Since we're not traveling this vacation, we decided to sample the offerings at Izakaya Gaku. We normally just dine at Mitch's Sushi and Seafood partly because of their great fresh seafood, partly because it's BYOB and daiginjo sake can get quite pricey with restaurant wine lists. But the menu looked great (including the Yelp photos) and we met a gentlemen who immediately stated that Izakaya Gaku was THE BEST restaurant without any hesitation so Izakayu Gaku it was!
I ordered a bottle of the Dassai 39 Otter Festival ($82) which paired nicely with most of our dishes...
We were then served Gaku's Original Tofu Jelly with shoyu dashi jelly, one with uni...
The other with ikura - because you got ikura with every bite, we preferred this version...
Next up was the Spicy Negihamachi Tartar - quite a large serving with a zing from their "secret" spicy sauce and richness from the egg yolk - you wrapped it in very crisp nori...
Then the assorted sashimi platter with amaebi, kampachi, maguro, seared ono, goldeneye, red bigeye, tako and raw tako, saba and o-toro...
The glorious o-toro by itself...
Then one of my faves of the evening, Wagyu Beef Tataki on thinly sliced sweet onions... beef flavored buttah! I enjoyed it so much we purchased a tray of sliced A5 wagyu from J-Shop the next day to relive this dish!
Next up was the Fried Pumpkin Wonton with Crab Sauce - perfectly fried kabocha with a sweet and savory sauce, almost a glaze...
Then the final cooked dish, the Ginger Shoyu Grilled Pork Belly. It wasn't melt-in-the-mouth tender like rafute but the ginger nicely balanced the saltiness of the shoyu and richness of the pork belly...
Then 9 pieces of nigiri sushi including maguro...
Sanma...
Hirame...
Hamachi... probably the best hamachi I've ever sampled like fish flavored buttah!
Ikura marinated in their dashi... Another fave!
Red bigeye...
Uni...
Snapper...
And finally, o-toro...
This ended the formal savory courses for the Omakase menu though the Mrs did ask for a final piece, the Tamago. You see, in most sushi restaurants though tamago seems trivial, most apprentice sushi chefs aren't allowed to even touch the seafood until they've mastered the tamago and there are diners that judge a restaurant by its tamago. If the tamago isn't up to par, the diner won't order additional pieces of sushi and simply cash out and leave. The tamago here was perfectly cooked right between omelet and custard and had the perfect balance of sweet and salty...
For dessert the Mrs selected the Chestnut Mochi...
While I simply had the fresh Kaki...
So what were the damages ($$$)? The Omakase Menu is simply listed as MP on the menu "market price". I did expect to pay about $150pp as that's the usual range at say, Sushi Sasabune or Sushi ii and after subtracting the Dassai and three bottles of beer I purchased for the 6 chefs, it was a little less than the $150pp. But it was one of the more memorable dinners we've sampled this year...
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