Dinner | Dojo Izakaya

Last week, the team from Sushi Dojo (my review can be found here) invited me to check out its new-ish restaurant, Dojo Izakaya. Marcus and I have been huge fans of Sushi Dojo since our first visit, so anything cooked up by Chef David Bouhadana immediately had my attention.


Dojo Izakaya is a traditional izakaya, a casual Japanese drinking establishment that serves fare that complement its beverage offerings (essentially, a Japanese gastropub). Upon our arrival, we were welcomed by Lindsay, the restaurant's friendly server who took care of us for the duration of our meal.


The dining room, albeit small, is cozy and intimate, inspiring shared bites and conviviality.


And what a vibrant selection of sake this izakaya boasts, many of which are not served in the traditional glass bottle, but in a glass "cup" shaped like a can -- it might not be a real novelty or anything, but I was certainly fascinated with them. Plus these cups have been repurposed as the restaurant's drinking glasses -- how nifty!


We decided to try our luck with the sake menu by diving headfirst into a junmai daiginjo ("Purest Pleasure" by Wakatsuru) and our ever persistent favorite, a nigori (One Cup by Ozeki). Daiginjo, per the menu's apt description, is super premium sake with complex flavors and fruity aroma, while nigori is a cloudy, unfiltered sake. Marcus and I took a sake class awhile back at New York Vintners, and our instructor had said if there was anything to take away from class was ginjo and daiginjo. Clearly that stuck with us, because Purest Pleasure was indeed quite a satisfying sake with its smooth, well-rounded savory taste. As for this nigori, it possessed a " creamy rich flavor balanced with an elegant sweetness and a refreshing aftertaste."


View of the dining room's other side.


First up were the fried shishito peppers in tempura as well as oshinko (assorted Japanese pickles which came recommended by Lindsay) that consisted of kimchi, takuan (pickled daikon), umeboshi (pickled plums), carrots, and cucumbers. I usually see blistered shishito peppers on izakaya menus, so it was great to see that Dojo Izakaya took it one step further with a light battering of tempura which added a nice texture to the sweet crunch from their blistered exterior. The oshinko, with obvious aesthetic appeal, were additionally matched with different flavor profiles across the spectrum (spicy, sweet, vinegary, and briny), making for a lovely showcase of Japanese pickles


Next came the gobo chips served with spicy cod mayo. These chips were like French fries that used burdock root instead of julienned potatoes. The taste reminded me a mix of sweet potato fries but with a firmer, carrot-like). The spicy cod mayo complemented these very well -- a winning combination that brought out the flavor from the burdock root. Definitely worth trying!


Probably one of my favorite dishes of the evening were the takoyaki (octopus fritters) topped with bonito flakes, takoyaki sauce, and Japanese mayonnaise. The resulting design from the zigzagged mayonnaise made these little orbs look like bumble bees, and what bumble bees of flavor these were! They were perfectly fried with the ideal ratio of batter and chopped octopus meat (many times, there are hardly any chunks of octopus meat to warrant them being called takoyaki) which made these for very enjoyable bites.


We also ordered a few kushiyaki (skewers) by the piece -- from top to bottom were chicken, guyton (beef tongue), and kalbi (beef shortrib) served with togarashi seasoning. The skewers at Dojo Izakaya are of the purist approach (just enough seasoning and light marinade) where the flavors of the meat speak for themselves -- well-charred, evenly marinaded, and incredibly juicy. Be sure to order a few of these -- you'll be glad you did!


We shared another cup of sake, this time a junmai (pure sake with intense flavor and low fragrance) called Dark Sleeper, which was quite well-balanced in smoothness and strong flavor, making it our favorite out of the three we had that evening.


Our first selection from the meat section of the menu was the  buta kakuni (braised pork belly) with Japanese mustard. Thoroughly marinaded, the pork belly must have been braised for a lengthy time at a low temperature as it was so tender that the meat fell apart very easily.


One of favorite things to order at an izakaya (or from the cooked section of a Japanese menu) is hamachi kama (salt-grilled yellowtail collar), so imagine my excitement when it was offered at Dojo Izakaya. In each hamachi (yellowtail), there are only two (one collar per side), and it is the fattiest and juiciest part of the fish, typically grilled or broiled until the skin is crisp and the interior is just cooked through. At Dojo Izakaya, the preparation was no exception -- the meat was incredibly juicy and savory, simply salted with a squeeze of lemon juice. The two collars here had a very brilliant char to them without overcooking the meat. You better believe that Marcus and I scraped every last bit!


