Himitsu Appetizers

Long ago and far away my parents introduced me to Japanese food. This actually would be in Los Angeles back in the '60s, when pretty much only the Japanese ate Japanese food, dining in Little Tokyo downtown. My folks, though, were into what at the time would be considered adventurous eating and wanted to expose us kids to foods and people of different cultures. There were no sushi bars back then; instead there were tempura bars--and that's where we went in Little Tokyo. The concept was similar. You'd sit at the counter and in the refrigerated cases in front of you would be vegetables and shrimp. You'd select what you wanted and your choices would be dipped in batter and then fried in what to me back then was a ginormous wok filled with oil. And then you'd be presented with your meal and the accompanying dipping sauce. It was so marvelous I remember it all these decades later.

Now, of course, L.A. and San Diego and cities and towns across the world are filled with sushi bars--and tempura (although tempura bars appear to be history). In San Diego, the most revered and traditional sushi bar is probably Sushi Ota in Pacific Beach. And that's where Japanese chef Mitsu Ahara went to work about 17 years ago. He grew up in a beachside town outside of Tokyo and came to San Diego in 1995 at age 18--not because he dreamed of cooking here but because he was a surfer. He eventually found his way to Sushi Ota and found a mentor in Mr. Ota, as he refers to him. Ahara began as a dishwasher and progressed to prepping vegetables, taking leftovers home to practice. Mr. Ota, he said, taught him everything--especially that quality was most important above all and that you had to take care of the food.

"If there's quality, people will come back," he recalled Mr. Ota telling him. And, while most of us think service and delivery of the food is most important because that's what we see, Ahara was emphatic that instead it's what happens before we get there that counts. "Seventy to eighty percent of what is most important in the process is prep," he told me.

And that's what I found him doing when I came for a visit to Himitsu, his month-old restaurant in La Jolla. That precious time in the afternoon is spent fabricating the fish. In this case, it was tuna. Ahara and his crew at any given time work with 15 varieties of seafood, including local species: lobster, live shrimp, sea bass, and sea urchin. About 60 percent of his fish comes from Japan. One of his cooks made sure to tell me that Ahara uses every last bit of every fish that comes in, not just for customers but also for family meals for the staff. Even the head and attached skeleton are fried and served as a garnish on one of his dishes. In fact, I saw that when I ate there a couple of weeks before.

At Sushi Ota, Ahara eventually progressed from vegetable prep to tempura making, and then, finally,  sushi. The skills he learned from 17 years with Mr. Ota he took with him--with Mr. Ota's encouragement and blessing--to his new place. Now he is the star behind the sushi bar, creating a finely honed show, filled with delicate finesse, for the eight guests at the bar (there are an additional 22 seats in the patio). The evening I was there, my friend and I had him prepare his omakase menu--chef's choice--and were fed sublimely fresh fish, both nigiri and sashimi--and had a delightful plate that reflects his interest in Mexican fusion: Braised Pork Belly over Miso Mole Sauce, Cauliflower, Asparagus. 

From left, bonito flakes, shichimi pepper, chile pepper threads

For me, a night out enjoying Japanese food wouldn't be complete without snacking on edamame or shishito peppers. Ahara shared with me his simple preparations of both. These are dishes you can easily make at home, along with sushi rolls. Now these aren't full recipes with measurements, just ingredients and directions, but you should be able to pull them off without a sweat. You can find the ingredients at markets like Mitsuwa, Nijiya, and Maruki--all in the Convoy District.

Spicy Edamame

Ingredients
Edamame
Shichimi pepper (spicy, 7-ingredient Japanese seasoning blend)
Chile pepper threads
Slice of lime

Bring a pot of lightly salted water to the boil. Add edamame. When they start to float to the surface, remove and drain.

Place the edamame in a bowl. Toss with a sprinkling of shichimi pepper. Place in a serving bowl and top with chili pepper threads. Serve with a slice of lime.

Shishito Peppers

Ingredients
Shishito peppers
Sesame oil
Teriyaki sauce
Ponzu sauce
Bonito flakes

Turn on broiler. In an oven-proof skillet add shishito peppers and drizzle sesame oil over them. Put under the broiler to char. After about 2 minutes, pull out and flip the peppers. Put back under the broiler for another minute.

Mix together the teriyaki and ponzu sauces in 1-to-1 ratio. Pour sauce into the serving bowl. Place shishito peppers over the sauce. Top with a pinch of bonito flakes and serve.

Himitsu is located at 1030-G Torrey Pines Road in La Jolla. 

