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Wasabi Bistro, a closer look
Aloha!
12/31/08 - Well, it's the last day of the year, so I hope everyone has plans for a loud and boisterous Eve! Luckily, I'm off the next couple of days, so I'm gonna make the most of it, for sure! Family, friends, mean grindz, free-flowing drinks, and a boom-boom here and a boom-boom there!!! Hopefully I'll get some nice pics, and maybe even make another closer look hibachi page! We'll see, though...
Hey, anyone familiar with the old Wasabi Bistro, at the top of Kapahulu Ave.? It used to be a pretty casual place once upon a time, until they formed some kind of partnership with the Nadaman group, a small chain of ritzy Japanese restaurants found in posh resorts, inn's, and other fancy locales scattered throughout the Japanese nation. All of a sudden, it's no longer Wasabi Bistro, but Wasabi & Nadaman! Walked in there one fine day to the tune of shorts, t-shirt, and rubber slippers, and immediately began feeling a little, uh, inadequate... I mean, it wasn't nearly as high-minded as, say, a La Mer or Morton's, especially since it was day-time, but the super-clean, minimalist-zen look, typical of higher-class Japanese dining, made it clearly apparent that we were no longer in Kabuki/Mr. Ojisan/Gyotaku-land anymore, Toto. The meals were pricey, but quite exquisite, and with the meticulous attention to detail you might expect from kaiseki dining.
And where did the old Wasabi Bistro go? Vanish into thin air? Not quite... They've since moved to Beachwalk St. in Waikiki, where they, themselves, have taken over the former Sushi Koh. Beachwalk Street is much more low-key than its big brother one lane over at the actual Beachwalk, with its expanded sidewalks, information kiosks, water fountains, and bevy of fine restaurants and shops. Beachwalk Street still has a few great restaurants like Matsugen, Ginza Bairin, and Arancino Di Mare, and is the entrance to the Embassy Suites Hotel and Bank of Hawaii Building (formerly ANA), two main parking sites for the Beachwalk area, but also contains some pretty low-end convenience stores, hotels, and condominiums that give give it a much less glitzy look and feel. Wasabi Bistro is found in one of these modest hotels, called the Breakers.
This is the Breakers Hotel lobby area as seen right from the sidewalk, which leads you past a small pool and straight to the restaurant on the far right corner. Try not to stare off to the sides while walking through this corridor, as there are occupied rooms lining the path only a few feet away, and for some reason, many with both doors and windows wide-open! No shame, or what?
Instead of the yellow brick road, we followed the yellow wet-floor cones to the restaurant, as a slight drizzle accompanied us the entire night. I wondered whether they would take on the more casual aspects of the former Wasabi Bistro on Kapahulu Ave., or the more upscale nature of the new Wasabi & Nadaman. Even after entering, I still didn't have an answer, as portions of the set-up looked very high-end, with tasteful silverware, soft chandelier lighting, and a modern bistro look, while other views were quite the contrast, with a camp-style tent-tarp over most of the dining area, un-gainly screens, a ghetto bathroom with a ghetto alley-way leading to it, and a generally piece-meal construction that seemed to combine several different looks into one single restaurant!
However, as the night progressed, I think it was safe to say that Wasabi Bistro on Beachwalk st. tilts toward the higher end, not nearly as much as Wasabi & Nadaman, but much more so than the old Wasabi Bistro. Our meal that came later, along with the helpful, intelligent, and attentive staff, helped foster an environment that seemed conducive to a more discriminating taste than most sushi or family-style restaurants out there.
Our party of eight, plus five kids, made for a decent number of dishes, which meant my camera was sure making the rounds! Included with all set meals came a simple green salad with a very tasty, oriental-style, sesame/miso vinaigrette, complementing the even simpler sticks of carrot and celery interspered along the middle of our single, long, just put-together table.
As always when dining with my younger brother, who is a committed vegan (oh, bruddah!), the house usually whips up something or other that's not on the regular menu. This time, they put together a (get this!) vegetarian sushi! What the...?
All I can do is sit back and wait for him to see the light, even as he waits for me to see the light! Talk about gridlocked! Under normal circumstances, I'd normally oblige when someone offers me something I've never had before, but after one look at this Pamela Anderson/Alycia Silverstone suck-up, I must say, my statement of decline came with a certain amount of pride, and a further bolstering of confidence in knowing that I really do speak from the light, and my brother is absolutely nuts!
Aw, c'mon... He knows I'm just joking!
One item he had that I really did like was a miso eggplant, which came super-dark, with a rich miso paste and a soft, inner portion that was mmm yoso! And I absolutely love the flavor and texture of round eggplant, which is so much deeper and more luxurious than long eggplant, a variety that can be sooo inconsistent, sometimes tasting like they were never fully ripened out or something.
Another dish my brother would be proud of was gobo, or burdock root. A staple in my home, as well as any true Japanese home, it was done perfectly - nice and crisp, not too overpowered with shoyu, and with a mix of carrot and sprinkled sesame seed. Doesn't get any better.
And finally, let's get past the garden and into the ocean, as well as dabble into the field a bit, too! My brother-in-law loves unagi, so I decided to prod him into an anago, instead, which is similiar, but yet - not. The well-known unagi, at least here in Hawaii and most places outside of Japan, always comes pre-cooked, grilled in a super-dark, sweet, shoyu-based sauce, shipped out in air-tight packing, then re-heated before eating. I guess this is because it has a much stronger, fishier taste than anago, which can, at better sushi restaurants, be purchased raw, then grilled and basted with sauce right before eating. Most people describe the difference between the two as... unagi from ocean, anago from sea! Correct, by the way, but the more pertinent difference is that anago is much less fishy-tasting and pure, often coming grilled without even using any dark sauces. I guess saltwater has a way of cleaning fish out?!
