When You’ve Waited Just a Little Too Long to Return… (Review #2: 1877)

19 April 2024

I had been planning to revisit Bergen, Norway since my previous visit in 2014. Never got around to it working out, but finally my chance came when I was planning this trip. For some reason, the SAS transatlantic fare was CHEAPER to add this extra leg. Fine!

Sadly it nearly went pear-shaped. After that excellent lunch at Mash, my Kastrup experience turned into a mess. Flight to Bergen was delayed, and even the crew seemed confused. Then it was moved across the airport, and when we ran almost across the huge terminal, they cancelled the flight. So another long run to the info desk across the airport. And folks, Terminal 3 in Kastrup is HUGE. Plus it’s a damn shopping mall, so you’re constantly dodging people shopping for cars and other unrealistic shit…

Eventually after a lot of drama and a lack of information, they put me on a later flight. Yet on the other side of the terminal. I got to Bergen exhausted, just for my hotel not to send me the info to check in. You see, it’s one of those “no front desk” places but their app didn’t work. So I had to waste a taxi ride from Bergen airport to another hotel – just so I can get my key.

UGH is right. So I need a fantastic meal, right? I’ve been waiting to return to 1877 for a decade since my amazing dinner there. However, something happened a few months ago that worried me. They wiped their social media, and posted weird stuff that’s more about design and decor, very little about food. I was worried but kept my booking.

My fears were confirmed when I arrived. The restaurant, which used to be bustling, was empty on a Friday night – a warm night when many people were out. Sigh…but let’s make the best of it. My cheerful and friendly server was great, so that kept me going. I decided to do the tasting menu. And it started with…

Bread and olives. Well, a good snack really, but I was saddened they had to warn me that the olives had pits in them… After a little bit, a cheesy snack.

Not bad, a good nibble. Then my heart sank when I saw the first major dish.

Well, it’s a “fish pudding” under this mess. It really was not good. The fishcake was really boring, clashing with this heavy sauce. The vegetables (supposedly castelfranco) added nothing, if another clashing element. Really a dish that makes me scratch my head…

It didn’t improve either with the celery dish next, as the texture was the big clash now with the seeds and roasted celery. Again, did nothing for me. What has happened to this place?

I shook my head internally when the main dish came out, pork neck. Now I love pork neck, don’t get me wrong, but when I am in the west coast of Norway, where the world’s best seafood is, why am I eating pork? Now this was done extremely well, and it was delicious, but it’s like eating a chorizo in Hokkaido or raw oysters in Delhi. It didn’t make sense.

If it wasn’t for the really nice server this night would have been totally crappy. Then a rather lame dessert, and I am done.

I chatted with my server for awhile, as she has a very interesting background. I thanked her and headed out, shaking my head. She did admit they had a concept change, which is sad for me as it turned a fabulous place into this mess. And yes, it’s empty on a Friday night.

Not a great start to this trip…

1877
Vetrlidsallmenningen 2
Bergen, Norge

Trendy Does Not Equal Good…

29-30 March 2024

One of the things you notice if you travel a lot is that when you rely on stuff you find online when you do your food research, you get some gems – and you get some duds. I’ve had plenty of duds recently, and sadly, I have to add two more now. And these are all “trendy” places.

If you read my previous review on that excellent dinner at Kado no Mise in Minneapolis, you’ll note early on I mentioned I had lunch at a trendy place that went rather subpar? Sadly the place in question was the highly-raved Union Hmong Kitchen.

I got there not long after it opened on this Friday and ordered. It was quiet as it was early, so I just chilled out trying to plan what I was going to do due to the ice changing my plans. Then my lunch arrived.

My heart sank. The pork belly looks sad, really sad. They were some of the worst roast pork belly I’ve had. Stringy, at times all fat, and almost no flavour. It’s like someone forgot to season this. This does not even compare to the amazing Hmong pork belly I’ve had at places like Union Market in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, which had some of the best Hmong meats I’ve ever had, or more recently, Hmong Express in Appleton, Wisconsin.

I will say the sausage, which I took away, was far, far better. But this belly dish was just a cry for help, I’m sorry. I love Hmong meats, especially the pork belly, but this looks ridiculously lame compared to the stuff you can get at any small Hmong store in Wisconsin.

The next day I headed out of icy Minneapolis before dawn, as I planned to spend part of today in northern and north-west Iowa. I was amazed that merely 15 miles south of the Twin Cities there was very little snow or ice left. So I had a very productive day as I moved south, then south-west, then west through Iowa and eventually into South Dakota.

I drifted into my destination, Sioux Falls, at an earlier than expected hour, so I had time for a late lunch. I have this love for chislic and would grab it at every opportunity I get, so I decided to try this place called Urban Chislic.

I hesitated because it was featured on that crappy “DDD” show hosted by that gasbag who I will never forgive for what he said to me the night my restaurant closed. But I nevertheless took out an order each of the beef and lamb chislic and opened them up. Honestly, it don’t matter which one this was cuz they looked the same.

My heart sank again. This was really poor. Once I bit into it, I was even more sad. They forgot to season it. I called for no sauce because that’s the tradition, but these were dead plain. Worse, it was cold, 90 seconds after they brought it out from the kitchen? This also tells me they are not making these fresh. The lamb suffers more with that bad temerature than the beef, but both were awful.

Well, I got burned on both of these. Sad, as these places have amazing potential with great concepts, but the products I received are half-assed at best, shows no care. It won’t put me off pork belly, Hmong food, or chislic, but it will put me off these two establishments next time I visit Minneapolis or Sioux Falls.

Sigh…

Union Hmong Kitchen (Lake Street)
901 West Lake Street
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Urban Chislic
431 West 85th Street
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Review: Edo Tapas & Wine

29 December 2023

I’m not sure what I wa thinking when I planned this dinner for my one night in Las Vegas. In fact, I’m not even sure what I was thinking when I planned this stop. Las Vegas for me is the antithesis of almost everything I like. I’ve taken great pains to not visit this place since my father dragged me here back in the 1980s…

I did have a busy itinerary, taking advantage of the relatively cool weather (60s) to do some hiking outside of town. Seeing how awful the city looks at its periphery, from the tent cities to the drugged out zombies rolling around on the streets, it’s clear that Las Vegas is doing everything it can to prevent this from being seen by the tourists. Frankly that says plenty.

Throw in a pretty lame lunch at another sub-par “Hawai’ian” place, I was just waiting for my flight out tomorrow so I can get home to Chicago and some nice cold weather. But I have to get through dinner first, and tonight’s destination is Edo Tapas & Wine.

You’d think after my experience at places like Little Madrid Tapas Café that I’d quit once more on risking time and money on claim-to-be Spanish or tapas places. At least this place claims only to be influenced, so we shall see.

A so-so busy Friday night in a strip mall, where the real Vegas exists. I sat down in the small eatery and relaxed. Took a little to get their attention, as I think they thought I was waiting for someone. But soon enough a cocktial was in hand and the night got off nicely as my server made me a very large glass…

I looked over the menu and ordered a few things, opting not for the tasting. Soon the food started to appear, first of all the Peruvian scallops.

I have to say it’s not bad, but it feels more Japanese with the ponzu. In fact, you can see the Asian influence in the menu description, so we’re gonna have a fusion night. It was actually pretty good. They also comped me a small watermelon gazpacho.

Refreshing, as I was very warm since there is way too much indoor heating everywhere in this town. I’m so glad my hotel room’s AC is cranking while I’m away…

Back to the food, the tempura squash blossoms were also pretty good, although the tempura turned into an armor as it was nearly impenetrable by utensil… Stuffed with a wild boar ragu, I enjoyed it once I got through the layer of protection placed over the blossoms.

I was relatively confident with this meal to order more, avoiding the disaster from a few nights ago in San Diego with that subpar Cori Pastificio Trattoria. So with more wine my main course arrived…

Well, they are innovative. This is their version of a suquet, the traditional seafood stew from Catalunya, where the chef is from originally. It could have been better, but the halibut cheeks were way overcooked. The “potato chips” were an absolute distraction and soaked up valuable liquids in a bad way. This is one of those dishes that the chef got too cute with, as it just didn’t work. Oh well.

I was kind of full, but can do a dessert. I decided to risk it and order their paletilla.

They claim it is bellota, but they apparently used a deli slicer…yelp. And of course it wasn’t worth it. The one thing about hand slicing is that you need to see what’s there to slice, to get the perfect balance of meat and fat. Here you got imitations of each other, and way too thin. It feels like a bad order of prosciutto to be honest. Too thin and you don’t get the full effect of the acorns. Huge ol’ fail.