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Traditional Japanese Soy Sauce a Flavor Changer

Those of us who love sushi probably believe we know all there is to know about soy sauce. As in simply choosing regular or low salt. Probably Kikkoman. Then we likely absently blending it with wasabe paste so we can dunk those precious pieces of raw fish and get a rush of salt and heat.

The problem is that most of us have never actually been exposed to true artisan soy sauce, made using traditional methods of extended fermentation instead of by machine and chemicals, and having only three ingredients: soybeans, wheat, and salt. Japanese soy sauces, called shoyu in Japanese, that have been slowly fermented for months, often in cedar casks, have an altogether different flavor and texture than the synthetic ones we in the U.S. tend to experience at the neighborhood sushi bar or off a grocery store shelf. They're also different from Chinese soy sauce, which, according to Shizuo Tsuji in the classic Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art, is very salty and has a dense flavor. Japanese soy sauces, he explains, have a relatively bright taste and aroma, and tend to be sweeter and less salty since they use far more wheat. They're also thinner in texture and clearer in color than Chinese-style sauces.

And those synthetic soy sauces? First, the manufacturing process cuts the natural brewing time of four to six months to develop flavor down to three to four days. And, instead of natural ingredients, you get hydrolized vegetable protein and hydrocholoric acid to get the chemical reaction going. Plus caramel and corn syrup is added for coloring and flavor. The result is a thick, black sauce often sold under a Chinese-sounding name. So, yes, check the label before you toss a bottle into your shopping cart next time. You'd be surprised. (As a side note, Kikkoman's soy sauces are made with the three traditional ingredients and is, according to author Tsuji, quite dependable, with the correct flavor and quality for cooking Japanese dishes--compared with Chinese type soy sauces or the chemical versions.)

Years ago, my friend Mineko Moreno, who teaches Japanese cooking locally, got me hooked on traditional soy sauces. She explained that these are sauces intended for dipping, not cooking--much like high quality olive oil. You want to experience the flavors of the soy sauce, not bury them in a Chinese stir fry or soup or other cooking preparation.

"I always tell my students that soy sauces like these should be used where the true taste of the soy sauce shines," she told me. On a tour of Nijiya Market, she pointed out several and I have been enjoying one made by Chiba Shoyu called Shimousa Shoyu.

Usually soy sauces are considered light (usukuchi) or dark (koikushi). Dark is more commonly used (think your basic Kikkoman). It has a deeper brown color and greater body, is less salty and used more expansively, say in marinades, to baste meats, and for simmering. Light soy sauce, on the other hand, is more caramel colored, clearer and thinner in consistency, and much saltier and more intense in flavor. So it's used more sparingly. Because it will darken over time once the bottle is opened, buy small amounts to use up more quickly.

I recently received two bottles of traditional soy sauces from the large Mitsuwa Marketplace grocery chain. Among their stores is one near me in the Kearny Mesa neighborhood of San Diego. They also  have an online store which sells a greater variety of products, such as these artisan soy sauces.

Indeed, these sauces are alive with flavor. I opened the bottle of Marushima's Kijyouyu Washi and took a whiff. What struck me was how much it reminded me of a good sherry. Because it's fermented, you get a slightly alcoholic sugary rush--even though it contains neither alcohol nor sugar. The flavor, though, is round and deep, matching the deep color of the liquid. It is the essence of umami, that hard to describe fifth taste.

According to the notes I had from Mitsuwa, Marushima has been brewing soy sauce for over 400 years, using organically grown Marudai soy beans. It's handmade and additive free.

Then I opened the Ohara Hisakichi Yuasa. It comes from the city of Yuasa in the Wakayama Prefecture, which is said to be the birthplace of Japanese soy sauce, dating back to the 1600s. This soy sauce also gets a long fermentation time, giving it plenty of umami. It's a little lighter than the Kijyouyu Washi, and I found it much saltier.

This led me to think I had both light and dark shoyus, but it turns out that while the brands both make light and dark varieties, these two are what could be described as medium--or all purpose.

For both, be sure to refrigerate them after opening. You can mix them with a little sesame oil and and seasoned rice vinegar to create a dipping sauce. You can enjoy them blended into a bowl of rice, most typically with a raw egg. This combination creates tamago kake gohan, a popular Japanese breakfast dish. Of course, as my friend Mineko notes, "Never pour any soy sauce over a bowl of rice. It is considered very bad manners. You can add soy sauce to an egg, mix and pour onto the rice, but don't pour it directly on the rice."

