Reviews
Number one in the Small Plates category!
"The soundtrack plays cool jazz. Friends and longtime fans drop by
to have a few small plates at the counter and chat. The mood is lively,
the setting casual....Shiro is intent on exploring the world of small
plates -- tapas, Shiro style. Most have a definite Franco-Japanese
bent, but he's also into charcuterie and cheese, spring rolls and
smoked salmon with his interesting and moderately priced menu, which
includes half a dozen cold dishes and slightly more hot dishes....Folks
on the Westside seem to be getting more than their fair share of new,
interesting neighborhood restaurants: Here's one more place to grab a
quick bite or hang for a while with a bottle of sake or wine."
" . . . Hideo Yamashio is one of the deans of Asian fusion. His casual . . . Orris . . . is akin to an izakaya, or Japanese pub, serving small plates to nibble on while drinking sake, beer, or wine. And what plates they are -- fried shishito
peppers showered with parmesan and bits of fried prsciutto, ahi sashimi
with a tangy soy onion jam, stellar seafood spring rolls flash-fried to
a shattering crispness and set off by a sparking yuzu red chile sauce. Yamashiro's art lies in pristine ingredients and precise cooking."
Orris is decidedly fanc[y]..., frosted with marble, inlaid with blond
wood, furnished with artisanal Japanese plates and teacups and sleek
sake flagons that signal a certain seriousness of purpose.... Orris
is.... closer to a Mediterranean take on a new-wave izakaya, or
Japanese pub, than to anything you might ever come across in Spain —
sweet shisito peppers deep-fried and sprinkled with shaved Parmesan
cheese and crunchy bits of fried prosciutto; smoked scallops garnished
with fat salmon eggs; Dungeness crab salad in a sweetish ginger
dressing. This is food to wash down with sake, not with a glass of
sherry.... A lot of Yamashiro’s food is pretty similar to the
stuff he’s been serving at Shiro all along, the sweetbreads
sautéed with Japanese mushrooms, the beet salad with Basque
cheese and the smoked salmon on potato pancakes you might have passed
right over in your rush to get to his famous sizzling catfish
[Owner/Chef of Restaurant Shiro in S. Pasadena and Orris, Hideo
Yamashiro] uses the tataki technique, which involves searing the
outside of a raw fillet just long enough to brown the rim and firm up
the raw flesh inside, on the usual lozenges of ahi tuna (which he
sauces with a soy-infused onion jam), he does the same with raw lamb
"carpaccio,’’ crusting the edges of the meat, slicing it thinly, and
infusing it with garlic and rosemary — the dish is gamy and delicious
even before it is strewn with chopped arugula and bits of strong sheep
cheese. Even the seafood spring rolls, which appear on three fusion
menus out of four these days, seem to have a tataki twist — the brief
immersion in oil crisps the wrapper, but the big chunks of scallops and
shrimp inside are firmed up though barely warmed, and bits of grated
yuzu zest in the sauce give the dish a clean, focused sharpness I have
never tasted in a fusion spring roll."
"Serious cooking at a reasonable price....[This] sister restaurant
to Shiro in
South Pasadena, is top notch....The menu is compact, exclusively of
small plates. A handful of them make an exciting dinner for two."
"Chef Hideo Yamashiro's intriguing menu leaves behind geographic boundaries. Where else can you order a platter of charcuterie along with fried chicken a la japonaise?"
Once in a while, I feel like a blind hog looking for a truffle when I discover a hidden, new restaurant that will soon become a landmark in LA. I'm loathe to tell you about it, because I don't want to have to stand in line on the sidewalk, but Orris, the new tapas restaurant, is a gem amongst low carb restaurants in this town.
First, the ambience for a small place ( and I do mean small...we're talking 10 tables and a chef's counter that seats only 12 ) immediately brings to mind a peaceful, oceanic scene. The sea green colors against the flash of steel in the open kitchen serve as a visual appetizer before you even get to the menu...and what a menu! Halibut tempura with a dusting of curry powder sings in your mouth as the chorus of flavors begin to blend with the moist texture of the fresh caught fish. Lamb chops have a perfect rare texture fragrant with rosemary and just a touch of sea salt, but avoid seeming "traditional." Even the seafood salad with tarragon dressing makes you wish you could float back in life and be fed by mermaids trained under renowned chef Hideo Yamashiro, owner of Restaurant Shiro in Pasadena.
Only the freshest ingredients are chosen each day, which turns every dish into a "special" meant for sharing. But you can't fool me! No one was getting a bite of my spicy sauteed scallops with parsley and garlic. You'll just have to get your own, but you'd better make friends with the delightful, energetic staff or you'll find yourself down the block with all the other mere mortals once LA discovers this innovative restaurant. As for me, I'm finding how to unlock the back door, just in case!
Orris is open Monday through Saturday from 6-10:30pm. A
wonderful wine list has been assembled and all credit cards are
accepted. Cooking classes will begin in January, so book early. This
teacher is not to be missed.
Reprinted by
permission of the author. From About.com.