REVIEW:: Yakuza

My hubby and I love sushi, in fact we went for sushi on our first date (and then for ice cream... can you think of a more perfect date?!). But since moving to PDX we've had a hard time finding a really good & affordable sushi restaurant. There are definitely a lot of choices. Mio Sushi seems to be the preference of a lot of our friends, but we didn't really like the atmosphere and found the rolls uninspiring. Masu is pretty delicious but a bit pricey, reserved only special occasions. Our favorite so far has been Sinju, we're been there about 3 times and LOVED everything we sadly it's not close to our place. Then there's YAKUZA, only a few blocks away from our place, we're walked by many times and finally decided give it a shot.

The place is super cool: it has beautiful wood tables and long benches, pretty hand painted murals, a huge garage door that opens in summertime—and my favorite—a small but open kitchen so you can see the chef rolling away. They also have a small patio out back. Overall, great ambiance.

The menu is short and sweet which we didn't mind at all, specially because creativity is definitely present. They offer cocktails with ingredients like grapefruit, basil, carrots and wasabi. I went for the safer "beet martini" and it was delicious and super refreshing.

All the starters sounded delicious and combined interesting ingredients with seafood. We had the kobe beef tartar with jalapeño lime oil, crispy poach egg and a grilled baguette. The beef was seasoned with asian spices and it was so melt-in-your-mouth tender it could have easily passed for tuna. The egg on top was amazing—now how do they poach and then make it super crispy?— i want to know because i'd love to have this for breakfast! It was a great combination.

We also shared the Sea Scallop: shredded filo wrapped sea scallop tempura, with nori & creamy spicy sauce. This was visually amazing and did not disappoint after the first bite. The scallop was cooked perfectly and the crunchiness of the filo was like nothing i've ever had before. Definitely a must when we go back.

From the signature dishes, we tried the hamachi (seared Hawaiian yellowtail, jalapeno lime salsa, house ponzu, baby cilantro). It was cooked really nicely and we loved the tartness of the lime juice combined with the slight sweetness of the ponzu sauce. For rolls we had the spicy tuna (minced big eye tuna tartar, cucumber, kaiware sprouts, creamy spicy sauce), the hamachi (minced Hawaiian yellowtail & scallions, bosc pear, avocado, shaved jalapeno) and the really spicy (yellow fin tuna, cilantro, Thai chilies, creamy spicy sauce, siracha, avocado). They where all pretty delicious.

kobe beef tartar

Sea Scallop

hamachi

Overall we'd probably go back again, but on a special occasion or maybe for happy hour (menu is limited but looks really good). It's definitely not your middle of the week spot.

SCORE: 4 stars

YAKUZA LOUNGE

5411 NE 30th Ave.
Portland, OR

503.450.0893
www.yakuzalounge.com

Garlic Spears

Have you ever seen these in your supermarket? They look like little stems with yellowish flowers about to pop open. But they are garlic spears (the stem and bud of the flowering tops of the elephant garlic) and they are delicious! I love experimenting and trying new things, so i had to give them a try. The closest thing I can compare them to is a really thin asparagus, and the bulb is super soft and delicate. The garlic flavor is really mild, like roasted garlic but without the sweetness.

Give them a shot—they're super simple and delicious!

Ingredients::

_ 1 bunch of garlic spears

_ olive oil

_ 1 tbs of butter

_ salt & pepper

_ 1/4 cup of water

Directions:

_ Wash up the garlic spears and cut up about 1 inch of the ends.

_ Heat up the olive oil & butter (medium heat). Brown the spears for about 2 minutes and stir around. After they get some color add some salt & pepper to taste, then add the water and cover for about 2 minutes. Keep and eye on them, the idea is for the stems to get a nice bright green and get tender (kinda like a asparagus).

I served them as a side dish with dinner, then heated up the leftovers and served them with a sandwich. I can think of SO many things these could be good in, like pasta, maybe a nice couscous salad or plain and grilled. Yum!

Shrimp on the grill

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The weather has been crappy lately but we still decided to grill this weekend. We felt like treating ourselves, so we went for the always delicious home made pizza with new toppings (mushrooms and pineapple). But we also decided to try something new: Prosciutto covered shrimp!

We bought some uncooked shrimp on the shell which I cleaned and deveined (keeping the tails). Then marinated them on olive oil, pepper, paprika and chili flakes for about 1 hour. Then I took a slice of prosciutto, cut it in half (lengthwise) and rolled each shrimp securing them with a toothpick. We cooked them for about 1-2 min each side, making sure NOT to over cooked them which is pretty easy because they cook super fast. 

They came out super tender, the prosciutto crunchy and salty and delicious! These would be perfect for a special party (special because the ingredients aren't cheap) as an appetizer. We'll be making them again for sure.