We also tried the Hamburg steak (pure ground beef steak with housemade demi-glace sauce topped with a fried egg). The homemade sauce is definitely one of the more notable things of this dish, which paired really well with the perfectly fried egg -- great combination of textures and tastes.


The last dish of the evening was the katsu sando (pork cutlet sandwich). The bread-to-pork ratio seemed to be a bit off -- white sandwich bread might not have been the best choice for the thick-cut slabs of pork cutlet, as it made it difficult to eat without the sandwich contents slipping/falling out. While this wasn't my favorite dish execution-wise, I appreciated the idea of it.

Findings: Marcus and I had a fantastic time trying out the wide spectrum of dishes from the varied yet well-curated menu at Dojo Izakaya along with the delicious offerings of cup sake. While the space might appear to be small, I appreciated the cozy atmosphere the restaurant creates for its patrons with thoughtful fare and drink, inspiring intimate and lively conversations. Our server Lindsay made the visit that much more enjoyable with her cheerful and welcoming demeanor. So if you find yourself in the East Village with your closest friends, a detour to Dojo Izakaya is a must for quality and authentic Japanese eats and sake at reasonable prices -- I know we'll be back soon for sure!

Price point: $8-15 for each small plate, $3-5 for each skewer, $10-18 for each cup sake.

(Dislosure/Disclaimer: This meal, excluding alcohol, was compliments of Dojo Izakaya. All opinions expressed in the post are my own and not those of the restaurant's proprietors.)

--July 24, 2015

Dojo Izakaya
38 Avenue B
New York, NY 10009
http://www.dojoizakaya.com

Dinner | Soto

Firstly, I would like to apologize my absence over the last 3-4 months. I got caught up with the bean counting part of my life, and I hope to make a more regular return to Four Tines in 2014. I definitely had really great expectations of how the year would finish on the blog, but I ended up spreading myself too thin, burning out before the year was over. I apologize for this unexpected radio silence, so I hope that I can focus on quality (over quantity) from here on out. In the last year, I've found my favorite niches in this grand city and have become the regular patron of a handful of places -- something I thought I could never commit to doing because of the sheer variety and choices New York City has to offer. A lot has changed for me, so I hope to regain my voice again and share with you my adventures in eating -- however few/many and far between. Thanks for all of your support -- it really means so much! :)

◈  ◈ ◈

Last Friday, I found myself in the West Village with Lisa, once again to celebrate our upcoming birthdays this month -- another year gone by. We had celebrated at Atera last year, so we thought to return to our alternating tradition of New American and Japanese. Soto had been on our list for the longest time, making it a fitting choice of venue for us this year.


The restaurant resides right on Sixth Avenue, but even then, its exterior is pretty unassuming. I nearly passed it at the first go. Like a well-kept secret in the middle of the neighborhood's hustle-bustle, Soto is hidden away behind these windowed walls with smaller cut rectangles speckled throughout. 

Once inside, the restaurant is serene and pretty quiet -- just the occasional echoes of service plating and soft chatter. It is a temple for Japanese cuisine. 

 
The menu is dated, which implies it is updated daily. There are about fifteen or so items on each side (two pages, front and back), so there were quite a lot of dishes from which to choose. And in case you were wondering if there was ever a restaurant offers an emporium of sea urchin on its menu, Soto is that very spot. There are nearly ten dishes that contain it alone. That's a whole lotta uni -- you can bet your bottom dollar that we got on board with that right away. Let the uni feasting begin!

Our waitress guided us through the menu, suggesting that we sorder about twelve dishes in total from the menu -- roughly four from each page of the menu if you're not getting any sushi/sashimi (we decided to focus on the menu dishes rather than the sushi selection as there were many original creations to explore). We could only really decide on eight definite dishes ourselves, with the remaining three selected with help.


We started with sharing the miso soup -- lobster and uni broth, sliced fresh ginger shoot, and chives. It had those clean yet profound flavors that you would expect from a solid miso soup, yet there was a really interesting twist with the added savories of plump lobster meat and creamy uni as well as a flavor highlight from the freshly sliced ginger. I highly recommend starting out your dinner with this -- very fun as it paints your palate for what's to come.

