SugarFISH: Pretty. Good. Pretty Good.

I headed out to Marina del Rey with Reno (note: the name has NO geographical implications about his person) to check out Sushi Nozawa’s “hip” sister restaurant, SugarFISH. And how do we know its hip?

a) It’s called SugarFISH instead of some Japanese word that ends with a vowel (Nozawa, Asanebo, Katsu-ya, etc.)
b) 98% of the patrons are non-Japanese. 100% of the waitstaff are non-Japanese.
c) Wood is not a prominent feature of the interior.
d) The chef doesn’t matter.

Well, SugarFISH does and does not fulfill criteria d). I mean, it IS Chef Kazunori Nozawa’s restaurant and he DOES matter in the LA Sushi circuit. At the same time, his connection to the restaurant probably extends just to the fact that he was the one to sign the lease to the restaurant space. Usually, I veer away from “hip” sushi joints but given the Nozawa connection (regardless of how minute that connection may be) and the fact that it at least has the authenticness to forego the American rolls, I thought I’d give it a try.

The place was definitely cute. That is, minimalism with bright, happy colors. We were promptly seated and went with the flow by ordering two “trust me” sets. In understandable terms, the “trust me” is American for “omakase” but given the fact that Nozawa isn’t actually present for you to trust and the menu is pre-set and displayed on the high-tech TV screen, it’s not really omakase…oh wait, yes it is – I already said it, it’s AMERICAN omakase.

First up was the tuna sashimi. Good, not great. I’m not a fan of ponzu sauce and it was drenched in that. I didn’t hate it or anything but it wasn’t something to rave about either. Next was the salmon nigiri and albacore nigiri. Not unlike most other people, salmon is one of my favorite sushi choices…but here, it was COMPLETELY OVERSHADOWED by the albacore. Actually, everything else that night was overshadowed by the albacore. It was ohhhhh-so-good; literally melt-in-your-mouth. Plus, Reno and I weren’t crazy about the sesame on the salmon nigiri – the salmon was already a compromised size and the sesame flavor overwhelmed the taste of the fish. The waitstaff were attentive but I won’t lie – they got on my nerves a little with their enthusiasm to clear plates. I was midchew of my last piece of albacore nigiri when they swooped in and took my plate away. I mean, yes, the plate IS empty but I don’t want the staff to invade my space when I’m gnawing on a mouthful of raw fish and rice. Anyhow, that’s beside the point. The void space in front of me was promptly replaced by a plate with four toro rolls and four crab rolls.

Here’s where Reno and I differed – he was more into the crab (which reminded me too much of canned tuna and mayo) and I was alllllllll about the toro (which was “too slimy” for his taste). Well, I happen to like “slimy” foods (raw oysters anyone?) so the toro made me a happy person.

We were beginning to get full by the time we finished our rolls so I had no qualms about the next “course” being the last: two pieces of yellowtail nigiri and two pieces of “Nozawa style” shrimp. Both Reno and I don’t care too much for cooked shrimp sushi so we pretty much just glossed over that. Plus, they did the sesame thing AGAIN. Seriously, someone needs to take the sesame away from the SugarFISH kitchen…and maybe take away the all-caps ridiculousness of the second half of the restaurant name. And the hamachi? Hmmm…I think we were both conflicted about that. Reno mentioned a “sour” taste which – given the fact that it IS raw fish – freaked me out at first (and when it comes to acuteness of the senses, I trust Reno. After all, he insists on smelling his food before putting it in his mouth). I took a bite of the hamachi and, thankfully, it wasn’t the sour in the way bad fish would be. It’s a hard taste to describe but yes, it wasn’t that mild, creamy taste that the albacore had. And I was put off by the fact that I actually had to BITE into the hamachi. Yes, yes, I’ve just been too spoilt by the albacore…but who wouldn’t be after experiencing fish just dissolving by itself into a mass of loveliness on the tongue?

On specifics though, I wasn’t feeling the rice. It fell apart easily and that, combined with my feeble chopstick skills amounted to a small mountain of rice in the soy sauce dish (I lie. I’m actually quite fantastic with chopsticks…but just not, for some reason, when it comes to sushi). Reno mentioned that it could be because of a lessened amount of rice vinegar. Most probably. After all, the rice had none of that tart taste I like so much. Oh well, they ARE catering to the 98% white/”AZN” clientele. On top of that, the wasabi was mild as hell (again, the clientele explains this). I could eat an ice-cream scoop of that and not feel a thing.

