Like @J_L, @EattheWorldLA, and @PorkyBelly have documented before, this is an exceptional meal. Between the lunch bentos and this amazing orizume, I really donāt know how Chef Go and his team do it. There are easily over 30 components in the orizume box aloneā¦and imagine all the prep work (and the dishes/pots/pans!) that are involved to craft each one. They arrive in the kitchen to start work around 5:30AM each day and hope to be done around 7PM. Mind blowing! It takes me 5-8 hours of active cooking just for a family-style holiday meal of traditional roasts and sides.
All the boxes are brought out at 6PM to the front of the restaurant. If youāre lucky, you get a few moments to chat with Chef Go at pick upā¦and he and Hayato manager, Yuki, watch as you secure your box in your car because you heed his warning that the boxes are filled to the top with sauces. I used my powered front passenger seat to wedge the box on the floor of the backseat. Sorry no photo, Chef Go and Yuki did not go back inside until they had waved us off.
We picked up a Koshi No Kanbai Sai to pair with our orizume. Yuki recommended a dry sake from northern Japan. It did pair well because the orizume dishes use more sugar than the dishes normally serves at the restaurant. It quite enjoyed it until it opened up and started to taste like che com ruou.
Highlights: anything with a sauce that could be used to pour over the matsutake rice, umeboshi carrot, fava beans, pickled ginger, any of the seafood dishes, squash
We spent about 3 hours reading the notes and trying each dish in between sips of sake.
I was an animal and mixed the ikura into my kinmedai rice. It was glorious.
I rather enjoyed the yuba with the wasabiā¦I canāt even imagine how it would have compared to the yuzu version @PorkyBelly had.
I think I preferred the sweet potato from the bento to the darling little gyoza-shaped mash version in the orizumeā¦it ate a little dry for me.
The knife skills shown in this box are ridiculous. Turnips that look like dumplings. Flower carrots. Micro-thin herbs for the rice. Those cucumbers!
Please order this box on Tuesday morning. Please order sake to pair with your meal. It was interesting to hear Chef Go echo @beefnoguyās previous comments of sake orders being able to help the restaurant do more and make additional margins. Also, soft opening has been limited to 3 boxes per offering as the team is getting into the swing of things, but itās very possible that Chef Go may increase it to 4 boxes in the near future. Heās feeling good about the direction the orizume is going in and will continue to tinker with the dishes.
Sounds reasonable to this animal.
I also got lucky this weekend and got a box. It saved the weekend for us, as Thanksgiving didnāt happen. No photos; my box looked just like the others, i.e. perfect. I continue to be awed by Chef Goās skills. So far, this was our best meal during the pandemic. We paired it with a bottle of the Miyosakae Tenmi Junmai Daiginjo āTaste of Heavenāāa splurge, but worth it, especially if it helps out the restaurant.
I found it to be a very generous meal for two. We were barely able to finish everything but most of the two rice dishes (they heated up well the following night). Many of the pieces come in even numbers, so I would suggest that if you have a household of four and donāt want to spend so much money, one orizume would make a lovely light dinnerāperhaps supplemented by something else (and definitely some extra rice to sop up those wonderful sauces)āwith each person able to have a bite of everything without fighting over it too much.
Sorry no photo, Chef Go and Yuki did not go back inside until they had waved us off.
We ate it on one of the benches, so finished around 7:15pm. As I got back into the car, Yuki came out to wave us goodbye.
My wife āuh, does she need something, she came outside to wave to usā
me āsheās waving goodbye, being courteousā
My wife āoh thatās great service!ā
i mixed the ikura into the mushroom rice and then scooped some of the nori sauce from the scallops on it. True indulgence
letās see who has the fast fingers to nab an orizume and bento.
I wouldnāt have room for orizume if I ordered both, if thatās possible at all. Their Lunch Bento is very filling.
I hope I can order their orizume tomorrow. Itāll be a great way to treat out my amazing cousin if I do get one. He LOVED their lunch bento when we went last year; he cried with joy when he tasted the Shrimp Shinjo. I want to thank him for being cool with me lately.
Gangsta is someone who dines on bento for lunch and orizume for dinnerā¦on the same day.
Does anyone know if reservations are released for the upcoming week, month, or other block of time? I want to try to get one for about two weeks from now, but Iām not sure if I should be setting an alarm for tomorrow morning.
the entire month of December will be released tomorrow
If you have your heart set on a date, I would highly recommend setting an alarm. If possible have the Tock site queued up at 9:58AM. Start hitting refresh around 9:59AM until you can get in and select your desired date. I have a feeling that weekend dates are going to go like RĆ©publique MPFCP.
Got it, thanks. In that case Iāll do my best in my half-awake state, with Tock queued open on my phoneā¦ but if someone happens to land one on the 12th and I donāt, Iād be open to a side-channel buy 
@10am?
This should suffice!
#OrizumeApproved 
Iām a software engineer. The day doesnāt really start until noon.
FB Giving Tuesday starts at 5AM (less than 8 hours from now).