Be prepared.  

To foodgasm.

Yes.  That’s right.  I’m not a food snob.  I love corndogs.  I love lunchmeat.

I love airplane food.  

But if you had to push me what to eat for the last meal it would be:

                                                    懐石 

Kaiseki.

Gosh I wanted that in yellow letters on black but I’m too dumb to figure it out (sorry watched Isle of Dogs, was inspired by that)

Yes.  That’s right.  The Ultimate meal.  Japanese high cuisine.  Kaiseki.

Mrs. O and I went to Japan for the first time in March.  We did not know about Kaiseki.  But boy did we learn.  Well at little I should say.  At least an intro.  And it was divine.

So, what is Kaiseki?

Well, it is many things.  Simply, it is a high end multi course Japanese meal.  However it is, like so many things, so very much more than.  

Yes, there are multiple plates.  Each is a delight for eyes and mouth.  And supremely seasonal and local. 

So very beautiful, artful and evocative.  For example:

 

 

Oh.  No.  It can’t just be presented in a bowl.  Nope you are going to get an exquisite serving vessel first, dammit!

But ah.  Open and here you go:

 

 

There was a fish wrapped in cherry leaf, during Sakura, the cherry blossom season in Japan.  The carrot there looks orange but was in fact red.  Not dyed.  This  is sweet red carrot from Japan.  This is a Japanese traditional heirloom vegetable, dento yasai, grown in the Kyoto area.  This was served with a seasonal spring mushroom.  Which was damn delicious.

Each plate is very precise and the raw fish and other sea critters are utterly like anything I have had in the states.

 

 

Um this was pretty tasty too:

 

This is a teeny tip of the iceberg so to speak.  Will be blogging more about that trip.

Alas, we had to come back from Japan. 

No Kaiseki.  Only dreams of Kaiseki.

But then….

We discovered a restaurant that serves Kaiseki (!?).  Here, in the Bay Area. 

And, I guess, this is where I am going to have my last meal as this is the Kaiseki that is nearest to me.

I present:

                                                                    Kenzo

 

Ok actually Mrs O and I visited for the second time.  We did go in April after our Japan trip.  But I did not blog then.  So now I will.

I will just follow the menu.  Because it deserves that.

Somen noodles with tomato infused dashi:

 

Dashi broth is very simple.   It is water (of course) with kombu (kelp) and katsuo-bushi (bonito flakes, or dried skip jack tuna).

And (of course) this description is utterly narrow-minded, uninformed and oversimplified.

Because dashi is so very, very much more than that.

To start, like many things marvelous, it is deceptively marvelously simple.  Because you only have 3 ingredients, one must be very judicious to make this something that somebody who seriously loves food wants to blog about.

In this instance, here is what Kenzo uses to make dashi broth:

 

Kelp on left, bonito flakes (shaved from the piece of wood) on right.

Here is the bonito:

Well done dashi is an art.  If you go to Japan, you must learn at least a little about dashi.  I will blog about this a little more in the near future.

This dish was based on a gentle smokey dashi.  Akashi Pike Conger Eel Owan.  This is dashi broth, edamame tofu, pickled ume plum.

 

Ha!  Not revealed yet.  So sneaky!

This reminds me of Japanese gardens which will use a ‘hide and reveal’ surprise.

It may look odd.  But the aroma was to DIE FOR.  OK THIS WOULD BE, NO MUST BE, PART OF MY LAST MEAL.

That little dot of red was so piquant.  And the green tofu?  Made from edamame?  It just melted all over my mouth.

This was another course.  By the way there are names and expectations for each course of a Kaiseki meal which I will address later.  But c’mon, look how pretty:

This is one part of a scrumptious whole:

 

Seasonal Hassun: rice cracker curated Chiba octopus, Hokkaido sea urchin and yellow corn, simmered sweet potato, satsuma wagyu sirloin with delta asparagus, salmon and cabbage mille-feuille with kimizu dressing.

Oh, here is some sashimi- flounder:

And here is the beef dish- it is wagyu because of course!

Ah, then the sushi course:

And then there is desert (actually 3 courses!).  I will show one.

 

Ha!  I lied.  More from the sushi course.  Because damn this is damn good.

Oh their wine is superb.  But interspersed is sake.

Ok so picture quality is decreasing.  But it is because of the damn wine!  And sake.  Oooh sake…

Sake not like you (or at least I) know/knew it.  Chilled, clear nectar of the gods.  Or more accurately, another art of Japan.  Even the labels are art…

Ok,  Enough of the food porn.

What I want to write about is how amazing this place is.  Because it takes me to another place.  Japan.  For those of us who love travel.  Japan must be a place we go.  And frankly never leave.  Even if your body leaves, your soul does not. Trust me.

If you live in the Bay Area please try Kenzo.  If you live anywhere else, please try Kenzo.  But maybe first, go to Japan.  So you can understand.  Albeit, only just a teeny bit.  If Kenzo is expensive, save for it.  Skip fast food, skip Chili’s, skip whatever.  There are not too many experience in which you eat the soul of a nation married to a little valley in California, USA.

Actually I lied again.  With travel, you can eat the soul of a place.  Just weird to find here in California… That is with Japanese food.  But maybe I’m wrong.  Am I?