Aburiya Raku - Las Vegas

I did something on my last trip to Las Vegas that I'd never done before. No, I did not split 10s against a dealer's ace at the blackjack table. I didn't pass out and wake up with Mike Tyson's lion in my room. Nor did it involve any of the fine ladies whose cards are handed out on the strip in the evenings. No, this was something really unusual for me: during a four-day trip, I went back to the same restaurant twice.

There were a number of places on my "hit list" for this Vegas trip, but after going to Aburiya Raku late on the night we arrived, some of the list had to be thrown out. A repeat visit violates one of my basic travel rules, but this is really my kind of place.

Though I'd hazard a guess that roughly 99% of the visitors to Las Vegas have never heard of the restaurant, it has hardly escaped notice. It was a semifinalist this year for the James Beard Foundation's Best New Restaurant Award, has been much talked up by various bloggers, and is a favorite of local chefs (who must also appreciate that it is open till 3am). The focus is on charcoal-grilled robata style items, but the menu ranges well beyond that and features a broad variety of izakaya-style small dishes. The ingredients are immaculate, and the preparations are precise and loaded with flavor.

About 15 minutes off the strip on West Spring Mountain Road, Raku is situated in a nondescript little strip mall, next door to a dingy-looking Korean BBQ place. But once you step inside, a different atmosphere takes over. It's a much smaller place than I anticipated, only about 8 tables total plus a a small bar (I've heard an expansion is in the works), subtle halogen lighting, dark walls, and pretty blond wood tables. The waitstaff are friendly, charming and eager to talk through the menu as well as a long list of daily specials. Those specials include a number of fresh seafood items, many flown in from Japan.

On our first visit, my dining companion and I started off small, ordering about 3-4 things mostly from the specials. After about four more rounds of ordering, we had happily worked our way through a good portion of the menu. We began simply, with Tofu Two Ways (this "two way" option was a common theme among many of the specials, which is a great idea). First came simple cold tofu hiyayakko, with accompaniments of slivered scallion, minced ginger, and katsuobushi (dried bonito) flakes. The house-made tofu was a revelation, with a luxurious creamy texture and a light, milky, slightly nutty flavor. Our server recommended using a dash of the green tea salt with it, which brightened and enhanced the flavors. The second take on it was agedashi style, the tofu fried and lightly crispy on the outside, in a warm pool of soy-stained dashi broth dotted with scallions and little honshimeji (beech mushrooms), and topped with a generous dollop of ikura (salmon roe) and julienned strips of nori.

From the specials we also had Asari Sakamushi, small clams simply steamed in a sake broth. They had a deliciously pure seafood flavor, and the broth, rich with clam liquor, was just as good. Also from the specials we had Unagi Two Ways: the eel was presented with the two filets side-by-side (cut into roughly two-inch pieces for ease of handling), one side dabbed with wasabi, the other with the more traditional sweet-soy "barbecue" glaze. It was tender and meaty, and I just barely preferred the simpler wasabi preparation, which allowed the eel's flavor to come through more cleanly.

Next, a cold dish, Poached Egg with Sea Urchin, with the gooey egg (reminiscent of an immersion circulated 63C egg) in a thick, slightly sweet soy-based broth, along with tongues of uni, more ikura, tiny cubes of sticky yamaimo (mountain yam) and diced scallion. This seemed as much a meditation on slippery textures as it was about the flavors, and it was something of an adventure to go after this with chopsticks. Shortly after that came one of my favorite items of the night, a Foie Gras Chawan Mushi,^[1] the quivering dashi-inflected egg custard elevated by the rich earthy perfume of the duck liver.

From there we moved into our robata phase, which we divided into animal themes. We started with Kurobata Pork Cheek and Pork Ear. The cheeks were just delicious, meaty but tender and loaded with porky flavor. The ears (which our server recommended anointing with a chile-infused vinegar on the table) were chewy with a hint of crisp on the outside, and that visceral toothy bite from the strip of cartilage in the middle.

