Urasawa: Splurging once every 3 years

Sorry, I haven't had time to write it up completely. But everyone knows how amazing Urasawa is anyway, right? So for now, just enjoy the pictures and the brief reviews...

Hairy crab salad.Toro tataki, with yuzu, crysanthemum leaves, and gold flakes.
This dish has uni underneath. Urasawa's uni really is the best I've ever had. Nothing else is quite like it. Very sweet and the freshness is undebatable.














Sashimi ice sculpture. The one at the very left is of course, toro. The one furthest to the right is some great hamachi.
This was is a sort of chawan mushi, but potato-based.

Cod sperm sac tempura. (Sperm sac?? Yep .. Hey, it was GOOD)
Hairy crab, with hairy crab brain, topped with uni.

Seared wagyu beef. Yumm ...
This was what we got for the shabu shabu dish. It has live lobster, scallop, toro, and foie gras (in that order).
I spent a good part of the night just gawking at him while he does his stuff.

Hiro's apprentice killing a lobster.













Fresh lobster sushi.
We had so many different types of fish that night. Including needle fish, fresh kuruma shrimp, mirugai ...

Seared toro. The best sushi ever ... I had like 5 of them that night ... *sigh*
Hiro-san kept asking me if I was full. And all I kept saying was "I'll have more toro." What? I'm getting money's worth :P

Negi toro maki.
Ripe persimmon for dessert.
Azuki (red bean) with sesame seeds and gold flakes.



Urasawa
218 N Rodeo Dr
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 247-8939

DineLA 08: Red Seven

We tried Red Seven dineLA for a quick lunch on our way out. The restaurant is inside the Pacific Design Center. We did not know that at first so it took a while to find the restaurant.

The furnitures used in the restaurant were very nice, probably because of where they are located - I really like the swiveling chairs they had.

Both me and my friend ordered the hamachi for appetizer.

The hamachi was good, like standard hamachi dishes you find in most fusion restaurant these days. The portions were not bad, which I am happy with for $22 3-course meal.

We decided to get the burger and the butterfish to split.
The Kobe burger was pretty big and came open-faced.

I ordered it medium rare and that's the way it came. It was a pretty thick patty and was enjoyable. The bun, sauce and pickles were good.

The butterfish portion, on the other hand, was really small.

It was only two small pieces, and also small serving of the sides. Although we really enjoyed this dish - the sauce on the fish, the tenderness and moistness of the fish, and the noodles were excellent, the portion left us wanting.

I ordered the mango pudding for dessert.

This was very well-done (although the mango topping on top were rather sour - but I'm used to very2 sweet mangoes from growing up near the equator).

My friend ordered the almond roca samosas.

I thought this was just okay. They should have made the pastry crispier, then it would have been pretty good. The filling is also just okay. Definitely go for the mango pudding for dessert.

Red Seven
Pacific Design Center
700 N. San Vicente Blvd.,
West Hollywood, CA 90069

DineLA 08: Noe at the Omni

The menu at Noe at the Omni for the dineLA was enticing, with black truffles and foie gras, so we went to try it out.

With the bread came regular butter and some truffle butter. We all went for the truffle butter, which had a nice smell and taste of black truffles to it. No one touched the regular butter. We liked the truffle butter and thought it was a nice and generous touch by the restaurant.

Then came a complementary amuse bouche: tuna tartar.

A bit spicy but had a nice flavor and the fish tasted fresh.

The potato with winter truffle soup was very very good. I'm partial to creamy potato soup and this one is one of the better ones. They also put a generous amount of black truffles both in the soup and in the shavings.

Next was the hen roulade with foie gras.

This dish was a bit disappointing. Although the chicken was tender, moist and tasty and the roulade overall was good, I did not see any foie gras and didn't really taste any either.

Next is the berry cobbler with chimay ice cream for dessert.

The cobbler was good although for me it was more "interesting" than good. It had a strange taste, particularly for a cobbler ... the ice cream was good though.

The service was good: nothing special but nothing to complain about either.

We did like the food there, although normally it would be expensive. The same menu but with both appetizers instead of just 1 was listed for $60. This is too expensive in my opinion, especially if it was the same hen roulade with not enough foie gras to taste.

Food: 8/10
Regular Price: 7/10
Service: 7/10

Noe at the Omni Los Angeles
251 S Olive St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012