Ichi Sushi

Pasadena, CA

Sushi Ichi is a wonderful neighborhood sushi joint with high quality fish and friendly service.   Ichi is a knowledgable chef who provides great conversation and creativity in his dishes . For the best experience, sit at the sushi bar and ask for omakase, and let Ichi wow you with excellent food. You know its a good sign when other sushi chef's come here and the chef goes to get fish fresh at 6 AM daily. The prices are also reasonable, we had 15 different dishes for about 7 bucks a plate.

Escargot

The night started off with a beautifully presented escargot appetizer.

Needlefish

Steamed Uni 

The needlefish was extremely fresh and tasty, but a little over-wasabied. The steamed uni was a first for us and a surprisingly light and tasty dish.

Halibut fin

Mackerel

Surf clam

The halibut fin was good, and mackerel was fine, but not my favorite. The surf clam was extremely tender, sweet, surprisingly one of the best of the night.

Fried oysters

Fried oysters were a pleasant surprise. The batter was light and crisp but did not take away or mask the natural flavor of the Seattle based oysters. 

Sea bream

Snapper

The sea bream and snapper were both fresh and delicious, but the best part of these dishes were the bone chips. The ends of the snapper base and tail are deep fried and are make for a crunchy, delicious snack.

Razor clam

Saba

Marinated tuna

The next clam was very large and were surprised to hear it was of the razor variety. It was sweet and tender, but not as tasty as the surf clam. I've never been a fan of saba, because it's generally fishy. Ichi's version was decent, but I'm still not a fan. The marinated tuna was one of Chu-Toro's favorite of the night. The soy marinated tuna brought out the sweetness of the fish and was delicious.

Cod roe

Unagi

Uni

The cod roe is a Northern Japanese specialty and for some reason, we've been getting it pretty frequently. Its an extremely unique taste, a little bitter, somewhat strange. I'm not really a fan, but Chu-Toro liked it. The unagi was homemade and pretty fresh and tasty. We struggled through the last two items, so tapped out with the classic uni finish. Chu-Toro is the ultimate judge of uni because she either loves it or hates it. She enjoyed the last item of the meal. 

The meal overall was extremely enjoyable and the fish fresh from beginning to end. Ichi is a gracious and king sushi chef and this has definitely become one of our go to places for sushi in Pasadena.

Rating 7.5/10

December 2, 2011

Manresa

For our last meal as Northern California residents, we sneaked in a late night dinner at Manresa after a full day of packing. We were slated to wake up at 6 AM the next morning to drive to Pasadena, but we needed to say goodbye to our favorite Northern California restaurant.

Garden Beignets 

We didn't like the first impression of the newly redesigned interior which made the room feel noisier. Probably the vibe that they were shooting for, but just something we weren't use to. We decided to go with the 5 course tasting for the first time instead of the tasting. As usual, there were some extraordinary courses and others just good ones.

Albacore confit and crispy cannellini beans, potatoes with albacore tonnato

A garden green soup, stone ground mustard cream, herbs and shoots "multi-color"

I don't recall the albacore confit, which probably means its wasn't great. But the green garden soup was classic Kinch. I don't think you can get soups that have more depth of flavor and creativity than from Manresa.  Simply excellent.

Into the vegetable garden....their natural juices

Corn and tomato salad vers 6.1 seaweed, lemon, chia seed

Since we usually do the tasting course, we both get the same salad "into the vegetable garden," always surprisingly tasty.  However, this time we wanted to try something new, so we also had the corn and tomato salad. It was superb. Every bite of the dish popped, the tomato bursting with cold, sweet tart flavor sitting atop corn pudding which was delicious. 

Monterey Bay abalone, cardoons in apple cider, porcini with tomatillo

Black Bass, green tomato water and dill, black radish with sun chokes, lobster

There's always one dish that is absolutely mind-blowing during a Manresa visit, last time it was the pumpkin veloute, and this time it was the monterey bay abalone. We've had a memorable abalone preparation by chef Kinch previously and this one was even better. I think by coming up with two of the best abalone dishes I've ever had is an attribute to his greatness. I'm not sure how he cooks it, but it's tender, packed with flavor (citrus and charred) and delectable. Easily my favorite bite of the night. Contrastingly, the black bass was pedestrian.

Roasted squab with huckleberry soubise, walnut emulsion with chick peas

Saddle of Sika roe deer, escabeche of dried pears, blonde lentils with mushroom fondant

I tend to be more impressed with the front end of our meals at Manresa because the meat courses have been subpar. This pair of savory bites were quite good. I preferred the deer, which was not gamey, well seasoned and tasty. The roasted squab was solid, with a good balance of flavors.