The “trust me” was $26 sans tax and tips. Not bad at all given how much food there was. Would I go back? Probably not. It’s a cute place and the food is good but not stellar. But I’m on a tight schedule (less than THREE MONTHS LEFT!!) and there are too many other places to try. But even without the time-constraint, I think I’ll stick with places like Sushi Masu. I’ll leave SugarFISH to the i-Phone toting generation.

FOOD: 3/5
SERVICE: 3/5
ATMOSPHERE: 3.5/5

SugarFISH ($$)
4722 1/4 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
(310) 306-6300
www.sugarfishsushi.com

*Note: I just realized I’ve been having a massive, UNINTENDED seafood+rice fiesta. Seafood fried rice, paella, and now sushi? Just thought I’d share that information.

Spain: Don't Think There's Pain in Barcelona

My love for Spanish food stems from the family dinners we used to have at El Cid back home when I was younger. In fact, El Cid was the family’s favorite restaurant and it was the one “gweilo” restaurant that my grandma approved of. We liked it so much that we would put up with the obnoxious escalator plan at Festival Walk just so we could eat there. Yes, the fond memories of pan con tomate, chorizo, their salt-baked whole fish and of course…paella del mar.

But alas, all good things must come to an end. When El Cid closed down their Festival Walk branch, we were all devastated. I was deeply traumatized and haven’t had Spanish food again since, for fear that it would be brutally snatched away from me again. I didn’t want to be hurt again…so I blocked out Spanish food altogether.

Well, two nights ago, I decided to re-embrace Spanish food. My wound still hadn’t healed completely but something at the back of my mind kept telling me that it was time to be brave and eat Paella again. Be brave. So off we went, Sunny at the wheel, driving us all to faraway Glendale.

About forty minutes of Los Angeles traffic later, we finally arrived at the way-too-small parking lot in front of Spain. Another hole-in-the-wall place with a garish red interior and a mini “market” inside. Just the kind of setting that usually promises good food. There was a healthy crowd and we were quickly seated and menued. The Paella de Mar ($24.99 for two person order, extra $ for larger portion) was as good as ordered and we decided to order two tapas on top of that – the ensulada de atun/potato salad with tuna ($6.49) and the champignones al ajillo/mushrooms sautéed with garlic ($7.49).


We enjoyed both the tapas. The potato with tuna tasted like regular deli-style tuna salad but I was fine with that because a) after all, it IS salad with tuna…what else would I expect? And b) I love deli-style tuna salad. But I think I loved the breadbasket most :). Crunchy crust with a pillowy inside…I ate it by itself, I ate it with the tuna, I ate it.

But all came to a halt when the Paella arrived at the table. After all those years, here it was again in front of me – deep yellow and flecked with the treasures of the ocean. No joke, Spain was REALLY LIBERAL with the seafood – mussels, clams, prawns, scampi, crab legs, squid, fish…you get the idea. I put several spoonfuls onto my plate. Waited…and then took my first bite.


How stupid was I to have abstained from Spanish food for all these years? All that Paella-eating-time wasted. OHMYGAAAAWD it was sooooooo good. Every granule of rice has soaked up the rich flavor of the seafood broth and saffron. Literally, you don’t actually need to eat the seafood to taste the seafood! Add a squeeze of lime and it turns into something I will never ever tire of eating. The seafood was well-cooked…especially the white fish. The bite-sized chunks were so tender I could feed it to a newborn baby (but I won’t…I’d feed it to myself). We kept eating until we were stuffed…and even then we kept eating. And we STILL had leftovers. WTF?

(LOVE in rice form)

The total came to about $60 for 3 people with tips and tax. I didn’t know but they added an extra half order to our Paella so it was actually $37.99 instead of $24.99. I thought the tapas were probably a little expensive for the size and for what they were (I mean, almost $8.00 for a small bowl of mushrooms is a little much). But given how much of the paella we had left over, I reckon, the next time we come here (which we definitely will be doing), we can just order one tapa and a two-people portion of Paella and be set.Yes, we WERE stuffed, but we’re also gross pigs so we drove out to West Hollywood and had dessert at MILK. I couldn’t do the giant brownie sundae again (but mmmm…so good) so I had a slice of chocolate banana bread ($2.50). Awesome!