Next, a beef round, for which we tried the "Kobe" Beef Filet with Wasabi, and the "Kobe" Beef Tendon.^[2] I usually don't get that excited by beef filet cuts, which I generally find lacking in character. But this was so tender and luxurious, almost silky, its flavor brightened by the dab of wasabi, that it overcame my usual scorn for the tenderloin. But possibly the single greatest bite of the evening was the beef tendon. I'd never seen tendon grilled before, and this arrived as basically quivering cubes of beef jell-o, just barely in solid form, and with a rich, buttery "essence of beef" flavor. If you like bone marrow, you'll really like this. If you don't like bone marrow, well ... never mind.

We closed out the robata phase of our meal with a poultry round, featuring chicken breast with skin (terrifically moist and flavorful), tsukune (ground chicken, suprisingly one of the few items that didn't really excite, even though our server said it was a house specialty), and duck with balsamic soy sauce (also very good). Not quite ready to be done yet, we closed out with onigiri (grilled rice ball) in a dashi broth, topped with "bonito guts." This none-too-appealing translation (I think the Japanese word for it is "shuto") refers to an item that is similar to shiokara, salted and fermented fish innards, which I've previously only seen done with squid. I actually found it much milder than shiokara which I've tried before, and it gave a pungently salty, funky tweak to the rice and dashi broth.

According to Wikipedia, "shuto" means "steal sake," supposedly in reference to the commonly held belief that it is good to drink sake with such things. Whether or not that's true, we did have some good sake with our meal. I don't know my sakes that well, but I am intrigued by the richer tasting, cloudy nigori style sakes, so we tried a couple. We started with a small bottle of a Tozai Nigori ("Snow Maiden", I think), which I found a bit too sweet for my taste. Even better was the Kamoizumi "Summer Snow," which was much more balanced and nuanced. The sake, and several of the food items, were enhanced by beautiful ceramic sake cups and dishes. Despite the somewhat casual atmosphere and the (generally) low prices, the presentations were in many ways quite elegant.

On the return visit a few nights later, we re-sampled several items to equal acclaim, and also tried a few different specials (an almost completely new list from our last visit). Though we had made a reservation, it was nearly a half hour after our reserved time when a table finally cleared. I understand that for early reservations they do now put a time limit on the tables, though I can see how that can be somewhat difficult to enforce in the moment (and if I was one of those earlier diners, I can empathize with not wanting to leave). When we finally sat, they assuaged us with a free pitcher of Sapporo, some nice crispy salted shrimp (which can be downed heads, shells and all), and some tiny little whole fried icefish. It worked.

Grilled salmon belly was luscious and decadent, rich with fatty fish oils underneath the nicely crispy skin. A special mackerel was one of the biggest I had ever laid eyes upon served whole, simply grilled and served with daikon oroshi. I actually might prefer smaller fish, as this was a bit dryer than I like, missing some of the oily texture of these "blue-skinned" fish that I enjoy. And we were completely taken in when we saw another table get a Kobe-style steak flambeed with brandy and cooked on a hot stone, ishiyaki style. Meat - fire - hot rocks? The caveman in us insisted.

A few things worth noting: (1) it is a very small place, and I suspect that reservations are a must; going later is probably better than going earlier, so as to avoid hungry people hovering and waiting for you to relinquish your table; (2) though most of the items on the regular menu are incredibly reasonably priced (many of the robata items, like the pork cheek, the chicken breast, and the beef tendon, are $3 and under, and both the foie gras chawan mushi and the poached egg with uni were under $10), some of the specials can be quite steep (the unagi and mackerel were both $30+, the steak ishiyaki was $60); if you're concerned, just ask; (3) this is a place worth breaking rules for.

Aburiya Raku
5030 W. Spring Mountain Road
Las Vegas, NV
702.367.3511

^[1]A note on the menu: items are listed in Japanese, and in translated English, so that the chawan mushi is listed in English as a "steamed egg custard." I actually found this to be somewhat confusing, as I'm fairly accustomed to the Japanese names for many things even though I'm entirely unable to read the Japanese characters for them.