Mineko also suggests using the good stuff as an accompaniment for sashimi, adding a few dots on a beautiful cold tofu dish, or brushing it on grilled scallops for a finishing touch.

"I love good soy sauce," she says. "They give such a pleasure to the dish. It's also a lovely gift for a person who enjoys good food."

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Marukai Market: Competition in Kearny Mesa? Sadly, Not Yet

In recent months, those of us who love Asian markets have been eagerly anticipating the opening of Marukai Market in Kearny Mesa. Last year, the Japanese company had taken over the southeast corner of Balboa and Mercury, just off the 163. The three buildings in the little shopping center had previously housed an unfinished furniture store and mattress stores, so it took some renovating to bring in the grocery store, which finally opened earlier this month; Marukai Living, a strange hybrid of housewares, health care, clothing and other items; and Daiso, a very cool $1.50 store. The latter two opened late last year.

Marukai Market was the last of the trio to open and I must have stopped by there two or three times thinking it was ready, only to find newspaper ads papering the glass walls and the doors still shuttered. So, I was almost breathless when I finally got to walk in and see what they had to offer. It would have to be special. After all, the large, established Mitsuwa Marketplace is just down the street on Mercury and the lovely Nijiya Market with its organic produce and on-site bakery is perhaps half a mile away on Convoy (not to mention Zion, the large Korean market, which is just across Balboa). I was primed to fall in love.

Unfortunately, it has been a not-so-grand opening and there’s no love in my heart. I’ve been to the store three times this month, including a trip with renowned Japanese cooking teacher Mineko Moreno, and have been terribly disappointed. The store itself is very small, but even so shelves are chronically understocked as is the produce department. Most of the fish is frozen. The take away sushi counter is tiny and unimpressive. And, to make matters worse, the market is freezing. Poor Mineko could barely keep from shivering and even I, always more comfortable on the cool side, was ready to bolt after 20 minutes.

Since my goal is to showcase not diminish places that offer interesting foodstuff, I am reluctant to say don’t go. You’ll find a lot of great stuff at Marukai. It’s simply that you’ll find the same and more at Mitsuwa and Nijiya.

Of course, one of the benefits of visiting the store with Mineko was getting her take on many of the items at the store. So, I did return and pick up some things that stood out.

One of my favorite dishes when I go out for sushi or stop by the market is seaweed salad. I love the ocean overtones and how the seaweed’s texture can be simultaneously chewy and crunchy. Marukai sells a nice little chukka seaweed salad, which Mineko pointed out is actually Chinese, not Japanese. I picked up a package of the salad, along with a package of combination sushi and a crunchy shrimp roll. I enjoyed the chukka, but the sushi was a little tired; the crunchy shrimp roll, for instance, not so crunchy.

In the noodle aisle, Mineko pointed out the vast variety of dry noodles that seem very similar, but she pulled out one package that is unique, buckwheat soba noodles (Jyuuwari Soba Nisshin) that are made only with buckwheat flour. Most others also contain wheat flour. These, she said, are a little challenging to cook—don’t rinse them before cooking because they’ll turn into mush, but do rinse them after. However, the flavor is worth the extra care in preparation.

Mineko was pleased, I think, with the selection of pickled vegetables. There were packages of pickled garlic, one sweet, one more savory. I can’t resist garlic and wanted to try something a little different, so I bought the sweet garlic, or shiba ninniku zuke, which contains soy sauce, sugar, honey, vinegar, smoked shaved bonito and lemon. They are, indeed, sweetly tangy and I’ve enjoyed snacking on these a lot.

I wasn't as fond of the pickled eggplant, although I loved the crazy deep blue purple color. It’s a simple pickle of eggplant and vinegar, but the flavor was too harsh for me. It may just have been the particular brand I bought or perhaps it’s something that is tastier in the context of other dishes. When I go to eat at Sakura, they usually offer a small plate of pickled vegetables with the main dish and I wonder if I would like them as much if I were just eating them on their own.

My favorite, though, may have been the pickled daikon radish. I’m a sucker for this and the small pre-sliced package I picked up was particularly good.

Usually, these are added to noodles, but at heart I'm a nosher, so I enjoy munching on them solo. Mineko singled out a different package of daikon called bettarazuke, which she said are softer and very sweet compared to other daikon. Another pickled item that she eats everyday is pickled plum, of which Marukai has several varieties.

