My lil, Cristan, and I decided to eat lunch here for DineLA. We actually didn't even order off the dineLA menu. But I'll start the story from the parking situation! We went into the private lot but we saw that you had to pay to park? Not actually sure since there wasn't a parking attendant but we didn't want to take our chances of paying for parking so he exited the parking lot and DROVE BACKWARDS (cause it was a one way street) so we could park close to the restaurant (HOW SCARY!!). He only drove backwards for like 1-2 car distance but it was still scary cause there were cars driving and they all stopped and gave us dirty looks (understandable)! Well besides the minor heart attack we got out and went into the restaurant. (It's only open for lunch on Fridays). The hostess was nice and greeted us quickly. We were the third group of people in the restaurant. Everyone spoke in whispers and were talking quietly. Cristan and I on the other hand are not mannered enough to be whispering and speaking quietly in the restaurant so we spoke in our regular voices which actually seemed quite loud. (When the restaurant started filling up with other groups of people eating then we didn't seem so loud - =D).
We both ordered Special Bento Box ($20.50)-- it was not part of the dineLA menu. The only difference between our bento box was I got the rib-eye and he opted for the king salmon.
"Special Bento Box--Miso Marinated Chilean Sea Bass and Mixed Vegetables with Roasted Beef Rib-eye, Sautéed Scallop or King Salmon served with Wasabi Potato Mousseline, Tuna Tartare, Dungeness Crab Cake, a Cup of Soup du Jour or Miso Soup & Shrimp Chawanmushi"
First came the salad. When the waiter put the salad down he said since we were eating the bento box he took our fork and spoon away. We had to eat the salad with chopsticks which were fine but that was different! The salad was nicely dressed. Sometimes I worry that they'll put too much dressing or not enough but this was just enough and the dressing was delicious! Finished the salad in 3 bites (it was quite small but yummy).
Next we opted for the soup de jour which was tomato soup. I'm not a huge fan of tomato but it was either this or the miso soup and I'm not a bigger fan of miso soup thus I went with the lesser of two evils. However! I loved the soup!! It was so good. I am glad I went with the tomato soup instead. So creamy and not too tomato-y.
This is the Shrimp Chawanmushi. It was in a tiny cup and we both looked at it and was a bit hesitant on eating this. Also, the cup is hot! I tried picking it up and was surprised at how hot the cup was! We tried one bite of the tofu & was immediately hooked on it! It was SO good. It's how oddly good it is. I can't even pronounce the dish but the tofu wasn't bland it had a very good mushroom taste to it. It did feel a little like eating baby food (with the small spoon & all) but it would be high class baby food! Wonder where the shrimp is? It's at the very bottom and it's the Japanese shrimp cake so that was surprising as well. Overall, it was extremely surprising at how much we enjoyed the chawanmushi.
Picture of my bento box. Upper left side is the Tuna Tartare. Upper right is Dungeness Crab Cake. Lower left is Roasted Beef Rib-eye. Lower right is Miso Marinated Chilean Sea Bass and Mixed Vegetables. I'll talk about each one separately & a close up on each dish.
First-- the rib-eye (medium). SO GOOD. I saved this for last when I was eating it. It was soft and juicy and nicely seasoned! The Wasabi Potato Mousseline-- not a fan of-- you can taste the wasabi but it wasn't strong like wasabi. I was a bit disappointed in it but the rib-eye made up for it. =]
Miso Marinated Chilean Sea Bass and Mixed Vegetables. Chilean Sea Bass? Tastes and has the texture like chicken. Different texture than what I'm used to for a fish. Or maybe he didn't cook it right? But it was chewy and taste like meat, seriously. =D The vegetables were good but I don't eat cooked carrots so Cristan had to eat it for me (mostly because he doesn't like seeing food being wasted).
Tuna Tartare. Raw tuna. Not a huge fan of raw fish, except spicy tuna. This was edible. It wasn't spectacular but it wasn't horrible. I was able to finish it but I wasn't craving more.
Dungeness Crab Cake. This was the most disappointing crab cake I've had! It wasn't horrible but I've had much better crab cakes before with chunks of crab. Maison Akira's Dungeness Crab Cake did not have a crab taste to it at all. I did enjoy those green toppings (I forgot what they are).
King Salmon. I tried a piece of it. It was really soft and juicy. It was different. I'm used to eating hard and tough salmon! When it's cooked nicely it was just completely different than what I was expecting! Cristan loved it. However... my rib-eye was better. =P
DESSERT!! Timbal Elysee “Laserre” -- Pure Vanilla Bean Ice Cream in a Cookie Tuile with Fresh Berries, a Caramel Dome Served with a Raspberry & Vanilla Sauce. It was delicious! I love vanilla bean ice cream! It was creamy, soft but not overly sweet. The fruits were fresh and the cookie tuile tastes like those chinese cookie sticks. =). It was a perfect dessert to end our overall fabulous lunch.
**SIDE NOTE** When our waitress handed us our bill. Cristan being the fast person took it! Wouldn't let me pay. But I took out my credit card and tried to stick it inside. He then stuck the entire black booklet (?) inside his shirt!! And took my credit card and put it inside his wallet! >=| But I was prepared by carrying another credit card with me. However I didn't get a chance to use it. He called the waitress over and took the booklet out his shirt and the waitress started cracking up! It was pretty funny. But still.
The lunch ended up being $62 (tax & tip included). Expensive lunch but it was very good. =D
713 E. Green Street
Pasadena, CA91101
No comments:
Post a Comment