How does a restaurant achieve legendary status? When it survives occasional chef changes while adhering to a basic, successful format, all the while defying the old wives’ tale that hotel settings do not a successful restaurant make.
Attesting to the tried and true concept that a menu can stand on its own even in the absence of an executive chef, which it did for four months until recently, Café Japengo now has a new name at the helm of the hot foods kitchen: Jay Payne. Little by little, he is stamping his talent and training on the already impeccable menu, utilizing his background at the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park, and his stints at the San Diego Yacht Club and the Fairbanks Ranch Country Club before moving to Japengo, where he began streamlining the plates, utilizing cleaner lines and less garnish. For Jay, the food is the star, and before putting an item on the menu he runs it as a special to gauge reaction. For this visit, I was the beneficiary of his latest test items, and they were a slam-dunk, but more on that later.
While he was assembling them, Jerry Warner, the executive sushi chef since the restaurant opened in 1990, passed through from a meeting he had been attending, and we chatted for a bit. Of course, he asked whether I had ordered sushi (I had not), so he suggested some options. And who was I to refuse?
By the way, Jerry is top dog at the sushi bar, but he has a dozen others working at one time or another ” now, that’s what you call busy! Anyway, to give me a variety of options, he suggested a spicy octopus sashimi, which combines bits of jalapeão pepper, shaved lemon slices and a ginger-flavored ponzu sauce, buttery toro, the most desirable fatty tuna, and his prize-winning creation, the shrimp tempura roll, which won in its category at the first sushi master’s contest. It features crab, cucumber and avocado rolled in rice and garnished with tobiko caviar. I can taste those melt-in-the-mouth treasures yet!
It was time to give a little attention to Jay’s creations, which began with a hot and sour tomatillo soup, a variation on the traditional Chinese hot and sour, done with pulled chicken, pieces of tofu, woody mushrooms, a dab of crème fraiche and scattered with strips of friend wonton. It had a rich taste, with accents of vinegar to pique the palate. Jay proved he acted on his convictions, that being in touch with the classics is key, when his New Zealand lamb loin came to the table, meltingly rare, with a crust of smoky, spicy flavors, sided with seasonal mushrooms in a red wine reduction and a few brilliantly green broccolini sprigs. Unbelievably delicious!
But there was still a portion of Kobe flatiron steak to come, and it arrived, enhanced with a citrus-flavored mizuna salad. The steak, as well, arrived perfectly rare, as requested, and perfectly delicious.
Still one more dish to sample from the starter list, and that was the duck potsticker platter, plated on a coriander-mint pesto with ponzu for dipping. For me, that was the only disappointment, because my taste buds were overwhelmed by the pesto and would have preferred the ponzu alone. I guess I’m still a traditionalist at heart.
So, as usual, I skipped dessert and asked for a small order of the vegetable fried rice to go, a survivor of the original menu that is popular to this day. Tasty and terrific for vegetarians, although there is a variation done with chicken, shrimp, pork and egg as well.
Bento boxes are always available for the express menu, popular with the lunch crowd, as are the salad selections, both for lunch and dinner, and not a bad dish among them.
Café Japengo is located at the Aventine complex, 8960 University Centre Lane. Reservations are recommended; call (858) 450-3555.
