Friday, May 17, 2013.
Chiba, A Breakaway Sushi Bar.
Someone from Service Cab Company sent me a page-a-day calendar that's so utilitarian that it's almost a work of art. It runs a few days behind reality, on the same schedule as this diary. I'm writing these words on Wednesday, May 22, and that's also what the calendar says. That little trick has helped me more than could be imagined.
Today, the calendar says that today (actually, last Friday) is thirty days until Father's Day. Like anybody gives a damn.
To dinner at Chiba, the sushi bar next door to Jacques-Imo's. I parked in front of somebody's house two blocks away from the restaurant, because I had to. I wonder how the people who live in that neighborhood like the tremendous success of the rebuilt Oak Street commercial district.
My first impression of Chiba was that it was a shade contrived, and a bit expensive, but not too much either way. Add to that what may be the best service in any Japanese restaurant around town. The attitude of the staff--at least the ones serving the sushi bar itself--could not be more hospitable.
I was alone at the sushi bar, though. Most of the other customers--half my age or younger, mostly. (In other words, the same demographic that Jacques-Imo's enjoys.) Most of these people came in twos, though not always in couples. And in all three possible combinations.
The sushi chef threw down a generous amuse of tortilla chips topped with octopus ceviche and red (with cayenne) tobiko. A little hard to eat with chopsticks, but very good. Sushi and ceviche, the world's two most popular raw seafood dishes, continue to head for a merger.
He next told me of a three-way sashimi plate flavored with white truffle oil. Sounded good, and was. Tuna, salmon, and a white fish blushed with red whose identity I didn't quite catch. (He used the Japanese name for it.) All excellent.
More idea from the chef included some things he had in house that were fresh, not frozen. Sea urchin was one of them. Bring it on, I said. "With or without a quail egg on top?" he asked. You tell me, I said. He responded with one piece of each. Good enough, and very fresh indeed. However, he broke a universal rule. They charge for sushi by the piece here, not the pair. And I had not ordered uni with and without quail egg, but with or without. Six dollars extra. A borderline case, not worth worrying about, but worth mentioning.
The menu here includes a few large plates, most of which is only slightly Japanese, at most. A steak, for example. And bouillabaisse. The latter sounded interesting, especially when it was described as being more like a Thai hot-and-sour soup than a French bouillabaisse. Mussels, squid, shrimp, white fish, green onions, maybe some lemongrass. Excellent broth, quite spicy. But hard to eat, until one of the chefs realized I didn't have a spoon. They brought a teaspoon. They need bigger spoons for this dish, which I have a feeling is not often ordered. (At $24, that's understandable.) But it will worked out and I enjoyed it.
When a restaurant goes out on the limb of originality--as so many restaurants of all kinds do these days--it has to work twice as hard to make sure that the many little things that tradition accomplishes automatically are addressed when the tradition is broken.
Chiba. Riverbend: 8312 Oak St. 504-826-9119.
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