October 16, 2021 Lunch - Izanami at Ten Thousand Waves.

October 16, 2021 Lunch - Izanami at Ten Thousand Waves. 

What an odd but delightful day of food today.

The day started with the best soccer match I have seen in years.  My favorite team (No. 11), Liecester City beat Manchester Union (No. 5), 4 to 2 in an amazing game.

After the match we shared two Danish pastries made by the Bistro baker.

We then left for Stephen’s Semi-Annual sale in Santa Fe. It was crowded with everything 30 to 50% off, but we were looking for a chest of drawers and did find one, so we left at 1:00 without purchasing anything.

On the drive up to Santa Fe Suzette had mentioned wanting to see the aspens changing color, so we decided to drive to Hyde Park after Stephens.  I mentioned eating at 10,000 Waves’ restaurant so we called and made a reservation for 1:45.

We first drove to Aaron Payne’s Gallery but it was closed, so we drove up to Hyde Park and saw lots of aspen changing colors and quaking in the breeze.

We drove back down to 10,000 Waves and after we parked were shuttled up to Izanami a few minutes before 1:45.  After a short wait we were seated at a table in the outdoor dining pavilion.  

The menu was all Japanese dishes except for a hamburger and Pork Belly Tacos.

Here is the restaurant’s description of its food and beverages.

IZANAMI MENUS

We are an izakaya serving upscale Japanese bar food. We serve small plates, designed for sharing. We source our meat and produce from purveyors we know and trust. In season, 80% of our produce is local organic, including some that we also grow across the street. Fresh ingredients are emphasized in all our preparations. We make our own desserts, ice cream, and pickles in house.  

 Many items on the menu are gluten free and/or vegetarian/vegan. Our soy and tamari are non-GMO. Please inform your server of any dietary restrictions.

Heading up the kitchen is Kiko Rodriguez, a talented young chef who came to us from La Boca and Taberna, both of which serve tapas--the Spanish equivalent of izakaya fare. Kiko likes to mix up the cultures and flavors of Japan, Spain, and his native Veracruz.

Supervising our adult beverage program is Deborah Fleig, one of fewer than 40 female master sake sommeliers in the world, importer of fine sake to the US--a woman with a truly amazing palate.

I ordered a Bento Box with Japanese style fried Chicken, which seemed to me to be breaded with rice flour and panko.  The Bento box was great. Besides the fried chicken it contained a section of cold cucumber and avocado salad, a section of warm rice, and a section of warm sautéed vegetables.  The sautéed vegetables contained mung bean sprouts, grilled, smoked zucchini slices, and red cabbage and were slightly spicy.  The zucchini was fabulous, as was the miso glaze served in a small well in the middle of the box.  The miso glaze was so wonderful that we requested more and dipped several items in it. We asked and were told the miso glaze contained sake, mirin, sugar and miso.  So it contained the same ingredients as teriyaki sauce with the substitution of red miso instead of soy sauce.  The second amazing thing of the day.

Although wonderful, my bento box was the most pedestrian of the dishes we tried.  Suzette chose wonderful dishes.  She started with kaki fry 14. fried oysters! spicy sesame sriracha sauce, yuzu aioli, shisho-pickled red onions, lemon, togarashi (gf).  They were amazing, battered with rice flour and flash fried just long enough to lightly cook the breading, they were fried so little they were the closest thing to raw oysters I have ever tasted.  The yuzu aioli with a touch of sriracha was tangy and yet a pleasant mayonnaise sauce. We will order the oysters every time we go to Izanami.

Suzette also ordered four kurobuta pork belly tacos 16. three / 20. four

shoyu braised pork belly, asian-style slaw, avocado aioli, spicy sriracha sesame sauce, corn tortilla (gf).  The pork belly was cooked and then cut into small 1/2 x 2 inch planks and fried so they were less greasy and fit into the small taco tortillas.  We sauced them with the miso glaze.  Not amazing but the second best prepared pork belly I have ever tasted.  The best was at MIDI in Boston the night before Willy flew to Dublin to attend graduate school about nine years ago.

Suzette also ordered roasted japanese mushrooms 14. bean sprouts, tamari, yuzu, butter, shoyu-pickled garlic, scallions (gf) which was the second best dish of the meal.  It was a stir fry of shitake, portobello, and brown beech mushrooms with bean sprouts, pickled garlic, and tiny slices of scallion. 

Suzette ordered the fragrant and bright sake sampler flight with three small glass bowls of delicious cold sakes. 

 I ordered a light, fragrant green tea that was served in a Japanese steel tea pot with a thick black plastic tea bowl.

The green tea had a earthy flavor and no sharp tannins until the second brewing.  It was delicious and I drank 2 1/2 pots of it.

We took our time and shared all the dishes, enjoying every bite.  Even the rice was delicious.

After the table was cleared, Beau, our waiter brought the dessert menu and we ordered the Chestnut cake with a scoop of marsacapone maple ice cream with an use infused sake dessert cocktail.  The dessert was also amazing.  I could not help thinking I was in a French restaurant.  Beau brought me a freshly brewed pot of green tea to enjoy with dessert, which I greatly appreciated.

Finally, after two hours we finished lunch and caught a shuttle ride back to our car in the lower parking lot.

We were stuffed.  I read Hard Scrabble while Suzette drove us home.

We arrived a few minutes after 5:00 and walked 1/2 mile.  I was so full, I did not need a sugar pill.

We could eat no more.  I drank a gin and tonic when we returned from our walk and a cup of chai at 10:00.

I also harvested a basket of tarragon and plucked the leaves as we watched TCU lose to Oklahoma. 

Suzette will grind the tarragon in a coffee grinder when it is dried and we will add it to a half full bottle of Grey Poupon Dijon mustard to make tarragon mustard to go with the bottle of basil mayonnaise we made last week.

So today we ate one large meal that was so satisfying we were completely satiated.

We will put Izanami among our favorite Santa Fe restaurants.

I have not eaten at such a great Japanese restaurant in over 40 years when I ate at a highly rated Japanese restaurant near the UN in New York.

Bon Appetit