MEALS
HAMACHI MANGO ROLL
E
levated and overlooking the busy Pacific Coast Highway, the OKURA ROBATA GRILL & SUSHI restaurant stands tall and wide. The moment after you pass through ceiling-to-wall glass doors, full bottles at the bar and an expansive interior await. For a restaurant in Laguna Beach, this is a giant with an appropriately hefty menu to boot. Their street-side room features an impressive wrap-around window allowing for sunny rays to turn a meal into a dining experience. For owner Jay Lee, this is not the first time for fresh and quality-centric sushi; she owns another beloved Okura in La Quinta where it has stood eight years and won numerous awards. Executive Chef Jin Heo, recently recognized by Best Chefs America, directs the menu at both locations and is so quiet and humble that I nearly felt reverent. They describe their concept as an Italian-Japanese restaurant featuring Japanese cuisine prepared with Italian techniques. The roll we explored is their HAMACHI MANGO ROLL, an artful piece containing slices of yellow mango and thick-cut hamachi on top and filled with tempura asparagus spears and avocado. Tobiko is also gently but generously piled on top of each slice, which is then presented on an elegant rectangular glass plate dotted with sauce. Okura found its inspiration in this roll from its desire to experiment with the zip of citrus combined with the freshness of fish.
“For chef, when I asked him how he wanted people to think of him, he said, ‘For me, sincerity is number one.’” - JAY LEE, OWNER, OKURA SEAWEED
TEMPURA ASPARAGUS SPEARS
Tell me about yourself as a chef. JH: I was
Does your menu change often? JL: For
Why sushi? JH: I like seafood. With any kind of job, when you start work, you start from the bottom. Little by little you develop the skills. JL: (My chef does a lot to show through his food but when it comes to talking, I’m usually the one doing it. laughs) He likes that sushi is very fresh and has nothing added to it. The fish itself is very clean, and we bring it in every day. He started as a sushi chef but wanting to learn something else, he gradually expanded to Italian techniques. The value in both styles and in cooking overall is that whatever he makes, he says he wants to put sincerity first. When he is cutting with his knife, sincerity is what he always keeps in his mind.
Five words to describe your restaurant? JL:
studying to become an aerospace engineer at Texas Tech but stopped when I started thinking I wanted to open a restaurant one day. JL: He started going to sushi school when he was 20. His background has grown, so it’s not just sushi but Italian-Japanese. It’s all sushi as you can see on the menu, but there’s a lot of Italian technique behind the dishes. You’ll see that we have a lot of carpaccio, for example.
What are the most popular items? JH:
Serrano Hamachi Roll is very popular - if you like spicy. JL: James Dean Roll. Marilyn Monroe Roll. Gene Autry Roll. We put celebrity names on our rolls at our other restaurant and brought that here. We have a big menu with starters, carpaccio, robata, tempura and even entrees like Black Cod and Chilean Sea Bass. My favorite is the Saikyo Miso Sea Bass and chef likes the Salmon Robata Skewers, which have a sauce of capers and shallots.
the menu, we do a major change once a year but minor changes seasonally. We test all the time, developing the concept one year and then testing every day. He’ll make something and run it with our local regular customers to get their feedback. When/if they like it, we put it as a special for a while. Then, we learn from it. It takes a whole year actually and out of those, we see which were the most liked to select for the new menu. Cutting edge, energy, quality, humble and sincerity. What makes you stand apart? JL: The
freshness of the ingredients comes first, whatever concept you choose to do. Also, we always have to learn for the next year. People who are famous chefs, how did they get to that level? They never rested and were always looking toward the future to become better. That’s our philosophy too–to become better. If you own your own restaurant, you know that it’s all about costs, but for me, I want my chef to become the best chef in the area, never settling. They get to use the best ingredients, always trying this and that. With these ingredients, I just say, go ahead but make something that people will remember to come back for! You’ll taste it. Your palate is very sensitive. Owner – Jay Lee (Interviewed – JL) Executive Chef – Jin Heo (Interviewed – JH)
TOBIKO
AVOCADO
| JANUARY 2014 | 59