FOOD: 5/5
SERVICE: 3/5
ATMOSPHERE: 3.5/5

SPAIN ($$)
1866 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(323) 667-9045
http://www.restaurantspain.net

MILK ($)
7290 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 939-6455
http://www.themilkshop.com

Natalie Peruvian: Eat Your Greens!

I don’t usually spend my Friday nights in the industrialized part of Hollywood, trekking over the 101 freeway but I found myself doing just that on my way to meet Moeha and Claudia for dinner. I arrived at the restaurant the earliest and, not wanting to fight the biting wind and the scary homeless man in the parking lot, I nipped into the tiny hole-in-the-wall store and waited inside.

Moeha had suggested this place – Natalie Peruvian Seafood Restaurant – and I had a good feeling about the place already. The place was kitschy cozy – the type of place an old Peruvian couple would go to, to linger under the television and watch soccer or read the Peruvian papers they have at the counter. I was in mid-perusal of the extensive menu when Moeha and Claudia arrived and with three brains pooled together, we finally settled on our order (yes, it was a very difficult task).

We ordered the fried calamari and the ceviche mixto as appetizers and the sautéed shrimp dish and the arroz chaufa de mariscos dish (Peruvian seafood fried rice) to split between us. The portions are huge. Really. I could bathe my future baby in the bowl that the fried rice came in! And what about the taste? Absolutely awesome!

I luuuuuurve ceviche. I mean, “raw” fish in a tangy lime sauce…what’s there not to like? Natalie’s also piles on a mountain of raw red onions (ya, our breath stunk afterwards but we weren’t on a date so whatevs) which kicked the ceviche up a notch. It was amazing…the perfect dish to rev up the appetite. Same praise for the calamari. And God Bless Natalie, whoever she is, for her dish of sautéed shrimps. Cooked perfectly and flavored with A LOT O’ garlic. MMmmmm. But even the garlic shrimp had to give way to the seafood fried rice. The fried rice wasn’t good…it was EFFIN’ AMAZING!! It’s somewhat like Chinese fried rice (it even had green onions!) but also distinctly Peruvian (I’m going to venture a guess and say that it’s the sauce that they fry the rice in). And it was loaded with seafood! The rice soaked up all the beautiful flavors of the sauce and of the seafood and I found myself spooning more of the rice onto my plate even though I was way past stuffed.

Having been a fish-etarian for close to four months now, this place was perfect for me. That being said, however, if you’re a straight-up vegetarian, you can forget about Natalie’s. The vegetable component of a typical meal here amounts to about three leaves of lettuce (as a ‘bed’ for the meat) and a sprinkling of red onions (as a garnish for the meat). That’s it. But maybe that won’t matter…because at Natalie’s, “greens” takes on an entirely different meaning:

It’s the aji sauce.

A bright green, creamy and mildly spicy concoction of goodness. It was brought to the table along with the bread and I’ve waited until the end to bring it up because it really deserves special mention. I was tempted to stick a straw into that vat of sauce and consume the whole thing but I managed to retain some small degree of social decorum and resorted instead to scooping spoonfuls of that Godsent sauce over everything that was brought to the table. Even though the garlicy shrimp was awesome, I have to confess that I was more excited about the white rice it was served with because it provided the perfect canvas for me to (very liberally) decorate with aji sauce. Yes, it was that good.

By the end of the meal, I had fallen madly in love with Peruvian food. And on top of that great meal, the waitstaff are super friendly and helpful. We were stuffed but still had about two meals worth of food left over…and all that still came out to only $20 a person! Wow.

Oh, Peru. I Love. YOU.

FOOD: 4.5/5
SERVICE: 4.5/5
ATMOSPHERE: 4/5

Natalie Peruvian Seafood Restaurant ($$)
5759 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(323) 463-8340

Gordon Ramsay. America Bites the Hand that Feeds You.

*For those who do not enjoy reading paragraph upon paragraph of prose (i.e. econ/science/engineering majors), please scroll down to the very bottom.

**NO PICTURES??! That’s right. I’ve decided to forego pictures until I get a Digital SLR. I could get color film for my Canon EOS 5 but then again, it’s always loaded with a half-finished roll of black-and-white. And from personal experience, a SHITTY FOOD PICTURE can do horrible injustice to a restaurant.


