A LITTLE TASTE OF HOME, JAPAN STYLE
Rounding the corner into autumn brings on a neediness. For exactly what I don’t know, but I do know there’s comfort in communing with nature for a sense of relief. And for a warm hug, there’s nothing like tried and true homecooking.
That’s what you’ll find, Vancouver style, at Dosanko. West Coasters have adopted sushi as their mascot food, so maybe we’ll find an affinity for everyday Japanese food, too (sushi isn’t “everyday food” in Japan).
Dosanko’s food comes from an actual home — Akiyo and Nathan Lowey’s. It’s the food that Japanese-born Akiyo cooked for their two kids when she was a fulltime mom. Then she went to work front-of-house at Tojo’s Japanese restaurant and Nathan took over house-hubby duties after years as cook, sous chef and chef at Robert Belcham’s Refuel (gone), Campagnolo, and Campagnolo Roma.
“When I started taking care of the kids two years ago, I started making what Akiyo cooked for the kids and posting the dishes online,” says Nathan. “People started asking ‘What is it?’ and ‘Where can I get it?’” Aha! A niche market was born.
“It definitely translates to the western palate,” he says. “When Akiyo made it for me, I told her it tasted like food made by a Japanese grandmother I never had. It
was so familiar, but different because of the unique sauces.”
A lot of Asian customers of various backgrounds might be looking for their long-lost grandma at this out-of-the way spot. It’s getting to be more of a foodie thoroughfare, with St. Lawrence (oh-my-goddelicious food), Mackenzie Room and Cuchillo already in the ’hood. Fat Dragon, another of Belcham’s restaurants and one I quite liked, closed some years ago, thanks in part to the closure of the Powell Street viaduct, right on cue with its opening.
Nathan’s butchery experience at Belcham’s restaurants lifts up the simple Japanese foods. Akiyo is the inspiration, muse and guide but Nathan is the chef, tweaking dishes as he needs. He makes everything from scratch: all the sauces, the ramen noodles, and the sophisticated Japanese pickles.
Dosanko has a couple of meanings in Japanese. It’s a short, stocky breed of work horse of exceptional perseverance, and it’s also a name for the hard-working inhabitants of Hokkaido, from where Akiyo hails. “(Those workhorses) are kind of like us,” Lowey says.
The star dish is the pork tonkatsu. It’s a Japanese standard but at Dosanko, Lowey uses North Thompson Heritage Ranch pork, house-made sauce, and housemade koji mayo.
“As in Japan, we present the dish with sesame seeds in a mortar and pestle (a serrated ceramic bowl and pestle called suribachi in Japanese) which you grind and add to the tonkatsu sauce for dipping.” I found the pork a little dry, but it was deep-fried very nicely.
I enjoyed a dish of kimpira — root vegetables simmered in a sweet soy broth — in this case, julienned burdock root and carrots. I’ve always liked the earthy taste of burdock root, not to mention its health benefits.
Lowey takes pride in his Japanese pickles, which include “a little bit of everything.” Some are quick pickles done in sugar, salt and vinegar. But he also makes kimchi, shio koji pickles, umeboshi (often called pickled plums but he says it’s actually an apricot).
“I like pickling things. There’s so much beautiful produce to preserve,” he says.
He’s also curing ham with nectarines, which will be on a snack menu with wine and other cured goodies.
He does a great job with chan chan yaki — grilled Bella Coola pink salmon, a species which could be mushy if not handled properly. He cooks it with miso and mirin sauce and retains its integrity; it was served with seasonal vegetables and rice.
For dessert I tried the cherry tart with cherries that were partly dried for intensity. It wasn’t as sweet as I’d expected and had a hint of bitterness, as if they were colluding with the kernels inside the pits. I like a dessert that bucks sweetness; there’s enough sweetness in the pastry cream beneath.
The matcha “milcrepe,” Lowey says, has 17 layers of crepes between white chocolate matcha mousse and right now it’s served with seasonal fruits.
Wines are mostly French (including an orange wine, a white wine where the grape has spent more time cuddled in its skins) and there’s a good selection of Japanese whiskeys, which are getting a lot of good press these days.
Our server was cheerful and bursting with enthusiasm, but English wasn’t her strong point and so at times, all was lost in translation. During my mid-week visit, most of the diners were Japanese-Canadians, including a table of eight young women.