Ichijiku is low key becoming a go to for Friday night sushi. It’s got great QPR and being relatively close makes it super easy to fall back on. The bite of this round was the negitoro roll–stuffed with fish and very crushable.
Maybe this shows I don’t get ceviche enough, but I haven’t had it this good in awhile. The fish was perfectly done, with a great marinade, and some killer chips, it would kick off the rest of the great meal.
It was my first time back at Gjusta in awhile and the new patio set up is actually quite chill. Instead of packing in like sardines and anxiously waiting to see if you’ll get a table after ordering, getting a table and having table service made it much easier and nice to catch up with friends. I doubled up with the anchovy toast and the baked eggs–both have always been winners.
The mini lemon cream pie is killer. Key lime might be her signature right now, but I really liked this lemon version because it comes baked in Chef Rucker’s elite traditional pie crust.
The wife and I went to Shunji for her annual birthday dinner.
Sorry no pics again, cuz it was outside and there wasn’t any good lighting.
Food was awesome as usual
Highlights were the tempura fig with truffles, the wagyu beef, favorite nigiri was the aged swordfish. Make sure to get the Truffle Ice cream!
they have a really nice setup outside in their parking lot. socially distanced seating, servers and Shunji are masked up. Shunji comes around and talks to everyone, (always a gracious host)
A very good time, set menu at $150 per person. You can order extra nigiri before the handroll course.
please note that they wont have everything, they have limited items.
edit: also @chrishei came by and bought a bunch of truffle ice cream so if they don’t have any, blame him.
That is the second most concern if we consider dining out. We took a coworker out for their last hurrah at Clearman’s Steak ‘N Stein and I came home with 4 new bites.
Ever since @CiaoBob posted about Mirame I’ve been hoping to make it over there and finally did last week. We had a great time hanging out in Beverly Hills for an evening, as that is not the norm.
Not many pictures as the lighting wasn’t great and we were all ready to eat anyway.
Mirame is a study in textures. Mouse melon, galangal sorbet, black garlic, white jelly mushroom. So many dishes were more than notes and chords but full on songs. Overall like a concept album.
I had a cocktail and a pour of bacanora which were both great. Robust liquor selection from Mexico, including a few corn whiskeys.
Top to bottom we had:
Salmon Skin Chicarones - fermented garlic aioli
Just delicious. And the black garlic
Masa Gnocchi - grilled sardines, baby corn, grilled peach, saba, corn nuts, pippin
A little tart and punchy underneath everything, I’m guessing from the pippin apple.
Glazed Lettuce Stem - ogo salsa roja, guajes, xo sauce
Earthy and smoky. I love chewing on stems and roots.
Smashed Avocado and Salsa Trio
Served with tostada shells. Kinda bothered me but that’s because I love going to town on a basket of chips.
This almost could have been boring because it’s just a bunch of delicious things in a bowl but that quenelle of galangal sorbet mixed with the tomato gelee was complimented so well by the greens
TOSTADAS
Omega Blue Kampachi - avocado, white jelly mushroom, preserved grapefruit, mexi-kosho
Dungeness crab and Pork Terrine - corn, avocado, ikura, salsa macha
Just perfect. The pork terrine was so subtle yet assertive. I was skeptical of this dish but am glad we ordered it.
TACOS
Smoked Yellowtail Tacos Dorados - potato & creme fraiche, nopal gribiche
Disappeared before I could try it.
SEGUIMOS
Grilled 35oz Prime Cote de Boeuf - melted leeks, fermented garlic, embers oil
Return of the black garlic!! a dish like this had better be good and it for sure was.
Whole Fried Baja Snapper - chili chintextle, masa jus, tomatillo milpero
Delicious. At this point in the meal I didn’t feel like deboning a fish. Fall apart tender of course but still had to be wary of bones. I’d order this again 100% though. That masa jus soaked into the fish like water into a sponge. The server laughed because he said most people just kinda pick at the fish and don’t really know what to do.
SWEETS
Strawberry - spice cream, tamarind, strawberry goat gelato
delicious but not something I’d order.
Mezcal Flan - nixtamalized papaya, amaranth sesame cacao soil
Great but it’d better be great. Wish there was more of the papaya.
Pineapple Miso Brûlée - jalapeno-nopal sorbet
Not pictured. Kinda missed the mark. The jalapeño-nopal sorbet though I would buy pints of.
Punkin - goat cajeta, calabaza en Tacha, cafe
The cake was a little dense for my liking but the coffee ice cream was stellar.
I had to laugh because after watching multiple tables turn super fast and mentioning it to our server, he said it was nice to see some people just attack the menu and not get hung up with so many questions. This one 12-top birthday party split into two six tops was in-n-out in ~80 minutes and the server was like wow they’re done already!?
We weren’t the 12-top birthday party, although I realize it might have sounded like that! They were a group I was laughing about with the server. We were like, their meal was so quick. But I was surprised to see that accommodated as well, though I guess technically there weren’t any rules broken.
But actually we were a seven top split into a four top and a three top. As soon as I mentioned seven people they told me they couldn’t do a table larger than 6. When we sat next down next to each other sharing a long banquette, the host told us we couldn’t swap meets or generally cross the boundary of our tables.
I sat at the four top. The three top ordered for themselves but they did pass over some of the Cote de Boeuf and a few oysters. Likewise we gave them bites of some of our dishes.
Dear johns amazing atmosphere/dining experience. All spaces were properly spaced and the staff were all wearing ppe and gloves and were well trained on protocols. Patio was painted red and well decorated.
Everything there is executed very well and the staff is top notch . Nothing will blow you away but everything is tasty. We usually go there for the vibe and ambiance. Definitely check it out if you’re into a new school old school steakhouse experience.
costilla taco - Sonoratown
Sonoratown’s tacos are often served lukewarm and this visit was no different. In fact, the tortillas was hard in parts. But I still enjoy their tender and juicy grilled steak fillings.
asada taco - Tire Shop
Two of my friends on this trip prefer Tacos El Gordo in San Diego over Tire Shop but I’ve never been there before so I can’t comment. What say you?
But I still enjoy their tender and juicy grilled steak fillings.
