By David Nelson
Set at the far end of a small strip center fronted by a parking lot at 4th and University avenues, Sake House Yu Me Ya doesn’t exactly shout to the world, “Hey, here I am, look at me!” It’s easy to pass the unassuming Japanese eatery without noticing. But rest assured that this tiny new jewel is on the verge of attracting plenty of notice from fans of well-prepared, handsomely presented traditional Japanese fare, mostly served in tapas-like portions.
Sake House Yu Me Ya opened in mid April and already has a following, although seats arranged at lacquered tables and along the three-sided bar (which is not a sushi bar; all food preparation takes place in a couple of small kitchens) number only 34, diminutive even by Hillcrest standards. However, small and cozy are different stories, and Yu Me Ya offers the kind of welcome–from proprietor Yuka Nakai and an amusing, engaging server who calls himself Vega–that makes the space intimate and loads of fun—from wooden boxes that nearly overflow with sake to delicate bites plucked with chopsticks from pretty plates.
Scripted in white on a black panel hung over the bar, three Japanese characters express the words “Yu Me Ya,” which
means “House of Dreams.” Yuka Nakai’s family owns a five-year old restaurant of the same name in Encinitas, and the new branch certainly spruces up the neighborhood.
My experience at Sake House Yu Me Ya begins when Yu Me Ya pours about 40 brands of sake from an array of small and large, interestingly shaped and colorful bottles arranged on shelves behind the bar. Yuka Nakai then lugs over a sizeable bottle of stylish Kan Chiku, a subtle spirit captured in cobalt glass like a Japanese genie, and holds it over a sizeable shot
glass placed in a small, square wooden box. The glass overflows and is half-submerged in clear booze before Nakai turns the bottle upright.
“The glasses must be filled to overflowing to celebrate abundance in life,” she explained, adding that it’s necessary to lean down to lap the first sip or two. This is pretty obvious, and certainly fun, like getting to eat with your fingers as a kid while older relatives glower. After a couple of sips, I got to lift the glass, but since Nakai didn’t say what to do when it was empty, I questioned whether to drink the second shot directly from the box, or tilt it into the glass. Pouring it out seemed wisest.
The food is beautiful. While the cold tapa (listed in the menu as “Carpaccio (spicy tuna), avocado on wonton skin) sounds potentially inelegant, it’s a glam package of minced raw tuna and buttery, cubed avocado that rises like a bloom above fried pastry molded in the shape of a flower. Served on a tiny puddle of spicy mayo, it’s a triumph of presentation and taste.
Listed as a cold tapa, the mushroom salad delights by featuring the opposing temperatures of sizzling sliced mushrooms and crisp greens—the former dumped directly from the pan over the latter. The deluxe flavors owe to a zesty house dressing, a sprightly sauce that also flavors salads of barbecued beef, brown rice and “silken” tofu.
Broiled black cod, offered here with “Kyoto miso flavor,” has become an international favorite at chic eateries and is the signature dish at Nobu restaurants. Served hot, of course, it stars buttery fish, brushed with a fairly pungent glaze and lightly crisped under intense heat. It melts succulently on the tongue and takes a sharp flavor from a strip of skin. The
cod harbors a few lengthy bones, as fish sometimes does. The understated décor for this plate consists of a single, slender baton of carrot.
Among other cold tapas options are string beans with sesame paste salted cuttlefish, spicy tofu, and “Japanese wild vegetable (sansai) with squid.” Plentiful hot choices include fried Japanese eggplant in smoked bonito broth, potato croquettes with curry-sauced vegetables, Kurobuta pork sausage with Dijon mustard and takoyaki octopus balls, noted as “famous Osaka street food.”
More substantial when ordered as “bowls” (over rice), the ginger teriyaki dishes taste less of ginger than of well-browned, slivered onions and raw, finely minced and very green scallions. Pork prepared in this way and served over rice is very tasty and, following in the wake of several tapas, somewhat filling. The short list of sushi rolls offers mostly familiar choices.
Presented in a handled black basket, tempura-fried shrimp and/or vegetables are lightly coated and fried crisp, not greasy. The hot dipping sauce is excellent, but under no circumstances, warns the server, should one mix it with the infinitesimal amount of spicy green tea salt served in a separate dish. Yet after dunking a round of tempura kabocha pumpkin in this fearsome concoction, the verdict was: “What’s the big deal?” Small matter—at Yu Me Ya the sake,
cooking and service certainly are big deals, and worth treasuring. Even a single ball of marshmallowy green tea mochi (something like ice cream), split in half, dusted with sugar and impaled with a cute paper umbrella, is a treat for tongue, eyes and spirit.
