Mother’s Day Celebration: Kushiyu May 11, 2008

Every year, a Mother’s Day celebration is a toss up between Kushiyu and a few other Japanese restaurants but the yakitori house in Tarzana won out this year.  And I’m glad it did.

I like the playfulness of yakitori, the Japanese skewers. It’s like eating fondue, expect contents of vegetable and protein are a little more nutritionally dense than a melted cheese and a piece of bread. These yakitoris are more of a casual eat in Japan – perhaps something you munch on while enjoying ice cold Sapporo at izakaya (Here’s the 411 on yakitori) – but Kushiyu, a popular Ventura Blvd. joint, somehow turned the Japanese pub food it into a chic, trendy staple of an upscale Valley community. It’s not uncommon to run into some celebrities here dining at a sushi counter.

But unlike those celebrities, I like to go straight to yakitoris and a few appetizers when I’m at Kushiyu (we don’t mess with sushi here), and I’m glad my family was up for it as well.

Oyster in curry sauce (front) and fried crab and shiitake mushroom (back)

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Crispy tuna (crispy rice topped with spicy tuna)

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Chicken and Vegetable Yakitori Combination
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Vegetable and Seafood Yakitori Combination

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Renkon (our favorite!)

Happy Mother’s Day, mom!  Thanks for everything and we love you! 

Kushiyu
18713 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana, CA 91356
★★★★★

Heart Breaker: Daikokuya April 22, 2008

I suppose I should not repeat the kinds of vocabularies that came of my month, but you can probably imagine the tantrum I threw after I saw this sign posted on the door of my favorite ramen joint, Daikokuya.  A flood of tears inevitably followed.  

Until I can compose myself, I’m going to indulge in Keizo’s blog, Go Ramen!, and pretend that I was there slurping the ramen noodle swimming in flavorful pork broth. 

Daikokuya

327 E. First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Dude, Where’s My Food? Nobu Los Angeles March 27, 2008

 

(Excuse me, may we eat these peanuts? We’re still hungry.)

My mother always told me that Japanese food is meant to be savored with the eyes first, then the stomach. She certainly practices what she preaches because everything she prepares (even a little bento box she packs for father daily) is vibrant, playful and charming — a total visual and gastronomic treat.

My pals and I — craving something new and interesting – made a trip over the hill to check out the buzz surrounding Nobu in Los Angeles.  Located only a few blocks from the original restaurant that started the sushi revolution in Los Angeles, Nobu is the newest member of the Matstuhisa empire — and a perfect epicurean getaway for us foodies looking for a little fun in the city … or so we had hoped. 

We ordered several dishes to share as suggested by our server, and when plates arrived to our table one by one, I remembered the wise words of my mother.  Dishes at Nobu were definitely a feast to the eyes.  Just a quick glance at the beautiful Toro Tartar that resembled an abstract artwork proves the pride chefs put into presentation. 
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Toro Tartar with Caviar
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However, what Nobu forgot was the second part of the philosophy, that it should also be enjoyed with the stomach. I understand that the majority of the clienteles in a trendy restaurant like Nobu are size 2 models and actresses, but are you kidding me?  These dishes were way too tiny!  Especially for the price we’re dishing out for these plates, we would have loved to see something with a little more substance, than just a sprinkle of chopped fish for a full order of ceviche. We ended up ordering a couple bowls of steamed rice just so that we didn’t have to make a beeline to a nearby fast food drive thru after dinner.  I was even tempted to eat those peanut-looking lights hanging from the ceiling!

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Ceviche Nobu Style
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King Crab Tempura with Amazu Ponzu Sauce (the best dish of the night!)

