Happy Belated Cinco de Mayo. Had some friends over on Saturday for margaritas and taquitos to celebrate my favorite carb holiday. You can always count on my good friend, Trader Jose, in a pinch. Sadly, in my surfing for this photo, I found that there is someone who loves taquitos in an entirely unhealthy way.
After a truly dreadful week at work, the boy and I wanted to go out Friday. Its been weeks WEEKS since we had soba, so the choice was clear. We decided to try a new place in town called Gonpachi. Owned by a Japanese conglomerate, they spent $20 million to send over 300-year old houses from Japan to build the place in traditional fashion. Reportedly not a nail was used in the entire restaurant. Its a series of private tables and booths surrounding a giant indoor grill and an outdoor garden with a little glass-enclosed booth for the soba chef. We had a series of little grilled dishes - the highlights were the grilled asparagus with sweet miso and shitake mushrooms stuffed with minced chicken. Next we had hot soba with tempura - truly extraordinary with a richer broth than I remembered from Japan. We then had to order some more vegetable tempura, also very nice. Lastly there was sushi. There's always sushi. The LAT review said the sushi was just so-so, but we found it among the best we've had in LA. And last, but most certainly not least, I had 2 different glasses of sake that were brewed especially for Gonpachi. Light! Dry! Flowery! No sulfites! No hangover! I -heart- sake.
On the way home we stopped at celeb fave Boule for sorbet: yuzu and apricot lavender.
After a truly dreadful week at work, the boy and I wanted to go out Friday. Its been weeks WEEKS since we had soba, so the choice was clear. We decided to try a new place in town called Gonpachi. Owned by a Japanese conglomerate, they spent $20 million to send over 300-year old houses from Japan to build the place in traditional fashion. Reportedly not a nail was used in the entire restaurant. Its a series of private tables and booths surrounding a giant indoor grill and an outdoor garden with a little glass-enclosed booth for the soba chef. We had a series of little grilled dishes - the highlights were the grilled asparagus with sweet miso and shitake mushrooms stuffed with minced chicken. Next we had hot soba with tempura - truly extraordinary with a richer broth than I remembered from Japan. We then had to order some more vegetable tempura, also very nice. Lastly there was sushi. There's always sushi. The LAT review said the sushi was just so-so, but we found it among the best we've had in LA. And last, but most certainly not least, I had 2 different glasses of sake that were brewed especially for Gonpachi. Light! Dry! Flowery! No sulfites! No hangover! I -heart- sake.
On the way home we stopped at celeb fave Boule for sorbet: yuzu and apricot lavender.
2 comments:
that's right, beeeeeeeeeeeotch!
dude needs a friend
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