Mineko pointed out a wide selection of rakkyo, or pickled shallot, that are widely served with curry. In the same display area was something I’ll return for called Oden, a favorite of Mineko. These are little pieces of molded mousse-like fish, very mild in flavor, that create a popular winter soup dish. Blanche them briefly and add to a broth with winter root vegetables and simmer for about 30 minutes, according to Mineko.

The meats at Marukai looked interesting. They carry both Kobe-style and Kobe beef for shabu shabu. It’s pretty easy to tell the difference between the real deal and the imitation. The Kobe’s marbling is constant, almost like tiny capillaries running through the meat. Kobe-style marbling is chunkier, thicker, not as refined.

At Mineko’s suggestion, I later picked up an interesting product I hadn’t noticed before, soy wrappers.

They come in five colors: turmeric yellow, sesame, paprika orange, spinach green and original soy. These are pretty little sheets that you can obviously use to make sushi rolls, but also can be a colorful “salad bowl” or be stacked with vegetables to make a fun appetizer. This is a summer-like product and with all the rain and cold weather, I haven’t tried them yet.

Finally, we hit the snack aisles. Months ago I had toured Nijiya with Mineko and got hooked on a kid’s snack, “Hot’N Spicy” teriyaki nori, little strips of roasted nori with soy sauce, sweet sake and chili pepper. I was happy to find that Marukai also sells it and bought a couple of packages.

I pointed out to Mineko my favorite cookie, a little pinched disc that looks like a cookie version of Frosted Flakes but has a wonderfully zesty bite of ginger. The package says they’re called Funaoka Shoga Tsumami. I love eating them with green tea in the late afternoon.

Mineko, on the other hand, is addicted to Karinto cookies (Gokubuto Kuro Karinto). Made with wheat flour and brown sugar, they look like stubby pretzels and taste like molasses. She likes to crumble them and scatter the pieces on ice cream.

I’m hoping that after this first month of their being open Marukai gets it together and not only fully stocks the store (honestly, how can you have so little rice available?) but begins to offer something more that would draw customers in who otherwise would choose Mitsuwa or Nijiya. If you find that your experience at Marukai is better than mine have been, please let me know.

Marukai Market is located at 8151 Balboa Ave. (Note: this is supposedly a membership market, but nobody at the registers asked if I had a card or wanted to join. Perhaps this will change? My calls to the company haven't been returned.)

Have some thoughts about Marukai Market or other ethnic markets in San Diego? Do you have a favorite neighborhood market or shop that carries unique or unusual foodstuff? Let me know or add to the conversation by clicking on comments below:

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Heads Up: Marukai is Opening Next Week

I stopped by the new Japanese market Marukai yesterday before going on the Gourmet Club, hoping that it had finally opened. But while the doors were open, the shelves were still being stocked. However, the store manager told me that Marukai would at last be open on January 17, with an official grand opening taking place in February. So, stay tuned. I'll stop by and see what they've got and how they compare to nearby Mitsuwa and Nijiya.

Marukai is located, along with Marukai Living and Daiso (the marvelous $1.50 store), at the corner of Balboa and Mercury, near Highway 163.

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Nijiya Market: Japanese Living on Convoy

I’ve long been a fan of Mitsuwa, formerly Yaohan, on Mercury, off of Balboa in Kearny Mesa. Okay, their produce department is modest, but I enjoy their wide variety of teas, sake, sashimi-grade fish, frozen delicacies and, most of all, the fresh sushi. I’d never really thought about shopping for Japanese products elsewhere until I decided to follow Mineko Takane Moreno around on her tour of Nijiya Market. Years ago, I’d taken a beginning sushi class from Mineko at Great News (alright, I promise to check out other cooking schools in town!) and learned more than the basics from this petite, elegant woman. She is extremely knowledgeable (she’s the co-author, with my old friend Judi Strada, of Sushi for Dummies) and could probably spend days in the market, explaining what’s in various mysterious jars, bottles and plastic bags and how they can be used. In fact, if she’s game, I’d do it again to hit all the things time constraints forced us to miss.