^[2]I did not ask if it was true Kobe beef from Japan or Kobe-style, but I'm guessing the latter.

But Wait There's More ...

Another interesting opening, Olé Tapas in the Four Seasons on Brickell Avenue. With opening hours 7am - 7pm, this will be tough for anyone other than Brickellites to get to, but the menu, with a solid lineup of traditional tapas, all priced under $10, looks good to me.

And let's welcome a new face to the neighborhood: Eater Miami, a branch of the new, megalithic Eater National, edited by local scenester Lesley Abravanel. She's clearly been busy, with about a bazillion posts already up just in the past 24 hours!

Danny Meyer Shaking His Miami Money-Maker

Just got word that Shake Shack, mega-NY restaurateur Danny Meyer's casual burgers 'n' shakes emporium, is going to be opening up its first location outside of New York in none other than Miami Beach, Florida.

Location is going to be in the new 1111 Lincoln Road building going up at the corner of Alton Road, with indoor and outdoor seating. Opening goal? "spring/summer 2010". (Good luck. We know how those things tend to go here in South Florida).

If you want to start planning you order now, you can peruse the menu here. Count me in for a double cheeseburger and a Concrete Jungle.

It's So Good Once It Hits Your Lips

I had the privilege of being invited to a dinner at Michy's yesterday evening featuring pairings of Chef Michelle Bernstein's food with beers from Samuel Adams. I don't usually do these "media dinner" type events - I really don't mind paying for what I eat and drink - but since this one offered a chance to try something I might not otherwise experience - Samuel Adams' "Utopias," a very limited production brew only made every other year, aged in a variety of woods, and reaching 27% alcohol - I found it difficult to resist. (So, full disclosure: No, I did not pay for this meal, and my notes were taken under the influence of free beer).



It might surprise those who think of beer as a blue-collar, working-class beverage (I don't, but it still surprised me) to learn that Jim Koch, the founder of the Boston Beer Company which produces Samuel Adams beers, has three degrees from Harvard University (a BA, JD and MBA). I've known some double-Harvards, but never a triple. I guess with the third degree comes the wisdom to make great beer. He also is the sixth generation of a family of brewmasters, so perhaps that helps too. It might also surprise some that despite a sizable advertising budget and distribution network, Boston Beer Company still seems like a pretty small, intimate operation. You know the guy with the gigantic beard and the thick Boston accent that appears in some of their ads? That's Bob Canon, and he's no actor: he's the brewmaster who came out to Michy's to host the event for us.

The program for the evening featured four dishes prepared by Chef Bernstein and crew, paired with four of Sam Adams' 21 beer offerings, followed by an after-dinner tasting of a couple of Sam Adams' "extreme beers," their Triple Bock and the 2009 Utopias. Chef Bernstein professes a deep and abiding fondness for beer, something which I think unites professional kitchens around the globe. Michy's has always offered an interesting selection of beers, a trend that happily seems to be increasingly common in local restaurants (off the top of my head, I can think of Michael's Genuine, Pacific Time, and Red Light as places that have good if not encyclopedic beer lists, to say nothing of more casual places like 8 Oz. Burger Bar). Perhaps partly out of budget-consciousness I find that we're more frequently having beer rather than wine with dinner when we go out, though it could just as well be because the selections have improved.

First course was a seared cod, paired with Samuel Adams' Coastal Wheat beer. The cod (from Boston, Chef Bernstein noted) had a beautiful crispy sear on top and tender flesh that came apart in big lush flakes, served over a bed of melted scallions, napped with an intense seafood nage (made, according to Chef Bernstein, from "every seafood we could find" reduced down in a broth with some tomato and some of the beer), crowned with a couple Maine shrimp and some shaved fennel. The Coastal Wheat beer, done in a Hefeweizen style, is further brightened with a dash of lemon powder, giving a subtle citrus note that paired nicely with the seafood.