That was an disappointing close to the food. But a few drinks more and I was done with my Vegas experiment. Time to head out. Staff was nice but definitely not a repeater for me, even if I somehow end up back in this town again. Thank goodness for some fresh air before my Lyft arrived…

If it took me 37 years to return to Las Vegas, it’s safe to say I won’t be alive in 37 years to come back again. Unless I needed a demotion from Hell…

Edo Tapas & Wine
3400 South Jones Boulevard #11A
Las Vegas, Nevada

My San Diego Curse Continues… (Review: Cori Pastificio Trattoria)

26 December 2023

Was I traveling for the holidays? What holidays? I’ve taken festive 2023 off once again to just do my thing, working the ebbs and peaks of the season to facilitate my travels. That means a rather uncomfortable middle seat on Spirit to Los Angeles on Christmas day. Yet we arrived early, so that’s great. My goodness, it’s amazing the difference between Spirit and that shitshow-squared called Frontier…

Sadly I lost all the extra time no thanks to a crappy hotel shuttle at the always-chaotic LAX shuttle zones…

The next morning I got up before dawn and grabbed a rental car and headed on south for a day-long trek around San Diego. I’ve never had much luck with food there, remembering my last visit in 2018 and the “ponzu abuse” from Cloak & Petal.

Nevertheless, a good day, busy day, tiring day. I was absolutely out of energy when I got to my crappy hotel where very few things worked. Welcome to San Diego.

Eventually I caught a Lyft and headed to my dinner destination, Cori Pastificio Trattoria. I usually don’t do Californian “Italian” as they tend to disappoint, but the reputation of this place and its Sicilian-born chef was good so I went with it. Am I headed into another disappointing night or will this place surprise?

Was sat at the counter and relaxed with a cocktail. Not bad. Ordered two antipasti to start to see how things go. I was excited until the alici showed up.

Not sure what the point was here, but the “puffed” paccheri should be described as petrified instead. It was rock hard and breaking it apart sent pieces flying everywhere. It totally overwhelmed the anchovy with excessive blandness that did not mesh with the strong flavours of the fish. It’s like eating something flavourful with a mouthful of cotton. And why did it need EVOO in “caviar” form? Because it’s California. Sigh.

The lumache was cute in presentation but the flavour was really weak, especially the sauce. In fact, this was one of the weakest snail dish I’ve ever had, again the base being so lame it was hard to describe. It like tried to de-snail this dish as much as possible which again makes me think this is California, not Sicily. Sigh².

Stupid me, I decided to carry on and ordered a so-called “award-winning” pasta dish. It took awhile, but when it arrived, I sighed yet again…

The pasta was not cooked well, not consistent, and the urchin and whatever-else-they-wanted-to-add-to sauce again made me miss being in Sicily. This was really a pale imitation of what I get there. The sad scallop with the unnecessary caviar, and the skimpy other “seafood” here really gives me the impression that this is here to wow a crowd who thinks he invented putting ricci di mare in pasta. Sigh³.

I’m done. This really isn’t worth it. I could have eaten a secondo but I have no confidence in this kitchen, from the crafting of plates to the ability of this team to execute this evening. I know it’s the day after Christmas and there are staffing challenges, but if that’s the case maybe they should have let the entire staff have an extra day off.

The best thing I ate this evening? My eventual secondo: an Ultimate Cheeseburger next door at Jack in the Box…

Goodness, I miss Sicily so much…

Cori Pastificio Trattoria
2977 Upas Street
San Diego, California

You’d Think Seattle Would Know Better, You’d Think I’d Know Better Too (Review: Umi Sake House)

2 December 2023

I don’t know why I chose Umi Sake House for my second (and last) dinner on this Seattle trip. I thought the menu looked interesting, but when I got there I immediately had second thoughts. This seems to be one of those places that caters to people half my age with very limited ideas of what an izakaya is.

I walked into the loud and way too warm space and was squeezed in between two very food-disinterested set of patrons that just sat there and chatted and barely touched any food. Oh goodie.

Despite the room being so crazy hot from excessive heating, it took ages to get some water and my server’s attention. A few things I wanted were unavailable, so I ordered and tried to relax. It’s hard not to hear the inane conversations next to me, but easy to not listen to considering how they absolutely define inane.

