YojiSan

Kon'nichiwa everybody!
I am speaking a traditional Japanese greeting, and, even though I do not know much about the Japanese language, I do know about the food.  One of my favorite species of foods is the silent and spicy creature called Sushi.  YojiSan Sushi a great new restaurant from the restaurant group Drago.  My parents and I go to another sushi restaurant called Shu, and the same main chef there now has his own restaurant.  We thought that we should come by and visit him at his new place.  The architecture was very different from the dark and relaxing interior of Shu, it was filled with light and a bright red light adorned the center of the room.  We sat at the bar, and waved at Yoji.  My parents trust Yoji completely and wanted to do Omakase, as they always do, even though I never do it.  Today, I decided to be daring and agreed to Omakase as long as there were NO truffles included.  That was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my short life span.  Here is a picture of Yoji holding my business card.

Soon, he whipped up the first course of many.  This was a scallop inside its shell with pears, avocado and tomato.  Underneath the shell was a bed of blue salt, that, after a taste and a few questions I discovered that is was not edible.  On to the good part!  I have never tried scallop before, because I did not like the look of it.  I did not even INTEND to eat scallop, I didn't know it was on the plate, I thought it was only fresh veggies.  I soon found out that the chewy stuff that melted in your mouth like butter, that was only a tiny bit salty was scallop.  It was one of the best types of fish I had ever tasted and with the vegetables it tasted crunchy and groovy with many different flavors.

The next course was albacore, wrapped around watercress with sesame seeds.  The sauce was like a ponzu-yuzu mix.  The toasted almonds on the side gave the fish a crunchy and burnt taste.  My preference would be to not have the almonds, but they were soon drowned out by the delicate fish.  The dish tasted deliciously sour and the fish made it chewy and sometimes you got a little bit of fish taste.  The watercress was crunchy and crackled when you chomped down on it.

Next was a plate of three sushi tacos!  The first was filled with pieces of juicy Kobe beef and avocado, the taco tasted sweet and savory, the sweet sauce that the beef was soaked in made it taste candied and the avocado made it taste cool, cold cool.  The second was cod with jalapeno and cucumber, it tasted gushy and spicy when the jalapeno hit my tongue.  I was fried, literally, but not fried enough not to eat my favorite of the three.  SPICY TUNA AVOCADO!  The spicy tuna was stuck together, the way I like it, and the avocado was also mooshy.  The overall affect was moosh, and that was yummy!

Here comes my FAVORITE!!!!!  It was crab tempura, fried, with a sweet lemon sauce and crunchy cucumber base.  The crab tasted crunchy, fried, and sweet on the outside, but on the inside there was a fleshy sweetness too.  The lemony sweet sauce complimented the fish completely.  I basically liked it because it was sweet.

The last course was uni, sea urchin, which I have never eaten or ever want to eat.  My mother convinced me to force it down my throat.  It tasted like the sea, and it made me feel sick.

Lastly was dessert, this was my favorite.  Think about it....
warm dough on the outside and cold ice cream on the inside.

MOCHI MOCHI MOCHI MOCHI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amazing Birthday Dinner at the New and Improved Bel Air Hotel