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Yellowtail Sashimi with Jalapeno
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Black Cod with Miso
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Mixed Vegetable with Truffle Butter (the only dish with real substance, I thought.)
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Make no mistake about it – everything served at Nobu is fresh, tasty and fabulous, and the service is absolutely out of this world (I think there were more servers than customers there!).  And Nobu Matsuhisa is pretty much a culinary God.  His ability to use traditional Japanese ingredients like yuzu and mixing it up with South American (Peruvian) touches like jalapeno is nothing less than magical.  However, the magic was lost a bit by an unsatisfactory portion. Maybe it’s just me, that I don’t have much of an appreciation for trendy, pretentious, anorexic-portion-serving dining spots, but I think I would choose the generous portion of my mom’s bento box over this fancy meals any day, thank you very much.

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Nobu Los Angeles
903 North La Cienega Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90069
★★★☆☆

But the food alone gets ★★★★★

Best Sushi during Hibernation: Kobe Sushi January 28, 2008

I blame everything on the rain –  the traffic (which takes an hour to travel mere three miles); decrease in productivity (cold weather makes me absolutely lazy), unexplainable hunger (well, maybe that’s everyday for me)… everything. Thanks to the weeklong rain-fest in Los Angeles, I consumed extra 50 cups of hot chocolate (just to stay warm and cozy), spent extra few bucks on takeouts for dinner (who wants to go grocery shopping in pouring rain?), and spent the entire weekend in my pajamas (I can’t remember when was the last time I took shower … sorry, too much info there). It was a total unproductive, completely useless weekend for me.
What kept me alive was this lovely and friendly (and virtually unknown) Kobe sushi restaurant that I can dash to and bring food to go. Without this place, I would have just stayed in bed and starved to death. I had absolutely no desire to stand in the kitchen to cook, or put on clothes to go out to eat, so the takeout was the only option to keep myself adequately nourished as I hibernated like a bear in winter snow. 
Here’s what I brought home and enjoyed at a comfort of my own home as I listened to the rain drop from the window: saba (mackerel), salmon, yellowtail and ika (squid) sushi, and a spicy yellowtail hand roll (The usual. I’m a creature of habit). I’m not a huge fan of their rolls (say no to mayonnaise!) but the nigiris are simply amazing. Although noone seems to embrace this tiny, cozy place hidden in a corner shopping center as much as I do (maybe people just can’t find the place?), trust me when I say that it offers one of the best sushis around.

Okay, time to go back to bed now.

Kobe Sushi
22984 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, CA 91367
★★★★☆

A Sweet Culinary Playground: Green Tea Cake January 13, 2008

One thing I regret to this day is not visiting Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki when I was in Paris a few years ago, to experience his famous Matcha Opera Cake, or any of his world-renowned green-tea inspired desserts for that matter. Ever since I read about him about five years ago in a Japanese fashion magazine, I’ve been smitten by his creativity and the ability to incorporate traditional Japanese ingredients such as matcha (green tea) and yuzu (citrus fruit) into authentic French pastries, and I’ve been inspired to include something similar to my own baking repertoire.
The thing that kept me from making any matcha desserts until now, however, was my inability to locate green tea powder, which is the key component of these desserts. I had tried several Japanese grocery stores in the past but all I could find were “green ice tea mix,” which already included sugar. And when I finally did find them, they were too expensive for me to afford. Then, when I was making my regular rounds to Teavana the other day, I ran into one that was reasonably priced at $16 an once so I snatched up a couple for my pantry. Now fully equipped, I was eagerly ready to enter the Franco-Japanese culinary melting pot.
While visiting Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit a few months back, I encountered this amazing recipe for Green Tea, Lavender, and Honey Cupcake Bombe. I had since filed it away in my baking “to do” folder hoping to someday bring it to life, and I was able to finally wipe off the dust and put this recipe to work! I thought about making the full-blown version of the bombe at first, but after contemplating I decided to just try the green tea cake recipe for more simple dessert.

Would you like a cake to go with my butter?

I recommend this recipe to anyone who is interested in making a dense, moist, oh-so-heavenly matcha cupcake or a sheet cake as I did here. I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of butter and sugar that went into this beautiful pistachio-colored batter but you will realize when you take a first bite that all the fat and calories are worth it.  And because it is rich, a small slice will satisfy your sweet tooth. One mistake I made was mixing the matcha power with the dry ingredients when the recipe called to dissolve the powder with milk and incorporate it into the wet ingredients.  Oops (but the end result still came out perfect, thank goodness).