And, I’ll definitely be returning on my own to Nijiya Market. First of all, their produce department is a delight, especially because they sell what they grow on their own organic farm. Here were the standouts:

• Enormous daikon radish, which I love to eat raw, but is perfect grated as a condiment to accompany fish or other protein (just don’t put the grated daikon in the refrigerator or everything inside will smell).
• Lanky long onions—at least two feet in length—that can be thinly sliced and rinsed for use as a condiment for noodles and dipping sauces or simmered with beef, grilled with chicken or cooked with duck in udon noodle soup.
• Mounds of gorgeous kabocha squash, ready for baking, grilling, roasting, deep frying as tempura or pureed as a substitute for chestnuts. Last night, I chopped one up and simmered it with sliced green onions in rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil and a little sugar. It took perhaps 20 minutes and was delicious with steamed rice sprinkled with Shichimi togarashi, a seven-spice chili seasoning combining chili flakes, black and white sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sancho (a Japanese pepper), aonori (a type of seaweed) and Mandarin orange peel.
• Burdock, an earthy-looking long and slender brown root wrapped in cellophane, enjoyed in stir fries. Peel it and add to roast chicken with other root vegetables.
• A variety of herbs and leaves, like Chrysanthemum leaves, used in one-pot dishes, tempura, sushi rolls and salad; Ooba, a mint-like herb with antisceptic powers, enjoyed with raw fish, on top of wasabi ice cream or with pasta instead of basil and Kinome, the leaf of Japanese peppers. This has a very strong flavor that can be released if you put it in one hand and smack it with the other.

Be sure to investigate the various mushrooms, taro root, lotus root and Naga-imo, or long mountain yam. Long, straight and a light beige color, they’re displayed surrounded by sawdust. It can be crunchy like jicama, but peel it and it’s a bit slimy. Eat it raw or cooked but just peel the skin first.

I didn’t even mention fruit, but there’s plenty—kumquats, fuji apples, satsuma oranges and amazingly huge and sweet grapes. I swear they tasted like apples.

Okay, moving on. If you enjoy pickled fruits and vegetables, Nijiya Market has a great selection (although Mitsuwa, with its own little room for their pickles, wins this competition). Alongside pickled plums (often placed on top of a mound of white rice to imitate the Japanese flag), there were bottles of Neriume, which Mineko explained is a paste made of Japanese apricot and used like mustard on salmon or in a vinaigrette.

There is a huge selection of different misos—white, dark, saikyo (sweet compared to regular white miso) and even an organic miso. Next to them is a variety of tofu and soy products. You’ll find bags upon bags of rice—avoid the mochi gome, or sweet rice if you’re looking for something for a daily meal. It’s simply too sticky. Mineko enjoys shorter grain Kagayaki California premium rice.

Like at 99 Ranch Market and Mitsuwa, I was overwhelmed by the selections of soy sauces, ponzu sauces, rice wines and rice vinegars (not to mention the various spices, noris and other packaged products). All I can say is take a tour with someone like Mineko to learn the distinctions. The choices here are amazing and picking just the right type, whether it's light or dark soy sauce or light or dark rice vinegar, can make a big difference in the dishes you prepare.

I was delighted to find a gorgeous display of meats and fish, although naively I was shocked at some of the prices. Sashimi-grade toro goes for $80 a pound as do geoduck clams; blue fin tuna for $70. They sell a long, iridescent fish called sanma, which I’ll try in the summer so I can grill it whole. The market has a wonderful display of freshly made sushi and bento boxes, as well as fish cakes, spring rolls, croquettes and tempura and they have an in-store bakery that sells large boxy loaves of white bread.

While my idea of the perfect day touring Nijiya would end with a return to someone’s home to go cook up our purchases, we did the next best thing—ate a homestyle lunch at nearby Sakura Restaurant. Our group of 20 enjoyed shrimp and assorted vegetable tempura, miso-marinated grilled salmon with grated dikon, tofu and wakame miso soup, sweet and salty root vegetables, a salad and mochi ice cream. I recommend Sakura so out of kindness, here’s how you find this unmarked eatery: It’s located on Convoy in the same strip mall as the Original Pancake House. Look for the doorway under the brown awning next to the Army recruiting office. That’s it. Why there’s no sign, I’ve no clue, but people know it’s there because it was packed on Sunday afternoon. I plan to return on an evening when owner and chef Kazuya Maeda serves sake with “tapas”-style treats.

Finally, at lunch I asked Mineko to recommend the best Japanese cookbooks around. She offered three, which I found available on Amazon.com:

• Washoku: Recipes from the Japanese Home Kitchen by Elizabeth Andoh
• Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji
• The Japanese Kitchen by Hiroko Shimbo

Nijiya Market is located at 3860 Convoy St. in Sunrise Towne Centre. It’s just north of Aero Drive.

Sakura Restaurant is located at 3904 Convoy St.

Have some thoughts about Nijiya Market or other Japanese markets in San Diego? Add to the conversation by clicking on comments below: