Kajitsu: Fine Day, Fine Meal

I sidled up to the bar, the seats of choice for observing a masterful hand at work. Kevin, my dining companion for the evening, had already arrived and was speaking softly to Chef Masato Nishihara. Unlike Urasawa, Nishihara was not particularly talkative, but both adopted the humble shyness of Japanese artists. Kevin had emailed me a few weeks ago to join him for an impromptu meal at the only Japanese shojin-ryori restaurant with two Michelin stars in America. "Buddhist vegetarian food?" I wondered to myself. Given my recent experience with Vietnamese Buddhist cooking in San Francisco, I jumped at the invitation.

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When eating with Kevin, there is no real choice. We ordered the more extensive tasting menu of the two with accompanying sake pairing ($34). The Hana meal set included nine courses for $70, to which we added two supplemental dishes. While $70 may seem like a steal for a nine course tasting menu, you have to consider how much money you save from having no meat or seafood dishes. While I'm not entirely certain that shojin style cuisine is completely vegan, I didn't detect any trace of animal products in the food.


Terrine of Autumn Vegetables, chestnut crumbs, parsnip puree
Azumaichi (junmai ginjo)

The first course was the prettiest of the evening. Varied and complex vegetable patterns peaked through a gelee, set on a carved plate of wood. The colors were meant to evoke changing seasons. I ate from left to right, while Kevin went the opposite direction. It was a refreshing start to the meal, but too many textures and flavors to form a coherent impact. However, visually, this dish was stunning and showed precise execution that I would expect for the rest of the meal. Kevin remarked at the oddness of parsnip in a Japanese dish. The first sake of the night started fairly sweet, a decent pairing to this floral dish.


Red Miso Soup, maitake mushroom tempura, Japanese eggplant

The dense color of the soup comes from the aging process for the miso, which supposedly enhances the umami flavors and brininess of the soup. While the soup itself was pleasant, the highlight of this dish was the maitake tempura, perched a top a bundle of nasu and elevating it above the liquid. I have never seen maitake tempura, but the crispiness paired with the meaty mushroom and a hint of Japanese mustard convinced me to try this one at home.


Grilled Nama-Fu, miso ($9)

Our set menu was interrupted by the first of our supplements. Nama-fu is wheat gluten, a common vegan meat substitute. It can be formed into different shapes. Here, the lighter block is mixed with rice flour, while the darker one has contains millet flour. Honestly, both tasted the same to me. Both had the texture of a grilled mochi, pliable on the outside, chewy and toothsome on the inside.


Aburi Age ($6)

It's somewhat disingenuous to call this a simple dish. While it may seem simple, the execution in keeping a crisp exterior with a spongy center was elegant in it's simplicity. The pairing with green onions and soy made this one of my favorite selections of the evening. Pictured in the back is also the optional thickened soy sauce and shichimi pepper.


House Udon, goma-dare
Born (junmai daiginjo)

The difference between house-made udon and frozen udon is akin to the difference fresh and dried pasta. Here, each noodle had the proper bite and bounce. Dipped, soba style, in a mixture of sesame sauce, green onion, and chaoyte, it made a little mess on my shirt. But the flavors were so fresh, I could easily eat this udon for a meal on its own. The sake had a dry, rice flavor with a rice aroma.


Slow Simmered Taro, Carrot, Mizuna, Kabocha, Tofu, Burdock
Sasaichi (junmai)

It's impossible to eat at Kajitsu without marveling at the colors of the dishes. Chef Nishihara trained in kaiseki dining, where presentation is an dominant aspect of the meal. Beauty in simplicity could be a mantra painted on the wall in detailed brush strokes. Did I mention that the Chef signed the menu after the meal with a calligraphy brush? This dish is a composite of various vegetables, each cooked separately to varied doneness and compiled in a soy broth. The colors struck me immediately, and I mistook that bright redness for a tomato. I bit into it and found the sweetness of a carrot. The lump in the back is satoimo, taro. I especially enjoyed the topping of yuzu shavings.


