Shibumi DTLA

Chowseeker1999 · October 17, 2017, 3:18am

Nice report! Looks like you had a great meal. Glad you got to try the 5 year old Aged Miso (it goes pretty well with the Kamameshi rice bowls).

And it looks like you got to try some new dishes / off-menu stuff as well. The Persimmon is new, the Free Range Chicken, Wild Mushroom and Egg Yolk Sauce looks delicious.

And the Yahata-Maki! That looks and sounds amazing! Glad Chef David / Shibumi are serving some interesting, rarer items.

And glad you liked the A5 Wagyu and the Pork Jowl!

DTLAeater · October 17, 2017, 5:28pm

I believe the persimmon dish was around last winter, I had it in Dec. 2016. Probably just a seasonal dish. The chicken / mushroom dish also looks familiar, perhaps tweaked slightly (the egg yolk sauce looks different or new).

Regardless, looks like the ship has been righted in terms of execution? The sea bream appears to be less doused in plum sauce than it had become. To be honest, I have not been back here in quite some time after some very bland and uninspired dishes, particularly after coming on multiple weekend nights with Chef David absent.

A year later, the menu looks about the same to me, but I recall that Chef David is very particular about what makes it onto the menu, so that might be part of the reason the menu feels a bit tired at times. Seems you have to get the omakase for new dishes, since those are always rotating.

Thank you for the report!

DTLAeater · December 7, 2017, 6:32pm

Stopped by last night for the special “SHIBUMI X OITA SPECIAL MENU” running from Dec. 1 - 10 for $75. It features bungo wagyu beef from Oita Prefecture, Japan. I also chose the omakase beverage pairing for an additional $40, which featured two sakes from Oita and a few other drinks.

Tataki yellow tail sashimi (ponzu, daikon, green onion, ginger, chrysanthemum flower): As you might expect. The green mashup was very flavorful with bitter, floral, and acidic elements. The sake paired with this course was easy drinking and a slight sweet/floral character.

bongo gyu (grilled beef with yuzu kosh and japanese turnip): The sear they achieved here was wonderful, with a crispiness that reminded me of biting into well prepared chicken skin. Melts in the mouth. The sake paired with this course was much more full bodied than in the prior course.

organic rice with selection of house-fermented pickles (lotus, purple radish, white radish, and pumpkin):
Clean flavors, I ate some of this alone and saved the rest for the broth in the next dish

sukiyaki (simmered bungo beef, satsuma sweet potato, shiitake mushroom): Perfect dish for the winter. The beef and brother were deliciously earthy and savory, the sauce was slightly tangy, and the purple potatoes really soul warming. This is one of my favorite dishes ever at Shibumi and I’d love to have a bigger serving of this. Served with a pear cider.

spiral matcha crepe cake: [rice cream withi persimmon was also available, but I’ve had that many times before] Basically many layers of matcha pancake separated by cream and rolled up. Probably also one of my favorite ever desserts at Shibumi.

Shibumi negroni: as a digestif

Overall, a seemingly simple meal (classic Shibumi style), yet immensely satisfying. Probably could have used slightly more food for the money, but wagyu is expensive and the alcohol pours were more than generous. As noted in my post above, I had not been back to Shibumi in quite some time due to the menu being pretty stagnant and also some execution issues while Chef David was away. But this special menu was worth the visit and I left having tried two of my favorite ever dishes here.

DTLAeater · January 3, 2018, 8:15pm

After my previous meal at Shibumi above renewing my interest in the place, I went again for a relaxed NYE dinner. Omakase only, priced at the usual $90, with omakase beverage pairings available for an additional fee. Nearly as strong meal overall as my last here, which is to say that I enjoyed it.

chinmi, fermented delicacy (japanese caviar - “kara sumi” and japanese scallop in koji rice): this has an earthy, salty, almost cheesy flavor to it. Quite interesting. Since tonight was omakase only with set start times, the kitchen was busy getting the same courses ready for the entire restaurant.

steamed silken tofu (crab, nori paste, fresh wasabi, chrysanthemum flower): Does not supplant the sukiyaki dish as the best I’ve had here, but this was my favorite of the night. Crab deliciously sweet, offset by the creaminess of the tofu, and a nice kick of wasabi to keep it fresh.