THE PROLOGUE

I like to think of myself as being an able eater. That is, I do not order a side salad and pretend that it’s a meal and whenever I say the words “Man, am I full,” it’s tinged with a self-congratulatory smile rather than the guilty mentality that I need to bolt home and do a million crunches.
Given that, one must take into consideration that even Achilles had his weak heel. Yes, I can readily finish a three-person serving of “Crystal Buns” (i.e. Egg custard enrobed by processed carbohydrates); yes, I can gulf down a fatty slice of Susina cake. Yes. But even with all that food cred, I balk at the notion of a slice from Sweet Lady Jane.
A piece of cake from SLJ is made up of roughly 98% sugar and 2% everything (if there IS anything…perhaps food coloring?) else. I was uncomfortably full for a total of 48 hours – and counting – after enduring a slice of their Princess cake. Sure, the cakes are painstakingly decorated but that’s all – there is no other delicacy in its preparation. Sweet Lady Jane is the realization of American brute gluttony – a gluttony which makes even a glutton like me run for the hills and desire to live the next 30 days on nothing but watercress and hummus.

THE STORY

Enter Gordon Ramsay’s.

This place was actually a set-up for personal food skepticism:

1) There’s the danger that the food will suck because the restaurant will try to ride on the mere coattails of its “celebrity’ chef association.
2) Said ‘celebrity chef’ is British and the Americans here are all too ready to lap up anything that is connected with that country. No joke. I have physically witnessed incidents wherein quite physically-attractive American females were excited by deformed male species simply due to the fact that said male species possessed a “British accent”
3) The restaurant is “Asian-fusion” and that in itself is a danger zone, especially in LA.

Having said that, point #3 actually worked out as an advantage – especially given the Sweet Lady Jane incident of two nights prior. Portions were far from stingy but given the “Asian” twist, were also a welcome respite to American sizes. There was also a careful delicacy which is so often absent in American fare; instead of having SALT and FAT as the primary components of savory dishes and SUGAR as the main ingredient of sweet dishes, Ramsay’s took on the eastern tradition of creating strong flavors by BLENDING several subtle ingredients. And for the first time in my life, I was thankful for the existence of “Asian Fusion.”

Despite the London’s awkward location, which, I must confess, I actually liked (it’s sure to shatter some American romantic ideologies when the LONDON hotel is situated right across from Aahs and is two blocks down from Hustler) and its SLIGHT inclination towards the gaudy with its ivory-and-gold interior, the restaurant itself is understatedly refined or, in other words, chic. Padded chairs of cream and subtle pink are positioned around tables set with bouquets of elegant white roses and it’s all done so that there is no “look-but-don’t-touch” sign hanging over the air.

In terms of the food, the confit beet salad with ricotta and endive was a perfect start. I’m big about root veggies so beets were right up my alley. Plus, I could tell that whoever put the salad together took care in how the dish was concocted: the ricotta wasn’t carelessly sprinkled over the salad, which would be too easy. Rather, it was subtly incorporated as the base layer (very unusual…but in a good way) so that I had a bit of creamy ricotta in every bite.

For the main, I opted for the Jerusalem Artichoke Risotto with artichoke chips, black truffle and sherry caramel reduction. I’m still on my meatless diet so I couldn’t get the Ox-Cheek but Sunny and Debs confirmed that the Ox-Cheek was, in their mid-chew words, “Awy-my-gawd. So tendre.” So what about the risotto then? I was a little skeptical at first. It looked like jook (i.e. Chinese porridge which costs an average of HK$1.50 per serving vs. the US$20 that Gordon charged for this dish, a la carte), and it did taste like jook. BUT, it tasted like jook WITH black truffle and isn’t that something to take into consideration? What I really liked about the dish was that the truffle flavor was distinct but yet, wasn’t overpowering to the point where you suspect the chef to have just thrown in a bunch of expensive ingredients with the hope that the LA yuppie crowd would lap it all up. I never bought into the whole Stanley Ho ideology when it came to truffles and other luxury ingredients; my Hong Kong upbringing has taught me that abalone which costs an arm and leg can still taste like classroom eraser while noodles prepared by the wife-beater-adorned old man in Causeway Bay can taste like a bowl of pure gold. And I think this upbringing explains why I liked to risotto as much as I did. That is, because the chef decided to make the common artichoke as much the star as the truffle. A bite of the risotto itself was alright. A bite of the risotto with the artichoke “chips” was effin’ fantastic.

