Nisei in SF hosted a collaboration event with DEN of Tokyo. Each chef made individual dishes of their own, while a few were collaborations. Nisei’s Chef David Yoshimura is Japanese-American and makes elevated Washoku, Japanese home cooking type dishes, influenced by his Japanese grandmother and his use of seasonal and local ingredients. DEN’s Chef Zaiyu Hasegawa is known for creatively and playfully using seasonal ingredients to create his own version of Japanese fine dining that expresses omotenashi – Japanese spirit of hospitality.
The meal ($350 pp):
1. Sakura tea (unfortunately not pictured); “cigar” containing Mentaiko, G&S corn, puffed sorghum; Baja tuna sashimi (akami, chu-toro, o-toro) with black truffle.
2. Monaka (sweet red bean paste sandwiched between thin wafers made from mochi) modified by filling with foie gras. It came in the wrapper pictured with the pretend explanation that the chef ran out of cooking time so bought some pre-made monaka at the store. Sakura shrimp with sungold tomato, local seaweed, shrimp oil.
3. Ochazuke (breakfast soup made by pouring green tea over leftover rice) made with Hog Island oyster, ceremonial grade matcha, cucumber ribbon, pine.
4. Watermelon, crab, mozuku, tosazu jelly, shiso.
5. Pine nut miso soup with cauliflower mushroom and pickled pine nut. Brought to table on tray covered with pine boughs heated by the hot iron pot containing the soup, finished table side then served. Lovely fragrance from the pine and an excellent presentation.
6. GarDEN salad with sesame, shio konbu. The texture of the tempura asparagus was silky smooth, the best I’ve tasted. Chef Hasegawa’s signature emoji carrot with a medley of tastes, textures, and temperatures.
7. Unagi with tomato and onion on milk bread.
8. DENtucky fried chicken stuffed with sticky rice, caramelized onion, parsley. Another Chef Hasegawa’s signature item, modified with Chef Yoshimura’s face instead.
9. Grilled pork shoulder, donabe rice, pea tendrils, pickled ginger.
10. Sweet nori, shoyu egg custard, uni.
11. Local peach, yogurt, amaretto jelly, mint.
12. Mini terrarium with bonsai in moss; actually, it’s black sesame cheesecake with strawberry and goat cheese.
13. Last plate: mini bites. Kumori kanten, strawberry sakura daifuku, watermelon chichi dango, chilled red bean oshiruko, shiratama, panache fig.
Each beverage pairing perfectly complemented the food, providing balance and contrast, and bringing delightful background flavors to the forefront, except dessert which made the wine taste bitter. Favorite pairing was the Grüner with pine nut miso soup. Favorite drink overall was the’2 Grain’ junmai daiginjo with a spicy aroma and initially spicy on the palate that transitioned to lightly sweet.
Pacing was excellent, service was good. The decor with high ceilings and dark walls felt both open and cozy; the art was modern Japanese-American on one side and traditional antique scroll paintings on the other, reflecting both chef and food. I appreciated that a server noticed me looking at the art and came over to our table to explain it.
Take home was the menu and a bottle of matcha cold brew with soy milk.
Only real negative was that the restaurant made a mistake on the online pricing of the prepaid beverage pairing that I wasn’t notified about until a few hours before dinner. They called to say they’d refund my $185 beverage payment and if I still wanted a pairing I could order it upon arrival for $235. This felt really weird, especially for a dining event at this level.
by AllYrTastyRBelong2Us