Look how beautiful the batter looks!

My initial plan was to sandwich the sweet red bean (azuki) paste between two heart-shaped cake, but the cake was already pretty thick so I settled on placing azuki on the side, and finished off by sprinkling powered sugar on top. I matched the cake with steaming Japanese green tea, of course!

I really like the simplicity of this dessert. Keeping everything beautiful yet clean and simple allow the flavors to take center stage, which is what makes Japanese and French desserts truly timeless.

Delicious Present: Pan-Fried Gyozas January 9, 2008

I still can’t believe Christmas is over. I mean, we spend many months preparing for the big day – shopping for gifts, writing cards, and arranging travel – and bam! it’s over. Just like that. And why is it that even though Christmas falls on the exact same day, every single year, and we still manage to get blindsided by how quickly the day arrives, especially when you’re not prepared? It makes me feel like the end result, although festive and heart warming, doesn’t match up to all the headaches and hard work you had to endure to get there.
There are some things, however, that are worth all the effort because the end result is so wonderful. To me, gyoza-making is one of those special exceptions where every ounce of effort is rewarded in every bite you take afterward.
These Japanese gyozas are so delicious that I willingly mix the cold ground beef with chopped napa cabbage and scallions with my own hands in the freezing kitchen and patiently wrap gazillions of these little dumplings (and make pretty creases). I even welcome the mindless, repetitious work (I actually find it enjoyable, which explains my knitting addiction) so making gyozas serve as somewhat of a therapy for me.

Traditional gyozas call for nira (chives) for filling but I usually substitute it by adding napa cabbage and scallions because they’re readily available. I personally like nira so much better and the cabbage and the scallions could not adequately replace the deep flavor of nira, but they still provide great texture to the gyoza.
Unlike the recipe that calls for dashi (fish stock), seaweed bits, flour or cornstarch, and any other special ingredients, our family recipe is quite simple. We just add finely chopped vegetables (water squeezed out) and ground beef together, and flavor the mixture with salt and pepper (preferably white), sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger and garlic. I sometime omit garlic because I like packing leftovers for lunch the following day and I don’t want to be socially unacceptable with the garlic breath.  I just add it to my dipping sauce made by combining soy sauce, rice vinegar and chili oil.

When all the gyozas are filled and wrapped, move them to a hot skillet and pan fry them with oil first. When the meat mixture is cooked (about 7 minutes on medium heat), crank up the heat to high and pour 1/2 cup of water and close the lid until the water completely vaporizes. This allows dumplings to steam, giving them the perfectly crunchy and moist texture. Just be careful not to put too much water, or you’ll end up with soggy gyozas.

What you get at the end of your patience and hard work are lovely presents wrapped beautifully in gyoza wrapper. These, for me, are so much better than gifts I find under the Christmas tree.

Flavor of Home: Spicy Albacore Hand Rolls January 8, 2008

I had been away from home for the last few days and although I’d been fed pretty well during that time, my body was craving for something home-y, particularly something with soy sauce in it (I’m so Japanese). I remembered that I still had a piece of albacore that my boyfriend caught in a freezer so I decided to make spicy albacore hand rolls for dinner. It was perfect because the preparation was quick and simple, and it certainly satisfied my soy sauce and steamed rice cravings!
I absolutely adore mayonnaise and I put a dollop of the smooth, tangy mayo on pretty much anything but there’s one place even the heavenly spread is off limit and that is in a spicy fish mix. Many sushi restaurants prepare spicy tuna and other rolls by adding mayo to the fish mixture, and while it provides the rich creaminess to the overall texture, I find that the distinct flavor of the fish that makes the rolls so delicious gets lost in it. I even think it’s the restaurants’ ploy to disguise the flavor of the fish that are past the expiration date or close to going bad (I’m just saying). I think there are so many other ways to heighten the flavor of the mixture without jeopardizing its integrity.
I made mine by mixing finely chopped scallions, grated garlic and ginger, sesame oil, chili oil (ra yu), a dash of soy sauce and a bit of miso paste with chopped albacore. I smashed the albacore and incorporated all the ingredients by using the face of a knife. The chili oil should give enough heat but if you can handle more, a several squirts of Sriracha should do the job. My boyfriend is the one who recently introduced me to the idea of putting miso in it and it certainly stuck with me.
I made sushi rice by adding sweet rice vinegar to steamed rice and I wrapped the rice and the albacore with seaweed for a homemade sushi roll.