sashimi wild yellowtail w/ ponzu: served a bit too cold tonight, but otherwise good and the same as eaten in prior meals. Except that tonight for NYE it was dressed up with some gold flake.

miso in broth with dumpling of mushroom:
[seem to be missing a picture of this]

rice with fermented pickles, uni, and egg custard: I couldn’t resist getting uni as an add on for this meal. It was good and perhaps even a bit light in flavor. Probably could have done without this meal, especially since the custard seemed a bit bland to me, maybe as to not overpower the uni.

montana wagyu beef: Very rich, best eaten slow to savor the flavors. This dish reminded me of a wagyu steak restaurant I ate at in Tokyo. Lotus chips and fresh mochi were a nice touch.

roasted green tea ice cream, black sugar cake, chestnuts:

take home gift of lip balm made by the chef: Haven’t used it yet, but smells of citrus.

CiaoBob · January 3, 2018, 8:29pm

Nothing says “Tis the Season” like lip balm!

PorkyBelly · March 11, 2019, 6:30pm

After multiple visits to shibumi, i’m still torn on this place. The fish here is fantastic and I could just eat any of their proteins with a bowl of rice (or 5) and be happy. But their not so japanese (hamster) staff and (lack of) hospitality has stopped me from coming back more often.

karasumi, daikon
Soft and somewhat sticky, like a sweet and briny mullet roe fruit roll-up.

aji
Despite the sloppy knife work (sergio was not in the house) this was outstanding. Firm with a clean and buttery taste, the fresh wasabi and shoyu were excellent too.

iwagaki oyster, yuzu, shiso flower, mountain caviar
The oyster was so firm and sweet it reminded me of a scallop, delicious.

house made silken tofu, ikura

shiitake mushroom and dried persimmon tempura

Not bad, but the batter wasn’t as crispy as inaba’s and surprisingly not much umami.

However, this was delicious, sweet and crispy. Kind of reminded me of sweet potato fries.

pumpkin ‘shira-ae’ whipped tofu, sesame
Okay

lobster miso soup
Good but a bit salty

salmon trout smoked in cherry bark
This has always been excellent since the day they opened. Smoky, moist, and juicy, great with a bowl a rice.

pickles

rockfish nitsuke, gobo, ginger
Wow, highlight of the fucking night and one of the best bites of the year. The fish was vermilion rockfish (anybody know the japanese name?) from santa barbara and was absolutely delicious. The firm, sweet, flesh just slid cleanly off the bone like the melting nazi’s face in raiders of the lost ark and was flakier than a head and shoulders commercial. And the crispy, bitter chrysanthemum greens paired perfectly with the savory sweet sauce. I can’t even imagine what this would taste like with a fattier fish like kinki.

I have my eye on the tai kabutoni at fukuno @JeetKuneBao posted about. Anybody have other leads on sakana no nitsuke (bonus points if they can source kinki) either here in la or sfba (@beefnoguy, @BradFord)? #willdriveforkinki

grilled red koji duck, daikon
this had the appearance of a char siu pork and was a bit chewy. It was good but can’t compete with the fish.

soba ice cream, buckwheat honey

another visit

nodoguro, aged shoyu
excellent

bonito, avocado, nori, negi
okay. too much going on

dengaku - fresh bamboo broiled with shiso miso
way too much sauce, overpowered the bamboo

pork jowl iron pot, pickled vegetable
so porky, an angry bird tried to dive bomb it.

salmon trout smoked in cherry bark

quince and chocolate

beam · March 11, 2019, 6:48pm

My feelings exactly!

DTLAeater · March 11, 2019, 6:51pm

My meal at Shibumi was on NYE for a prefix dinner. Strong food wise, and more enjoyable than my prior meals there on a regular night. But yes, service is only so so by the wait staff, unless you get one of the bartenders to take care of you the entire time.

J_L · March 11, 2019, 7:05pm

‘Mebaru’ if from Japan,’ kasago’ if from elsewhere.

beefnoguy · March 11, 2019, 7:21pm

Hmmm no good solid leads on nitsuke in SFBA.

Either they are mediocre renditions, or they only appear once in a blue moon (and even then just barely passable). The best I had so far was a kinmedai head butterflied into two. Next best thing would be buri daikon, but it’s too humble for most folks and not as sexy, and also suffers from differing quality.
It takes a bit too long to make for most izakaya up here, it’s much easier to deep fry stuff or grill.

