Gochi and Food TV

Gochi, Cupertino

I've been to Gochi a couple of times for lunch, but never for dinner--and while its salmon rice bowl (flaked salmon, salmon sashimi, and salmon roe) is one of my favorite meals, tonight's dinner was a great showcase of Gochi's abilities.

Dishes Nate and I ordered:

• Yuzu ceviche - seafood of the day in yuzu ceviche, served with homemade chips that looked like Ruffles but were lighter, crispier, and with darker potato flavor. Yuzu has a taste between kumquat and lime, and is pleasantly fragrant without much acidity. It balanced cuts of octopus, salmon, and other white fish well.
• Aigamo steak - duck steak. Roasted medium, sliced, with tangy soy sauce. This one took the kitchen an hour to make--I'm not sure if it's because they missed it on our initial order, or because there was a special preparation. This would have been best 2nd in serving order.
• Saba oshi sushi - pressed sushi with marinated mackerel, shiso, and umeboshi paste, cut into sushi portions. Tasty. I love well-done mackerel, and it marriages the shiso and umeboshi much better than the usual roll with only those two ingredients.
• Sake oyako meshi - Salmon and salmon roe over rice and wilted spinach in a claypot. The heated claypot makes the rice crispy (a rice form we Chinese people call guoba, but I'm not sure what English or Japanese names are). I love claypots. We ordered a medium, though Nate and I could have finished it ourselves... I wonder if I can imitate the same dish if I heat up my Le Creuset?
  

Things I got to eat from friends at the table:

• Shiromaguro tataki - seared albacore with Japanese pea sprouts and toasted sliced garlic. The toasted garlic was a surprise. A strong element to a tame dish.
  
• Risotto croquette - mushroom risotto croquette with cheese, served with tomato and basil sauce. Crunchy outshell and creamy and delicate inside.
• Mentai kinoko pizza - Mentaiko (spicy cod roe), kinoko mushrooms, crab. The concept is good, but truthfully, this was my least favorite of the meal, only because they pilled on so many delicious ingredients and none of them got highlighted as a result, and it just tasted like cheese over something. Although, this wins over regular Japanese pizza any day.
• Mentaiko potato gratin - Mentaiko shone in this one, and its taste merged with potato and cream very well. I always want to buy mentaiko in grocery stores but never buy it because I don't know how to cook it, and this was an idea.
  

I'm not so good at the picture-taking before eating immediately when the plate comes to the table, so here's the only picture that isn't of scraps on a plate:



Some areas of the menu were not ordered--noodles, nabe, and soup. Overall, the food was inventive, though some fusions were better than others. I still love traditional Japanese food the best but would totally come back to Gochi again.

Then the rest of the night was off to Ryo's apartment for desserts (dipped strawberries, ladyfingers from our last chocolate fondue gathering, and a horrible gluten-free chocolate torte I should not have picked up at Trader Joe's) and mixed drinks (see our antics here). We watched How I Met Your Mother and Top Chef and then I drooled over Iron Chef America: Battle Coffee. The challenger had great presentation with edible flowers and leaves, and everything looked so great.

Goodbye

My oldest cat died tonight.

I wasn't planning on crying but the speaker phone call with my parents for some words of parting was too much. I said farewell awkwardly and quietly, but here is really what I want to say to you, Mimi:

I'm glad you're my cat. I wish you've enjoyed our family and our time together. I apologize for neglects and mistakes, and my short temper when I was little, and long time away when I grew up. I'm sorry we couldn't handle your last days better, and hope you didn't suffer.

Thank you for everything you've taught me. Naps are great but afternoon naps in the sunshine are better. Our time together was a long 17 years, but I wish it was longer. I know it's better that you've gone. It was hard being old.

We've had a lot of good times. I'll remember the things you've taught me. The hardest part is knowing you'd never be there anymore.

Thank you. I'll miss you.

Wine and Food

Wines for April from Arlequin:



Today we drank the Australian Saloman shiraz/petite verdot mix, "Bin 4 Baan" (leftmost bottle). I haven't liked the few bottles of shiraz I've bought previously, but this one was surprisingly tasty, full with boldness expected from an Australian wine.


These past couple of weeks I've eaten out a lot, so here are some reviews before I forget their tastes:

Ray's Sushi, Hayward

Large menu with a good selection of sushi and several pages of rolls. My mom and I ordered grilled miso sea bass (misoyaki?), hamachi kama (grilled yellowtail cheek), chirashi, and their signature Ray's roll. The misoyaki arrived first--an unfortunate first mistake, but it's to be expected that serving order is rarely followed in non-Japanese higher-end restaurants. The miso dampened the rich fat of the sea bass down a bit, and the skin was delicious. Possibly influenced by our hunger.

