Nodoguro Harajuku Theme

I’ve written about Nodoguro themed dinners and also Noduguro Hard Core Sushi Omakase before, and I won’t retread the old material of my love and devotion to their depth of flavor layering, beautiful artful presentation, thoughtful construction of textures and how it works with the theme and as a progression of dishes, how every new theme (every month and a half or so it changes) is a shift in the restaurant decor that transforms it in new creative ways every time.

Instead, let’s go straight to dinner. As always, there was a printed menu at each place setting for me to add to my Nodoguro menu collection – this one was printed on both sides with the courses listings one one side and a little Harajuku illustration on the other

I was fortunate enough that for this dinner, I also got to be reunited with the Three Hungry Broads, and sat next to Mike the Firefighter. We had an amazing time all together chatting and eating, and I also enjoyed meeting the Latino sisters + brother group to my left who were also super fun. Never feel like you can’t come enjoy Nodoguro without a partner – go ahead and come solo, you’ll have a good time meeting new food friends!

OK, I lied, let’s check out the new decor first before the food.

The theme for this visit was Harajuku, which is a neighborhood in Tokyo known for fashion and being a gathering place for urban Tokyo youths from their teens to 20s and the hip culture and trends they embody.

On the counter between where we ate and where the chefs plated food were a few set up scenes with fashion dolls with big blinky eyes and posed onstage, at a pink piano, or with the backdrop of their fabulous apartment.
  

I loved this idea where the Nodoguro staff dressed up and took a fashion photoshoot on the streets of Hawthorne right by this pop-up restaurant (currently next to Pastaworks until January 2016 – not sure if they will keep the space or move when Pastaworks closes at that time). Each photo really did look like it was lifted from an Asian fashion magazine.

Ok, now dinner.

Course 1: Sea Bream with Citrus and Wasabi

I always enjoy having a clean, fresh start of sashimi to dinner. As for the sake pairings, the first of the flight was actually the Johan Vineyards Pinot Noir Petillant Naturel 2014, a naturally sparkling rose that I drank before I even took a picture of its beautiful strawberry colors (I’ve had it before though at the Hardcore Sushi Omakase dinner).

Course 2: Ankimo and Ground Cherry

Recently, Portland Monthly listed Nodoguro as the 2015 Restaurant of the Year, and described Mark Wooten pictured here helping to plate this dish as “house farmer has a Mad Max haircut and GQ looks”. Also helping to plate is quiet and intense Colin Yoshimoto.

And the silky mouth melting foie gras of the sea, ankimo (monkfish liver) combined with the other secret/not so secret treasure of ground cherry and the fun pop of that roe. I thought this was great with the Ohyama (Big Mountain) Tokubetsu Junmai Sake that offered a bit of sweetness, a bit of grain, floral, and dryness to add more layers of flavor to this course. Another sake that is just too easy too drink and enjoy.

Course 3: Curry Mackerel Sunomono

Chef Ryan made the curry vinegar here and I was thrilled to see such a hefty seafood in the sunomono (more acidic salad course) this dinner with the cured then grilled mackerel. Curry dishes are a common regular Japanese food that is very affordable and hearty.

Course 4: Winter Squash Chanko Cup

Chankonabe is usually a huge hearty one pot stew – think HUGE pots – served to sumo wrestlers as part of their weight gaining diet, and is served in restaurants sometimes operated by retired sumo wrestlers. The more senior wrestlers eat first at the table, and then the next rank down, and next rank etc down to the juniors so I guess this mini version would be what’s left for us from the original giants.

Course 5: Banana Fish with Walnut

With the dehydrated bananas and fish and walnuts I wondered how this was going to work out, but it was fun – fresh and a little sweet that reminded me a bit of the feeling of hope and youth and being a good kinda nutty different that is in Harajuku among the people who hang there. The dish was working well both as an homage to the now defunct Japanese Fashion Brand Banana Fish and it’s creative spirit.
 

Course 6: Yum Yum Yummy Pork

This dish is a reinterpretation of a gyoza – in Harajuku you can find Harajuku Gyoza, a restaurant devoted completely and totally to only serving Japanese dumplings (usually they are pork). Ryan has ditched the dough outside to let the skin shine for crispness instead and focus on the rich pork belly in the slightly sweet sticky sauce.

I don’t recall exactly when the Shirataki Junmai Ginjo Jozen Mizunogotoshi was poured, but the mildly floral and fruity sake was gone pretty quick and is so light that anyone would enjoy it. I think I complained to Mike that I needed a second of it. And third.

Course 7: Takoyaki with Tomato and Avocado

Another one of my favorites for the evening was this fun and bright Takoyaki with Tomato and Avocado and that delicate coriander flower inspired by takoyaki, a street food version of Octopus Balls without the batter and brightened in flavors.

Course 8: Moshi Moshi Box Bento with Futomaki, pickles and matsutake

There’s always a rice course, and here it is in the form for this dinner of futomaki rolls with delicate buttery matsutake mushrooms on one end and homemade pickled veggies from Phantom Rabbit Farm on the other.

Course 9: Eggs & Things Omelet

The tamago, sweet and light and with all those little layers pressed in, is the sign it’s time to end the meal with dessert and tea approaching…

Course 10: Toasted Corn Crepe and Apricot Cream, Tea

An interpreted twist on the crepes you get at stands in Harajuku filled with fruit and cream and sometimes a whole slice of cheesecake. I had no idea this flavor combination of Corn and Apricot could and would work. That’s why I love coming back, to see the new little food adventures I may experience with combinations in entirely new ways that work by the geniuses here.

And soybean flour us a truly underappreciated underused topping for ice cream –  it adds a roasty flavor and contrast of dry texture to a frozen cold dessert that’s marvelous. Here, it does double duty to be a nod to the thin crepe that usually wraps the Japanese creme cone dessert.

My sake here, the Tsukasabotan Yamayuzu Shibori, is perhaps maybe my third such little cup of what Ryan called the sake version Mike’s Hard Lemonade upgraded, but I’ll give it more class and say like a limoncello with such strong Meyer lemon notes that the 5 of us (Broads, Mike and I) indulged in with lots of laughs.

Thanks for another fabulous dinner Nodoguro!

The themed dinners can be reserved by purchasing prepaid dinner tickets at NodoguroPDX for $85 for 9 courses plus tea service which does not include gratuity and beverages (you can pay via cash or credit card via Square reader there).

Which course do you think most interests you? What do you think of how Elena brought the Harajuku theme to life in the Nodoguro pop up space?