Yes, last night we did have a birthday dinner for my mom at the new and improved Bel-Air hotel, we enjoyed the menu created by Wolfgang Puck. We sat at a lovely and warm outdoor table to start. This table did not meet the expectations of my grandmother, so we moved inside. Inside, the table did not meet the expectations of my father who was getting very annoyed at the kitchen door banging in his ear. Finally, after two moves, we went back to the original table. My grandmother agreed to sit under the heater and my father was quite happy that there was no annoying noise in his ear. The menu was spectacular, there were so many mouthwatering options. After a long time, we each decided what we wanted. Our kind server, Lathrop, came over to get our orders for appetizers. My mother, the birthday girl, went first, ordering tuna tare- tare wrapped in cucumber with edible flowers. Then it was my grandma's turn, she had spotted a nice spring salad with watermelon radish. My grandfather, who doesn't usually like things with exotic seasoning, ordered tortellini pasta with mascarpone cheese and sweet peas. It turned out that the pasta was one of the best appetizers we ordered. My father was caught between two options, the hand cut steak crudo or the scallop sashimi. After much inner debate he chose the scallops, and I chose the fava bean soup. While we were waiting for our interesting assortment of appetizers my mother opened the birthday cards from my dad. I had already given her a card, an egg hunt. Each egg contained a note saying something I loved about her and they each had a different face. If you use that idea for mothers day or a birthday you must pay me three million dollars because its my idea. I'm joking, really! The cards were lovely, and before we could talk more, the food arrived. I didn't try grandma's salad, but she said, "This is quite good." From her, that is a huge compliment.

Spring Salad

I did try my mother's tuna tar-tar, and it was very good. The tuna tasted fresh and with cucumber it tasked cold and refreshing, the edible flowers were just icing on the cake but I ate both of them.

Tuna Tare-Tare

I tried one of my grandpa's tortellini's, and that was enough. They were very sweet, and creamy, and the peas were drowned out in the cheesy sauce.

Pea Tendril Tortellini

I did not try dad's scallop, I never eat them, something about with seeing them alive at a sushi restaurant turns me off.

Scallop Sashimi

Of course, my soup was the best (hair flip here please). It tasted a lot like regular peas, but every once in a while you would get the strong taste of olive oil. Did I mention that there was a fruity foam on the top? Well there was. There were also whole fava beans at the bottom so that you could eat them with the puree/broth. I always know the best things to get at restaurants, so take me out to dinner!

Fava Bean Soup

After we finished the appetizers we talked and commented on how good the appetizers were. During this time my grandmother paid me the biggest compliment she has ever given me, "The part in your hair is perfect!" Even if it wasn't exactly perfect, I felt very honored and patted my hair all night. While I was wallowing in pride the main courses came.

Almost Perfect Part

My father ordered lamb saddle with a topping that tasted to me like cream cheese. The meat itself was rare, and it melted in your mouth.

Lamb Saddle

My mother ordered scallop and langoustine. I only tried a small piece of shrimp, which I drowned in sauce, so I'm not sure if I liked it or not. My mother did not enjoy it, but she liked my fathers and mine.

Langoustine and Scallop

My grandma got a grandma sized piece of salmon, which was crispy because it was grilled. It also melted in my mouth. My grandpa got a hamburger, a specialty order, which I didn't try but he seemed happy with it. But, he is with almost every hamburger.

Burger with Yummy Fries

I got, the best by far, three small pieces of Dover Sole. The sole was presented with mint, spinach and sliced green beans on top and drizzled in a fava sauce. I ate the vegetables and then tried the fish. Lets just say that I valued every morsel, it was amazingly yummy.

The ABSOLUTELY SUPER BEST Dover Sole

After all that food I didn't think I could eat another bite.......of dinner that is. Yes, it was dessert time. Mother said that, "They wouldn't sing or give her a birthday dessert." They did the later of the two, they brought her absolute all time favorite thing. A COOKIE PLATTER WITH A CANDLE AND CHOCOLATE SAUCE! She was overjoyed and sampled her various cookies, one chocolate chip cookie was about to explode with chocolate. It did, right on her shirt, thankfully it rolled down, leaving her spotless. I got raspberry sorbet which tasted exactly like an actual raspberry. It was amazing but super sweet and rich, so I settled for a peanut butter cookie which was good, except it didn't taste like peanut butter.

Raspberry Sorbet

The one problem was that once the restaurant was overwhelmed with people, the service became lackadaisical. If you don't know what that word means then

a) get a dictionary

b) it means lazy and lacking, it took almost 20 minutes to get the check

Thanks

Kellen-Watermelon Radish