Next came that aoyagi clam cocktail with sliced live sea clam marinated in truffle-ginger soy sauce with fresh ginger shoots. We had no idea what "cocktail" meant until it arrived in this frosted martini glass. While presentation was quite exquisite, the execution of flavors was not so much. The ginger soy sauce was pretty bland, and there was an overload of fresh ginger shoots which were so pungent that it took away from the live sea clam slices. A sad and disappointing dish for us. ;[

This next dish made up for the previous mishap. We were very curious about the ankimo -- steamed monkfish liver with ponzu and scallion -- one of our favorite Japanese dishes. I've only had it a couple times before (incidentally, my first time ever trying it was with Lisa at Ichimura at Brushstroke), and just with those experiences alone, I can tell that it must be difficult to prepare it well, as much of the flavor comes from the quality of liver. I am happy to report that the ankimo at Soto is fantastic -- savory and creamy all at once with the perfect balance struck with ponzu and scallion. The rounded cuts in the back and the square-ish cuts in the front each had slightly different textures, the square-ish being a bit softer and more buttery. Almost quite literally the foie gras of the sea, this is a dish that cannot be missed.

Also from the small plates section was uni and yuba -- black soy bean milk skin with the restaurant's finest uni and served with shiitake broth and shredded nori. Look at those golden lobes of uni roe, glistening atop the silky heap of yuba in a flavorful broth. This was a very delicate dish, one that had a lighthearted interplay between rich, savory minerality (the uni) with the clean, silken feathers (the yuba) swimming in a broth that captured the beautiful essence of the shiitake. You wouldn't think this unusual combination would work, but it magically does.

From the sushi bar, we opted for the octopus carpaccio -- steamed octopus with citrus, sea salt, sesame oil, yuzu-kimizu, and salmon roe -- garnished with pickled cucumber. I love all preparations of octopus, but always remain skeptical when it is served raw, where it becomes a slippery slope to get it at its optimal texture (i.e., not chewy or slimy). I'm not sure how Soto gets it right, but this carpaccio not only is a gorgeously plated dish, but one that shows off the octopus with a favorable texture, an excellent preparation, and a spot-on pairing of ingredients. You need to have a little bit of everything in each bite -- a slice of octopus carpaccio with the yuzu-kimizu, an orb of salmon row, and a slice of pickled cucumber -- making for a playful composition of flavors

In alternating order, our waitress brought out our first dish from the kitchen -- braised black cod (i.e., soy broth braised sable fish) with Japanese vegetables (i.e., satoimo, turnip, and shimeji mushroom). Can't ever go wrong with ordering black cod, and that also applies here at Soto. It is a very savory variety of fish -- one that melts onto your palate with its smooth flakes of meat. The cod also was nicely marinated, as the filet captured the soy broth quite graciously. Not a bad dish to have alongside the uni-heavy menu! ;)

Another dish from the sushi bar was the tuna tartare with chopped big eye tuna, pine nuts, Asian pear, cucumber, scallion, sesame seed, and shredded nori in a spicy sesame sauce. For me, this was probably the most vibrant and playful dish of the evening (even more so than the octopus carpaccio), if merely because of the deep magenta colored tuna mixed with the greens of chopped cucumber and scallions and the pop of the cream-colored, shredded Asian pear. This may have seemed like your typically Americanized tuna tartare dish, but I thought the addition of pine nuts and Asian pear made it really unique. It had fun textures (refreshing crunch from the pear and a nuttiness from the pine nuts) and interesting flavors blending together (again, the sweetness of the pear with the more savory nature of the remaining ingredients). It was a brightly painted dish in many aspects, and if you're a tuna lover, this is right up your alley.

Returning back to the sushi bar menu, next came the uni ika sugomori zukuri -- Soto's finest sea urchin wrapped in a thinly sliced squid with shiso, quail egg, and tosa soy reduction. There was SO much going on with this dish -- we had to take a few moments to brace ourselves with how to properly proceed eating it. It totally looked like a bird's nest, with the shredded nori as the nest and the quail egg yolk emulating the unhatched egg.

So we just decided to say, Screw it, and we just tossed it all together -- it was gonna taste however it was gonna taste no matter what. What a gorgeous mess, right?! Hahaha, oh man. Anyway, this course certainly made for a memorable one, as the strings of squid were like udon noodles and the uni and everything else were like the sauce. It reminded me of a combination of dishes I've had at Yuji Ramen (i.e., the broth-less uni miso ramen) and Sakagura (i.e., the abundance of shiso in the uni soba). For me, it was the remarkable texture of all the ingredients that made me fall in love with dish. Lisa just said it was her favorite -- done and done.