Whoa, this is the wakame dish? This is gigantic. A good sign? The seaweed is rather good. But considering the small counter space, where’s everything else gonna go? That question became a problem as more stuff arrived…

The black cod was rather meh, especially compared to the wonderful version last night at Off Alley. This felt like something you can get anywhere. Plus a gigantic thing of salad with almost no dressing? I just picked off the tomatoes and returned to my gigantic serving of wakame. And the counter is now ridiculously overburdened when my nigiri appeared…

The toro was okay, the hokigai (surf clam) was a bit too soft. The saba (mackerel) was excellent, while the tarabagani (king crab) was pretty lame. Throw in some suspect wasabi, this really didn’t do it for me. I don’t see anyone else eating anything but maki, which says plenty.

At least this wasn’t made ridiculously badly like at Sado in St Louis…

However, this is giving me flashbacks to that very mediocre night at Izakaya Nana in Queens back in October, another place that bastardised the izakaya to something gaudy that appeals to people who have little idea of what a true Japanese izakaya looks, feels, and tastes like.

But the food is of okay quality, so I soldier on, despite the really annoying vibe in this place.

The grilled ika (squid) was not bad, again something that I suspect few people order since all I see being consumed is maki after maki here. I thought Seattle was a little more sophisticated with Asian cuisine, but clearly I am wrong.

And finally, some saba sashimi to close, and unagi nigiri as dessert. All washed down with some Japanese whisky. The saba was good, so that worked well.

My poor server, now with most people cleared out, now seems more relaxed. She did a great job considering the large section she was responsible for, and any early hiccups have been ironed out.

The food wasn’t bad, but it was just completely out of place in this venue. The setting was not condusive to izakaya-like dining (space, portion, etc.), and the audience was just totally wrong for what this menu could have been. Why don’t they just market themselves as a maki-specialty place with a few izakaya-ish dishes and not missell themselves to idiots like me that actually should have done more research?

I left disappointed that Seattle has failed me again. It’s like Off Alley was such an anomaly compared to nearly all of my previous Seattle dining experiences. Alas, I did have a nice 15 minute walk back to the Link station for the long ride back south.

As I fly out tomorrow late afternoon, I think I’m going to rely on my trusty Jack in the Box for the rest of this trip…

Umi Sake House
2230 1st Avenue
Seattle, Washington

A Soulless Factory (Review: Izakaya Nana)

15 October 2023

My trip to NYC was extremely busy. I was already running low on energy after a long week in Europe, and tomorrow morning I have to wake up at 4am, run to La Guardia for the very early flight into O’Hare, and then literally from taxi into a meeting. So it wasn’t easy to relax this final day.

I had a good day around Long Island, where I had planned to go. Lucky the weather cooperated far more than yesterday’s disgusting downpour and flooding. But I was tired, as this trip is finally near an end.

I didn’t want to venture far for dinner, so I took a risk on a highly-hyped izakaya not too far from my hotel in Flushing, Izakaya Nana. When I got it, I was thinking it’s big, and was like a parody of a more proper NYC izakaya like Sakagura in Manhattan…

The staff seems disinterested and it was not a busy night this Sunday. I eventually placed my order and relaxed with some sake. Annoyingly, it was chilling in an ice bath, but there was absolutely nothing to wipe up the drips. It’s like they just didn’t care. Oh well. Then the food started to arrive.

The takowasa was okay, but very neutral, like it was tempered down for the local crowd. But overall not bad. Sadly the ankimo was pretty bland.

Is it the sourcing? After the poor ankimo at Hakata Tonton last night, I’m starting to wonder about the sourcing of monkfish livers in this region… Then we have a set of hakozushi…

A bit of misselling here, but what do you expect when it comes with…sauces. I really hate what this country has done with traditional Japanese cuisine… And this wasn’t much more than a stomach filler, to be honest…

I kept at my bottle of sake, and still annoyed they didn’t provide a wipe for the ice bucket. Confused service. But now we move to some kushiyaki…

Most of them were pretty good, especially the pork belly and eel, but the chicken was tired and old. I thought about ordering more, but this place is emptied out and the staff parading next to me with large bags of trash, so I don’t want to push this further. I ordered one last thing so I can finish my bottle.

And this saba is, sadly, tired too. Compared to the mackerel I got at the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at London Heathrow, this was very sad. And compared to anything I’ve had in Japan, or at Cocoro in Chicago or anywhere else really, it’s sad.

I’m sad, and this is my last meal in NYC and on this long trip, and it’s a sad way to end it. I drained the rest of my sake and headed out for the long walk back to my hotel, not ready for a 4am alarm.