Assorted Grilled Vegetables, smoked soy sauce, hibiscus leaf, matsutake mushroom croquet, nama-fu
Kokuryu (ginjo)

The main course was actually the most disappointing. While each component was good on its own right, I felt that the plate lacked a unifying theme. The croquet, an intriguing ball of textures, could have been a separate dish on its own. The nama-fu made a reappearance. Had I known it would've been part of the tasting course, I would not have ordered it separately. However, this time, the cubes of wheat gluten were topped with soba sauce and a dash of wasabi, a flavor profile I though matched better than the soy sauce and shichimi. Since this was the main course, the kokuryu sake was served in a larger glass. Although I can't say much for the pairing, the sake was well-timed because it was my favorite of the night and I had the most of it to drink.



Hijiki Rice, black sesame, konnyaku, puffed rice, house pickles
Daishichi (kimoto)

While you usually won't see a rice course on a tasting menu, I wasn't surprised to see this dish as part of the kaiseki meal. The rice itself was cooked to perfection, as can be expected. Flavors of the hijiki seaweed permeated the rice. I added a few spoonfuls of the puffed rice for texture, but it was unnecessary. Eating the rice with the accompanying pickles, I imagined creating gourmet onigiri, each filled with a different pickled center. The daishichi sake returned to a dryness, considering it no longer needed strong rice notes to pair with a rice dish.


Photo credit: KevinEats
Sweet Potato Kinton, coconut tofu cream

The dessert course was a Japanese confection made of sweet potato with a center of coconut "cream." Biting into it, my first taste reaction was actually renkon or lotus. The waitress didn't mention any lotus among the ingredients, so something about the combination of flavors gave me that sensation.



Matcha, Kyoto Kagizen-yoshifusa candies

According to Kevin, Kagizen-yoshifusa is a renowned confectioner in Kyoto. The tiny candies we received were flavored green tea, plain, and shiso. Each had a burst of sweetness and quickly dissolved to nothing on your tongue, especially when followed by a sip of the freshly made green tea. Chef Nishihara made each bowl himself with exquisite care. Even as the end to a long meal, the tea had an accompanying ceremony.


Chef Masato Nishihara preparing the post meal tea.

Taken from the website, "Kajitsu means 'fine day' or 'day of celebration' in Japanese. We have chosen the name Kajitsu hoping that a visit here will always be a special occasion for our guests."

This principle is reflected in the friendly service we encountered. Considering service, decor, and general ambiance play such a definitive role in Michelin ratings, I can see how this restaurant garnered such acclaim. Yet if I were to compare this two star establishment to the other Japanese two star restaurant I've tried, Urasawa would be a step above. I can't say surely whether that meant Kajitsu should be lowered or Urasawa raised, although it's a moot point now that Michelin is out of Los Angeles. No matter the rating, this is an excellent place to bring a vegetarian or if you feel like a detox. I noticed the lack of meat, but I didn't miss it. Kevin and I thought we would walk out hungry, but we were plenty satisfied.

Kajitsu
kajitsunyc.com
414 E. 9th St. (between 1st and A)
East Village, 10009
(212) 228-4873
$50/$70 tasting menus

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Buddhists Know How to Vegan: Golden Era Vegetarian, San Francisco

Let's be honest here. If you're a vegetarian, or even more astonishingly, vegan, you limit yourself from an incredible diversity of food out there. Whatever their reasons for not eating meat, I don't know any vegetarians who can deny the appeal of meat and animal products. I generally have a live and let live attitude towards vegetarians, but my personal stance is that if you're going to be a vegetarian, then give up on the meat substitutes and embrace cuisines that are traditionally vegetarian.



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There are plenty of cultures that are vegetarian, either by ideology or necessity. A good example of perfectly acceptable vegan cuisine would be Ethiopian. Many of the traditional dishes have been refined over generations without meat. Indian cuisine is also very amenable to vegetarian options. An example of bad vegetarian food is fake meat, which tends to predominate Western cuisines. I'm just generally against food posing as something else, such as the M Cafe muffaletta. Tofurkey, Boca burgers, soy cheese, fakon, fake meat is usually awful. If you're going to be a vegetarian, then embrace vegetables, grains, legumes, fruits, all the diversity that the Earth has to offer. Stop trying to recapture something (meat and cheese mostly) that you've voluntarily given up.



