I made one trip out to Saratoga in 2004 to see Hakone Gardens, a Japanese style garden. On that occasion, I also ended up with a traffic ticket and a dining experience at Masu, a local sushi restaurant. I also saw the Plumed Horse, which would later turn out to become a Michelin starred restaurant.
This trip out to Saratoga was somewhat spontaneous; Hachi Ju Hachi has been on my list of restaurants to try for quite some time, so rather than attempt walking into the Plumed Horse without a reservation, I decided to try Hachi Ju Hachi. As I arrived, the only other patrons of Hachi Ju Hachi were leaving, so I was given a rare opportunity to be the only customer of Hachi Ju Hachi. Chef Suzuki and his staff treated me well, starting me off with a complimentary eggplant appetizer, while I perused the menu.
The menu is separated into sections: Appetizers, Grilled, Stewed, Steamed, Vegetarian, Claypot and Rice Dishes (which include Donburis and Rolls). There is a separate sake menu, and I recommend ordering either of the samplers, which yields 3 shots of sake beautifully presented for just $10. The variety sampler includes a daiginjo, a ginjo and a junmai which were distinctively good.
On this particular day, Hachi Ju Hachi also had some daily specials: homemade gyoza, yellowtail, salmon, and pig knuckles. While they all sounded good, I'm a sucker for good gyoza (or mandoo, or potstickers, or ravioli or whatever anyone calls dumplings), which is what I ended up ordering. Additionally, I also ordered a steamed duck dish and chawan mushi.
The steamed duck dish arrived first, followed shortly by the gyoza, and the chawan mushi; midway while I was deciding which pieces of duck and vegetable to eat, the gyoza arrived, along with the chawan mushi. My favoritism for the gyoza obligated me to try a piece of the gyoza first even before the duck, which I had been preparing on my plate.
I was not disappointed; the gyoza was crispy, and pre-sauced with vinegar and soy sauce.
The duck was very flavorful; the sake sauce which it had been steamed with brought out its flavors; the mushrooms and vegetables which went with seemed to complement the duck well; the mushrooms with the savory notes, and the green with the bitter notes.
Chawan Mushi (essentially egg custard with vegetables and seafood) is one of those dishes that is very hard to find in California; while it's a personal childhood staple for me, few restaurants offer it as an entree or an appetizer. While I wouldn't say that any restaurant that offers this automatically gets my seal of approval; three of restaurants which I have been ecstatic about recently have had this dish: Manresa, Gokaku, and Hachi Ju Hachi.
Chef Suzuki finished my meal with a complimentary red bean jelly dessert; as I was finishing up, the manager for Hakone Gardens appeared with several landscape architects from Japan and his staff from Hakone Gardens; he wanted to treat them to drinks at Hachi Ju Hachi.
I don't think I've ever seen a restaurant owner be so cool and collected; the servers began serving them soju, sake, tea and juice, while Chef Suzuki went to work on making the appetizers for the dozen or so people who just appeared in his restaurant.
Chef Suzuki's cuisine is definitely worth a detour, and it is my hope that his cuisine and his staffers' attentiveness to service will soon be worthy of a Michelin star.
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