After the grueling fight for Presidency, I felt that I needed to recuperate with a great meal. I've been craving some Japanese so I headed to Aburiya Kinosuke. I have heard some good reviews and I must say that I am happy to have found this joint.
I arrived at the small quaint establishment and was greeted by the courteous staff. I was whisked away to the "bar" and sat down at a prime seat. Of course, the only people at the restaurant at this time were a group of 3 in a private booth and me so I had the pick of the litter. Place settings were neatly presented in front of me and I was handed a small menu describing my choices for lunch. Although there were plenty of interesting dishes for me to try, I was taken aback by the relatively small amount of choices. I suppose I was so used to the endless pages of entrees seen on menus at establishments like Chili's, Denny's, or Applebees, I was amazed that I didn't have to wade through overwhelmingly numerous choices to figure out what I wanted.
I did not have breakfast that morning and I was starving. I looked through the menu and saw variety of dishes I wanted to try. However, I decided I should get the lunch 'prix fixe' to sample the various dishes this establishment had to offer. I was given several choices ranging from moderately priced all the way up to what I would consider "extravagant" for a midday meal. I debated back and forth with regards to these choices and thought to myself, "What would my buddy Ryan do?"
I went for the super lunch combo.
16 oz Asahi Beer
I was immediately given a chalice full of Asahi Beer and the waiter explained that the explosion of flavors will soon begin.
Appetizer
I was first presented with salad with wasabi vinaigrette and a small dish containing 3 pieces of stewed japanese radish smothered with a slightly sweet gooey gravy that had pieces of scallop mixed in it. The radish/daikon dish was excellent. When I inhaled these two dishes, the waiter promptly cleared the table.
Appetizer
Next came three more side dishes. The first one consisted of pickled carrots with marinated root of some kind topped with seaweed. The second was roasted eggplant in some gooey topping with white substance I could not identify. Um...yeah. The third was another marinated seaweed dish with another type of vegetable I could not recognize. I enjoyed them one by one until they were gone. All of the dishes were tasty.
Rib Eye
Then an unexpected surprise arrived. The waiter brought out a funky flaming "pedestal" with three bite sized pieces of marinated rib eye. It was cooked rare and was sizzling on top of a wax paper that covered hot stone plate. It was interesting. The contraption looked like a miniaturized portable version of those large stone grill plates often used in korean BBQ restaurants to cook pork belly pieces. The steak tasted great although 3 pieces were ridiculously small and offered just a tease. I ate the plate in about 20 seconds.
Main Entree
Next came the main entree. The main dish, or rather dishes consisted of the following: Cold soba noodles with dipping sauce, miso soup, a small dish of pureed radish for the soba dipping sauce, 2 pieces of white fish tempura, 2 pieces of boneless fried chicken, 3 small pieces of grilled eel, 3 sashimi pieces (white fish, mackerel, salmon) topped with salmon roe, and 4 small sushi roll pieces which had tamago, masago, pickled daikon, picked carrots, pickled vegetable I could not identify and sushi rice. Oh and fresh wasabi was on most plates.
It is a wonderful sight to see the variety of dishes in front of me. I decided to tackle the meal in a counter clock motion (no real reason why but I did it anyway) and tried to savor each piece. I ate and I ate and I ate. I could see in the corner of my eye that one of the waitresses was looking at me. She was either checking me out or she was watching me in disgust as I stuffed my face full of fishy goodness. After about 30 minutes of gluttony, I finished my final piece of chicken. I was really full.
I will run through my review of each portion of the entree. The soba noodles were good. White fish tempura was mediocre and nothing really special. The chicken pieces were not too great as it was too salty for my taste. The grilled eel was excellent! The sashimi pieces were good but not excellent (I've had better), sushi rolls were good but pedestrian. All in all, the main entree portion was a B+ for me.
After adjusting my belt to accommodate my growing waist size, I tried to relax a bit before the final dish. The waiter quickly cleared my table and gave me a choice between vanilla or green tea after dinner delights. I went for the green tea ice cream.
The green tea ice cream came with a green tea cake piece. The combination was a great way to end the dinner. The ice cream was great. When I finished, the waiter cleared the table and brought my hot tea.
I really enjoyed the appetizers and the dessert. I thought the steak was phenomenal. The main entree portions were hit or miss although overall not bad.
I must note that the service was exceptional. I do not know whether the waiter paid extra attention to me because there were very few people in the restaurant or if this was standard practice in this restaurant but there was never a moment when my needs were not taken care of promptly. If I could use one word to describe the service, I would use "efficient".
By the time I finished my entire meal, the restaurant was packed. There was a line forming outside to get into the restaurant and people were desperately trying to cut ahead of one another. Most of them said they knew the owner. Yeah...right. I left the crowd and enjoyed the rest of my day.
Highly recommended!
