Sorry forgot to post the omakase we did two weeks ago - absolutely fantastic. I love the way Justin melds sour/earth/funk together. Also gorgeous veggies from Santa Monica Farmer’s Market bought day of.
Disclaimer - he’s used our caviar (astrea caviar) for a Thai Taco Tuesday but this post has no financial incentive ha.
First set no meat - second set meat
roughly 10 courses of savory - a thai ice tea- fresh sliced fruit
(Love that Astrea Caviar, BTW…)
thanks! appreciate it!
Wow that looks insane
LA times Garret Snyder chimes in
That’s my chicken heads.
Literally?
Love the sharing!
Want exceptional dining where an outdoor party is going strong? Look no further than Anajak in Sherman Oaks where Chef Justin Pichetrungsi will throw you a fun-filled party and stuff you silly.
I made reservations a couple of months ago because I needed a celebratory meal that would be a touch casual but filled with fine dining firepower that I would adore and my family would appreciate. Chef Justin went to town to throw out an amazing meal with plenty of stories and insights to amuse teenaged chowpups…and perhaps offered some cooking tips for these budding home cooks.
Preface: some dishes (roasted hamachi collars & shrimp Pad Thai) may have not made it to my camera roll because we were having such a great time and we just enthusiastically dug in.
Amuse 1 - Farmer’s market tomatoes & Thai fish sauce
Amuse 2 - Valdivia haricot vert & Thai chili sauce
Anajak “aguachiles” - dry-aged hamachi, ikura, chili-lime-cilantro emulsion. In hindsight, I should have drank the sauce and licked the bowl.
Kanpachi nigiri - dry-aged kanpachi, gelée, Thai sticky rice. This one was so fun! The texture of the Thai sticky rice was fascinating while the gelée offered the vinegar-dashi-esque flavors you would normally get with shari.
Seared scallop - diver scallop, @JLee XO sauce, Boon. I think we each would have been happy to polish off a platter of these candy scallops and Chef Justin was really excited to incorporate a little of Chef Johnny as an inspiration.
Tom Yum “fumé” - aptly named by Javier Cabral, this soup involves seasonings and pouring over slices of kanpachi with hot broth. Tom yum soup will never be the same for you ever again.
I think this is when I forgot to take photos of the grilled hamachi collars and the pad Thai.
It’s worth noting that the grilled collars were also dry aged and a version can (sometimes) be found at Thai Taco Tuesdays. It was luscious and succulent.
The pad Thai knocked our socks off. Even my husband who is not a noodle lover said it was exceptional. The chowpups (who love pad Thai) said it was the best version they’ve ever had.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CPZSgGhj4lN/?utm_medium=copy_link
(Caviar supplement) Asteria caviar, shiso, crispy pancake - who knew really great caviar could be sourced and produced in China?
King prawns & green curry - I did say that all the sauces were so good that I wanted to lick the plate right?
Peads & Barnetts coppa (14 days dry-aged in-house), koor moo yang, larb powder - this pork legit looked like and ate like a fine piece of beef
A5 Miyazaki Wagyu, massaman curry - we chatted with Sous Chef Eugenio Gasca during service where he taught a chowpup how to properly cook a steak and he shared that he once cooked a dish for Chef Justin where his mole reminded Justin of massaman curry…showing that food can unite us all if we let it.
For the wine lovers, these are what we drank last night. I made no decisions and let Chef Justin take the wheel.
It was a celebratory meal so dessert was courtesy of Pavé Bakery. Also no photos taken because I forgot.
The Fraisier cake was ridiculously good. I am half tempted to order another one for next week just because it was so good.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CM5BgZchQXU/?utm_medium=copy_link
Blueberry tart only
https://www.instagram.com/p/CPybY4ejY5Z/?utm_medium=copy_link
Wow, that looked awesome!
I could not agree more. If this is how dining emerges from a pandemic, then I think we’re going to be all right.
Not to toot our own horn (since I’m with Astrea Caviar) but pretty much a vast majority of best restaurants in the world use Chinese Caviar. People just don’t know cause caviar is so secretive.
Glad you enjoyed it! Justin does an amazing job with the caviar and it gets better each time.
Jon Yao is also doing some amazing stuff with it at Kato.
Asian brothers unite
It was delightful! Justin handed me the tin and then I shared it with the chowpups to introduce them to caviar for the first time. (Side note: there were many firsts for them this evening and all of these firsts were items I never tried until I got a degree and paid for the experience myself).
Result: 2 chowpups said caviar wasn’t for them and one was willing to try it, again…perhaps in a different format.
Financial ruin: Averted.
There’s still uni, wagyu, otoro, truffles to tempt them into the expensive taste life.
Uni - no
Waygu - yes
Otoro - yes
Truffles - TBD
These kids need to find careers that will support their habits. Keep in mind some of my stashed Antico fruit ice creams have mysteriously disappeared under their watch and their idea of celebratory meals involve a steakhouse.
Old timer here: Celebratory meals when I was a poor kid meant adding an egg to the instant ramen.