Next up, pork belly, paired with Old Fezziwig Ale. Brewmaster Bob described the Old Fezziwig as the "Christmas cookie" of their beers, and the malty flavor with notes of cinnamon, ginger, and orange peel make that an apt description. He explained that this beer (named for a character in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol") has the same flavor profile as the Winter Lager (which we sampled as an apertif before dinner), but uses 3x the spices for a more intense presence. Chef Bernstein used those spice notes as her starting point for the dish, giving the pork belly a 2-day cure with cinnamon, orange peel and other spices (star anise, clove) and "burying it" with salt and sugar. After being given the cure, it was braised, then finally seared before service for a wonderfully crispy exterior. The pork belly was plated with a reduced pork jus along with a concord grape reduction, which invariably brings on food memories of peanut butter & jelly sandwiches (in a good way). The delicious pork jus reminded me of the "Iberian emulsion" that was paired with the roasted suckling pig I had at Akelare - intensely porky but light in texture. I know folks think pork belly may be getting overplayed, but if chefs keep coming up with such great ways to prepare it, I don't think it's leaving menus any time soon. The Fezziwig was also possibly my favorite beer of the night, with a rich deep flavor but not overwhelmingly heavy.

The last savory course was more in the old-school comfort-food vein, an herb-crusted tenderloin of beef, along with mashed potatoes topped with some "stinky cheeses" (to use Chef Bernstein's description), some sauteed mushrooms and - my favorite item on the plate, oddly enough - little cherry tomatoes that had been cooked down whole to intensify their flavors. This was paired with Samuel Adams' flagship beer, their Boston Lager. The original recipe for the Boston Lager goes back several generations and it is still prepared in a traditional style. It was served for us in a glass specially commissioned by Samuel Adams from Reidel, which had a narrow base, a bulbous top, and a bit of a bump to the lip of the glass to release the flavors to your mouth. The pairing of beer and beef is an interesting one, with the bitterness of the beer playing the palate-cleansing role that the tannins of a red wine typically do (though I have to say that I think this is one instance where wine clearly has a big edge on beer in the food-pairing department).

Beer seems like an unlikely companion for dessert, but in this instance I thought it was the most successful pairing of the evening. Using the Samuel Adams "Double Bock" as her starting point, Chef Michy said it made her think of a Fig Newton, and so she made a fig "trifle" with layers of pastry cream, mascarpone cheese, spongecake soaked in sweet wine (and beer), fresh and macerated figs, crispy pistachio, and a light sprinkle of sea salt. It was a fantastic dessert, made even better by the beer pairing. The Double Bock is a rich, densely flavored beer, with notes of caramel and stewed fruit (yes, I might say fig) and a smooth, velvety texture. Its pleasantly bitter finish cut through the sweetness of the dessert and refreshed the palate for another bite (a pattern that I repeated several times).

After dinner, we sampled a couple of Samuel Adams' more esoteric offerings. These were without doubt the most unusual beers I've ever tasted, and they really stretch the definition of what we'd normally call "beer." The first was their Triple Bock. This was brewed in 1993, barrel-aged, and put in bottle in 1994 (no, those are not typos). They actually have some of the brew still aging in barrel too. It was, to borrow a phrase from The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a beverage that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike beer. Completely uncarbonated, dark brown, 17% alcohol, and thick like a port, it had intense dense flavors of dark chocolate, molasses, and more savory notes like soy sauce or even hoisin. Its aromatics were just jumping right out of the glass - you could smell it vividly from 2-3 feet away.

Possibly even more unusual was the Utopias. Samuel Adams first started producing Utopias in 2002, and has done so in odd years since then. The 2009 is just now being released. Where the Triple Bock was dense, dark, and thick, the Utopias was a crystaline clear amber. I couldn't keep track of all the things Brewmaster Bob said they had done with it. It was produced using a couple different strains of yeast, including one typically used in champagne production. They blend in small doses of other aged beers, including some of the 1994 Triple Bock. It goes through a variety of different barrel-aging regimens, including Scotch whisky barrels, bourbon casks from Buffalo Trace Distillery, sherry casks and port casks. What comes out is a still beverage with a nose almost like a good blended Scotch whisky, and a complex flavor with lots of woody spice notes from the barrel-aging, but with a super-smooth finish lacking the alcoholic bite of a distilled liquor. Even though this looks, and smells, like it was distilled (and comes in at a mammoth 27% alcohol), and even though it's packaged in a copper-finished ceramic bottle that looks like a still, Brewmaster Bob insists that this is a fermented malt beverage. He also says it can be opened and held without doing any real damage to it, and believed that some oxidation actually improved the flavors. It was like nothing I've ever had before.

