Posts Tagged ‘CreAsian’

Lovin’ That Sake

August 31, 2013

Yesterday was a great day.

Yesterday was pay day.

Yesterday, Kara and I got our Sushi on at CreAsian in Morgan Hill.

Normally, when we go out to sushi, I just get myself some beer or some hot sake.  You’ve seen me bring my own wine out to sushi here and here.

But…

Yesterday I was feeling luxurious!

At least… a little more luxurious than normal.

Peep this cold sake I ordered up…

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Yaegaki Filtered Sake

Like most sakes that you order up in the U.S., this rice wine was made in America.  Now, while some of us may be bummed to find that our sake isn’t Japanese, you should be happy to know that this particular sake was made by Kushibiki Reiko… The first female sake master in these United States.  This split of sake cost me eight bucks.

Color: Not much color at all.  Pretty clear.

Nose: The nose on this sake is more floral than anything else.  There’s tons of lavender here, but it is quite fruity.  Think dried apricot and a bit of plums.

Taste: This wine is very viscous and oily on the palate.  Again… it’s very fruity.  More of those plums, along with a bit of juicy fruit gum.  At its core, the sake is earthy and hearty, with just a touch of white flowers.

This is some good, crisp, lively, and exciting sake.

Now, let’s get to the food…

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Sashimi Salad

I’ve always been a fan of sashimi.  Just give me some raw slices of fish, and I’m good to go.

But…

Sometimes, I want to eat a little bit more than what is offered up on a traditional sashimi plate.

This is where the sashimi salad comes in!

This thing has just as much, if not more, tuna than the normal sashimi plate, plus a ton of lettuce, seaweed, and rice.  Add the fact that they give you a huge squeeze bottle of sriracha to go with it, and you’ve got a fantastic bowl of Japanese comfort food.

Man!

I was lovin’ that sashimi salad…

Almost as much as I was lovin’ that sake.

Stay Rad,

Jeff

When was the last time you had some sake?  Leave us a comment, and tell us about it.

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It’s Saturday. Why not celebrate?

March 12, 2013

Saturday night, Kara and I just had a hankering for sushi.  We’ve been fans of CreAsian in Morgan Hill for a while, but recently learned that their corkage fee for wine is only 8 bucks.

I’ve been meaning to do a sparkling wine and sushi pairing for a while, so we picked this up at Trader Joe’s just before we hit up the restaurant…

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Domaine Chandon NV Brut Classic

It’s funny… you know…

Domaine Chandon makes a solid California sparkling wine at $15.  Great lemon and mineral characteristics.  Festive and lively color and effervescence.

But…

At the end of the day, it’s just a $15 wine.

And yet…

When you walk into a restaurant with a bottle of sparkling wine, heads turn.

The family sitting next to us mentioned that we must be important people if we were rolling into the place with “Champagne”.

Our waitress asked us if we were celebrating anything special.

I told her that of course we were… “It’s Saturday!”

Here’s what we ate…

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Seaweed Salad

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Sashimi Tacos… A must!

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From Kara to Jeff… Lemon Drop, Fuji Mountain, and Godzilla Rolls.

The truth is, as food-friendly as sparkling wine is… as good a job as these wines do with elevating the already sky-high flavors of sushi… and with as many good-quality California sparklers as there are in the 10 to 20 dollar range…

Why wouldn’t you drink sparkling wine more often?

Let’s all celebrate Saturdays more often.

Stay Rad,

Jeff

What’s your favorite sparkling wine and food pairing?  What’s your favorite sparkling wine in the 10 to 20 dollar range?  Leave a comment, and tell us about it.

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Sushi and Wine for my Valentine

February 15, 2013

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day.

You knew that already.

Did you also know what Kara and I drank to celebrate?

If you followed @JeffIsRad on Twitter, there’s a chance that you did.

For the rest of you, here’s what we had…

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Krupp Brothers 2008 Black Bart’s Bride White Wine

This wine was given to us as a wedding gift from Jan and Dr. Jan Krupp of Krupp Brothers and Stagecoach Vineyard way back in 2010.  We decided that Valentine’s Day was as good a day as any to break this puppy open and see what it had in store.

So… we took the bottle down to our favorite sushi restaurant, CreAsian, to have a taste…

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Here it is. Black Bart’s Bride.

The wine is a blend of 70% Marsanne and 30% Viognier from the L2 and 14B blocks of Stagecoach Vineyard.  The wine was barrel fermented on its native yeast, went through 100% natural malolactic fermentation, and was aged sur lie for 9 months in 85% new French oak.  It has an awe-inspiring 14.9% alcohol.  The Wine Enthusiast gave it a 93.  Needless to say, this is a wine geek’s dream (Do you hear that, Wine Geek?).

Color: Super yellow golden straw in color.

Nose: White flowers, honeysuckle, and dried apricots.

Taste: This wine is ridiculously big in its mouthfeel.  In spite of its big, oily viscosity, the Bride has a nice, crisp acidity to go with it.  The palate is all flowers, honey, petrol, and mineral.

Score: I really like this wine, but I’m not one to slap a 93 on it like the Enthusiast.  I’m going 89.

Now…

The write-up in the Wine Enthusiast warns that this wine may be a difficult one to pair with other foods, and I agree…

But…

If it’s gonna work with anything, it’s gotta be Asian.

My feeling was that the oiliness of the fish would bring out secondary flavors of the wine.

Sure enough… as we got into the meal, it’s the crisp acidity that continued to be highlighted in the Bride.  It’s that same acidity that helps make the flavors in the food just pop.

