Food is a Luxury: Maruya, San Francisco
When two Japanese restaurants debuted with a one star Michelin rating last year, what does a fatty tuna obsessed food blogger do? She goes to both to celebrate milestones in her life.
Late last year, I had the pleasure of celebrating an early Christmas dinner at Kusakabe. It wasn't until last month during my birthday when I was able to try Kusakabe's competitor, Maruya. I can't help but compare the two not only because they made it to the Michelin list at the same time with same star, but also they are at the same price point, serving high quality omakase. I was also able to make reservations at both using Opentable.
Maruya prides themselves as the first traditional Edomae sushi restaurant in San Francisco. You might be scratching your head asking, "What's edomae?" According to Shiro's in its original meaning, "Edomae means edo, the old name for Tokyo, and mae, meaning front, referred to the fish caught in Tokyo Bay. Today the meaning refers to the traditional Tokyo way of preparing sushi but using fish from area waters."
First, the good stuff
The service exudes Japanese gentleness with mild-mannered waitstaff, meaning they speak softly and apologize if they keep you waiting. The Japanese couple who runs the restaurant even personally greeted my dining buddy and I and spoke to some of the guests. As expected, presentation is meticulous; I was enamored mostly by the silver platter with fish scale designs used for the sashimi.
In the Maruya omakase meal, I got two different types of fatty tuna sushi- one that was minced wrapped in mint leaves that gave it a unique twist and the other was a chutoro or a medium fatty tuna. They also gave mountains (!) of home-made ginger, which I made me chuckle because I love tons of ginger in soy sauce. Since I am a black sesame devotee, I was thrilled to gobble up on their black sesame pudding as finale. These are not Costco desserts, mind you (to whoever wrote this on Maruya's Yelp review).
 |
| Can I take this shining, shimmering platter home? Pretty puh-lease. |
 |
| On the left is the refreshing minced fatty tuna with mint leaves. |
Although I'm giving their waitstaff an A for effort, there were times that the server couldn't remember the English words to the point that she had to dig up her cheat sheet. I really wanted to help her out, but I'm useless when it comes to Nihongo. They also didn't have a menu printed out, which could have easily saved the server and yours truly from forgetting the fishes' names- the reason why most photos on this post don't have descriptive labels. The location is also in a not so good part of the Mission district.
 |
| Cod could be better. I was more intrigued in the pickled, pinkish stick. Is that radish? |
 |
| Hmmm... ok asparagus... next! |
 |
| Clam soup. A bit salty for me. |
 |
| Medium fatty tuna and the uni. Yum! |
 |
| Mackarel on the right hits the right spot. |
 |
| Roe on top with gold leaves. Lovely contrast with the squid ink. |
 |
| Argh, forgot what these were. #foodbloggerproblems |
 |
| Ending with a good note with black sesame. |
For more (mis)adventures at Michelin rated restaurants in the Bay Area, check out Meadowood, French Laundry, Luce, Aziza, Boulevard, Manresa, Bouchon, Benu and La Toque.
1 comments
I love Japanese food and I've been making recipes at home for a while, I always buy food online in this website that imports it and it's excellent:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.houseofcaviarandfinefoods.com/
Smoked salmon and fish:
https://store.houseofcaviarandfinefoods.com/smoked-salmon-and-fish-c21.aspx
Salts and spices:
https://store.houseofcaviarandfinefoods.com/salts-and-spices-c9.aspx
Tuna fillet and anchovies:
https://store.houseofcaviarandfinefoods.com/tuna-fillet-and-anchovies-c20.aspx