Just avoid this place despite any hype you hear. Awful, a basterdisation of an izakaya that has defined modern trendy US ethnic dining.

Izakaya Nana
141-26 Northern Boulevard
Flushing, Queens, New York

Overpriced and Underflavoured – Review: Mabel’s BBQ [Eaton]

15 July 2023

I spent the day after that nice dinner at Bender’s Tavern in Canton doing way too much. A good morning of hikes, despite the warm weather, and I needed some fuel. I decided to stop by the Mabel’s BBQ location in Woodmere to try some of Chef Michael Symon’s highly-regarded BBQ.

I got there and picked up the food and unpacked the first chance I got. In order, I started with the fatty brisket.

Sigh…this is pretty sad. If this is their version of “fatty” I hate to see the log that is lean. The quality of the meat was awful, the taste bland, and the cut really poor. Wow, I don’t think I’ve had as bad brisket as this one for a long, long time. Frankly I could not eat most of it without sauce, and I’m usually the no-sauce guy…

The spicy kielbasa was okay, but if they called this spicy I wonder how bland the regular would be. There’s almost no spice here. Again, quality not befitting someone of Chef Symon’s reputation.

The pork belly was the only redeemable dish of this lunch, but it seemed to be driven by the giantic hucks of ground pepper on the meat. But better than the kielbasa, and far, far better than the brisket.

Sadly this reminded me of a poor offering at Chef Symon’s Roast in Detroit. An excellent chef and a really nice guy, but his places are never good. This BBQ needs help. I’m so glad I didn’t drop $50+ for a beef rib, as much as I wanted one. It would have been totally wasted from this establishment. Maybe the location in downtown Cleveland is better, but this was just…just skip…

When you actually wish you were at an Arby’s instead, you know this was a BBQ fail…

Mabel’s BBQ [Eton]
28699 Chagrin Blvd
Woodmere, Ohio

As Bad As Their Namesakes – Review: Taft-Díaz

3 June 2023

I flew into Albuquerque for a short rest from a very busy few weeks at work. Memorial Day weekend was not very restful, but the trip to Kentucky and surroundings was nice (except that last dinner at previously-reliable Seviche). Yet I didn’t wind down, and this was the reason for this trip to the Southwest.

Instead of staying in Albuquerque upon arrival, I headed south towards El Paso – the largest metropolitan area in the US I’ve yet to visit. After this, it’ll be Spokane and Amarillo I think… It was a good time to clear my head, which I definitely needed. Got to the border city with plenty of sunlight, and it was still ablazin’. Got to do a few things I wanted to do that afternoon, so very much worth it.

I got near my downtown hotel and there were tons of blocked roads due to a downtown street festival. Oh goody, pounding music until past midnight. My hotel was not bad, a restored old office building that was rather charming. I relaxed before I had to head to dinner across the street at Taft-Díaz – a restaurant named for the two presidents who held their historic cross-border summit here and across in Juárez in 1909.

As a historian, a restaurant named Taft-Díaz would get my attention. However, when I walked in, I realized all it was was a gimmick. Inside the chic Stanton House hotel downtown, I walked into a modern mess – with dive-bombing chandeliers. Yes, you read that right.

I offered to sit at the bar but they said the service is better at the table. Well, I see why…the restaurant was absolutely empty on this Saturday evening. I don’t know if it’s because of the event nearby, or the price point here. Wow, looking at the menu I was thinking this looked more like NYC or Boston with those numbers.

I ordered a cocktail and looked over the menu. After a little, it arrived. Not bad. But then my server, probably bored, was becoming a little pushy about me ordering, constantly asking me every other minute. So before I had a chance to relax after this long afternoon with a nice cocktail, I ordered just to get him off my back.

The bread was much needed, as I’ve not eaten all day. Nothing special, but in about 10 minutes I would be so glad they were there… Eventually I switched to a wine and my starter arrived, the so-called “Mexican butter” on the menu.

I was excited, but then it all went south very quickly. The problem is that the marrow is very liquidy and having poorly-made porous tortillas just makes this a complete mess to eat. Frankly only 1 of the 4 tortillas (this first one) was fit for purpose.

And the tortillas went downhill from this point (this below is one of the better ones)…

This is why I am so glad I had so much bread leftover to mop all this up. But the marrow itself was awful. Instead of letting the flavours of the marrow rise, there was so much acid introduced on this dish (not listed as an ingredient in the menu as the only thing they claimed on it was “togarashi”) that just destroyed it. Either it was a kitchen F-up or they had inferior quality stuff they’re trying to mask.