Speaking of food…

Here’s what we ate at CreAsian…

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Seaweed Salad

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Sashimi Tacos. My favorite!

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My Soy Sauce, Ginger, and Wasabi. You gotta dip your sushi in this, but I’ll show you what I like to do in a little bit…

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Clockwise from top left: Mount Fuji Roll, Lemon Drop Roll, and Morgan Hill Roll

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Miso Soup. Me so happy!

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Godzilla Roll. The Bomb Dot Net!

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I always like to finish my meal by dumping my Soy Sauce, Ginger, and Wasabi over a bowl of rice. Mmmmmmmmm!!!!!

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Of course, Ice Cream ain’t a bad way to finish things either. *Warning: Do Not Pair this With the White Wine! Yuck!*

And that was Valentine’s Day!

Of course, if you followed @JeffIsRad on Twitter, you probably already knew that.

Stay Rad,

Jeff

Leave a comment below, and tell the world about your Valentine’s Day Food and Wine Pairing.

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Sake it to me! The happiest birthday.

October 26, 2011

Today is my birthday.

Today, I turn 33 years old.

Remember how awesome birthdays were when you were a kid?

Do you really remember the feeling?

Do you remember thinking your birthday was a holiday?

Do you remember thinking that there were no rules that applied to you?

I do.

The older I get (and I know you feel the same way), the less important I know my birthday is in the grand scheme of things.  I don’t really bother to set up birthday parties for myself anymore.  I don’t really care to plant the seed in people’s minds when my birthday comes near.

If you know it’s my birthday, and you wish me a happy one… cool.

If you had no clue, and you treated me the way you always do… cool too.

At the end of this day… my birthday… I’m still the same person I was yesterday (and will be tomorrow).

So…

There is a neat little side effect of the explosion of social media.

Everyone knows when it’s your birthday.  Everyone.

I was very stoked by how many people took time out of their day to send me well wishes on my Facebook wall today.  It took each of them a matter of seconds, but it made my day.  So to all my friends who I have not yet thanked directly, you will be hearing from me soon.  I love you all.

As a birthday treat, Kara took me over to my favorite sushi restaurant (CreAsian).  Here are a few highlights from tonight…

Hot miso soup and cold Yaegaki Sake.

The Yaegaki Sake was served slightly chilled. The color was clear as the dickens. The wine was full-bodied with that caramel flavor that drives me bananas.

Kara and I shared some dope Sashimi Tacos. Sweet. Sour. Umami. Oh mommy!

As far as birthday meals go, this was the happiest.

If only I had something to eat for dessert…

Good thing I'm a teacher... I was hearing "Happy birthday Mr. Solomon!" all day long. Kool-Aid and Reese's make the perfect nighttime snack.

Stay Rad,

Jeff

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Ooh baby, I like it raw!

August 27, 2011

There is a sushi place about half a mile from my house called CreAsian.

If you read the reviews on Yelp.com, you’ll find that many folks have given it five stars… along with hyperbole-laden comments like, “This is the GREATEST SUSHI in the history of the UNIVERSE!” and, “If you don’t like CreAsian, you are the BIGGEST DUMMY in the contiguous United States!”

If you come across my review, you’ll find it to be a little less flattering…

I really do like the place, but I’ve eaten plenty of sushi in my day.  Kara and I lived in the Japan Town neighborhood of Downtown San Jose for a good 3+ years before moving to Morgan Hill.  It’s not that I’m a sushi snob… It’s just that I’m never going to be quick to crown the ONLY sushi place I go to as being the best.

Look.  CreAsian is a good sushi restaurant with some neat looking specialty rolls (Sashimi Tacos anyone?), but they are a little pricey.  When it comes to just having some good, fresh slices of delicate fish, however… I’ve had better for cheaper.

With all that being said, I do like me some CreAsian (in spite of it having the worst name of all time).

I gave it 4 stars!

Recently, Kara and I took a trip to the closest sushi place in the history of our house!

Here are the details…

After arriving, Kara and I were promptly seated and each served up a hot bowl of miso soup. Soulful. Heartwarming. Delicious.

To wet our whistles, we got us some Asahi Super Dry beer. Nice and crisp.

And you cannot have beer and sushi without HOT SAKE! It's got a nice nose of caramel and butterscotch. One sip is all you need to get in sushi mode.

Beer + Sake = SAKE BOMB! De-Lish!

While my fish was getting prepped, I was served a house salad. It had some nice chunks of mango and a tangy and creamy dressing. Yum!

I got me the 20 piece sashimi. It's simple. A beautiful assortment of raw fish. You know how we do!

Now, the key to a quality sashimi experience is in how you prep your soy sauce.  Here is how I roll…

One nice nugget of wasabi.

Tuck the wasabi in under a blanket of ginger.

Lay down a small pond of soy sauce.

Use your chop sticks to mush down the wasabi under the ginger. Start dipping your fish once the soy sauce gets nice and cloudy. Add more wasabi, ginger, and soy sauce as needed.

The sashimi was dope!  Delicate.  Flavorful.  Savory.  Satisfying…

BUT…

My favorite part of a sashimi dinner is at the end of the night when I dump my ginger wasabi soy sauce over a bowl of rice. You have to be careful to eat just a little bit at a time. Your nose will start to burn... but in a good way.

I must say that my latest visit to CreAsian was awesome.  I’m LITERALLY DYING to get back there soon.

Here’s to the greatest sushi this side of the Rio Grande!

Shimmy shimmy ya!  Shimmy yam!  Shimmy yay!

Hey Ol’ Dirty Bastard, take it away!

Stay Rad,

Jeff

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