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| - Arrived at PAN for dinner during a weeknight. The place was largely empty, although it did fill up a bit as we ate a leisurely meal. Our server was very friendly, a big fan of the restaurant, and super informed about the dishes offered. We were advised to order in "waves," and that worked out well, enabling us to eat just as much as we were comfortable with and to share all of our dishes.
The dumplings weren't a huge stand-out. Your normal room temperature, pork & cabbage mixture. Wrappers were on the loose side and most of them came apart before the chopsticks made it to our mouths. Our server recommended the Key-Lime Scallop, and though we were super worried by the name, the dish was pleasantly temperate in the combination of its sweetness and acidity. The other rolls (peppered tuna and angry snapper) were ok--nothing dramatically amazing, but all the ingredients worked. Like their predecessor, Tamari, they seem to definitely be on the More-is-More side of the sushi business with these rolls and their plentiful ingredients/sauces.
We definitely had some issues with the knife-work on the very thick nigiri and the balance of vegetables/sauce to fish was overpowering. It was really hard to really taste the unique flavor of the fish (which is what good sushi is about, yeah?) and the texture of the thick slices was somewhat unappealing. A good example was the Yellowtail with a very strong pear and ginger slaw AND a heavy eel sauce that completely hid the nuance of the "orange zest" and the fish itself. Still, the White Tuna nigiri was our favorite dish of the night, with the watercress and yuzu subtle enough to allow the flavor of the fish to show up.
We also enjoyed the black cod and the fried shrimp, although these are two classic items on Umi's omikase menu and PAN's versions are nowhere in the same class. Still, as budget versions, they were pretty tasty. The sablefish was tender and flavorful and the shrimp were on the spicy side, with a light fry.
We found both the cocktails and desserts a bit mystifying. The balance and thoughtfulness of the cocktails was significantly off. In each one I tried, there was one ingredient overpowering the drink. Made me glad I ordered wine for myself while my dining partners had to slog through to finish their drinks. The bizarre avocado creme-brulee thing really wasn't anything special/didn't taste any different than your average, slightly-grainy restaurant offering.
Pricing was pretty good for the quality of the food.
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