One of the greatest features of the new space is the sake lounge and bar, which will soon have its own menu
Mia Stainsby
Sun
Hidekazu Tojo displays a plate of his sushi at his new restaurant on West Broadway. He bought the property from a regular customer and built his dream restaurant. Photograph by : Ward Perrin, Vancouver Sun
The $800 Kitano knife isn’t just for show. It’s as smooth as a Porsche; an amazing cutting tool. If you put the cut fish under a microscope, you’d see a clean surface that somehow dams in the juices. A lesser jobbie tears fibre, releasing moisture.
That’s just one answer to the “why” behind Hidekazu Tojo’s celebrity chef status. Okay, he’s a colourful character, a superb marketer and attracts celebrities like iron filings to a magnet, but hey, good on him! The night we visited to check out his gorgeous, crisp, modern new digs (costing upwards of $2.5 million), Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler had called offering congratulations.
“Jessica Alba is coming next week. I have message from her,” Tojo says. “The prince of Holland [is] coming in March.”
Some dishes are named after his famous guests, like the Magnum P.I. Tamaki — “Tom [Selleck]’s favourite.”
“Hello, my friend!” Tojo shouts across the room when Trevor Linden and his wife walk in. They sit next to us. There was no fawning, no fussing over them, after an initial attempt to find them a private room. One wasn’t available.
With mere mortals, however, service is a weak point in this high-end Japanese restaurant. I feel they coast on laurels.
Tojo bought the property from a regular customer and built his dream restaurant. “I can stay here forever,” he says, exhaling with relief upon seeing others having to move because of sky-rocketing rents. One of the cool features about the new space (he really did outgrow his former unremarkable second-floor rental) is the sake lounge and bar which will soon have its own menu. There’s also a large private room for 30 with a rock fireplace and adjoining outdoor garden.
I’m a big fan of Tojo’s sushi and sashimi but find his cooked dishes sometimes overwhelmed by sauce. The sushi is absolutely superb, with pristine fish, lovely sushi rice and the best nori. I ordered uni nigiri because really good uni, which should taste of ocean, is a rare find in Vancouver. I found it here.
After a Northern Roll, tuna tataki (which came with orders from the top: “No wasabi, please!”), we moved to the hot dishes — ankake tofu, which features delicious deep-fried tofu but such a delicate dish shouldn’t be wading waist-deep in sauce. And ditto, the halibut cheeks; beautiful fish, but too much sauce. Tempura, though, was a different story — not at all oily, delicately battered, and veggies and prawns perfectly cooked — it was impressive.
A meal at Tojo’s will be expensive (the tempura was $21 and the halibut cheeks, $27) but you are assured of quality and the man certainly knows seafood. A meal of sushi, though, is more painless. Our maki was $8, and tamaki, $6.50.
“No, we are not expensive,” Tojo says when I bring it up. “We use the best ingredients, no MSG, everything is cooked from natural products. It’s the right price. I compare it to high-end French restaurants. I use the same material.”
Rice is all-important and Tojo mixes high-grade, one-year-old and two-year-old rices. Younger rice contains more moisture and helps with the sushi sticking action. He uses about 20 per cent of the young rice because he doesn’t want it too sticky.
Those who worship at his feet order omakase ($60, $80, $110 or up), letting the chefs take control of their care and feeding.
It’s where you find the chefs at their most creative (and sometimes bizarre), with dishes like soybean nori with ume (sour plum) mozzarella cheese and mountain potato; scallops with rhubarb; hirame and monkfish liver wrapped in sui choi; and king mushroom and lion mane mushroom in parchment.
While there’s enough staff to ensure prompt and steady service, as mentioned earlier, it’s not stellar. Upon arriving, we discovered our reservation wasn’t recorded. While discussing our meal, our server had wandering eyes, conveying indifference and impatience. Others, however, were more genuinely friendly.
And watch as sake becomes a bigger deal in Vancouver as it takes centre stage in Tojo’s sake lounge, a another Tojo first in the city.
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TOJO’S RESTAURANT
Overall: 3 1/2
Food: 3 1/2
Ambience: 4
Service: 3 1/2
Price: $$$
1133 West Broadway, 604-872-8050. (www.tojos.com) Open 7 days a week for dinner.
Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