There is one exception. Instead of merely tolerating it, I completely embrace Buddhist vegetarian cooking. True, Buddhist cuisine has fake meat too, usually in the form of soy and wheat gluten, but it has perfected the form over hundreds of years. You'd be shocked at how indistinguishable some dishes are to their carnivorous cousins. Usually my Buddhist vegetarian experience is Chinese, but I had an opportunity to explore Vietnamese vegetarian at Golden Era in San Francisco.







The menu consists of common Vietnamese dishes, pho, bun hue, lemongrass chicken (pictured above). In fact, hardly anything from the menu identified the restaurant as vegan. I had the lemongrass chicken, which tasted a little more like pork than chicken, but still tasted meaty nonetheless. It was delicious and it made me think that I could be a vegetarian if I had easy access to this kind of food. The only thing I was a little suspicious of was the fish sauce. As you can imagine, it's very hard to get the fishy flavor without any fish. Instead, it was sweeter than usual and relied on more of a vinegar base than fish.



If you didn't think you could be a vegetarian before, I implore you to search out cuisines that specialize in vegetarian cooking. You really don't need fake burgers and hot dogs, which are often super processed and not any healthier for you. Embrace the flavors and ingredients of the Earth. And if you really need that meat fix, go with people who know what they're doing.



Golden Era Vegetarian

goldeneravegetarian.com

572 O'Farrell St

Btwn Leavenworth & Jones St

(415) 673-3136



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Introduction to Little Ethiopia: Rahel Vegan Cuisine

This is my first restaurant in Little Ethiopia and the third I've been to ever. Usually, I go to Fassica on Fairfax, a little closer and away from the crowds, but this time I wanted to follow a recommendation by blogger Teenager Glutster. He told me that Rahel made their injera (the spongy bread) out of real teff instead of wheat like some of the other restaurants. I was determined to try out teff injera, despite my abhorrence for vegan restaurants.

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Speaking of Javier of Teenage Glutster, check him out October 14th on the Bizarre Foods on Travel Channel at 10pm, along with Mattatouille and Deep End Dining. But back to my review.

Rahel offers several "juice" drinks native to Ethiopia. Not knowing what I was thinking, I ordered the besso barley drink. I don't like barley teas, I don't know why I thought I would like a barley shake. It was thick and definitely had the taste of grain, but actually helped temper the spices of the food. My girlfriend's suff sunflower seed drink was quite refreshing. I'm not too sure how they managed to juice a sunflower seed, but the result was thin, more like a nectar than a shake. The taste was exactly what you'd imagine a drink made out of sunflower seeds would taste like.


Besso & Suff

Between my girlfriend and I, we had the Vegan Feast for two. Out came the sambussas appetizer first. I'm fairly certain that Ethiopian sambussas and Indian samosas more or less the same thing. Maybe they contain slightly different ingredients, but they tasted the same. It also came with a slightly sweet green pepper sauce and a red sauce I swear tasted alcoholic.


Sambussas

The main course came with the fabled teff injera. It came with several menu items including: stewed cabbage, whole lentil stew, split lentil stew, yeatkilt (vegetable) stew, split-pea stew, string beans with carrots, zucchini stew, collard greens, tomatoes, onions and jalepeños. While I've heard that the wats (stews) were good at Rahel, all the various ones on my plate blended together. In fact, due to the stewed texture, I felt like I was eating a big plate of more or less the same thing. I understand that much of Ethiopian cuisine is the wats, but it's just not my thing to eat stew with my hands. I always end up filling up on injera, which seems to expand in my stomach throughout the meal. At which point, I stop with the injera but can't figure out how else to eat with my fingers. I'd rather have a plate of tibs, which sauteed has more substance. The long-awaited injera had a slightly darker gray coloring than the wheat I was used to. It turns out that teff injera is tougher in texture, but besides that, not too different in taste. Both share that fermented sourdough taste that needs a pairing, otherwise is too sour to eat on its own.


Vegan feast

Considering how empty the restaurant was when we arrived, I would've expected prompter service. Things seem to move at a snail's pace at all the Ethiopian restaurants I've been to; perhaps it's a symptom of the cultural like how it felt when I was in Peru. It wasn't a bad restaurant, but I just can't give up meat--even for teff.

Rahel Ethiopian Vegetarian Cuisine
1047 South Fairfax Ave
Little Ethiopia, 90019
(323) 937-8401
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