It sure is nice to be home : - )

An American Idol: Sushi Dan November 30, 2007

I never understood why the public gets so outraged when pop stars are caught lip-synching. It seems like what people fail to distinguish is the difference between “singers,” and “performers.” For me, the Ashley Simpsons and even the Janet Jacksons of the pop world are “performers” who’s job is to entertain the crowd and not to wow them with their singing skills, so I naturally don’t put them on the same vocal standards as, say, Sarah Brightman, a songbird who makes bank on her ability to hold a tune. But that doesn’t make one better or worse than the other. Sarah can sing better than Janet, but Janet sure can move better than Sarah. They’re just …  you know … different, and it’s quite unfair to compare the apples with oranges. 

For me, just like the music industry, the sushi world also has its own classifications. There are the “traditional” sushi establishments that are so hard-core that highly trained, extremely knowledgeable sushi chef will literally chop your head off with a Ginzu knife if you even think about ordering anything with mayonnaise (their names are usually Ken, Hiro, or Kaz). Then there are the “American” sushi places where cute, young sushi chefs (Peter, John, Mike — obviously made-up names) serve creative rolls and call them sushi just because they contain rice and seaweed. The truth is, the food served at both places are equally delicious in its own way, but they are two completely different genre of food and they should not be compared or be subjected to same standards.

I can see why people may think that I’m a sushi snob because I’ve only been able to find to a handful of restaurants that I think capture the true essence of the “traditional” sushi, even in this super sushi-dense San Fernando Valley.  This could be misconstrued as me being highly critical and super selective, although the truth is that I’ve been to many, many good “American” sushi places around. 

Sushi Dan in Studio City, to me, is the quintessential “American” sushi establishment that serves creative and fun sushi rolls, like Shrimp Killer that has a log of cream cheese in the middle of a deep- fried, eel-sauce drenched roll. The clientale is mostly young, hip Hollywood-wannabe type and the atmopshere is busy and lively, even during lunch hours.  It offers traditional sushi menu but why bother when you can have the Yummy Crunchy and all the other interesting creations.  I was introduced to this place by my friends/colleagues only a few weeks ago, but we’ve been back for lunch already twice in a short amount of time.

Shrimp Killer, shrimp tempura, cream cheese and cucumber inside, topped with eel sauce
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Yummy Crunchy, tuna tomato, house dressing on fried wonton skins

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Salmon sashimi

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Assortment of sushi that came with the lunch special

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Philadelpha Roll

Would I recommend this place to hard-core sushi purists (alas my boyfriend)? Probably not. But would I recommend it for someone who’s looking for some fun, delicious “American” sushi? Absolutely. 

Sushi Dan
11056 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, CA 91604
★★★★☆