Another dish from the kitchen, the shiso agedashi -- deep-fried shiso wrapped scallop and fluke served in dashi broth -- was something recommended by our waitress. The scallop and fluke were well-battered (it had that golden, loose crunch) and had a great dashi broth, but other than that, it wasn't necessarily anything else noteworthy to add. It's a great basic dish, but there are other items on the menu that are probably worth exploring if you're looking for something more out-of-the-ordinary.

Geez, Soto really nails it with the plating -- here's yet another awe-striking sight, another one from the kitchen: layers of steamed Maine lobster with uni mousse in lotus wrap, daikon radish, and caviar, all under dashi broth. The uni mousse had us pretty curious, and sure enough, it gave the steamed lobster an alternative dressing (as opposed to the typical melted butter) to go with the Japanese touches of lotus wrap and thinly sliced pickled cucumber. The briny-ness from the caviar added another dimension to the clean flavors of the lobster and the creamy butter of the uni mousse. Overall, a well-curated dish.

The last dinner course for the evening was another recommended by our waitress (one that I am glad we didn't miss out on!) -- lightly broiled New Zealand langoustine under shiitake sauce and covered in thinly sliced shiitakes. I've never seen a langoustine in its shell before, so guess I can finally cross that off my list! The presentation here is undoubtedly captivating, and upon diving into the broiled langoustine forks first, it was so perfect -- easily the most savory dish of the evening (suggesting the dinner's course progression from refreshing to savory). The meat was at the ideal temperature (lightly cooked) with the lightest coat of a delicious cream over which the thinnest mushroom slices were layered. It all came together as a beautiful synergy of rich flavors, surprising me how this could easily be my favorite at Soto (and thereby making this one of the can't-misses).

Lisa and I could never end an evening at a Japanese restaurant without dessert of some sort (usually just a couple scoops of green tea ice cream) so the shared platter of assorted mochi ice cream (left to right: strawberry, green tea, red bean, vanilla, and mango) really hit the spot.

Findings: If there's something true about Soto, it would be that it takes the cake for having the most uni offered on a dinner menu (as the main ingredient or an accompaniment) AND that these dishes are outside of the typical offerings of just uni sushi/sashimi or uni pasta/ramen. If sea urchin is something you love and dream of, then you have come to the right place -- Soto will totally satiate any and all cravings. Along with the creative uni-inspired items, Soto is also quite imaginative in its plating and presentation -- we were thoroughly impressed with the beauty and precision of all our courses.

So with that in mind, while we loved the majority of the things we ordered (a little over half, give or take), we were also underwhelmed by the other courses which made us question the restaurant's two-Michelin star rating. Bearing cost in mind (it is pretty hefty at roughly about $100 per person, before gratuity), I'm not sure how confident in recommending a trip here, given the ratio of wows and mehs that we balanced that night as well as the vast offerings on the menu that we didn't have room to try. With Soto, you should definitely go with recommendations (like the ones I gave above) from seasoned diners so you can be sure to hit all of the can't-misses.

All in all, I'm going to err on the side of favorability and say that if you're looking for a culinary adventure in the realm of Japanese creativity, then Soto will be that place for you. Lisa and I didn't have a chance to tackle the sushi/sashimi by-piece/omakase available (a whole separate beast, in my opinion), so I would definitely be willing to return to check that out. In the mean time, please enjoy the photographs that documented our birthday celebration at Soto!

Price point: $9-18 for each small plate, $16-26 for each dish from the sushi bar, $14-28 for each dish from the kitchen.

--February 7, 2014

Soto

357 6th Avenue

New York, NY 10014

http://www.sotonyc.com

Dinner | Pearl & Ash

Last week, Andrew and I met up for dinner at Pearl & Ash over in Nolita, the restaurant opened by Chef Richard Kuo of Frej fame back in February at the old space of Bowery Kitchen. Chef Kuo has worked in the kitchens of wd~50 and Corton, so I knew we were in for some interesting things that evening.


The restaurant's moniker "comes from a story Chef Kuo heard as a child, about how a fine jewel does not need a showy setting."


