Beautiful meals at Iyasare
In less than a month since its opening, everybody I know on 4th Street has been to Iyasare, from the regular shoppers to the shop owners, and everybody praises it. The restaurant, operated by former Yoshi’s executive chef Shotaro Kamio, replaces the equally cute and also Japanese O Chame. The two restaurants have different concepts, of course, and experiencing both in the same space – reminiscing on O Chame’s menu and atmosphere while savoring Iyasare’s – was like tasting the fleeting grandeur of ukiyo-e aesthetics in the most delicious way possible.
A beautiful arrangement: ikura (salmon roe), ankimo (monkfish liver), hotate (scallop, the white thing that is barely visible next to razor-thin slices of radish), mackerel (silvery grey, also almost invisible under the radish), and 4 beautiful sweet lobes of uni (sea urchin roe, on the maple leaf) ($22). The ankimo has a thick and dried rind, its flavors were a tad salty and smokey for my taste.(*) The uni was extra-creamy but a little too soft. The ikura was some lovely bubbles.
You can order a side of sushi rice with the sashimi. Or just sushi rice. Actually, I ate every single last grain of rice in that bowl, and I’d be happy to skip the sashimi.
Apple seaweed salad with fennel, pickled daikon and carrots, shaved bonito, citrus brown rice vinaigrette with fresh bits of blood orange, and two silken tofu cubes ($9). Nothing to complain here.
Wagyu beef tataki ($13), slightly seared; the best way to eat them, we found, is:
1. Place a tuft of green stringy stuff (julienned wasabi leaves, wasabi sprout, chicory, whatever leafy things) and a sliver of crispy garlic on a slice of beef,
2. Daintily use your chopsticks to roll the beef to enclose the greens and the tangerine bits,
3. Still using the chopsticks, turn the beef roll 2 times around to soak in the ponzu (the brown sauce).
4. Stuff it in your mouth (if you manage to keep it together this far). Delicious.
Our waitress weaving back and forth through the dinner rush hour.
It was a Wednesday night, Iyasare was pretty peaceful and devoid of people, but only until about 7. Then, everybody in town poured in, the waitresses started to lose track of things, brought us things we didn’t order and simply couldn’t see us anymore.
Miso-glazed Maple Leaf duck confit ($20). Embarassingly, we thought the “Maple Leaf” was part of the dish (but no, it’s the name of the duck farm). In our defense, the maple leaf in the sashimi plate led us astray. 😛
I wasn’t too thrilled by the Tokyo turnip, the green beans and the gobo (burdock) in this dish. A length-wise-cut gobo would have been crunchier, and the turnip was cooked a hair too long. On the bright side, very rarely does a duck dish go wrong, and when it’s glazed with miso like this? Heavenly.
The BEST of the night: gyutan (grilled beef tongue) ($17). Well, I always love beef tongue, so I’m biased. Maybe the duck was better. But this beef tongue dish was perfect as a whole, from the quick-pickled cucumber to the trio of miso (the black akamiso had the deepest, richest flavor among the three). When you cut into a slice of gyutan, you could feel through your knife how tender it was. I even ate a fourth of the grilled lemon (under the right piles of gyutan).
We skipped desserts.
Address: Iyasare
1830 Fourth Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 845-8100
FOODNOTE:
(*) For comparison, B-dama’s ankimo is still the champion on the East Bay, and Musashi’s ankimo is surprisingly satisfactory for its price mark.
A more comprehensive “map” of what we shared is on Ponga.
Regards for this post, I am a big fan of this website would like to continue updated.
1I’ll immediately snatch your rss as I can not in finding your e-mail subscription hyperlink or newsletter service. Do you have any? Kindly let me recognise in order that I may just subscribe. Thanks.
2Hi, I think your site might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your website in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, fantastic blog!
3Some truly prime posts on this site, saved to bookmarks.
4I just could not depart your web site prior to suggesting that I actually enjoyed the standard info a person provide for your visitors? Is gonna be back often to check up on new posts
5I have been browsing on-line greater than 3 hours today, but I never found any fascinating article like yours. It is pretty worth sufficient for me. Personally, if all website owners and bloggers made just right content material as you probably did, the net shall be a lot more useful than ever before. “Oh, that way madness lies let me shun that.” by William Shakespeare.
6I like the efforts you have put in this, thankyou for all the great blog posts.
7Hi there! This is kind of off topic but I need some guidance from an established blog. Is it difficult to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty fast. I’m thinking about making my own but I’m not sure where to begin. Do you have any ideas or suggestions? Cheers
8I am delighted that I discovered this web blog, exactly the right info that I was searching for! .
9As I website owner I think the content here is rattling good, regards for your efforts.
10Wonderful goods from you, man. I’ve take into accout your stuff previous to and you are simply too fantastic. I actually like what you have obtained here, certainly like what you are saying and the best way by which you say it. You make it entertaining and you still take care of to keep it sensible. I cant wait to learn far more from you. That is actually a great website.