Pears with Brown Butter, Chicory root caramel with maple and sherry

Chocolate fondant with lemon curd ice cream, lemon balm with burnt almond milk

Out of the two desserts, i liked the pears with brown butter more, but both were satisfying. This visit to Manresa wasn't as ground breaking as our last two, but that's probably because we were really tired and couldn't enjoy the meal as much. But it's still Manresa and chef Kinch is still one of the best chef's in the country. We miss it already. 

Black sesame seed and black licorice macaroons

Rating 8/10

October 15, 2011

The Royce

Pasadena, CA

Although we've only been in Pasadena for six weeks, from our previous fine dining experiences, we've already regulated Southern California fine dining inferior to what we used to get up North. The Royce, inside the Langham hotel, was celebrating their first anniversary, so we decided to give it a try. Our first impression of the restaurant made us feel like we were in Vegas. It was very luxe, beautifully designed, with fancy huge clear glass walled wine room with automated sliding doors, pretty awesome. 

amuse bouche

Upon being seated, we were almost immediately served a plate of amuse bouche consisting of a roasted pepper with grated parmesan, a trout puff pastry and tomato soup. All very playful and good. 

We enjoyed the $95/five course fixed menu because we had a choice of three dishes from each segment, all the favorites from the past year. The wine selection was also vast, but Chu-Toro opted for a class of champagne and although there were no beers on the menu, they did get me a draft Chimay from the bar, classy.

seared okaido scallops, kale puree, rampant spinach, smoked garlic froth

Chu-Toro started off with a perfectly cooked scallop, sealed and seared wonderfully while maintaining a pink, barely cooked interior. A perfectly executed prep. The smoked garlic froth was also a fun, creative addition.

tuna belly, with argan oil ravigote, green apple, 62 quail egg

I'm convinced that raw tuna just can't match that of a sushi chef, regardless of how high class a restaurant is, but the use of it in this dish was well done. The contrasting textures of the fish to the thin, crisp vegetables and apples made for a tasty appetizer. The vegetables were actually the standout on this dish, and its hard to dislike a quail egg.

slow poached lobster, coleman's farm butter lettuce, sweet onion, pomegranate hot and snow

Chu-Toro's slow poached lobster was a unique and tasty salad consisting of large chunks of lobster meat. Unfortunately, the lobster meat wasn't as tasty and sweet as I hoped for, but the flavor profiles of the dish as a whole worked well.

foie gras royale, buckwheat crêpe, cress-concord grapes

Just looking at this dish already makes me miss the availability of foie gras. With a new law banning it, this may have been one of the last foie dishes for me in a while. But we went out with a bang, because the two pieces of foie were superbly cooked and the addition of the crepe and chestnut filling made it extremely unique. Even Chu-Toro enjoyed this dish because of the balance it carried. My favorite bite of the meal.

turbot fillet a la plancha, cauliflower mushroom, sea urchin mustard, raw leek salad

Our fish courses were up next, mine was a meaty well cooked piece of turbot. The Asian inspired course was solid but not mind-blowing. I was hoping for more from the sea urchin mustard. 

cod, squid ink spaghetti, autumn greens, romano squash, citrus dashi broth

Chu-Toro wasn't impressed by the execution of the cod, which she found bland. She did however enjoy the citrus dash broth and romano squash purree. 

skinless roasted guinea hen, chestnut milk, domestic caviar, spinach leaves

Our final savory course consisted of roasted guinea hen, which they ran out of by 8 PM, and the waygu rib eye. Chu-Toro wasn't keen on the caviar atop her hen, and overall the hen was good, but not great. She was less impressed when she found out there was even a supplement for this dish. 

wagyu beef rib eye cut, biased turnips, marrow, carrot, bordelaise sauce

My waygu beef was well cooked and tasty, but the dish was a poorly presented mess. I just couldn't figure out the unity behind the overall dish, although I've had dishes with the exact same components before, this one was just disjointed. Tasty, but not fluid. 

crusted camembert, quince paste, ishya persimmons

We were stuffed by this point, but had already decided that we missed cheese courses, so we opted to share the crusted camembert, which ended up being a very glorified cheese stick.

melon granita

petite fours

The pink peppered macaroon was excellent, the closest I've had to LaDuree in Paris. The crust on the cheesecake bite was also delicious.

barlett pear and chocolate,  hot and cold, caraway craqueline

gravenstein apple tart "roti" vanilla-calvados ice cream, roquefort papillon

I'm sorry to say that I was sorely disappointed in both desserts, especially the apple tart which I thought was pretty bad. The pear and chocolate dish tasted okay, but not what I would expect from a high end restaurant. They should really get this part of the menu revamped.

chocolates

Overall we did enjoy our meal but can see a clear difference in precision execution from a michelin starred establishment up north. But anytime I can get a few memorable dishes from a meal like this one (foie royale and scallop) and have a great time like we did, its a successful night in my book. It's a place I would recommend and would come back to.