I loved the interiors of Pearl & Ash. The interior of the 60-seat dining room is finished with light woods, including the table tops and the unevenly arranged open shadow boxes along the walls.


Pearl & Ash boasts a 1,000-bottle wine cellar and a selective offering of specialty cocktails, the handful made only using wine (regular and fortified) and beer -- not using the standard arsenal of spirits available with a traditional liquor license, which specifically fits within the constraints of the restaurant's wine and beer license. That's where Eben Klemm came in -- he carefully crafted a menu of drinks that were apertif-based to creatively work with these strict parameters.


Love the light fixture!


The interplay of pearly woods and dark slate tiles and upholstery really


Beverage menu at Pearl & Ash.


To start, Andrew had The Alley the Icewagon (right) with Dolin Blanc and Coldbrew coffee infused Punt e Mes, which was like a coffee-infused old fashioned. Then I had the Television Tonic with Bugey de Cerdon, byrrh, and strawberries -- a really refreshingly light sangria-like cocktail. Very creative cocktails given the limitations of the restaurant's wine and beer license! Andrew had a white wine after this -- a 2011 sauvignon blanc called Très Vieilles Vignes produced by Domaine Mardon from Quincy in the Loire Valley of France. A nice white to go with the first half of our plates.


The first plate we had was off of the raw section -- ama-ebi (i.e., sweet shrimp) with smoked lime yogurt, radish, and bee pollen. With ama-ebi being right in season, this dish was quite lovely. It had the light citrus notes from the smoked lime and subtle creaminess from the yogurt. The radish added a snappy, crisp texture matching nicely with the bits of bee polen sprinkled atop. It was delightful to see ama-ebi served other than au naturel in sushi restaurants. Very well done!


Our next plate was from the small section of the menu -- octopus with sunflower seed and shiso. The octopus had a nice charred exterior and a really tender interior, and  the sunflower seed cream (sauce?) did give a nuttiness to it all, which I found to be great. but it was a bit over-salted with seasoning, making it a little difficult to enjoy completely.


We also had the sweetbread with sherry, mushrooms, and morcilla. The flavors in this dish were good (mushrooms were fabulous), but the sweetbreads themselves were more fried batter than of sweetbread substance. Perhaps if the nuggets were bigger with less breading, the texture of the sweetbread would come out more.


Our last small plate were the pork meatballs with shiitake and bonito. The meatballs had a warm, juicy center, and the bonito added that Japanese flair to them. However, the sauce was quite salty and would've been better if there was either less of it or less salt in it.


From the fish section, we shared the half portion of mussels with hen of the woods and pumpernickel. It was nice not to worry about the black shells and just go straight for the mussels themselves. I loved the broth they were swimming in -- a buttery foam with bits of maitake and hint of pumpernickel.


Also from the fish section, we had a half portion of the rainbow trout with celery, black olive, and pearl onion. With some great Mediterranean flavors, the rainbow trout had the briny-ness from the olives and a toasty crunch from the flash-fried celery leaves. Definitely one of the most interesting dishes of the evening.


From the meat section, we tried the lamb belly and heart with kohlrabi and hazelnut. With the same exact texture as you would have with pork belly, the lamb belly just had that detectable yet enjoyable gaminess to it underscored by the caramelized hazelnuts and leafy kohlrabi. The heart had that dark meat kind of consistency to it, but I'd have to say that the lamb belly had more character and substance to it.

I am so silly to not have taken a photograph of the other dish we ordered from the meat section (see this one from Ryan Sutton's review in Bloomberg) -- quail with almond, pomegranate, and chicken skin. It was by far my favorite dish of the evening. The meat was not only incredibly tender but also deboned for easy nibbling. Nuts like almonds always seem to go well with game birds, and it was no exception here. The chicken skin gave a nice bit of fattiness and crispiness to the quail, and the pomegranate gave a wee taste of autumn amidst a summer evening. I wish we had ordered the full portion of this -- would definitely encore this one at a subsequent visit.


As a side, we had the potatoes with porcini mayo and chorizo. It was a delicious mix of earth, cream, spice, and starch. Great for sharing!

Andrew finished the evening with a glass of red -- a 2011 Côtes du Rhône produced by L'Oustalet from the Rhône Valley of France -- which was as solid as a Côtes du Rhône can be! I went with a dessert wine -- a 2005 late harvest Tokaj Classic from Tokaji, Hungary. With it being a dessert wine, it was a lot sweeter than I had anticipated but still very enjoyable.


