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| - Yasu Bistro came highly regarded as one of the best in town. Was it? Maybe...maybe not. Me and the lady gnome, came in at 8pm on a Thursday, their signage said they closed at 9:30. Decor was nice, simple, sheik. The server looked a little like Napolean Dynamite, and what's more was dressed a little like him too. I'm assuming this was Yasu's contribution to the "casual hip" atmosphere. I'm completely willing to overlook the white kid serving sushi bit...but the two sizes too small out dated concert T and the ripped jeans he borrowed from his sister, didn't quite match the decor in my opinion...I digress. After being handed the 4 or so menus to each of us, we take a second to look around. Place is tiny, dark, ambient. Sushi bar takes up one third of the entire dining room, young sushi chef with the hip hair, governing the attention of 3 or so, what was presumably either regulars or staff getting off of work, didnt seem to even notice we had been sat.
I ask a question about one of the wines on the list, I ask what the blend in the blend is...He proceeds to tell me that the blend is Pinot Gris, Chardonnay...and he thinks Pinot Grigio. Now granted I'm a wine guy, and certainly don't expect every tom dick and hairy to understand that Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio to be the exact same grape...but really kid, noones going to eat your lunch if you just tell us you dont know, lol. For Christs sakes Napolean dont tell me that the salad has iceberg lettuce blended with some Iceberg lettuce!
Went with a shiso martini from the bar, inventive...if a little clumsy in the execution, but love the fact that they took a risk here. ( I love Shiso), ordered a small bottle of Sake to share.
As we give the server our initial order, he immediately tells us that because they are closing, would it be ok if we put in our entire order right now? Huh?..but ..your sign says you dont close for another hour and a half...ah I see, closing early today because it's been slow and there are no guests... HELLO! we're right here and ready to spend money! Are we not hip enough, are our shirts not tight enough, our hair not T&G enough? **As an aside, the whole we close when we want to mentality has always irked me a little...you want to tell people that your open till 9:30pm...stay open till 9:30pm** BAH...the economy sucks, I get it....all the more reason to not rush out your only guests in the dining room. Anyhoo, we do our best to estimate all that we'll be wanting and order in full, then the server lets us know, that the Sushi might take a while (because the sushi chef, with one knee up leaning forward in wrapt conversation with his audience of three was obviously terribly busy.) , would it be ok to bring out the kitchen stuff first...suuuure, why not, lol.
Alright enough, you get the picture....lets talk about the food:
The menu was inventive and heavliy influenced by the Japanese Omakase, (think lots of little plates) style. The problem I think with this style and the whole trendy Tapas phenomenon is that, regrettably more often than not..these "smaller" plates just aren't coming with "smaller" prices. With the closing of several great "small plate" concepts within the last month *bye bye See Saw :( ...I think our society in this economic downturn is starting to see that.
Foie Gras with Japanese Eggplant. Delicious? Yes Sir! Was the tiny foie gras and the one tiny Japanese Eggplant sliced lengthwise and set on either side of the foie gras dwarved and humiliated by the abnormally long plate that didnt even fit on the table? Yes Sir!
Sashimi, was well cut...fish was fresh tasting. (as fresh as frozen fish can be, after making the trip to AZ) no complaints there though. Presentations were inventive, nice blend of classic and noveau techniques. Alltogether pleasing, if maybe a little overpriced.
Should you try this place? I think so....there were enough nice characteristics about the place, and definitely enough positive feedback heard that makes me want to believe we just caught them at the wrong time...Would we personally go back? Not until the economy gets better....we'd hate to have to rush out again...if we should lets say not be able to make it earlier than 2 hours before closing.
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