orris

the view from my mouth as it starts from one end of the plate
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

#25 on my 101 in 1001 list (15/143)
a fusion of japanese & french cuisine made from fresh, high quality ingredients, the food at Orris may not be all that inventive but it's tasty and made with care. everything we had was good, although some things could have been more inspired. It's a typical bistro-sized restaurant that's very popular and doesn't take reservations, so if you come with a large group, i suggest arriving early.

here is what we enjoyed:
oysters on the half shell w/ salsa - the tomato chunks & cilantro was a nice addition that made eating these fresh, light oysters ceviche like

tuna tartare on chips - standard tuna tartare with little bits of apple which were non-descript; very garlicky, the tuna was the dominant flavor

salmon croquettes - these well-prepared little croquettes were crunchy on the outside and had a strong smoked salmon flavor inside, accented with salty roe on top

grilled veggies w/ goat milk cheese - again, simple, but done well, veggies included meaty mushrooms, sweet bell peppers and smokey zucchini

scallops with mushroom and mustard sauce - perfectly seared and tasty scallops with a dollop of minced mushroom in a tangy, horseradish-y mustard sauce

ravioli with shrimp mousse & mushroom sauce - delicate ravioli stuffed with pureed shrimp in a rich, buttery, sweet mushroom sauce, which was almost too much for the ravioli, but we enjoyed dipping bread into it

creme brulee with fruit - this was our least favorite item; the custard was a bit runny, and there was too much of a caramelized sugar top. there was also fruit in the custard, and the ratio of custard to fruit was off--too much fruit. the star of this should really be the custard, and it wasn't.

prices are typical and reasonable for small plates dining, but the portions are on the smaller end compared to other places we've been. i was just full, but my bf could have eaten more with what we ordered and shared between the two of us. the waitstaff was responsive and friendly.

shinsengumi yakitori

shinsengumi yakitori
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

#25 on my 101 in 1001 list (4/143)
steph & i checked this festive yakitori joint out on monday. from the start, workers welcome you by shouting in japanese and bowing. we sat at the bar where we could watch the griller cook up a variety of the skewered items we ordered. all were tasty and made from quality ingredients served by friendly and attentive waitpeople. we ate:

chicken livers: i love pate, but have never been a fan of liver. theirs didn't completely sell me, but it was the best that i've had, and if i were to eat liver, i would recommend theirs. marinated in a slightly sweet, salty marinade, they were fresh, dark pink and plump.

quail eggs: i love quail eggs, and grilling them adds a smoky flavor

chicken thighs w/ salt & chicken thighs w/ special sauce: both were good, but i would recommend the special sauce, which is slightly sweet, over the salt.

bacon-wrapped enoki: the flavor of the bacon soaked into chewy bundles of enoki mushrooms wrapped inside which makes for a great combination of earthy, sweet and smoky flavors.

fried chicken: this one is quite tasty. lightly crunchy with a batter similar to that typically found on the fried soft shell crab, it was not at all oily or heavy.

scallop special: you get two whole large scallops, uncut, and seared. a little pricey, but i thought it was worth it for the flavor.

green chilis: these remind me of shiso peppers, though not as bitter. good if you like chilis.

smelt: these 3-4 inch whole fish come two on a skewer and are filled with tiny, cream colored eggs. they taste like the sea. i think they're less fishy when deep-fried.

shitake mushrooms: tasty.

they offer quite a variety of desserts, including creme brulee and ice cream. we had the green tea ice cream, which was a little on the icey side, but had a good, strong earthy flavor.

the service was really top notch and fun. we didn't drink this time, but seems like a great place to wind down with some beer or sake and some good food.

musha w/ steph

musha w/ steph
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

steph and i had plans to check out a yakitori place in gardena--torimatsu--that i had heard was really good. my excitement was dashed upon arrival as we learned that they are closed on sundays. doh! i suppose i could have checked their schedule, but no where on yelp is it listed, which would have meant calling them. so we tried to go to shin sen gumi, another yakitori place nearby. i think i got the wrong address and ended up at a little tiny place that didn't look right and had just closed.

musha happened to be in the same strip mall parking lot, and steph hadn't been there so we went there instead. everything we had was excellent, and i thought our meal was quintessential izakaya. good small plates of food with beer and friendship.

snow crab w/ daikon salad: fresh pieces of snow crab with slices of slightly bitter daikon over mixed greens. healthy and good.

beef tongue shichirin grill: chewy, salt and pepper crusted thinly sliced beef tongue. comes with a buttery, tangy dipping sauce.

buta kimchee: thin sliced pork stirfried with kimchee - smokey, spicy, salty

ebi yuba shinjo: shrimp dumpling wrapped with tofu skin. then deep fried & served w/ tentsuyu dipping sauce -- crunchy on the outside, tender inside

takotama: two layers omelette w/ chopped octopus, tokyo leek, red ginger & tuna broth -- very interesting combination. the octopus was sparingly used and mostly textural. there were a bunch of noodles sandwiched in between the two layers and cooked in a thickish sweet worcestershire-like sauce.