For dessert, I had the lemon sorbet with meringue and brown butter. The meringue had a beautiful torched surface and wasn't at all heavy. It made for a nice palate cleanser, punctuating the meal with a light citrus finish over the savories from dinner.


Andrew had the Fernet-Branca ice cream sandwich, which I could've swore was fresh banana, but I am probably mistaken, haha. Fernet-Branca is a bitter and aromatic spirit from Italy, which is made using a secret family recipe that catalogs 27 herbs from five continents, including aloe from South Africa, rhubarb from China, gentian from France, galangal from India/Sri Lanka, chamomile from Italy and Argentina, saffron, myrrh, and elderflower.


It had the elements of a classic ice cream sandwich -- rectangular cakey cookies with ice cream sandwiched in the center plus the wax paper wrapper emphasized that nostalgic feel as well. The Fernet-Branca ice cream was a little subdued in the creaminess, but you could detect little fruity, herbaceous hints of flavor.

Findings: All in all, our dinner at Pearl & Ash was one of mixed feelings. We felt the beverage program (cocktails and wines by the glass) were all home runs -- we thoroughly enjoyed everything we sampled. However, this wasn't the case with the plates we had to share. We found many of the dishes a bit salty, which took away from the focal point of each plate, but with exceptions like the ama-ebi, rainbow trout, lamb, and quail, Pearl & Ash certainly holds some promising potential in the future. Perhaps, the kitchen is still figuring it out its identity and getting its bearings on the direction of its cuisine, so I can fully understand how things can change in the first year of a restaurant's life. Until then, I was only half-impressed with the execution and a tad disappointed with how some of the dishes turned out. But, with that being said, the orchestration of ingredients along in each small plate is innovative and quite original. I'm curious to see the next menu iteration at Pearl & Ash by Chef Richard Kuo -- I am sure it will be even more awe-inspiring and more refined in execution. Looking forward to where Pearl & Ash is headed -- somewhere promising, I'm sure!

Price point: $9 for each raw course, $11-13 for each small course, $15 for each fish course, $14-16 for each meat course, $12-13 for each cocktail, $10-14 for each glass of wine.

--July 18, 2013

Pearl & Ash
220 Bowery
New York, NY 10012
http://www.pearlandash.com

Lunch | GT Fish & Oyster

Last week, I went on holiday to Chicago to visit my godfamily to celebrate Laura (my godsister) and her graduation from high school. During our time in the suburbs of Illinois, my mom and I made a little escape one day to visit the Windy City.


For our first meal, I took my mom out for lunch at GT Fish & Oyster, a handy recommendation that I gratuitously got from Alice!


Located in the River North neighborhood of Chicago, GT Fish & Oyster is headed by Chef Giuseppe Tentori who aims "to redefine the American seafood restaurant." The restaurant opened in March 2011 with "a menu that is half traditional and half modern in an everchanging small plates format" which includes a rotating mix of East and West coast oysters and a wide variety of fish-centric dishes.


Designed by 555 International, GT Fish & Oyster's restaurant concept "draws inspiration from Chef Tenotori's distinct contrast of traditional and non-traditional items on the menu by merging new and old elements." These elements include rustic details of an old fisherman's cottage and combining them with the more sophisticated elements of a sleek yacht. The sentiment of "stepping into an elegant state room with a casual and relaxed atmosphere of the deck of the boat" is conveyed with this dichotomy.


The sleek bar at GT Fish & Oyster.


One of the dining areas inside.

Chef Tentori grew up helping out on his grandmother's farm in a small town outside of Milan, Italy, where he later pursued and completed his culinary studies at Antica Osteria la Rampina at nineteen years old. Shortly after, he was invited to work at Chef Gabriel Viti's restaurant in Highland Park, Illinois and later at The Metropolitan in Salt Lake City, Utah. With his experience in these two restaurant, Chef Tentori returned back to Chicago and began to work at the iconic Charlie Trotter's for the next two years. Then, in 2008, he accepted two positions at the Boka Restaurant Group -- as a partner here and also as executive chef at the eponymous restaurant. This eventually led to the newly launched restaurant concept, GT Fish & Oyster, in 2011 for which is he both the executive chef and partner.