And then came dessert. I was actually most looking forward to this course because: a) it was dessert and b) I was ordering the Coconut Tapioca. For those who don’t know me too well, I am ALLLLL about the coconut. Steamed, raw, baked, fried, rain, shine, winter, spring – I LOVE coconut. And since I firmly believe that the Southeast Asians are the proprietors of coconut preparation, I was more than ecstatic to see “coconut tapioca” on the menu. Not that the dessert (Chilled Coconut Tapioca - with candied ginger, passion fruit and milk chocolate-star anise ice cream) was disgusting or anything – I was more than happy to finish the whole thing – but it just wasn’t coconutty at all. To put it in more understandable terms, it was the exemplum of having ‘too much food on the plate.’ I LOVE coconut. I LOVE tapioca. I LOVE candied ginger. I LOVE milk chocolate ice cream. But if you put it all together…something’s bound to suffer. The dessert was definitely ambitious (and kudos to that) but in trying to combine all those bold Asian flavors, the dish lost any remnant of coconutness. So yes, I would give the dessert five shining stars if it had simply been a ‘chilled tapioca with candied ginger, passion fruit and milk chocolate-star anise ice cream.’ But alas, it was supposed to be a ‘COCONUT repeat-the-long-name-above’ and it didn’t exactly deliver that.

Service was friendly and if I were to name one flaw, it would be that the staff were too eager. And, if anything, that’s a good flaw rather than a bad one. Our waitress explained each dish upon its arrival and I thought it a bonus that they addressed the fact that the mushroom Veloute had short-ribs in it – a perfect demonstration of their concern for those with dietary restrictions.

I finished off the meal with a vat of their coffee which came in an Asian teapot (bonus note: their serve-ware is gorgeous). The coffee cost a hefty $6.00 but there was enough in that pot to satisfy the needs of a college kid during finals week. It was fairly mild though but then again, I didn’t expect much of coffee from a ‘British’ establishment in America (double whammy!)

THE CONCLUSION

All in all, Gordon Ramsay at the London hotel lives up to the hype even though it doesn’t transcend it. Personally, I would contemplate going again if I weren’t trying to fit in all the 238392 restaurants I have to patronize before I leave Los Angeles. Given that though, I would recommend it more as a Lunch Restaurant than a Dinner Restaurant; it’s a Miu Miu, not a Prada. It’s not a diss – after all, who doesn’t love Miu Miu?

FOOD: 4/5
SERVICE: 4.5/5
ATMOSPHERE: 4.5/5

GORDON RAMSAY AT THE LONDON WEST HOLLYWOOD ($$$)
1020 N. San Vicente Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
310.854.1111
thelondonwesthollywood.com

The Joys of Cilantro

Sunday.

I was absolutely NOT in the mood to set half a toe out of the house and of course, in order to maintain some form of justice in the world, laziness must entail SOME sort of sacrifice. Well, in this case, it was a sacrifice pertaining to dinner (one of the three most important meals of the day).

I didn't want to go out...but at the same time, there was almost nothing that was dinner-worthy in the house. I had a tub of pig’s brain in the freezer but I wasn’t really in pig’s brain mood. So, still adamant about staying cocooned in apartment 23, I had to pull together something from the random bits of everything I could find. Mmmm…sounds appealing already doesn’t it?

I DID just stock up on eggs…but eggs alone for dinner? How unsatisfying. This is where the wonderful Cilantro makes its grand entrance.

I LOVE Cilantro. Absolutely love it. To me, cilantro is summer in a handful. Its deep, fresh green color, strong flavor and fragrant smell spell out L.O.V.E in the mind of Dorothy. Forget scented candles – break out a few bunches of Cilantro and set it in the room. Well…at least it works for me.

I had a good supply of that happy herb in the fridge, leftover from a previous meal at home. Beautiful, beautiful cilantro. I ended up making an egg “roll” – one of the most insanely flexible meals ever. I had a bit of rice to go with the egg. But since I felt like being peasant-extravagant, I flavored the rice with a few drops of sesame oil (one of the most useful things to have in any kitchen) and topped it with a little bit of pork floss. That’s right…I’m living the high life!

I have the recipe for the egg roll below but it’s pretty much redundant since ingredients AND measurements can vary according to personal taste.

