GORO JAPANESE RESTAURANT
Address:
3831 Alton Parkway (at Culver Drive in the Westpark Village Center), Irvine
Phone:
(949) 252-1872.
Boker’s Titanium Utensils Are on the Cutting Edge of Kitchen Knives
It’s hard to compete for customers when you are a small storefront operation sitting in the same center as one of the area’s most popular family restaurants in its own luxurious free-standing building. But Goro Japanese Restaurant in Irvine is worth searching out. It has an extensive selection of dishes that take you beyond the bounds of commonly found sushi preparations and combo plates.
One would not expect these culinary highlights in such a small room, seating perhaps 30 at tables with a sushi bar running the width of the back wall. It is not dripping in d & #233;cor, sporting mostly light gray walls and charcoal tables and a soji screen or two.
It had been a while since we’d last visited and, as always, before we went to our table, we needed time to peruse the eight specials on the board at the entryway as they are always compelling additions to the menu. Be forewarned that you will need to tune into any that entice you as they are not presented within the menu and you can’t see the board from the dining room at all.
It’s hard to remember eight unique dishes when you sit down and get your mind off track with menu reading. The waiters often cannot recite them for you, and this last time, we each took a turn leaving the table and going back to read the board again. Another problem with service is that the waiters do not know all the specials and have to run back to the kitchen to ask how the dish is made. That aside, the food is impressive when you get it.
Who would expect 19 appetizers ($3.50 to $6.75) in a place like this? They are given English explanations beneath their classic Japanese names.
Kinpira is a refreshing dish of burdock root and carrots splashed with soy and sesame oil. Agedashi tofu finds the cubes of mellow tofu deep-fried and sided with a tempura dipping sauce. I am very fond of their ton-katsu and kushi-katsu, both crispy pork cutlets, the latter with onions. Ebi furai are tasty deep-fried shrimp. Yakitori is the common chicken on a stick, but the teriyaki marinade on these is very good. Hamachi-kama and sake-kama are broiled yellowtail cheek and salmon cheek, respectively. The salmon is rich and wonderful.
The specials board listed salmon skin roll, calamari roll, soybean appetizer, beef-asparagus roll, baked clams, baked scallops and soft shell crab, ranging from $2.75 to $8.75. At the latter price was a “Cholesteroll” that I had to order on name alone. It was delightful: eight large pieces of sushi roll consisting of fried calamari tentacles wrapped in sushi rice studded with sesame seeds. They were atop a most interesting mayo-soy dressing with a slight kick to it. I would easily do this again. We often have the crispy salmon skin roll,a nice confluence of textures and taste,and soft-shell crab is always a good choice.
From the menu, the shrimp tempura and vegetable tempuras are crispy and tasty on their own, but the dipping sauce needs more punch. There are many combination possibilities or classic entrees such as chicken, beef or salmon teriyaki and buckwheat noodle dishes. I like that you can have a California or cucumber roll with many of the combos. All entrees and combo dinners are $6.75 to $11.50 and come with miso soup (a delicious one), salad and rice. When sitting at the sushi bar, select the fish you want to try and ask to have it hand-rolled. It’s always a treat to go that culinary step above the common shaped and cut roll and sit there eating your tasty “cone.”
The sushi bar is open Tuesday through Friday for lunch; however, this is primarily a dinner house, open every night. Given the quality of food, the interesting choices and the affordable prices, I can overlook the slips in service and enjoy Goro any time.
Cutting Edge
Put on your apron and shift gears from executive dining to executive cooking and think about buying yourself one of the new Boker titanium knives to make food preparation even more enjoyable, not to mention adding a piece of usable art to your kitchen.
I have been chopping and slicing with new enthusiasm since putting my ultra-lightweight beauty to work. The power metal creates an anti-bacterial and stylish crystalline silvery blue blade, which is said to hold an edge many times longer than other metals used for the finest cutlery. Titanium has long been used in medical applications,and more recently in camping gear, bicycles and golf clubs,and does not cause allergies in humans. The knives, whose blades sport several circular indentations that allow food to glide off, will not rust or react to salt or acids, and they are dishwasher safe; however, I have never been an advocate of putting my knives in such hot water and abrasive detergent, so I still hand-wash them.
Because of the superb quality of these beautiful and comfortable titanium knives, they are rather expensive. Suggested retail prices range from $69.95 for the 4-inch utility knife to $170 for the 7.5-inch carving knife, with a set of three knives priced at $350. Throughout my culinary career, I have purchased good equipment, one piece at a time rather than expending vast sums at once (which most times the budget would not allow, anyway) and this is an investment worth every penny. I have almost forgotten about all the other knives I own.
Boker titanium knives can be found in upscale gourmet shops and specialty cutlery stores, or you can obtain a mail-order catalogue by calling (800) 835-6433. Those of you who use the Internet can also go to www.BokerUSA.com for more information and to see the knives.
