels are the best, but is not flashing it in your face.

The menu is very simple, yet deceiving and understated.  A few hot appetizers, a few salads, some very simple rolls (no crazy Flying Kamakazi Dragon Spaceship Rolls with mayonaise and 16 other ingredients), and some nigiri.  But there are interesting preparations hiding everywhere, just not acknowledged, like the fact that the proteins for the hot appetizers, like the Yuzu Chicken Wings, are cooked sous vide, although the menu never lists this.  Or, the tamago is made from jidori eggs, which he acknowledges are far more expensive, yet yields a better custard flavor due to the bigger yolks.  And the menu just lists it as standard tamago.  And the nigiri just lists the name of the fish.  "Tai" it will say.  You expect a piece of sea bream on some rice, perhaps a little wasabi under the fish.  Instead you get your sea bream and rice, but also a shiso leaf, and it is brushed with kabosu juice, sprinkled with green tea salt, and a mound of yuzukosho is dotted on top.  It reminded me slightly of Sushi Sam's in this way, with all of the nigiri arriving pre-sauced/seasoned, and we were instructed to not use soy sauce.  The flavors however were far more subtle than at Sushi Sam's, usually just a swipe of some kind of sauce and a little bit of garnish, where Sushi Sam's tends to bring on bolder flavors and include much larger components, a slice of kiwi, a pile of pickled onions, etc.  The fish was fresh, but no pieces had the wow factor that I've often experienced at Sushi Sam's.

I enjoyed sitting at the counter and interacting with Tim and the regulars.  This is clearly a place with repeat customers, and I can see why.  If it was in my neighborhood, I'd go back.  The fish was decent, the atmosphere casual and relaxed, and like I said, Tim really made the experience enjoyable.  It wasn't anything particularly memorable however, and I'm unlikely to trek all the way there again.

One big issue I had is that our bill didn't end up matching the prices on the menu.  Almost every item was received we were charged $0.50 - $2 more than the price on the menu we were handed.  I'm not really sure why, and didn't notice it until I went to write this post and saw so many discrepancies.  I don't think the prices we paid were unfair or anything, but it seems wrong to not actually charge the price the menu says.

We ordered the omakase, and asked for no hot foods, just to focus on sushi.  A leaf was placed in front of us with a pile of ginger, and we were off!  The ginger was really gingery.  It tasted less pickled than normal and more like actual ginger.  We weren't sure if this was something we preferred or not, but it was noteworthy.

(I somehow forgot to take photos of several pieces of sushi ... too excited to eat them, whoops!)

Cucumber Salad: Japanese Cucumber, Miso-Tahini Dressing, Sesame Seeds. $6.00.

We started with a cucumber salad.  I was actually really disappointed when I saw this, as I was expecting just to get sushi.  However, it was really fresh and tasty.  The cucumber had an awesome crunch to it, it had clearly been freshly sliced.  The miso-tahini dressing was really delicious, (I love tahini!), and the miso added more depth.  It was a tiny bit too salty, but only when I got too much on a slice.  I didn't actually care for the additional sesame seeds, I thought there were far too many and rather than adding a textural crunch they just coated the cucumber too much.

Fresh and tasty, and if I wanted a salad to start, I'd get this again, but I'd rather just eat more sushi :)

[ Not pictured, missing photo ]

Maguro, Big Eye Tuna, Philippines, $7.50.

Our first piece was a generous chunk of maguro.  Deep red and excellent looking  It was a nice cut of fish with a decent flavor, you knew it was clearly tuna.  It was brushed with white soy sauce, which I didn't taste at all.  It was my dining companion's favorite piece of the night.

(The bill said we got Maguro Zuke, a marinated version of this that we didn't actually get.  We had the regular one, which was listed at $7 on the menu.  The marinated one was listed as $7.25 on the menu.  We got charged $7.50.  Hmmm.)

Isaki: Three Line Grunt, Wild, Japan.  With shiso, yuzu kosho.  $8.50.

Next up was the isaki.  I'm not sure I've ever had grunt before!  My favorite part of omakase is that I get to explore new fish.  I didn't really care for this at all.  The fish was had a strange texture, really chewy and stringy.  I'm not sure if it is supposed to be like that or not.  The yuzu kosho (made from yuzu rind, salt, peppers) added a surprising spicy kick that I enjoyed.

Hirame Kobu Jime, Kelp Cured Fluke.  With ponzu, momiji oroshi (chile daikon), green onion. ($6.50 menu, $6 bill)

This one was really surprising, texture-wise.  My dining companion exclaimed "I wouldn't even know that was fish!" We were told it was cured, but it looked just like a normal piece of nigiri, so weren't expecting something so soft and pliable.  Such a strange mouthfeel for sushi.  I think I liked this, but I was so thrown off by the texture that missed out on the flavors.  It was certainly unique, I'd never had cured fluke before.  I'd order it again to focus more on the flavor next time!

Speaking of flavors, at this point, I did notice that the rice was really starchy tasting.  Due to the very light seasoning/saucing applied to the fish and our instructions not to use soy sauce, I felt like the rice was often taking over the flavors, rather than highlighting them.  It was also really sticky, and not particularly sweet or vinegared.  I didn't like it, and stopped including it for the most part at this point.

Tai: Japanese sea bream.  With shiso, kabosu juice, green tea salt, yuzu kosho $5.75.