While the richly-basted unagi is sometimes frowned upon by sushi purists as too strong for real nigiri zushi, anago, on the other hand, fits in as well as any awabi, hamachi, or toro! Wifey, while still back in japan a few years ago, used to work at an unagi restaurant, where they grilled both varieties fresh, and both often without unagi sauce. I can only imagine how great that must have been for her!
Mom, who is about as predictable as a Swiss Watch, went with a chiraishi, which is basically one big nigiri sushi in a bowl! A layer of rice is covered with a layer of various sushi toppings, all of which vary from restaurant to restaurant and evening to evening. Tonight, it looked like raw sweet shrimp, salmon, salmon egg, sea urchin, tuna, sweet dashi-egg, squid, octopus, and I believe a few pieces of flounder, if I might use strictly-English names. Mom was in heaven!
My sis-in-law, Miss Kat, loves a good chicken karaage anytime she can get it. And boy, did she get it. This was no okazuya-style, comfort food-type, common-meal bird, either! I can't imagine a more classy karaage than this, and if it were served to at Togu Palace to Crown Prince Naruhito and Princess Masako themselves, I'm sure it would have done just fine! Tender chicken, bursting with juices yet not greasy, hot and fresh from the fryer, with a super-light, crispy batter, and simply seasoned to enhance the natural flavors of the chicken? And with a quick splash of lemon? Are you kidding me? Too bad I could only have one small piece!
Wifey and I decided to split a sushi moriawase, meaning the chefs selection platter of whatever is freshest that day. Which, basically, contains almost the same items as moms chiraishi. One big and kinda surprising difference, however, was that they included a single piece of engawa, which is the muscle area that controls the dorsal fin of a hirame, or halibut. Not usually given out to just anyone because there is only so much of this area on one fish, engawa is crispier and chewier than regular flesh, and despite it being a muscle, also has a high degree of fat around, as well. A bit of a contradiction, yes, but interestingly, it does make sense in that it has both the mellow-rich creaminess of fish fat as well as the the firmness of muscle.
I actually only started having engawa after meeting wifey - before that, upon asking, no matter how often, the answer was always the same - "sah-dee, no engawa too-dey!" Always helps to go with someone important, you know... The actual piece is third from the front, right between the bright-red ahi and bright-orange salmon.
Look kinda small for wifey and I? You bet it was, as this was not the only platter going down our chop-chop's. A little sampling here, a little sampling there, plus the fact that some of us were also headed to the Yard House later that night!
One thing we got to sample was a standard new-wave roll, one that always works for a broad sushi-loving audience because it doesn't mean all kinds of fancy sauces, nor contain any deep-fried thingie's, nor advocate too much of a reach outside the sushi world in general, but rather features a rainbow of fresh fish and a bit of avocado, all wrapped around an inside-out (ura-maki) roll of imitation crab salad. When it comes to straight-on, raw fish, I can't think of a prettier presentation than a rainbow roll. As you can see from this work of art, ain't no average Tom, Dick, or Harry gonna put together this masterpiece, that's for sure!
Another beautiful sushi piece was the spider roll, which is another inside-out roll, this time containing a deep-fried, soft-shelled crab, crispy legs protruding and all. It came wrapped with tiny slivers of avocado, cucumber, carrot, nori, and daikon sprouts, along with a cover of bright-orange tobiko fish eggs.
Personally, I don't care so much for this one because soft-shelled crab means you are eating the whole crab - shells, guts, eyes, antennae, and all, and I'm just not a fan of crab miso (guts!).
The sleeper dish of the evening received many encores that night, the house having to prepare no less than three more orders of this particular item! In a fine restaurant like this, you may be surprised as to what it was - none other than... Spam roll!
Hey, I had a bite myself, and it pretty darn good! It sure wasn't no 7-Eleven variety, and most of our party concluded it was probably the best Spam musubi they'd ever had! Yeah, it was called a roll, but enough with technicalities - this was basically a fancy Spam musubi, is what it was, complete with a smidgeon of teriyaki sauce around the Spam. The kids, especially, will be happy and content with a couple of these, so long as the adults don't steal them away!
I gotta tell you the truth - I wasn't expecting much from this relatively unknown shop, but we were all pleasantly surprised at the quality of just about every dish here. They used fine, high-quality rice, the freshest of fish and other ingredients, presented everything admirably well, and, in general, had a staff that set the tone at a much higher level than I'd expected. Yeah, the construction of the place could use a little more refinement for the price they charge, but everything else seems to be right in line, especially the food.
In parting, I'll leave you with one final shot, an interesting glass of sake that came as a slushy, frozen drink. There was only one variety of frozen sake, a Tamanohikari of the junmai ginjo class (for an explanation of junmai ginjo, along with a brief, general look at the sake world, check out the closer look page covering Big Al, wifey, and I participating in the last Joy of Sake Festival at the the Honolulu Convention Center). Being of about the same alcohol content as wine, sake does turn into slush, unlike vodka, tequila, or other drinks that are so high in alcohol that they no longer freeze-up in any home-variety freezer, even after a month! I sometimes do this at home for guests, just for a little something different, especially for the ladies.
Stay safe tonight and don't burn anything down, all right? Hope you've all settled upon a New Years resolution by now, and are looking forward to '09 as the best year you've ever had in your life! Hey, it's not just possible, but very much achievable, yes?!
Take care and Aloha till next time! Go out with a bang, but don't spend '09 growing back your eye-brows, ok?
Aku
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