Either way very not pleased about this dish. Could have been so good, but done so badly. I’m starting to get why this place is empty…

My mood soured as my distracted but pushy server came back and asked how it was, I mentioned not that great and he basically formulaically mumbled “that’s great” and walked away. This FoH is a mess too…

Eventually I got his attention again for more wine before my main arrived. What is it? It’s actually black cod…or at least that’s what they said it is.

Scraping off the burnt semiments I see my fish, but I barely taste it.

Black cod has a very nice, distinct flavour, but this was a terrible preparation. A very oily fish does less well in a rich sauce like nantua, which fought it for palate prominence. An additional own-goal of a problem is that the fish was basically unseasoned, so the natural flavors of this rich fish was wasted and the sauce overwhelmed the fish. This would have been better with a plainer fish like halibut. Again, this dish show both poor planning and poor execution combined into a mess that caused me to lose what’s left of my appetite.

Frankly the best thing this evening was the chunks of cauliflower embedded in this nantua. The mixture of peppers was also far better, but I gave up on this whole dinner.

And this server was starting to annoy me with not listening and just walking away, so screw dessert and an after-dinner drink. When the bill came, it was far higher than a night out in Chicago, Dallas, Denver, etc – even without dessert and after-dinner drink. No wonder this place is empty. I think half this bill is to pay for those awful dive-bombing chandeliers that come down on unsuspecting diners.

Probably the poorest restaurant experience I’ve had since 2019. I got hooked by the name, but I should have been more careful. After all, pseudo-dictator Porfirio Díaz died in exile in France, and Taft came THIRD in his re-election bid in an election fail of all times.

If Lockbox in Lexington a week earlier gave me reason to cheer boutique hotel restaurants, this place just sunk it. Just avoid this place and go get some real food.

Taft-Díaz
Stanton House
209 Stanton Street
El Paso, Texas

I’m Not Gonna Write Review #3 for Seviche…

28 May 2023

I had yet another busy day as I head out of Huntington, West Virginia. Still remembering that excellent dinner at Savannah’s Bistro from last night, it fuelled me as I continued my exploration – but doing it across the Ohio River in that state. Going through southern Ohio for most of the morning, I crossed back into Kentucky and eventually made my way back to Louisville.

It’s been about 5 years since I last spent much time this beautiful city. I’ve always loved coming here, the friendliest city in the country with a vibe I always enjoyed. I even thought about moving here at one point. So tonight I was headed once again to Seviche, a perennial favourite since my first visit many years ago.

The night began badly with an unpleasant rideshare experience, from a vehicle reeking of tobacco to the driver having a ridiculously loud conversation on speaker phone. I was almost exhausted by the time I arrived at Seviche, but I know a good dinner will set this right.

Boy was I wrong… I’m not gonna write a review for this dining experience. All I will say is that the food was good, but when FoH fails this badly – and I mean REAL bad – it marrs any enjoyment of the food.

So here’s some photos. Looks good, tastes good, but looking back I wish I went somewhere else. As I’m not writing review #3 for this evening, I doubt I’ll be writing a review #4 in the future either.

Back home tomorrow. I wish I ended this trip a little nicer. Oh well…

Seviche
1538 Bardstown Road
Louisville, Kentucky

I So Miss Japan… (Review: Hinata)

I was not planning an escape during Easter weekend, as I was tired and needed to catch up on some much-needed rest. But as I was playing around online, I got a booking for the Saturday at Hinata in Indianapolis — a coveted slot for a tough-to-book place.

Hinata is a rare kaiseki place in the Midwest, and the reviews have been glowing. However, looking at the menu, I wasn’t as impressed — especially compared to something as awesome as Nasime back in the DC area.

They seem to have monthly offerings, and for April the “Sumire” 9-course menu was the sole choice. I stayed east of town for once, having rolled into the city mid-afternoon. I was knackered, having woken up at 5am and setting off not soon after. I snaked around using small roads as usual, so what was normally a 3hr drive turned into something closer to 7hrs. But it was worth it.

I arrived in downtown Indianapolis on a busy Saturday early evening, and luckily found parking right away. I walked the block to Hinata and I smiled — it’s in an office building. How Tokyo is this? So once I walked in, I was seated at the counter.