Would I pay the $150 that Samuel Adams plans to retail this for to have it again? Honestly, I can think of a lot of other things I'd spend that kind of money on first. But nonetheless, it's gratifying to know that there are folks out there pushing the boundaries of their craft in such creative, curious ways.

Michy's
6927 Biscayne Boulevard
Miami, FL 33138
305.759.2001

goes around ... comes around Part III

A few months ago, as part of an ongoing fascination with food trends, a post here traced the origins of the "uni sandwich" back to local darling Chef Michelle Bernstein (though the Food & Wine story dubbing it "The Next It Sandwich" managed only to identify several New York variants).

image via All Purpose Dark

Such sharing can work in both directions, and it seems Michelle's borrowed a couple ideas from some big-shot New York chefs for her newly opened restaurant at the Omphoy resort in Palm Beach. One of the dishes on the menu, as described by All Purpose Dark, is a veritable Eric Ripert/David Chang mashup: a tuna carpaccio topped with foie gras "snow".

The parents of this concoction? How about the pounded tuna laid over foie gras at Eric Ripert's Le Bernardin, combined with David Chang's famous frozen foie gras "snow" at Momofuku Ko (named by both the New York Times and Food & Wine as their 2008 "best dish of the year"!).

Turnabout's fair play.

Cobaya Underground Dinner Experiment #2, 2.5

My weak joke the past couple months when people ask about "Cobaya", our underground dining experiment, is that South Florida really isn't made for underground dining, because as soon as you try to go underground you hit water. Well, we may be in the process of proving that premise (and any number of other reasons why people might think South Florida isn't made for these kinds of things) wrong.

After a great first dinner at Talula from Chefs Andrea Curto-Randazzo, Frank Randazzo and their talented Sous Chef Kyle Foster, we set out to try it again. This time around, Chef Jeremiah Bullfrog was the chef; and instead of going underground, we went up, to a fantastic Midtown penthouse courtesy of the good folks at The Factory Interactive.

The demand for more unorthodox types of dining experiences may be greater than many people give Miami credit for; we had so many people interested in the dinner that we ended up adding a second seating on Sunday, with a total of about 36 guinea pigs joining us over the two nights. If you've not followed this on the Cobaya site, the idea is pretty simple: get talented chefs to cook great, interesting meals for adventurous, open-minded diners.

The full set of pictures from this weekend's dinners can be seen here. Jacob Katel at Miami New Times got some great pix that are up on the Short Order blog. What follows here are some visual and textual snapshots of the meal; I welcome other diners to contribute their thoughts.

Edited to add: some more nice write-ups and pix here at Mango & Lime and Blind Tastes, and this awesome video shot by James Painter Belvin on Saturday night:

the view

The venue was truly special, a penthouse condo in one of the Midtown buildings, with great views south of downtown, east across Biscayne Bay and west on the setting sun.

operating table is ready

10-24-09 menu

guinea pigs

"greek salad"

This dish combined a clarified tomato water, gin-compressed cucumbers (the cucumbers combined with gin and then put under vacuum seal so the flavoring liquid is drawn into the cells of the vegetable), home-made feta-stuffed olives, and Hendricks gin (which itself echoed the cucumber notes). A great cross between a salad and a martini.

stone crab, mustard emulsion, Meyer lemon oil

A one-biter with all the traditional flavors of perhaps our best-known local seasonal delicacy.

pumpkin burrata dumpling

Another one-biter, this one had some technical issues that prevented the burrata filling from flowing, but it didn't affect the flavors.