Egg Roll with Cilantro, Pork Floss and other things…

3 eggs, lightly beaten
A large handful of chopped **fresh** cilantro
A handful of shredded random vegetables (I had a bag of coleslaw veggies lying around so in they went)
A good sprinkle of pork floss
½ tablespoon light soy sauce
½ tablespoon sesame oil

Combine all ingredients. Oil (NOT with the sesame oil - sesame oil gets mixed with the other ingredients) and heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Pour about a third of the mixture into the skillet and spread evenly so that the whole skillet is covered. Wait until the mixture is somewhat set, then start rolling the egg into a single roll. Move the roll to the edge of the skillet. Add a little more of the mixture to the pan and again, spread over the pan. Wait to set. Then roll the first roll into the second layer. Repeat with the rest of the mixture until you have one giant roll.
Remove from heat. Cut the roll into even sized slices. Arrange around a bowl of sesame-oil rice.

Eat.

And to end the night, I plopped 2 large spoonfuls of plain yogurt into a bowl and topped with blueberries and fresh strawberries. Yes, random bits of everything can be very very good!

Sushi Masu: The Best Thursday Ever

I hit it lucky again this term and managed to get two days off school. Seriously, having school FIVE days a week last term was waaaaay too much and I don't think I could ever handle that again. But that also means I have 7 hours of back-to-back classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday...but we don't like to talk about that.

Anyhow, I've decided to make good use of my two days off a week and dedicate the time to a new "project". That's right...a new project. Right off the top of my head, I'll label this project "Eating Beyond Wilshire". It sounds very all-expansive but really, without a car, all it really entails is eating down Westwood Blvd and extending down Pico. But that alone should take me a good amount of time anyways.

So, as an informal beginning to my project (after all, I have eaten at several restaurants "beyond" Wilshire already), I went to Sushi Masu. I've read such great things about this place and, more importantly, it's really been a long while since I've been to a REAL sushi joint. You know, places that aren't fusion or called "California Roll" and the likes.

Sushi Masu is a small place. Personally, I prefer small sushi joints...they remind me of the restaurants we'd go to in Japan and I like the relaxed atmosphere that comes in the small package. Plus, I don't know what it is, but the best sushi always seems to come from the tiny hole-in-the-wall places, which Sushi Masu was.

(Amberjack and Seared Tuna Sushi...SO FRIGGIN' GOOD!)

I grabbed a seat at the sushi bar and already, Chef Masu smiled at me and asked "first time here?" I told him I came ESPECIALLY to try this place and his smile grew even bigger as he semi-bowed his head. I fell in love with him already in those 2 minutes. I glanced over to the hand-written daily recommendations and the first thing that caught my eye: LIVE sweet shrimp.

"Live? It's still moving?"
"Yes. You like?"
"That sounds really interesting. But I've never tried..."

Shrimp in hand. Flick of knife. Live sweet shrimp sushi on my plate.
SOOOO good. It's been a long while since I had something THIS fresh.

"Good?"
"VERY good."

Well, the shrimp was the perfect introduction to what this place had to offer...within 5 minutes of meeting him, Chef Masu had already won over my complete trust:

"Give me whatever you think is good today"

A piece of amberjack sushi appeared before me. Into mouth. Melt. Literally. I looked up at Chef Masu, eyes glimmering almost and told him how good that was.

"Next piece even better."

The thing I love about Chef Masu is that he doesn't lie. The next piece - the seared tuna - WAS even better. This was followed by 5 other pieces of the "best sushi I've had in LA so far" (including white tuna and abalone, among others) and a perfectly sweet eel and cucumber hand roll. Every piece I plopped into my mouth induced a huge smile on my face.

My favorite was definitely the seared salmon sushi. I could smell it when Chef Masu was searing it behind the counter and was already excited. Then he placed it in front of me...the way he seared it made it look like a mini piece of art! My excitement rose. Now, the actual eating of it. WOW. I'm still thinking about it right now. The outter part of the fish tasted almost like smoked salmon (which I absolutely love) and just when I was thinking that it was the best thing ever, I was introduced to the melt-in-your-mouth texture and taste of fresh raw salmon. Two of the best forms of salmon in one bite - what more can you ask for? Want to know what love is? It's Chef Masu's seared salmon sushi!!

(Fried Shrimp Head)

And remember that live shrimp I had at the very beginning? They took the head back into the kitchen, fried it, took it back out. Better than fried calamari!! At the end of the meal, I told Chef Masu that the seared salmon was my favorite, to which he replied,

"OK, next time I give you thicker piece".
I'm so looking forward to "next time".