Wow!  And I was just complaining that the fish wasn't all that sauced or seasoned :)  The tai was a great texture, firm yet soft at the same time.  It had a very light flavor, which meant that you tasted all of the extras that Tim added.  The shiso leaf gave a refreshing quality, the kabosu added some acidity, the yuzu kosho gave it a kick, and the green tea salt was awesome.  These flavors all combined together pretty nicely.  A good piece of fish to showcase of the sauces and seasonings.

Sawara: East coast spanish mackerel.  With white soy mirin, ginger, scallions.  $6.

I had no idea that the east coast (yes, of the US), had mackerel.  Hmm, and I grew up there!  It was interesting to see so much of the featured fish not actually being from Japan.

The fish was really soft, almost mushy.  I didn't care for it that much.  The fresh grated ginger and scallions on top were fresh and lightened it up.  I didn't really taste much from the white soy mirin.

(It is possible that this is the Aji instead, I'm missing one photo and not positive which was which).

[Not pictured, missing photo] 

Aji: Horse mackerel, wild, Japan.  With ponzu gel, fresh ginger, scallions. ($8 menu, $9 bill).

Unlike the Sawara, I loved the texture of this mackerel.  Firm yet soft, really nice to bite into.  The flavor was really light, not remotely fishy, which I often dislike with Aji.  The ponzu gel added some nice flavor, and again, the ginger and scallions on top were crisp and fresh.

Kona Kampachi: Hawaiian Amberjack.   White soy sauce, sake gel. ($6.50 menu, $6.75 bill).

Another piece of fish with a good firm texture.  The sake gel added a lot of flavor that I really liked, although it was a little strange to have such a slippery, shiny piece of fish.  The white soy sauce came through in this case, perhaps a little too strongly, as it was kinda salty.

Tuna, avocado, sesame seed salad.

Meh.  Fresh enough avocado, ok tuna, again too many sesame seeds.  Lightly marinated in something.  The tuna was a little mushy and not as flavorful as the nigiri preparation we started with.

Umi Maso: Ocean Trout, Iceland.  With shiso, yuzukosho, and Hawaiian red sea salt. $6.50.

Heh, at this point Tim noticed me not eating the rice and gave me this one without it.

This was my favorite piece of fish, hands down.  I've noticed lately that salmon and trout tend to be my favorites, which is funny, because I really don't care for cooked salmon much at all.  I love it raw, I like it smoked, but really, really just don't like it cooked.

Anyway.  The fish was perfect, nice, firm, flavorful.  And the Hawaiian red sea salt was absolutely delicious!

Nasu: Japanesse eggplant. ($4 menu, $4.75 bill).

I was full at this point, and we told Tim we were done.  But I had read in a bunch of Yelp reviews that the nasu was particularly good here.  Of course, I've learned not to trust the Yelpers, plus, who on earth gets the eggplant when you can be getting more fish instead?  Or when you've declared yourself done?  But then some regulars came in and ordered it.  I asked them how it was, and they said it was really good.  I asked Tim how it was, and he said it was great, explained that it was marinated in soy, salt, and pepper.

It was good!  My dining companion was very skeptical as he often doesn't like eggplant (too slimy, too full of seeds, etc), but he enjoyed this too.  Served hot, with a crispy skin, and a soft but not mushy interior.  I'm very glad we ordered this, it might actually have been my favorite thing of the evening.

Tamago: Jindori egg omelet. ($4.50 menu, $4.75 bill).

And if you've been reading my sushi posts, you know I always finish with tamago for "dessert".  I'm a dessert girl, and most sushi places don't offer much in the way of dessert, so this has become my goto sweet finish.  Unfortunately, I've been really, really grumpy at most of the tamago I've had lately.  It has been not sweet, too eggy, too fried, etc.  Just disappointing over and over.

But, another set of regulars ordered this.  They told me it was fantastic here.  Tim chimed in that it was just freshly made.  So, I definitely had to try it.  This was probably the most moist tamago I've ever had.  Perhaps because it was so fresh?  Not too eggy, sweet but not too sweet, just really nicely done, very fluffy.  Tim explained that the jindori eggs he uses have far larger yolks (apparently very yellow as well), which makes the omelet much richer and more custard like.  Whatever did it, this was definitely a good execution.  I enjoyed it plain, with rice, with soy sauce, and with both soy sauce and rice.  Not sure which way I preferred it the most, it was all good.

Uni: Sea urchin, Mendocino. $7.95.

Uh, I said I was done several pieces ago, didn't I?  And I'd had my "dessert".  We actually had our bill on the table, when the topic of uni came up.  Tim was telling us how he gets his uni locally from Mendocino and thinks it is the best uni in the world.  Better than Santa Barbara, Maine, Japan, etc. I've got a thing for uni, particularly these days, so I had to have some.

In retrospect, I shouldn't have ordered this.  The last three pieces I'd had were all the highlights of my meal (the trout, the nasu, the tamago) and I was ending on a good note already.  And if Tim thought it was amazing, wouldn't he have included it in our omakase?  But ... uni!  I couldn't resist, even though we no longer had chopsticks, plates, or anything, and our bill was sitting in front of us.

The uni was ... ok.  Creamy enough I guess, but not really all that flavorful.  It definitely didn't have the richness and real strong uni flavor I was looking for.

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