Chef Jeremiah plating pork belly

pork belly, 63c egg, maple syrup

The pork belly was brined, braised, confited, seared and delicious. A nice "breakfast for dinner" effect was achieved by combining with an egg cooked at 63 degrees celsius in an immersion circulator, and - the clinching final touch for me - a drizzle of maple syrup.

halibut like a reuben

One of the most interesting and creative dishes of the night, Alaskan halibut was wrapped and rolled into a long spherical shape and cooked sous vide, topped with a sprinkle of crumbled rye streusel, and paired with a "pastrami dashi" poured tableside - a clarified broth redolent with the smoky, peppery spicy flavors of pastrami. I really enjoyed this unexpected but successful pairing of a delicate fish with these bold smoky notes.

refresh

No picture but a really neat little liquid shot of white chocolate and red curry over shaved ice. Not so much a palate cleanser as a potent flavor bomb, this was another of the more intriguing tastes of the night, with the unusual combination in an even more unexpected cold form being a real pleasant surprise.

72-hr short rib, parsnip puree, zin reduxx

Here was another use of sous vide technique, big meaty short ribs slow-cooked (really slow - three days' worth) at low temperature: enough heat to melt the collagen and connective tissue, but not so much as to cook the meat to shredding disintegration like a traditional braise; served with a drizzle of a Zinfandel reduction, as well as a velvety rich parsnip puree (reminiscent, dare I say it, of Joel Robuchon's famous potato puree) which also had a welcome brightness from what I thought was celery root.

another night, another experiment

I returned Sunday night for another round with another group of guinea pigs. Frod Jr. came along with me on Sunday, and some of these pictures are his. He also ate very well: the stone crab, the pumpkin gnocchi with short rib (below), and the krispy kreme flan (also below) were among his favorites. Fortunately we remembered to keep the gin out of his "greek salad."

10-25-09 menu with a couple changes

pumpkin gnocchi, short rib ragu, ricotta salata

The short rib from last night, reincarnated as a meaty broth to pair with pumpkin gnocchi.

Chef Jeremiah, Chef K helping out

A couple special guests came out for the second night: Chefs Kurtis Jantz and Chad Galiano, the guys behind the Paradigm dinners. Chef Jeremiah put them to work.

whole piglet

A nice surprise for the second-night diners: a whole, 39-pound piglet, fresh from a Hialeah slaughterhouse that morning.

piglet leg and belly

Chef Jeremiah completely boned out the pig before roasting, and made some rich trotter cakes from the head and trotters.

Chadzilla helping Chef Jeremiah plate the pig

Chef Chad Galiano dishing out the trotter cakes for the pig.

the piglet, plated

krispy kreme flan

For dessert, a Krispy Kreme "flan." Donuts were pulverized and blended with a flan base, aerated and squirted into mason jars and then cooked; paired with a goat's milk cajeta (like a tangy dulce de leche). Mmm, donuts.

Many thanks from me to Chef Jeremiah and all the rest of his crew for a great meal, to Jason Inasi and The Factory Interactive for providing such a fantastic venue, and to all my fellow guinea pigs for coming out and really understanding the spirit in which this is being done. For those interested in future dinners, they will be announced on the Cobaya website, and you can also join the Cobaya - Gourmet Guinea Pigs Google group and you'll get notice by email when new events are announced.

Artisan - Paso Robles

If Bistro Laurent is the kind of restaurant that every wine region seems to have, then Artisan in Paso Robles is the kind of restaurant every wine region wishes it had. We had several great meals on our recent California trip, but this may have been the one that was the most purely enjoyable.

Clearly the locals know what they've got. The place was packed the first night we stopped by and there wasn't a table available for at least an hour, so we made a reservation for the following night. Our persistence was rewarded with a meal that highlighted local product with unfussy preparations and bold flavors.

The restaurant has a relaxed, casual feel to it, with lots of natural light coming in through the tall windows. The space is split by a line of banquettes, behind which is a partially open kitchen and a sizable bar area with additional seating. It was equally crowded the next day when we returned for our reservation, and the room feels convivial without ever becoming overwhelmingly noisy.

