OMAKASE A SPECIAL TREAT FOR SUSHI AFICIONADOS
Put yourself in the hands of talented chef at Goro + Gun with succulent 12-piece menu
Do you enjoy a good chef’s table meal? The kind where we diners can sit back and let the chef decide what the best dishes of the day are and in what order they should arrive at the table. There are many options around town such as prix fixe menus at Workshop, Carino Reserva, Model Milk, Teatro, Market, Ox and Yellow Door, just to name a few. There are even a couple of restaurants that are designed around the chef’s choices with no a la carte menu: Q Haute Cuisine and Anew Table.
Some Japanese places such as Shokunin offer omakase, leaving the menu in the hands of the chef. (A few offer the option of the more formal and structured kaiseki meal but we don’t see much of that around these parts.) Now the Concorde Group’s Goro + Gun (245, 225 7th Ave. S.W., +15 Scotia Centre, 403-237-5596) has added an omakase sushi option to their menu.
Known for its boisterous lunch and Happy Hour atmosphere, Goro + Gun is home to one of Calgary’s finest sushi chefs — Tomo Mitsuno. Both talented and experienced, Mitsuno worked for seven years in a Michelin-starred Osaka restaurant and is one of the very few local sushi chefs who is licensed to cut fugu, the deadly poisonous blowfish. (Not that it’s legal to import fugu into Canada, but if you could, he’s the chef we’d want cutting it.)
Mitsuno spent some time in Japan earlier this year and came back with the thought of introducing omakase sushi to Goro + Gun. So he’s created a 12-piece sushi menu where each piece is hand-prepared and flavoured individually — the scallop is topped with a yuzu oil, the raw shrimp is done in a ceviche style — but no soy sauce or wasabi is offered. Mitsuno’s sushi is about the taste of the fish, the rice and the add-ons; it’s not to be inundated with other strong flavours. That’s not to say he doesn’t use soy from time to time but it’s the soy sauce they brew in-house. And Japanese mustard pops up occasionally to spike the fishy flavours.
Mistsuno’s sushi is an aficionado’s delight. (The only sushi I’ve had that’s comparable in quality is that of Vancouver’s sushi master Hidekazu Tojo.) The 12-piece omakase sushi (with dessert), which changes with the availability of fish, is $50 per person, $65 if you add a flight of three sakes. (It would be at least double that in Japan.) It’s reservable for groups of two to 10 and is prepared and served at a long table. Mitsuno stands at one end, preparing the sushi while talking about the fish and all things sushi. His affable assistant May Ng helps construct the sushi and also cleans the bamboo plates and re-loads them with house-pickled ginger between bites. The whole event takes about two hours.
For sushi buffs, it’s a very special treat to be in the hands of such a skilled sushi chef.
Mauro Martina’s eggy empire continues to grow. The chef/ owner of OEB Breakfast Co. has opened a third outlet at 2207 4th St. S.W. in the former Bocce spot. The menu is the same as at the original Edmonton Trail and downtown locations with eggs front and centre. But this OEB has an active crepe and waffle station to go along with the open kitchen and then there’s that lovely, marble-encased pizza oven left over from Bocce.
“We’re thinking of developing some specific dishes for the oven,” says Martina.
“Maybe some Moroccan tajines and some roasted fruits that we can feature.”
The transition from pizza to eggs happened quickly after a chance meeting between Martina and Bocce owner Dominic Caracciolo. Martina was looking for a location in Mission and Caracciolo was wanting to focus on his Mercatos. So a deal was struck and Martina moved in, with Hribar Design Group handling the makeover.
The charcuterie room was retained as were the two long counters, a single communal table and the 35-seat patio. But inside seating was reduced to 60, with the tall chairs removed from one of the counters. Hribar installed a large, wooden egg near the front door and repainted the inside of hanging eggshell lamps in a yolky yellow. The look is now in tune with the other two OEBs.
Also similar to the other OEBs are the hours — 7 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. daily — and the lack of reservations. But Martina points out that they use the Nowait app. And if three OEBs are just not enough there are a couple more in the works.
If there’s a young chef in your house (age 9 to 14) who makes a great chicken soup, maybe it’s time for them to showcase their skills in a friendly competition and fundraiser to support pediatric emergency care at the South Health Campus. Organized by the Calgary Health Trust, a kids cook-off is planned for Feb. 3 at Southcentre Mall.
Twelve chefs and their recipes will be chosen to compete and flog their wares to the assembled masses that afternoon. The chefs’ recipes will be included in a Kids Cooking for Kids Recipe Book which will also be for sale that day. Prizes will be given for the top three soups and the top fundraiser will win a cooking session with chef Nicole Gomes.
To apply to participate, go to calgaryhealthtrust.ca/kidscookingforkids and include your recipe for chicken soup. Applications will be accepted until midnight Nov. 22.