Delicious Walk Down the Memory Lane: Musha October 24, 2007

I remember finding an old photo album that belonged to my parents one day. Between the dusted and now-faded pages stood a young couple, happily in love. My mother — so vibrant and beautiful — looked just like the Japanese version of Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday. It’s quite surreal to think that your parents were once a teenager too.  … And she is still very beautiful today. 
Every time I see things reminiscent of the Kurosawa-esque post World War II Japan, I somehow think of my parents as young adults (although they are of much later generation). And I image Musha would resemble a place they may have frequented back in the days in Tokyo.
The décor of Musha, a warm dining room-like izakaya in Torrance, has a distinct feel of an old Tokyo, with a little sprinkle of Japan’s own interpretation of the Western world — with cherrywood tables and chairs, dim lights, and a menu written in traditional Japanese calligraphy but with hip, modern, playful fonts. In the corner, on the other side of the counter, chefs whip up Japan’s take on popular non-Japanese dishes in an open kitchen. The place is full of energy — an optimistic, positive, old-school spirit  – possibly that of  Japan in the 40s trying to rebuild the country and mend the broken spirits.
The food is reminiscent of the old era as well, offering the Japanese incarnation on worldly menu, as well as some truly authentic Japanese dishes. Personally, I love Japanese “Western” food, if I may call it that. Some of my favorites are croquet, spaghetti with meat sauce and gratin. I also find wafu meat loaf (“hamberg,” as it’s called) delicious. This type of food is the perfect reflection of Japan’s approach to things – take something that’s already in existence and improve it, and make it its own in the process (we didn’t invent cars, we just made them better!). Musha perfects this genre of food while successfully preserving the spirit of authentic Japanese culinary wonders.
My friend (whom I bestowed the title of “honorary Japanese” because of her impressive knowledge and interest in the Japanese culinary culture) and I ordered several of the restaurant’s popular dishes.
The refreshing Harusame Salad was a perfect way to commence the epicurean adventure. The salad combined two of my favorite things — harusame and tangy vinegar — and whet the appetite for more.

Here are some of the delicious food we devoured in:

“Ebi Mayo Mayo,” fried battered shrimps (plump and absolutely satisfying) smothered in mayonnaise-base sauce.
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Buta Kakuni

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Baguette Gratin (what diet?)
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The most impressive dish of all was Cheese Risotto (pictured on top and above), served in a well of Parmigiano-Reggiano block. The chef mixed the risotto with the cheese at the table, scraping the generous layers of the cheese as he assembled. I have never seen anything like this in my life and my eyes almost teared up with joy and anticipation. The flavor and texture were as heavenly as it looks. The interesting part is that the risotto tasted nothing like the ones I’ve had before, different from the ones served in Italian restaurants. I can’t pinpoint what it was that made it unique, but the Arborio rice, panchetta and cheese tasted like the creamy gratin my mother used to make for us as a child.

Even with same ingredients, Musha has the magical touch to create something that would take me on a journey down the memory lane.   

Musha:  1725 Carson Street, Suite B, Torrance, CA 92780

★★★★★

Just the Way I Like It: Okonomiyaki October 23, 2007

My year-end resolution is to incorporate more vegetable into my diet and reduce as much sugar and fat as possible to better my overall health. I’m certainly not the one to jump on the fad diet bandwagon and jeopardize my sanity so I need to look for ways to manage my health while still enjoying all the food I love (which, admittedly, is everything).
Okonomiyaki I cooked for dinner tonight held the key to sensible eating. Often dubbed as Japanese pancake, okonomiyaki is a playground of all things wonderful – a colorful array of fresh vegetable including cabbage, onion, scallion, carrot and grated yam, and perhaps add some meat, squid or octopus, bind together with flour, water and eggs. The original version also includes fried batter crumbs for texture, dashi (fish stock) and a few slices of bacon or pork for added flavor, but I omitted those items - along with any kind of meat – for obvious reason. The pancake is usually topped with katsuobushi (bonita flakes), aonori (seaweed) and a special okonomiyaki sauce (I personally like tonkatsu sauce better) and ginger. Despite my attempt to reduce fat, I could not resist the drizzle of Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise!
“Okonomiyaki,” translates loosely to “however you like it,” suggesting that your imagination is the only thing holding you back from creating a one-of-a-kind, satisfying piece of delight.
Just by looking at the picture, can you tell that this okonomiyaki has one carrot, one large onion and almost two cups of cabbage? Talk about nutritionally dense and satisfying meal – just the way I like it.