The menu listed 9 starters and equal number of main courses, which were supplemented with a few off-the-menu specials. I started with one of those specials: Santa Barbara spot prawns, their raw bodies just barely cooked with a drizzle of hot oil (a la Nobu's "new style sashimi"), the heads fried, all served over some grilled hot peppers, with a sidecar of a little salad spiked with fried capers and julienned preserved lemon. There were lots of bright flavors here, but well balanced and none so aggressive as to overpower the beauty of the pristinely fresh seafood. My only regret was that the heads were good for sucking on, but not crisped up sufficiently (as with ama ebi) to gnaw on in their entirety. Mrs. F started with an heirloom tomato and cucumber salad that was everything that Zuni Cafe's should have been. It was loaded with a generous selection of plump ripe tomatoes and slivers of cucumber, with a bit of richness contributed by some La Panza Gold, a washed rind sheeps' milk cheese from Rinconada Dairy near San Luis Obispo.

Both Mrs. F and I stuck with the starters portion of the menu for the rest of our meal. I followed with a "BLTA" - bacon, lettuce, tomato and ... abalone! This was a great dish, pairing tender Cayucos red abalone (in itself every bit as delicious as the abalone I'd had at Manresa a couple days earlier) with lightly crisped pancetta, fried green tomatoes, sprigs of peppery arugula, and cubes of avocado. It was an unexpected but effective combination, and months later I still pine for more of that fantastic local abalone. I also had the barbecue braised pork belly - yes, everyone's doing pork belly these days, but this was a nice twist on the theme, bringing some tangy barbecue flavors to the party, along with some tender stewed cranberry beans, and a drizzle of brightly flavored salsa verde to perk things up and cut through the fattiness of the pork. Mrs. F had a smoked gouda and porter fondue, which offered garlic toasts, cubes of andouille sausage and broccolini for dipping. This was probably the least exciting of the dishes we had, but it's hard to be unhappy with any scenario which combines pork product and bubbly cheese.

Thanks to the kids we also got to try some of the main course items. The salmon was pronounced by Little Miss F the best she'd ever had: a wild-caught West Coast fish, paired with a fava bean succotash enhanced by some applewood-smoked bacon, along with a rich, tasty corn pudding, fried little Italian squash, and a scatter of corn shoots. A steak from the specials list was also very good: a richly flavored grass-fed Hearst Ranch filet mignon (yes, that Hearst - the 80,000 acre ranch surrounds Hearst Castle), which came with roasted potatoes and shishito peppers and a drizzle of the same salsa verde which accompanied the pork belly.

Desserts were equally unfussy and satisfying. We tried a chocolate black bottom pie topped with marshmallow fluff; apple fritters with butter pecan ice cream and salted caramel; and a peach and blackberry crumble, served in a little cast iron dish, and topped with a blackberry creme fraiche ice cream. We were hard pressed to pick a favorite.

The wine list sensibly focuses predominantly on local producers, but if you've brought back some samples from a day of wine tasting, the corkage is an eminently reasonable $15 (which they were very happy to tell us when we made our reservation). I was pleased to find a Booker "The Ripper" Grenache (2006) for about $80 (release price was $55 with only 136 cases produced). If you're all wined out, they also had a great beer list with more than a half dozen on tap, plus a fine selection of bottles from around the globe.

The folks behind Artisan are brothers Chris (chef/owner) and Michael (general manager/owner) Kobayashi, who seem awfully young to have produced a restaurant that exudes such confidence and comfort in its own skin. There's nothing precious about the food here, but it's nonetheless clear that a good bit of thought and effort has gone into its preparation. It hits that great sweet spot of being refined and homey at the same time.

"California cuisine," with its focus on locally sourced product, seasonality and sustainability, is often accused - some might say justifiably, others would dispute that - of "just serving figs on a plate," to use David Chang's recent description. Artisan clearly shares that focus, but just as clearly is "doing something with its food" - something that's awfully good.

Artisan
1401 Park Street
Paso Robles, California 93446
805.237.8084