Chirashi arrived second, with the usual egg, salmon, tuna, yellowtail, mackerl, octopus, and shrimp, as well as something close to sea bream and possibly something else I can't remember. I like to order chirashi in a new restaurant (and often in an old favorite) because it judges a lot of different aspects--its rice, its chef's knife skills, its egg, and its fish (and of those, the tuna is the most important). The rice wasn't memorably like sushi rice, and didn't have seaweed or pickled mushrooms (though not all chirashi have them). Egg was average in texture and blend of salty and sweet. Tuna was average. The sushi chefs were mostly Chinese (a couple of them conversed about their last regular visit to Taiwan) and one American.

The signature roll arrived in the midst of our chirashi, and was some sort of futomaki-esque shrimp tempura with eel, sweet special sauce, tobiko, and probably a fish or two there that I forgot. Delicious and full of wholesome rice that fills me up. I thought there was too much sauce and made the seaweed roll a bit drenched, but apparently my mother liked it to keep dipping her rice in it.

Hamachi kama arrived last--after we had to ask the kitchen if it was still coming, and if it wasn't, never mind about it. It came. The waitress who bought it put it down with her left hand and then took my mom's other plate with her right hand. Immediately I frowned, but as we were at the bar she didn't see (though I doubt she would see even if my face was directly there). I don't understand why some waiters ignore the rules about personal space, and it feels like Chinese waitstaff are the worst about this.

Ray's Sushi divided their hamachi kamas into 3 sizes, and though we ordered the smallest, it was still a struggle to finish. It wasn't as succulent as the kamachi kama we had at Koo, but then it's hard to judge at this point of our dinner. By this time we were full on our chirashi and roll, and I've gotten used to smaller portions in my resolution to eat less so I can eat more.

Our teas were never refilled, and this horrible plate crossing earned only a "Chinese restaurant" tip though the cost was less than a "Japanese restaurant" bill. (My mom and I've discussed this chicken and egg problem that makes Chinese restaurants prone to bad service, though one dollar doesn't really matter either way.) I'd probably still come back again for the value of the food, if I'm in the neighborhood.

Absinthe, Hayes Valley, SF

Came here twice in two weeks.

First time:
Warm duck confit, agrodolce cippolini onions, mixed chicories, Dijon vinaigrette
Slow-cooked rabbit, pappardelle, wild mushrooms, baby carrots, herbs
Saffron & cinnamon braised lamb shank>, Israeli cous cous, fava tendrils, preserved lemon, micro cilantro
Roasted mixed beets, toasted hazelnuts, orange oil, wild arugula, Sicilian sea salt

Second time:
Oyster shooters in spicy Bloody Mary sauce
Pork confit, braised red cabbage, Serrano ham, crispy mustard spätzle
Grilled dayboat scallops, celery root purée, Brussels sprouts, mustard oil, rosemary salt
Roasted mixed beets, toasted hazelnuts, orange oil, wild arugula, Sicilian sea salt

What can I say?--the beets were delicious and I love beets.

There needs no more description for the food than the menu--just the sight of the words makes me drool. At $85 (with tip) per meal for two, it's a level up from my usual burger and taco fare, but the service is great, and with real bread and good company, it's a dinner well spent.

Arlequin, Hayes Valley, SF

We ate at the cafe before picking up the box of wines today. Reuben, nicely toasted with thick peppery beef and sour pickles; and pizza margherita, its basil tamed in slices with a good drizzle of oil on top from real cheese. The shop also had soups, salads, and coffee available--and of course, there were a couple of tables in the cafe who had a half-bottle of wine from the adjoining wine shop next door. I'm looking forward to an afternoon to write and read at their small comfortable tables--hopefully my plan of moving to Hayes Valley would work out.



Oh yeah, when I finally decided to buy a garlic press, I bought a Shakespear set too...for $92. I don't how I'm going to finish every book, but I probably should D:

Wine

I've been a food person (perhaps a post on this later), and recently also a wine person. Appreciation for wine increases the more I drink.

What I've learned:
I like fruity tastes. Oak, spices, tobacco, and smoke make for bitter, too strong wines. (Despite chardonnay being white, I think most chardonnays have too much oak.) I like whites with crisp finishes, and reds to be complex and lingering. But a young pinot noir is also tasty.

I read Chinese translations of an ongoing wine manga--Kami no Shizuku 神の雫. Unfortunately, reading names of wines and winemakers and regions of France is really horrible in Chinese. (I ended up just reading from the drawings of the bottle labels.) The art style is sophisticated and beautiful, with complex characters and great descriptions of the wines. The image that the wine invokes is represented by art scenes--a Queen's concert, a virgin forest clearing, romantic longing. And the manga is quite educational about aromas, handling, food pairings, and personal tastes. Now if only it will be picked up by a US-based fan translation team.

And though I've bought a couple of bottles from a vineyard in Napa--most of my wines come economically from Costco. I'm tempted, though, to request certain wines listed in Kami no Shizuku from wine stores. I wonder how much a bottle of Lafite Rothschild would be...?