Tei-An

Went back to Tei-An in One Arts Plaza last night for dinner. I'd been there with Dr. L once before but just for some tea and ramen noodles so I was looking forward to a full meal there with one of my favorite foodie friends.

We ordered a bottle of wine. The wine list is a bit limited but well priced so we ordered an Erath Pinot Noir which was not good. No problem, what else would we like to try? We switched to the Huntington Cabernet (which used to be the Rattlesnake Bar at the Ritz' house) and it was just fine and at under $40, the price was right.

We ordered a chef's choice menu which has a Japanese word but I don't remember it. They have two levels -- $50 and $80. We chose the $50 and let the food fun begin.

We started with the white seaweed salad. Yum, so good. The white seaweed looks a little bit like mini egg noodles and it has a bit of a crunch to them. The salad itself was very refreshing, just enough acid to really make it a balanced dish. I will definitely order this again.

The next course was a sashimi platter -- 3 different types of fish, uni and octopus (2 pieces per person each). So fresh and delicious. There was a ton of uni which I took one piece of and let L have the rest. It actually was the best tasting uni I've ever had but I just don't like the texture of uni and don't think I ever will. The sashimi platter alone was probably worth the $50 we paid. Simply great.

We then had some tempura squid, which was really nice. Next course was beef tongue which was just delicious. The chef uses the very back of the tongue and then cooks it so tender it tastes like pot roast. To be honest, I didn't realize it was tongue until after I had eaten it. I'm generally opposed to eating anything that can taste back, but it just goes to show that lots of food issues are more mind over matter. Just try it without thinking. You might like it.

We then decided to have dessert. L isn't a dessert girl but she insisted that I try the desserts at Tei-An. So glad we did. We let the chef choose and got soba ice cream with black honey and tiramisu with caramel sauce. Love, love, lova soba ice cream and I am now obsessed with finding this honey. It had a rich, smoky taste to it that was divine. The tiramisu was good too -- not too sweet and very creamy.

The service was very nice and attentive. Chef Teiichi Sakurai stopped by a couple of times to say hello and make sure we were enjoying the evening. Nice man.

I'm definitely going back soon. I haven't even tried the soba noodles yet which is what Tei-An is known for. Since it's in One Arts Plaza, maybe I'll go before the next show at the Winspear I go to. There's a trolly that will take you from One Arts to the Winspear on theatre days. That sounds like a plan.

Cheers.