one of the waiters spilled some of the dipping sauce that came with the shrimp on steph, which sucked, but they gave us free ice cream in the end, which was nice.

musha

musha
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

izakaya is japanese comfort food for me, and though the food here is not traditional but has western influences with regards to certain ingredients and preparations, the subtle and refined flavors and heavy use of cream and cheese will not only send you into a food coma, but leave you feeling quite satisfied. here is what we had:

baguette gratin: imagine a crispy, french baguette stuffed with bay scallop, onion & creamy white sauce and covered in melted cheese oven-baked. can't complain about the richness, but they could have had more scallops in the filling.

aski: an assortment of shitake & oyster mushrooms are sauteed with asparagus and garlic in a butter soy sauce. ok, they had me at butter soy sauce, but i love mushrooms, so that was a bonus. i could probably make this at home, but it beats doing dishes.

eringi mushroom: since they don't really have yakitori, the shichirin grill is a fun way to eat grilled food. the bf doesn't eat meat, so we ordered these exotic mushrooms, which were chewy and had a subtle, earthy flavor. don't forget to smear them with the butter before grilling. i'll have to come back to try the beef tongue. served with ponzu sauce.

negitoro menchi katsu: a disc of minced tuna with chopped tokyo leek, garlic, ginger, pepper & heavy cream is breaded and deep fried. ours looked to be slightly overfried, so extra crunchy on the outside. the flavorings were a little on the bland side, and i prefer my tuna a little raw so not one of my favorites of the night, but if you like katsu or anything fried, it doesn't seem to disappoint other diners. served with grated daikon mayo sauce.

maple syrup creme brulee: de-licious! creamy and just the right consistency, richness and sweetness with hints of maple. interestingly, it is accompanied by cornflakes and one of those cylindrical cookies with chocolate inside that i used to pretend was a cigarette when i was a kid.

the food was tasty and had some interesting combinations of eastern and western ingredients, but the thing that really impressed me was the service. considering how small the place is, and how packed it was, and how few servers/cooks there were, we never waited very long for anything. we didn't have reservations, and though they told us it would be 30 min, it only took 15. the food all came out in a timely manner. they seem very efficient and friendly in their work ethic. we sat at the bar, and i was amazed watching the one cook (there were two that i could see) preparing most of the food. i'll be back to try some of the other creative sounding dishes they have.

komatsu: omakase dinner

komatsu: omakase dinner
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

if you like tempura, this is the place to go as they perfectly batter and fry a variety of seafood, veggies and fruit, many of which you will be hard pressed to find elsewhere. i like tempura, but i couldn't imagine eating an all-tempura meal. luckily, i went with a group. many of us ordered the omakase, including me, but my boyfriend, uncertain that it would be all fish & veggies, ordered (with my help..ok, so i picked things out for him) from the two page a la carte menu.

here is what was included in the omakase, which was almost all tempura:
miso soup: rich brown, earthy soup, salty with strong mushroom flavors and hints of rice vinegar

shrimp (good, typical), squid (nice texture, not too chewy), white fish (very strong, good fish flavor), and sea eel (subtle fish flavor)

clam (at least that's what i think she said, but it was more oyster-like to me), stuffed mushroom (my favorite, the mushroom was smoky and stuffed with shrimp chunks that seemed to be battered with some egg), onion (sweet, soft)

salted plum (the most intense of the ingredients, the plum was like a salty, sour and very lightly sweet compote), asparagus, sweet potato (another standout, with a crispy chip-like skin, soft and just the right amount of sweetness inside)

along with the tempura, you get a dish of freshly minced daikon and some tempura sauce, a trio of salts that include plain, lemon which had sesame bits and green tea. i couldn't really make out the lemon, but the green tea was interesting.

i'm glad we were able to share some a la carte plates because i was starting to get tempura'd out by the end. here is what we had off the menu:

soft shell crab: lightly battered, standard, good

asparagus sesame sauce: fresh asparagus in a salty, miso flavored black sesame seed sauce

fried eggplant mushroom: what came to the table was different than what i imagined. japanese eggplant & shimeji (small, brown, slippery mushrooms that will make you work to pick them up with your chopsticks) cooked in a broth with seaweed, topped with scallions. it tasted like the ocean.

we ended with some green tea & lychee ice creams. the lychee was great. the green tea was good and typical.

even though i ate a lot of fried food, none of it was greasy. i found the combination of flavors in some of the a la carte items to be more interesting than the tempura, although they could have pulled back a little on the salt. the way the tempura is prepared really makes it more of an accent to the natural flavors of the ingredients, which are unseasoned. maybe i had high expectations based on past reviews, considering cost ($44 chef's menu), and that it was suppose to be the best the chef has to offer, but i wasn't blown away by the omakase as i had hoped.

service was ok. we had a large group that was divided into three private rooms, so at times was slow, and the waitresses do not speak english that well.