Yuzu? I do!

$75 (Spring) omakase dinner at Yuzu (not including tax, sake, and tip)

Courses:

1. Monkfish pâté in a yuzu ponzu (vinaigrette) sauce. A delicious start. I don't know if it was the monkfish or the preparation but the dish tasted very similar to pâté, soft, meaty with the earthy flavour of liver.
2. 3 amuse-bouches: bamboo shoot on a bed of seaweed, tempura king crab claw, and pig marrow jelly. The bamboo was fresh and refreshing; the crab claw was like a very high-end version of what you'd find in a chinese restaurant (in other words, tasty fried seafood!); and the pig marrow was turned into a gelatinous cube stuffed with shiitake mushroom. A very interesting texture with just a hint of animal fat.
3. Clear soup with snapper wrapped in sakura leaf, with sakura flowers, mushrooms, and asparagus. A gentle broth, not too salty, perfect for spring. Soft but chewy snapper. The sakura leaf didn't taste like much but the flower had a strong, salted/briny flavour (very interesting).
4. A small sashimi plate with Greek snapper and o toro (blue fin tuna belly) with shiso. The tuna was rich and buttery. The Greek snapper had a strong, smoky taste; something I've never tasted with raw fish.
   
5. Grilled black cod (in a miso marinade) with an assortment of mushrooms, asparagus, and herbs on a hoba leaf. Perfectly cooked fish, no more need be said.
6. Grilled snapper neck with briny burdock. The dish that gave me the most pause as the fins were still attached and sticking straight up from the plate. Luckily that was just for presentation, there is a lot of tasty flesh attached to that neck.
7. A selection of sushi: tempura unagi, white fish (forgot the type) ocean trout, scallop, japanese snapper. Fresh and delicious.
8. Green tea ice cream surrounded by flowers with leaves made from fried gyoza flour, freshly made mochi balls rolled in dried bean paste. A very satisfying end to the meal.

Previously, at $60, the omakase at Yuzu was a steal. Now, at $75, plus a cheap $18 bottle of clean, chilled sake, the bill is starting to add up. However, the dishes are imaginative with excellent ingredients and the service is always impeccable. So do as I do, put away that $20-25 everytime you feel the urge to go to that cheap all-you-can-eat sushi joint. In no time at all, you will have enough to get the good stuff.

I was also given a sampler of sparkling sake. What an interesting experience: like champagne, but not! (I'm so eloquent). I wouldn't drink sparkling sake for an entire meal, but a small glass before or after dinner, that would certainly hit the spot.

Chef has started the same tradition that exists at Japango, his other place. Regulars get their own chopsticks, stored in wooden boxes placed behind the sushi bar. I wonder how many omakase dinners I have to eat to get my own?

Northern Paradise

A few weeks ago, on my way to the Ottawa airport, I had a conversation with the taxi driver. He is a Lebanese mechanical engineer who had a successful career working for oil companies in the Gulf for the past 10 years. On the advice of his sister, he emigrated to Canada last winter. Since arriving, he has been driving a taxi for the past 5 months. Of course, he did not want to continue ferrying people about forever. He was hopeful that once he is recertified, he will be able to find work in his field somewhere out west in Alberta.

I hope that he will become one of the successful immigrant stories and not another 'PhD driving a taxi' dead-end. I have heard more than my share of immigrant professionals who have had to give up on their career: first hand, second hand (via my mom who works with many immigrants), or third hand (via the many stories reported in the media). The lucky ones were able to return to their home country, most settle here with bitterness in their heart.

Someone should gather these testimonials and start a website: dontcometocanada.com or perhaps the less hyperbolic truthaboutimmigration.ca.

As a final note, on his very first taxi fare, a local Canadian stiffed him to the tune of $30. Interpret that as you will.

Foxley At Ossington

The restaurant Foxley on Ossington just south of Dundas St. W does Asian fusion tapas-style dishes quite well. However, chef Tom Thai has a much defter hand with fish than meat. The meat dishes, though substantial and delicious, are all relatively heavy sauce wise. More than one meat dish will start to feel similar. However, the fish dishes, especially the ceviche offerings, are wonderful. For a dinner for two, with a total of 5 dishes on average, I would recommend no more than 1 meat.

Ossington between Dundas and Queen West is gentrifying. There are now numerous restaurants and trendy bars for hipsters of all stripes. I was here when this strip was mostly Vietnamese restaurants and karaoke. Certainly, this gentrification benefits the newer folks who now frequent this area as well as the landlords of these new establishments. However, are the remaining stores on this strip as well as the surrounding Little Portugal benefitting too? Are the new employees local to the area (i.e., there has been an employment boost)? Are the people going to these places also moving to the area (i.e., providing an economic boost to the area in terms of municipal taxes for schools, etc.)? Are the locals going to the new bars, restaurants, and galleries?

If I had to guess I would say that the gentrification of Ossington has provided little economic benefit or cultural/social relevance to the working-class people who still make up the bulk of this neighbourhood.