Wednesday, July 20, 2011.
Jude's Favorite Sushi Bar, Tavern, And Studios.
My first breakfast during our stay at the Langham Hotel in Pasadena was a big plate of fruit. Watermelon, grapes, pineapple, cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries. Banana bread on the side. Is this the perfect breakfast? Maybe, unless you eat every scrap of it. There was enough here for two or three people.
The girls went out somewhere to do something, and left me behind to work. I am publishing only half the usual number of Menu Daily newsletters this week. I don't want anybody to get out of the habit of reading me every day. I also have a weekly column to get out. So much for the daylight hours.
The big item on the Marys' schedule is a taping of the Jimmy Kimmel television show. They like him, but the main attraction is a mini-concert after the show. The star is Mary Leigh's favorite musician, Owl City. He seems to be just one guy who pretends to be an entire group. (He travels with a backup band.) ML likes him because, she says, he and she share the same diffident personality. I think I'd better refrain from digging into that.
Apparently believing that neither Jude nor I would know what to do, Mary Ann said that this would be the night that he and I should go out for sushi. Yes, mother.
Jude is a regular at the Studio City location of Katsu-Ya, a small local chain. An older chef named Richard was the star player behind the sushi bar, and whacked out a fascinating assortment of dishes. Most of it was straightforward: white tuna, Japanese mackerel, asparagus.
But one dish was very unusual. Slices of raw fish spread out on a plate doused with ponzu sauce. The center of the plate was piled with slivers of fried jalapeno, browned chips of garlic, and a lot of green onions. When the jalapenos came into play (they were in some bites but not others), a burst of hotness shot the volume up. The garlic--in its nutty, toasty guise--jumped in to do a solo now and then. The tuna presented a cool, mellow continuo. Great dish. Never tasted anything like it.
Katsu-Ya is next door to the tavern favored by Jude and his friends. We went in for a drink. Beer for him, Scotch on the rocks for me. The place was spartan and the tables were packed, even though the sun was still shining. The crowd was on the young side and professional-looking. One big guy in a U-shirt showed off panels of tattoos, but he didn't seem to fit in. (Jude says his shop is next door.) The music wasn't too loud, but the fullness of the place made a cogent conversation tough.
I envy the many ways young single people have now of making each other's acquaintance. Just finding a girl to ask on a date was tough in my day. So was the asking. Now the women are everywhere, and easy to break the ice with. But all those advantages are negated by the apparent determination of both boys and girls not to go out on dates. This bar had very few tables of both men and women, and those looked like married people, or at least steadies. Otherwise it was four women and no men, or six guys and no women. I don't think any of these were gay, either. Jude knows a lot of women but has nothing going on with any of them, as far as I know. I didn't bring it up.
We left from there on a tour of the other major studios. Jude pointed out something I wouldn't have noticed: all of them have water towers in the middle of their walled-in developments. The studios are almost like medieval towns, well defended and self-sufficient. It was nice to see the NBC Studios in Burbank, from which emanates the Tonight Show. That place was originally built for radio in the late 1940, just a couple of years before television took over.
Jude also thought I'd like to see a small railroad yard where several dozen antique railroad cars from many different periods were parked. A few steam locomotives, too. They are there for use by moviemakers, of course. We found out that it functions as a museum too, but it was too late for us to go there today. Maybe I can talk the girls into visiting it tomorrow. But I won't get my hopes up.
Sushi Katsu-Ya. Studio City, CA: 11680 Ventura Blvd. 818-985-6976.
It has been over three years since a day was missed in the Dining Diary. To browse through all of the entries since 2008, go here.