Despite the changes since opening, and even though I have not visited yet, Shibumi still strikes me more as a modern bar/gastropub approach and more like standing sake otsumami bar, and the word kappo doesn’t seem as appropriate or accurate to describe the style and approach. A lot of the food presented in the more recent reports would definitely be even better with the right drink. Shibumi now carries Oakland’s Den (Den Sake Brewery) and is the only location outside of SFBA to offer it. If they are still on batch #4, please try it (the nama version)…drinks like a beautiful white wine with higher acidity. #5 came out recently but I haven’t had a proper tasting of it yet. Den is as good as the sake from Japan.

Vermillion Rockfish (or Sebastes Minatus) actually does not have a proper Japanese name (nor equivalent that I’m aware of) because this fish is native to the waters of West Coast from here all the way up to Vancouver. Apparently the Japanese name is pronounced (with a Japanese accent of course) as Vermillion Rockfish. So in a way Shibumi is doing something similar to Izakaya Rintaro in San Francisco…a lot of their fish for cooking (and some for sashimi) are caught off California coast, and prepped Japanese style. It’s not the same taste but for a California style Japanese (or California-mae seafood) I guess it’s a twist nonetheless.

PorkyBelly · March 11, 2019, 7:21pm

Forgot to mention they got some saba in and are planning on making their excellent sabazushi again.

BradFord · March 11, 2019, 7:22pm

No recent leads but

I’ve had kinki no nitsuke at Kiraku in Berkeley (a few blocks from UC Berkeley on Telegraph Ave). My friend who worked there let me know when it was coming so I was able to get it, but this was not recent unfortunately.

I’ve also had a very nice version at Sushi Dokoro Kazuma private bar at (the ever-changing) Vintage Cave in Honolulu circa 2015. I doubt Kazuma is still open as they’ve kept retooling the concept of the restaurant (and I think each of the 4 times I’ve been, it’s had a different chef).

I’ll be on the lookout.

Love shungiku with nitsuke, perfect for this cold transition to spring.

I believe that vermilion rockfish is not native to Japan. So, I’m not aware of a Japanese name, but it’s closely related in name to but not exactly Akoudai, but it’s not Mebaru (which is green-black).

PorkyBelly · March 11, 2019, 7:33pm

Thanks for the info. Is kinki a shortspine thornyhead (Sebastolobus alascanus)?

beefnoguy · March 11, 2019, 7:45pm

Kinki caught off Hokkaido (the absolute best), Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures are Sebastolobus macrochir.

J_L · March 11, 2019, 7:51pm

Yes. AKA idiot fish.

moonboy403 · March 11, 2019, 8:04pm

What’s the ideal way to eat at Shibumi? OOE? The $150 Omakase? @PorkyBelly @J_L @BradFord

Chowseeker1999 · March 11, 2019, 8:22pm

Hi @PorkyBelly,

Thanks for the reports. Definitely agree with you on the staff. We had one visit last year that we were relegated to a table, and the experience was as cold and chilly and unappealing as you and @J_L have mentioned. Since that time (and prior to that), we always ask to get seats in front of Chef David. If he’s not there or no seats available we just skip the visit. He really does make it far more enjoyable.

Great to hear about the fish. Thanks!

PorkyBelly · March 11, 2019, 9:06pm

yeah, it definitely has more of a bar feel than a restaurant. also, it looks like they removed any mention of the word “kappo” from their website and menu and now describe themselves as a “japanese restaurant and bar” fwiw.

any thoughts on their good shit list?

yelp

J_L · March 11, 2019, 9:44pm

Drink lots of Japanese whisky. Lots. Before it’s all gone. #thewhiskycrisislooms

BradFord · March 11, 2019, 10:03pm

I think of it like a bar; some cocktails and a few snacks, imo. Maybe chinmi with some sake, then a few cocktails or whiskey, but there’s not a lot of natural pairings for whiskey. The beef, for example, has come with narazuke, a strong pickle in the style of Nara that I find difficult to pair with, but maybe they can suggest something.

I’ve done the $150 Omakase and my dining partner and I thought it was mixed.