11obviously like your web-site but you need to check the spelling on several of your posts. Many of them are rife with spelling issues and I in finding it very bothersome to inform the reality nevertheless I’ll definitely come back again.
12I’d perpetually want to be update on new blog posts on this website , saved to fav! .
13Hello there, You’ve done a great job. I’ll certainly digg it and personally suggest to my friends. I’m confident they will be benefited from this site.
14I’m still learning from you, as I’m improving myself. I definitely liked reading all that is written on your website.Keep the posts coming. I liked it!
15Thanks for one’s marvelous posting! I certainly enjoyed reading it, you might be a great author.I will make sure to bookmark your blog and will come back sometime soon. I want to encourage yourself to continue your great work, have a nice day!
16Unquestionably imagine that which you said. Your favorite reason seemed to be on the internet the easiest thing to take into account of. I say to you, I definitely get annoyed even as other folks consider issues that they just do not recognise about. You controlled to hit the nail upon the highest and outlined out the whole thing without having side effect , people can take a signal. Will likely be again to get more. Thank you
17Hi my family member! I want to say that this article is amazing, great written and come with approximately all significant infos. I’d like to peer more posts like this .
18Sweet blog! I found it while surfing around on Yahoo News. Do you have any tips on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Appreciate it
19I just could not depart your site before suggesting that I really loved the standard information an individual supply for your guests? Is going to be back often in order to check up on new posts.
20Thank you for another fantastic article. Where else may anyone get that type of information in such an ideal way of writing? I’ve a presentation next week, and I am on the search for such information.
21Howdy! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be okay. I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look forward to new posts.
22Having read this I thought it was very informative. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to put this article together. I once again find myself spending way to much time both reading and commenting. But so what, it was still worth it!
23Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wished to say that I have truly enjoyed surfing around your blog posts. After all I will be subscribing to your rss feed and I hope you write again soon!
24Hmm apakah ada orang lain yang menghadapi masalah dengan gambar di blog ini yang tidak mau dimuat? Saya mencoba mencari tahu apakah ini masalah di sisi saya atau blognya. Masukan apa pun akan sangat dihargai.
25Hi there, I found your website by way of Google whilst searching for a similar subject, your website got here up, it seems good. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
26I’ve learn some excellent stuff here. Certainly worth bookmarking for revisiting. I wonder how a lot effort you set to make this kind of great informative site.
27Thank you for the good writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to far added agreeable from you! However, how can we communicate?
28I dugg some of you post as I thought they were extremely helpful very helpful
29I simply could not leave your site prior to suggesting that I really enjoyed the standard info an individual provide to your guests? Is going to be back regularly in order to investigate cross-check new posts
30I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was great. I don’t know who you are but certainly you’re going to a famous blogger if you are not already 😉 Cheers!
31Thanks for one’s marvelous posting! I genuinely enjoyed reading it, you may be a great author.I will always bookmark your blog and will often come back later in life. I want to encourage you to definitely continue your great posts, have a nice evening!
32I appreciate your piece of work, appreciate it for all the useful posts.
33Pretty section of content. I just stumbled upon your weblog and in accession capital to assert that I get in fact enjoyed account your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your feeds and even I achievement you access consistently fast.
34Sweet blog! I found it while searching on Yahoo News. Do you have any tips on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Thank you
35I have been reading out a few of your posts and i must say pretty nice stuff. I will make sure to bookmark your site.
36you may have an amazing weblog right here! would you like to make some invite posts on my blog?
37Heya i am for the first time here. I came across this board and I find It really useful & it helped me out a lot. I hope to give something back and aid others like you aided me.
38I’ve recently started a site, the info you provide on this web site has helped me greatly. Thanks for all of your time & work.
39excellent post, very informative. I wonder why the other experts of this sector don’t notice this. You must continue your writing. I am confident, you have a huge readers’ base already!
40I am not really great with English but I come up this real easygoing to understand.
41I like this post, enjoyed this one appreciate it for posting.
42I’d always want to be update on new articles on this internet site, saved to favorites! .
43Hello my loved one! I want to say that this article is awesome, nice written and include approximately all vital infos. I would like to see extra posts like this.
44Utterly composed content material, Really enjoyed examining.
45Nice post. I learn something more challenging on different blogs everyday. It will always be stimulating to read content from other writers and practice a little something from their store. I’d prefer to use some with the content on my blog whether you don’t mind. Natually I’ll give you a link on your web blog. Thanks for sharing.
46I truly appreciate this post. I have been looking all over for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You have made my day! Thank you again
47I am impressed with this site, very I am a big fan .
48I don’t even know how I finished up right here, however I thought this put up used to be good. I do not realize who you might be but definitely you’re going to a famous blogger when you are not already 😉 Cheers!
49I think you have remarked some very interesting points, thanks for the post.
50