(Rounding off a perfect meal. Chef Masu is an artist!!)
Everything together (including a huge tip for Chef Masu and the friendly waitress) came out to about $45. Like Chef Masu said, I had a "big lunch" today...but it was worth every cent. I was a VERY happy camper.

So yes, that was my "first time" at Sushi Masu. And that's the "first time" to a WHOOOOOOOLE load of more times!!!!

And, to make today even better, after the meal, I nipped into Pink Orchid bakery next door and got a mini tub of Mashti Malone's pistachio ice cream. And, unashamedly finished the whole thing by myself. I rock.

FOOD: 4/5
SERVICE: 4/5
ATMOSPHERE: 3/5

Sushi Masu ($$$)
1911 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025

(310) 466-4368

Good Friends, Good Food

I'm still lamenting my return to LA after having spent a (beautiful) week in New York. But there's one thing that consoles me: being back in LA means being back in the kitchen. I was reading Julia Child's My Life in France during my stay in Manhattan and not only was it an absolutely delightful read, I could feel myself itching to get back and make something. Yes, I might as well confess it out loud - when I was in NY, part of me missed Los Angeles...but ONLY for the kitchen!!

Truth is, not a lot makes me happier than cooking for people I like. It's really not JUST the food (although, of course, that makes up a huge chunk of it) but the idea as a whole. Argh, it's hard to put into words...the point is, I already had my heart set on cooking for the girls the first weekend we all got back. Saturday.

I decided to go with a Salmone in Cartoccio dish with herb and cheese puffs on the side. I'd never made this before but I think I now LOVE this cooking method (baking the fish in individual parchment "steam packets")! When reading My Life in France, one thing that really caught my attention was Julia Child's description of the beurre blanc sauce (Butter, white wine vinegar, flavored with shallots). There was a copy of the recipe in the book and I knew I HAD to try it...so in a way, I guess going with the fish was just an excuse to try out the beurre blanc. Julia Child called it a "wonder sauce" and she was soooooo right!!!! At first, I was scared that it would be overkill if I added the sauce to the Salmon...but thank God I DID add it. It's now officially my new favorite sauce. Thank you Julia.

And what's food without wine? Of course, I'm still only a poor college kid so I had to make do with whatever we could afford. At least most cheap wine doesn't taste like absolute shit anymore - especially whites...which was good since that was what we went with. Quickly whipped up a couple of bellinis which, in my mind, are perfect when paired with salmon...and CATCHING UP!!

Foodwise, the real highlight of the night, though, was the pomegranate gin cocktail. Sososososososo good! I bought the world's cutest cocktail glasses as well so you can only imagine how stoked I was (great drink in a great cup...yes, I'm a huge serveware nerd).

And to round off the night, I made a coffee mousse cake. Yes, this was the labor of love (it took 2 days to prepare). A sponge cake base (which was dipped in vanilla syrup), topped with caramel latte biscotti and a coffee mousse. This dessert was actually an adaptation of a recipe from Claire Clark's Indulge (I bought the book a week ago and it's GREAT! I can't wait to try more things from it). The original asks for an almond sponge flavored with marzipan but: a) I was too lazy to do that and b) having blown enough money on serveware and cooking supplies already in the past few weeks, my wallet wasn't in the mood to ""splurge"" on marzipan. It also uses amaretti but neither Ralph's or Whole Foods carried it (I'm surprised they didn't at least have it at Whole Foods!) - I would NEVER have had this problem if I was back on the Upper West Side...I could just pop into Zabar's! Oh well, I used biscotti instead and it still worked fine. This dessert also gave me an excuse to try out the chocolate transfer sheets I got in New York (YES - I FINALLY have transfer sheets!!)

This was my second attempt at the whole individual mousse delices thing and, though far from perfect, I'm slowly getting the hang of it (my first go was a white chocolate and hazelnut delice...but I hated it and didn't bother taking photos at all. We shall not mention it again). I'm having a mousse cake phase right now so if you happen to live near me...I'm VERY sorry - you're going to have to put up with a lot of those in the next few weeks.

And again, with transfer sheet chocolate discs

All in all, I loved Saturday. I'm hoping I'll have more time to cook this term (after all, I do have 2 days off school). In all honesty, this is all you need: Good Friends, Good Food, (Good) Wine

...oh, and Love!!

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Pomegranate Gin Cocktail

2 parts gin

1 part Simple syrup

1 part lime juice

1/2 part pomegranate molasses

Shake in a cockatil shaker with ice. Strain into tall glass and top with slub soda.