SauceSupreme

After becoming more and more disappointed with the sushi offerings of Portland, I decided to head north in search of a sushiya that was more in line with my LA-based expectations.

I did some cursory research on Chowhound and decided to give Kappo Chiso a call to make reservations. Lo and behold, the night that I wanted to make a reservation, they were actually holding a sake dinner!

The master brewer from Tsukinowa was in from Japan, translated by the importer. Provided were lots of tasting notes for the sake, but really all of it was just a backdrop to the food.

Grilled matsutake and aori ika

Head chef Taichi Kitamura proudly said before dinner started that the matsutake mushrooms were particularly good, and it showed. The fall mushrooms were showcased in two of his cooked dishes, including this opener. The squid offered a nice texture contrast to the soft crunch of the radish as well as the supple mushrooms. The uma dashi broth helped bring acidity to the party, which played nicely with the slightly bitter radish and the salty salmon roe.

Kumamoto Oysters

I can't remember having better kumos than these. Normally, I eschew the mignonette, but the yuzu ponzu was quite nice.

Washington silver smelt with roe

First off, I don't think I'd ever eaten fish with its roe in it. Second, I'd only ever had smelt roe on its own, and never the fish. Third, by cooking it shioyaki-style, it adopted a flavor similar to one of my favorite tapas dishes, grilled anchovies.

Duck breast and matsutake

This bowl of jibuni was the star of the cooked items, from the perfectly cooked duck breast (slightly dredged in flour to almost make it a Chinese dish) to those great mushrooms.

Assorted sushi

The picture titles tell it all. Not since Los Angeles have I had nigiri this good. The rice was flavorful and sized appropriately, and the fish topping were ample but still restrained. In other words, they had a proper mouthfeel. In addition, all the pieces of sushi were seasoned uniquely. Even after the dinner's normal selection, I asked Taichi-san to add in a few more pieces, and he obliged with non-seared rockfish (kinmedai) as well as aji and mirugai.

Bartlett pear

The pear was poached with white wine and topped with a honey vanilla custard. I might be crazy, but I loved the sweetness of the custard, it actually had a flavor reminiscent of sweet corn, which I have no idea how it showed up on my palate. I'm blaming the honey.

All of these dishes were paired with Tsukinowa sakes of varying temperatures. In fact, the dessert was paired with a sake made with 100% mochi rice, served on the rocks!

I'm glad my search yielded such fruitful results, and I can't wait until my next visit to Kappo.