Saiko!!!

I was hangin' out with a bunch of ladies from my church this afternoon learning a variety of things, one of which turned out to be learning how to roll sushi.  I was pretty excited; sushi is one food that I seem to NEVER get sick of.  Learning how to make it myself...HELLO!!!??  What could be better than that?!  Right...not much.  I learned quite a bit in a short time, which I greatly appreciate.  (Thanks Sue!!)  But, I left wanting more.  More sushi I mean...  I asked the woman that was doing the demo with the sushi where to go in town for good Japanese....mistake #1.  Japanese don't go out for Japanese...just like most Indian folk don't go out for Calcutta Biryani.  So, when I asked her she wasn't too sure of good places other than where her kids had gone to and raved about.  I was on my own...

We were headed to the Rideau Center....what was close by?  I went through my "to eat" list and stared at a map for a couple minutes.  Ah HA!  Genji!!  They were just a couple minutes from our final destination.  Score!!

I was a little worried that 5pm might have landed us hip deep in the middle their weekend dinner hour rush, but it turned out that we got in just under the gun.  We were able to be seated right away at a bench/chair combo table (my favorite kind) near to the kitchen.  We have started requesting to be put in a traditionally noisy area in the establishments we dine in so when the Sprout gets to squawking, we aren't disturbing the other guests.  As soon as we were seated I started in on the questions with our waiter, "What are your signature dishes?" and "What would you recommend to someone that has never had Japanese cuisine?".  While we were discussing the menu the hostess came with green tea and 3 little bowls of marinated veggies and squid.

  
 He was very knowledgeable and had eaten most of the items on the menu, this is VERY helpful when you are trying to decide what to eat.  Some menu's in Japanese restaurants can be quite lengthy, just the sushi choices alone.  I was glad to hear that he had tried so many things.  I wanted to try some of everything, but I'd have burst if I did.  We went with beef maki, gyoza, the Stampede sushi roll and for my entree I ordered Karubi; my Mister went with the Butterfish.  The entrees from the grill all come with house salad, miso soup, stir fried seasonal vegetables and rice.  Quite the spread!  With our order in, I was ready to look around.

                                                      

It was a really peaceful atmosphere and the Sprout was rare form; we couldn't believe how well he was behaving.  But we're not fools, we knew it couldn't possibly last the whole night.  We put the order in for gyoza and maki long before the entrees so we could start feeding him ASAP.  The beef maki appeared first for the Sprout along with our house salads and miso soups; we prayed and dug right in.

 Beef Maki

  

                                 House Salad                               Miso Soup

                                    

The first thing I sticked into was my house salad.  It was pretty standard as salads go, but for the dressing.  Their dressing was fabulously flavorful and creamy.  We had set the Sprout to work on his maki rolls and he was doing alright until he saw us eating our salads; he decided he wanted to try it.  He LOVED it!  He ended up eating my Mister's whole salad.  It was quite entertaining and gratifying.  Who doesn't want their kid to love veggies?  All the ingredients were obviously fresh, they were crispy, cool and full of flavor.  Our miso was refreshing.  As the Sprout had focused all his efforts on our salads all of the sudden, I didn't feel too guilty reaching over and snagging one of his beef maki rolls.  The green onion, enoki mushroom, asparagus combination in the meat was a perfect balance.  The sauce really was the kiss on the dish.  The beef was succulent and soft; cooked immaculately.  Do I really need to say that I was excited for the rest of our meal??  Didn't think so.  Either way, the gyoza was ready and in front of us.

Gyoza

These gyoza tasted like little pockets of Heaven.  The beef and vegetables inside the soft dumpling were so wonderful!  The meat was so tender that it just melted in my mouth.  The sear on the dumpling was spot on, giving it just a hint of crunch.  We all loved them!  In the middle of my love affair with the appetizers our sushi showed up.  After she placed the platter in front of us, she refilled our green tea cups.  I'd be completely failing as a flogger if I didn't mention that this place is top notch on the service and perfect on attentiveness; not at the table too often nor too little.  It may spoil me for service evaluation at future establishments...

Stampede Roll

 

I presentation on this roll was beautiful.  Without a doubt, the food here really appeals to ALL your senses.  The rice and the beef were so soft and moist, all of the vegetables were cooked correctly and Genji's Japanese mayo really lent some extra zing to the roll; top it all with some wasabi and ginger peel and just like the beef maki, it is perfection in one bite.  Our Sprout was really diggin' it...I'd say I was surprised but, at this point our son eats such a large variety of foods he ends up loving more than traditional American dishes.  I wasn't really keeping track of how much I was eating...then the entrees made their way to the table.  Again, our cups of green tea were refreshed....fabulous!

Karubi

I will preface my opinion on this dish with the fact that I am fully aware that this is traditionally a Korean dish.  Moving on...  The first thing I want to address about this dish is the smell....you get this aroma of sweet and savory mixed with a touch of cilantro at first, but then the asparagus smacks you upside the head.  If there was a way to describe the taste "bitter" as a smell, it would be the smell of cooked asparagus.  The truly good news is that it tasted wonderful.  The sear on this meat from the grill intensified the sweetness of the marinade and just really put the natural flavor of the meat on display.  The stir fried vegetables were just lightly seasoned and still tender crisp; the baby carrots' sweetness was just right and the zucchini and broccoli were a hearty carbohydrate component.  It did come with rice, but you didn't really need it.  I of course ate it anyhow...even the rice was top notch.  Flowery aroma and a subtle nutty flavor; there wasn't a single thing I could give negative criticism on with this dish except the smell of the asparagus.  But that is VERY easy to overlook when your tummy is being filled with superb pairings of foods.

I'd eat here again, I'd bring Japanese friends here and I would recommend it to anyone that considers themselves Japanese cuisine experts.  The prices are mid-line for eating downtown but, they may be considered pricy for Asian food.  But, when you take into consideration the quality of the meats, vegetables, rice, tea...soup...do I need to go on??  The prices are more than appropriate.  You get a lot for your money and it is ALL fabulous.  There isn't anything lacking or that makes you feel like you've spent too much for too little.  Heck, I'd go back just for the tea!  With service that is timely, courteous and generous, you really feel like YOU are the main event.  Thank you so much for a wonderful evening Genji!