The excellent sommelier came and I agreed on the pairing. I relaxed and looked over the menu and soon the pre-appetizer arrived.

The first item was a seasonal carrot soup, which was a nice little treat to start the evening. A little smoke, very tasty. Good start. I guess the pairings will start soon.

Chef Aki Tanigawa makes a very quick appearance to unwrap the already-prepped starters. And quickly disappears even before it’s served. Strange…

The appetiser set sadly was quite disappointing, especially for those who are used to kaiseki dining. This was the first alarm bell of the night (also from the chef disappearing). The bamboo shoot was pretty ordinary, as was the tamago with some very underwhelming mentaiko. The chicken breast (probably not jidori) was also boring in a very strip-mall-typical sesame thing, while the eggplant under the zunda was probably the best of the very underwhelming start.

The pairing of a very good champagne was nice, but for a person who does not like champagne this was wasted on me. But this was not a great start for the food, I must say. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but this was very mediocre — especially for the price of the experience.

The third course came quickly, and this was a dumpling of littleneck clams and assorted other things. Not bad, but this dashi was ridiculously boring. It’s like they took little care to make this broth. That says plenty about the quality and effort put into this experience from the kitchen. I’ve had more than my share of similar dishes in Japan, and although the dumpling was nice, the dashi was really sad.

My mood was starting to sour, even despite having a nice tasting of txakolina with the acid cutting through…tho it would have been far, far more useful if the dashi was better! Oh well. Then we switch to a good sake for the sashimi course…

Again, it was ALL PRE-PREPPED so all the chef did was to take it out of the fridge and hand it to one of the servers. No personal touch at all. And walked off. Is this a pandemic thing or he’s just disassociated from his customers?

Nothing too impressive. The maguro was so-so, the hamachi was quite nice as was the hotate. The best dish of the night, but really piss poor to not see any counter preparation. Do these people realise we’ve been to Japan? Sigh…

That was a treat for me since I’ve not had any sashimi since I left the DC area six months ago, so it was needed. Then back down to earth with the next dish, sakuradai.

Now cherry bream is one of the many breams that you are offered. I’m not the biggest fan of them, but when done well they are excellent. Sadly not today, very meh. It’s like they fried up a piece of it and dumped it into tempura dipping sauce. The fish was thick and slightly overcooked (it was starting to “sawdust” if you know what I mean) but at least the coating protected it from getting soggy. Good idea as always, but executed less than perfectly with a rude chunk. Again, something you don’t see in Japan…

I need to stop comparing this place to Japan and remember I am in Indianapolis. A quick drop back down to earth. But why is this priced like Tokyo then? Sigh… Next up with some nice red we have the beef…

Very ordinary beef. Not anything special at all. And was this sous vide pre-grill (or blowtorched)? This was extremely ordinary and boring, and rather tasteless. When it needs the sauce, then I know I don’t like how my beef is done. Sigh.

This is not just not good compared to Japan, this is not good compared to most Japanese places in the US. This is really a false imitation of kaiseki, compared to what Nasime does in the DC area for example. Now that is a real kaiseki place, this is a poor rendition of it, with a terrible Midwest twist.

I was not in the mood when the next dish showed up, the tempura dish. It’s actually the 2nd best dish of the night, done very well. Lovely visuals. I love how they warned people about the curry salt when it has zero kick whatsoever. I. Am. In. Indianapolis…

Then we get to the “rice” dish, and again, this is a great reminder of not being in Japan. This is just a skewed way to end the savouries. Not the traditional rice dish, this is just a sad depiction of this meal in a nutshell…

I was very uninterested in the almond milk panna cotta, although it was not bad at all. I had lost all interest in this dinner. The drinks were done well, so that’s good — but a very expensive pairing. I excused myself to the bar since there’s no one behind the kitchen counter anyway. Had a few drinks chatting with the sommelier Shane, who was excellent. Frankly he’s more Japanese than anyone else in the restaurant.

I’m sorry, but for such an expensive experience — way more expensive than Nasime — this was a total joke. Nasime had top quality ingredients, today was a joke. You know when they don’t exhault the specifics of the ingredients that they are getting it from almost anywhere. This is a sad sign of the times, to be honest.

They say they’ll change the menu once a month and hope to see me again. Nope, no thank you. I’d rather fly back to DC and eat at Nasime and it may still be a cheaper experience. And WAY better and more authentic.

Hinata
130 East Washington Street
Indianapolis, Indiana