Rating 7.5/10

November 19, 2011

ink

Los Angeles, CA

For one of our few trips into LA, we ventured to Top Chef Winner Michael Voltoggio's new, highly anticipated, restaurant, ink. They have a 15 minute policy on reservations, so we arrived early at 7:30 for our 7.45 reservations.

tequila serrano, lime, grapefruit, soda & triple maredsous, denée, belgium

The bar area was crowded but we found a couple seats to order our cocktails. The cocktail menu is very creative and unique. Chu-Toro ordered the tequila serrano, which like it's name, tastes like a spicy serrano chili. It was a good thing we liked our cocktails so much, because we sat at the bar for an hour. Thankfully the manager Whitney appreciated that we were patient and covered our first round of drinks. I also weaseled my way into requesting a signed menu. So despite my usual frustrations with wait times, especially when having reservations, Whitney made our wait bearable with her kind offering and acknowledgment. 

vodka lime, ginger, soda

When we were seated, Chu-Toro had another cocktail, a vodka lime with ginger and soda. Our server Adam was aware of our long wait was very expeditious with our orders and service throughout the evening. He also explained that the concept of the restaurant was still changing and it was the first night that the multiple course offering was recommended as opposed to sharing all dishes as they were available as it had previously been for the first month since opening.

kale, burrata, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin preserves, yuzu

We started with the kale salad which was excellent. My favorite part of salad were the pumpkin seeds which added great texture to the well balanced dish. A definite must order.

octopus and hiramasa, romaine hearts, fried caesar dressing  

There's something that turns me off to raw fish in modern restaurants because it never meets the quality that I have learned to expect from a sushi bar. The fried caesar dressing was the best part of the dish making an overall bite decent, but the hiramasa was a little fishy while the octopus was cut too thin. The presentation was nice, but I would pass on this dish next time.

butternut squash risotto, chicken wings, egg yolk, toasted wild rice, aromatic broth

The surprising best dish of the meal was butternut squash risotto which was unlike anything I've ever had before. It was creamy, sweet, savory, and delicious. I seriously considered ordering another. The deboned chicken wing was juicy and flavorful while the egg and butternut squash played off each other perfectly. This is the kind of stuff we saw on tv that made us want to eat chef Voltaggio's food.

spaghetti, giant squid, squash, hazelnut-ink pesto, piment d’espelette

The spaghetti was one of those inventive, creative, unique dishes that tasted good, but I was not overwhelmed with. I did like the hazelnut-ink pesto but didn't leave me craving more like the risotto. 

skate wing, red pepper dashi, shishito peppers, kelp pasta, fennel 

Chu-Toro's skate wing was another pallet challenging dish. She thought it was good, not great, but I actually really appreciated it. I'm not sure everything meshed together perfectly, but there was definitely great potential in this dish. The skate wing itself was extremely flavorful. The mixture of the other ingredients masked the excellence of the fish. The red pepper dash and shishito peppers were a struggle between spicy and bitter. The kelp pasta, although beautifully done in thick ribbons, was not needed and incorporated distracting flavors. But I love trying food that makes you think and this dish did just that.

veal cheek, red curry, nante carrots baked in salt, fried and sticky rice 

While the skate wing was unique the veal cheek was simply excellent execution. The veal cheeks were amazingly perfectly cooked, melt in your mouth tender. The red curry provided a noticeable thai element that mixed well into the carrots and veal. I was torn between this dish and the Berkshire pork, but Adam informed me that this was chef Voltaggio's favorite item on the menu. How can you go wrong with the chef's favorite?

apple, crème caramel, burnt wood sabayon, walnut

stumptown coffees costa rica torres

We shared the apple dessert per Adam's recommendation and it was delectable. Sweet delicious cream caramel atop a graham crust, yummy.

Quick pic with chef Voltaggio

We drank coffee and sat around for a half hour but Whitney didn't forget about us, and asked if we would like to meet the chef instead of getting a signed menu. We didn't want to bother him since he was still in full cooking mode, but figured we should take advantage of the offer. Although very busy, he was cordial and appreciative, we shook hands and he posed for a pic. There's still some kinks to be worked out from a service perspective, but chef Voltaggio's food is creative, challenging and surprisingly affordable. I think we'll check it out again in a few months when he rolls out the omakase menu. It's worth the effort to get a reservation to check out the very good food at ink.

Rating 7.5/10

October 26, 2011