Message: | Went to Tsukasa this evening (downtown, alameda and third, top floor, call 213 info for number, hours etc)
Well, tonight, they had whole scallops in the shell. The meat and the chewy tentacle-y meat came sashimi. I asked for the liver/eggsack/entrail whatever it was, and got it broiled with a little sake sauce. Way tasty.
They now have the seasonal shirako, cod soft roe, aka. cod sperm sacks. They come cooked. Good flavor. Nice texture. Not slimy. Very fresh tasting. Don't know if they can be eaten raw. Enjoyed what I got.
And they have something I haven't seen at sushi bars, sanma aka mackerel pike aka saury (russian delis in la have canned saury in tomato sauce). We had it sashimi. A Japanese couple sitting next to us had it cooked.
As for price (cause you get no menus at the bar) we had two servings of the fish gelatin, ankimo monkfish liver(sashimi), aji tataki sashimi(Spanish mackerel hacked/sliced), two small hot cooked tuna or some such in a miso-laden sauce (when we sat down, called an otoshi), a cut negihama roll (green onion chopped with yellowtail), a beautiful saba/mackerel sushi, a freebie (I'm pretty sure) of a larger serving of the cooked tuna, the scallop sashimi (three ways), the shirako cooked (no rice), the sanma sashimi, and an uni hand roll. This all came to about $52.
In addition, one bottle Sapporo(large) beer, two miso soups (with a fish skin thing, tasty), and unlimited hot tea, another $10.
And a chawan-mushi (steamed savory egg custard with gingko, shrimp, fish pieces and a bit of sake), $4.50.
Total with tax before tip, $72 (for the two of us).
And am very full.
And it's cheaper if you order set sushi plates at the tables.
btw. asked him about the pine mushroom soup, matsu-dake shiro, and he said that the pine mushrooms in now aren't very nice, so he didn't get more. I fear the season is over there, too bad, because it was lovely.
2nd btw, went back to Deerfield garden in Monterey Park (Garvey and Atlantic). I love the instant-boiled lamb (Shuaiyangrou). My friend, orig. from Taiwan, finds northern food to be too bland for her. I think it tastes great. The broth gets stronger from the lamb cooking and I think it's a great food for the cold weather. I tend to think that the Szechwan (lay off, I can pinyin it if I have to, see Sichuan, there) style ma-la Huo-guo is just too much on a cold day and to my (let's say it Western) palate, the spices overwhelm (and mask) the other flavors. But there are some good places for it here. I'm just happy that Deerfield Garden puts out a great Instant Boiled Lamb, (you can get beef tripe to cook in it too, as well as both fresh and "frozen" [dong] tofu) and wonderful guo-tie potstickers. And we had a sweet winter melon tea (Donggua cha), like a dense Nestea iced tea.
Now if I could only find a place that sells Beijing/Hebei style glaceed pears and apples. |