What's really great about the beverage menu at GT Fish & Oyster is that they have a lemonade menu with four unique variations on the drink as well as the option for spiking it.


My mom had the Rayleigh Scatter with blueberry, lavender, and lemon, while I had The OG Johnny with strawberry, lemon, and ginger beer. The Rayleigh Scatter was a little less sweet but still very refreshing (perfect for my mom's not-too-sweet palate). I loved The OG Johnny as the ginger beer put a really interesting kick to the drink along with the sweet and tart strawberries.


My mom and I shared a half dozen oysters (three varieties) served with housemade cucumber cocktail sauce and ponzu mignonette Staring at six o'clock:

• *Caraquette (East, New Brunswick): This was medium-sized and delicate with a salty and sweet finish. Recommended by our server, the Caraquette had the most fascinating taste -- an interesting duality of saltiness and sweetness which truly combines the best of both East and West oysters. Loved these!
• Sun Hollow (Hood Canal, Washington): This was medium-sized with a slight salty but clean finish. These were pretty good as well -- decent plumpness and a smooth taste.
• *Mirada (West, Washington): Small-sized and plump with a light brine and a sweet and clean finish. These are very similar to Kumamotos, the easy bivalve favorite, so we were sure to enjoy these.

We also had the Baja shrimp bruschetta with avocado, toasted pistachio, and grapefruit. Minus a little saltiness in some bites, I absolutely loved this dish. The combination of the shrimp with the topped ingredients created a buttery, toasty, and tart medley of flavors which served really well as our initial bites of food at GT Fish. Although it was slightly oversalted, the composition of this dish was perfect.


I also wanted to try the clam chowder with Neuske's bacon and housemade oyster crackers. Served in a clamp-lidded jar, the clam chowder was just amazing -- it was super chunky with lots of tender potatoes, whole and chopped clams, and bits of celery. The consistency, even with the delicious chunky bits, was silky and not at all heavy with too much cream. The perfect, eight-ounce serving to sample over small-plate driven lunch. The oyster crackers were nice but on the saltier side, so the soup was still quite enjoyable without them. A smaller version of the soup also is available with a half sandwich special, so this soup is really worth trying!!


My mom and I shared a pork belly slider with kimchi and peanuts. It was the ideal size just to get a taste of it. The kimchi was well seasoned, and the pork was pretty good. While this dish didn't stand out like the others did (and wasn't one of my favorites), it's a tiny but fun deviation from the seafood-driven dishes if you're looking for that.


For our last plate, we tried the Prince Edward Island mussels with roasted tomato, basil, and ciabatta. This was a major showstopper, especially as it was the "largest" small plate we had to share and thus more filling. It was great to see a mussels dish that was not the usual French-inspired, white-wine-butter-and-lemon sauce. Don't get me wrong -- that combination with mussels is obviously divine, consistently safe, and not at all fussy, but can also be perceived as unoriginal or uninspired in a sea of other innovative flavor compositions on a given menu. So the Italian influences from Chef Tentori's roots beamed boldy with this roasted tomato sauce for the mussels. It was zesty and dense with an intense flavor of garlic and EVOO -- the roastedness of the tomatoes really added so much more character to ths sauce, bringing out the inherent, otherwise subtle sweetness of the garden fruit. The dark, iridescent bivalves just swallowed up every bit in its pillowy, plump interior (can't go wrong with the rich variety from Prince Edward Island). Plus, the grilled ciabatta (nicely brushed with some EVOO, too) made it easy to soak up the roasted sauce, punctuating our meal oh-so-pleasantly.

Findings: My mom and I had a wonderful lunch at GT Fish & Oyster. The waitstaff was incredibly helpful in guiding us through the menu (plus recommending us some kickass varieties of oysters), and the lunch portion-sizes were great for light sharing in a variety of dishes (instead of just the usual three-course deal). The quality of ingredients and composition of flavor are of high caliber in a relaxed setting, making GT Fish & Oyster ideal for occasions on both sides of the spectrum -- a casual, enjoyable meal or a business one. Plus, how can you dislike a place that has a separate lemonade beverage menu?! Yup, my point exactly.

Thanks again to Alice for this awesome recommendation!

Price point: $4-14 for each cold/hot plate, $5 for each lemonade, $2.75-3 for each oyster.

--June 6, 2013

GT Fish & Oyster
 531 North Wells Street
Chicago, IL 60654
http://www.gtoyster.com