Sakura on a Budget?

Hope you all are enjoying the holidays. Kirk, Cathy, and others post here regularly, but today ed (from Yuma) wants to share a dinner with you at one of his favorite places in San Diego, a sushi bar that is on Kirk's rotation.

Living out in Yuma is not easy for a sushi lover. Last time I checked, channel catfish sashimi is on no menu anywhere. That's probably a good thing.

So on most of my visits to America's finest city, I stop by that little temple of izakaya cuisine, Sakura. But with the economy, I am thinking more these days about my personal economy, such as it is, and I warned Kazu as soon as I sat down that a Chirashi was going to be the centerpiece of my dinner. "But start out," I said, "with a couple of other things first":

I have to admit, I wasn't expecting three rounded pork balls garnished with scallions first thing. But these were a fine start to the meal. Not too dense, and rich with porcine goodness, these bite sized treats  were complemented by the slightly sweet sauce spicy with ginger.

The next thing set before me was more outstanding and more complicated.
The first thing I noticed and smelled was smoky bacon. Ummm bacon:
 After further review (it is football season, after all), I noticed a couple of perfectly cooked asparagus spears chopped and lying akimbo on the top of a tower composed of a small tofu slab covered with mushrooms:

When I rotated the little bowl, I noticed a single wedge of cooked fresh tomato. Deconstructing the dish, I realized that four different mushrooms had been combined here -- a cluster of brown capped enoki mushrooms (perhaps bunashimejis?) lay directly on the tofu, largely hidden by the shiitake cap in this pic. Two normal button mushrooms and a large chunk of some giant mushroom (help anyone?) also sat in the broth:

My mouth got happy quickly. The bland soft tofu played an ideal background that allowed the various soloists to make good music together. And, truth be told, bacon, mushrooms, and asparagus are a few of my favorite things (whether you are now thinking  "Julie Andrews" or "John Coltrane" or "say what, dude?" says a lot about who you are).

Then my main course arrived:

 A Chirashi is wonderful for sushi lovers on a budget. Instead of having each piece of fish sit on its own handmade rice ball, a Chirashi is a scattered arrangement of sashimi and related items on top of a bowl of sushi rice.

As always, the fish was first rate; you can see the quality in the pictures. The salmon roe, in particular, is a so good here that I often eat the little eggs one by one, popping them on the roof of my mouth. The yellow tail and salmon were especially rich and flavorful this day as well.

A good Chirashi will also reflect the season and perhaps include something unusual. This one did. In the foreground of this picture you can see one of the two chunks of herring roe that adorned the bowl:

The chunks had crunch and more crunch, but the firm fisheggs were not salty or too strongly flavored.

My other surprise was this little guy:

 This tiny fermented squid was reminiscent in flavor of a good shiokara.

As always at Sakura, I ate well, and I was staying within my budget until Kazu mentioned that he'd forgotten to put uni in the chirashi. A cynic might think that the omission was deliberate, as I cannot stop at Sakura without tasting the uni. Anyway, here is a picture of dessert:

Some things are more important than budgets!

Comments

[jeffrey c]

Ed,
Kirk, Cathy, and you are fine writers as can be attested by the readers that keep coming back to read and enjoy this blog. This was such a great reminisce of your fine meal. Thanks,

Jeff

[Michelle]

I am tempted to lick my monitor :9~~ Awesome post! Now I want to try chirashi :(

[Hao]

Looks like it could be a king oyster mushroom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleurotus_eryngii). The texture is probably most distinctive: does the description in the wiki article sound like the one you had, Ed?

[ed (from Yuma)]

Jeff, thanks, we appreciate the kind words. And, Michelle, chirashi has long been a favorite, but Sakura does it very well.

Hao, thanks for the ID. That's it. You can see the part of the stem in the first picture of the tofu/mushroom/bacon dish.

[foodhoe]

Ed from Yuma, thatsa mighty fine chirashi they serve! I don't think I've ever noticed seasonal varietals like that hunk of kazunoko let alone seen any uni in a chirashi bowl. Something new to explore!

[Dennis]

Hi Ed, it seems I will be needing to closer scrutinize my lunching budget next year as well.. But the bowl you had sure looks worth every penny!

[janfrederick]

Just curious, what was the damage for this meal?

[Lori]

Ahhh, I'm drooling. Wish I could have some chirashi right now.

[ed (from Yuma)]

foodhoe - it is an outstanding chirashi. Many places don't change items by season, but availability usually changes the dish from time to time.

Thanks Lori.

Dennis, jan, the chirashi is good deal - last time I checked it was $22 (but I didn't look this time). For most normal people it would be enough food, as the rice is satisfying and well flavored.

Unfortunately, jan, I did go over budget (notice the ? in the title). Total for the meal, including a glass of good cold sake was $59. I had hoped to stay under 50, but . . .

[janfrederick]

We ended up going on New Year's Eve and enjoyed the chirashi immensely. Thanks for the post for the inspiration. I broke my uni virginity that night....and I must say, I'll never be the same. I was expecting fishy, but got "sweet" instead. I can't wait to try it again.

We also tried the beef tendon, fried mackerel, and cheese/avocado rolls. I think the rolls were our least favorite. I think we could have simply gone with the chirashi ($22 that evening), and perhaps one other appetizer.

Boy was that good. We were at a table and my sister-in-law glanced over and saw Kazu (?) carefully arranging our chirashi and was notably impressed (nice touch of doing it on the counter so we could see). I think he put more care into placing each morsel than we ultimately used in removing each piece. ;) We can't wait to return once our wallets have puffed up a bit.

[ed (from Yuma)]

Glad you enjoyed, jan. Chirashi has been a favorite since I discovered it.

And Kazu's are always beautiful and tasty. Some places use second-rate fish in chirashis.

Don't expect all uni to be that good. San Diego has some of the very best in the world, and Kazu has some of the best in San Diego.

[janfrederick]

I can imagine that San Diego has good uni. I just read this, it's a fun read: http://www.bluewatergoldrush.com/

[ed (from Yuma)]

Thanks for the link jan. I had always really enjoyed the uni in San Diego, but it was only after I read a Jeffrey Steingarden book that I realized it was considered the best in the world (with the possible exception of the rare uni from Hokkaido).