GENKAI

Doesn't the sushi look scrumptious? It's beautiful art. It's exquisite food. It's a fantastic experience. What exactly am I going on about? Sushi at Genkai Restaurant. Here's the dialogue:

Someone says, "I want to eat sushi."

My response, "Oh, I know the best sushi place. PRIVATE RESERVE BEACH!!!"

Almost everyone has vehemently argued to have eaten at THE BEST sushi place ever, so what makes my claims any different? PRIVATE RESERVE BEACH! Sushi is seafood fished out from the sea. The better quality the seafood is, the superior the sushi is. The higher grade fish and shellfish are found in the freshest of waters. While many people, unknowingly, ignorantly go on about their favorite sushi restaurant being the very best, the majority of people don't have the slightest clue exactly where their food is coming from.

I, on the other hand, was properly educated by my friend who studies marine biology in Dana Point, CA, where Genkai is located. Dana Point is a small city that stretches 6.5 miles, home to a very well preserved beach. This small community prides itself on water life, nature preservation, and an appreciation for the charming and calm life living so close to the beach can offer. As a result, their beach is privately reserved and regularly monitored.

As you enter into this small town, you're immediately immersed by the salty air. The beautifully conserved beach is stretched out, and there's a magnificent view from virtually any of the major roads. The water is a glistening blue reflected off the sun. Even at night, the water's translucent. You often see still birds in the water waiting for just the right time to strike prey of sea urchins. Yes, you can see the dark, purple spikes of sea urchins. To be witness to such clarity near the Los Angeles area was a welcome shock to my system. The seashore is covered with crabs and other shellfish. There are guards who make sure that no one leaves the beaches with any shellfish, seashells, or anything else that belongs to the beach. With this kind of practice, it's no surprise that it's home to such fresh sushi.

Genkai, the hottest sushi place in town, employs the most prominent chefs from Japan who's creativities and skills are more than passable or great. They're exceptional. Each and every chef possesses an indispensable talent that's unique to themselves. Everything is prepared with the utmost care of excellence and respect. Everything served is fresh. By fresh, I mean, it's no longer than ten hours old. If the quality of the fish or shellfish isn't up their scrupulous standards, it isn't even available to the customers. The chefs work fastidiously to prepare imaginative and innovative dishes. To maintain this environment of artistic aspirations, Genkai doesn't carry a menu. The chefs surprise and impress you with whatever visions they bring to life. If, for whatever reason, you're not satisfied with your dish, you're under no obligation to pay for it. Although, I assure you that that'll never happen.

Some of you may find this operation to be restrictive, but it's quite the opposite. You can also guide your chef by telling him what kinds of ingredients you'd like. As a control freak, I practice that frequently. My favorite and regular chef is Tiger. He's friendly, diligent, and goes out of his way to please his customers. When I was bored, he made a puppet show for me with shrimp. Talk about customer satisfaction. Partly because my expectations are exceedingly high and mostly because I was curious to see what Tiger could concoct with such obscure ingredients, I demanded a dish with at least three types of sashimi, garlic, cream sauce, and fruit. And halfway through, I wanted him to use the fire torch. He presented a collection of sushi with three types of sashimi, cream sauce, topped it with slices of mangoes that were lightly torched (just enough so the juices were leaking), drizzled with cream sauce and garnished with roasted garlic. When I devastated that there was no sea urchin, he apologized with a redeeming dish. The tuna was shaped like a sleigh and stuffed with lobster and cream sauce surrounded by caviar. And, as beautiful as it was, just to paint a picture, I would consider that his mediocre performance. It was a lot simpler than his other creations. This was when he wasn't my chef, and he took on the burden of servicing me. And I'm a handful.

My friends and I have this tradition. We have to order the sashimi roll first. Normally, I'm unimpressed by sashimi. It's so average. What's so special about tuna and salmon, anyways? But the sashimi rolls here melt in your mouth and are the size of your palms. Each chef makes them differently, but it was served to me like flower petals before. It was overlapped in contrasting colors of the tuna and salmon and wrapped with soy wrap. Their sashimi rolls are always wrapped in soy wraps, which are white. They seem to dissolve in your mouth more pleasantly than the traditional black seaweed, and it's a lot more visually aesthetic. Some of my favorites are the sashimi rolls, sushi nachos, sushi burritos, monkey balls, and virtually every special that was ever made for me.

I'm never disappointed with the results. Their concepts are inventive and inspiring. As mesmerized as you are by the visual performance, you'll have very little restraint after you have a taste. As tempting as it is to say, "It's too beautiful to eat." That's far from the truth. It's beautiful, and it's a little tragic that it'll be gone, but to eat it is to respect it.

The first photo (above) is of the sashimi roll. Isn't it gorgeous? Sometimes, it's accompanied by cucumbers that are hulled out into tiny bowls with seaweed salad. Other times, it's layered like staircases or resemble flowers. No matter the presentation, the flavor dimensions always deliver. The response I always hear: The sashimi just melts in your mouth. I can't even remember what the second dish was exactly. I think those were a special. The third photo is of the Screaming Orgasm.

I’m sad to inform that it wasn’t very orgasmic or scream worthy. It didn’t hold the standards my friends and I were expecting, considering its name’s sake. It wasn’t an unpalatable dish. It just didn’t meet our standards. Truthfully speaking, titles, aside, it wasn’t the most memorable dish, and it was still a melt-in-your mouth experience. Monkey balls, on the other hand, were consumed so quickly that the camera never had a chance. It was a sushi dish served inside of button mushrooms. It looked gorgeous, tasted even better, but I can’t remember for the life of me what was inside of them.

The man in the picture is my chef, Tiger. Buy him a few rounds of drinks, and his inhibitions slowly dissolve. Not that he had much to begin with, but his creativity peaks even higher. Buy him a few more rounds, and he starts to forget exactly how many dishes you've ordered, and you end up with a massive discount. An estimated $300 bill totaled $90 between three people. I speak so highly of Genkai and Tiger that when I jotted down my friend's mother's model number for her hot pot (the brand being Tiger), my friend thought I tracked Tiger, the chef, down and got my hands on his employee ID number. Even with the knowledge that I was interested in the hot pot, she thought employee ID number. My boyfriend came to the same assumption. I'm just that obsessed.

Are you thinking it's true good to be true? Well, it is. Unfortunately, Genkai is now under new ownership, so the quality of the sushi has declined. It's still a lot tastier than other sushi restaurants. So, if you live in Orange County, I recommend checking the place out. Some of you will be pleased to hear that a menu exists now. As for me, I live in LA County. So the drive is too far. I just haven't gotten around to post this up . . .until it was too late. Because of this unfortunate turn of events, my search for the BEST sushi place continues. The next time someone claims to have eaten at the best sushi place, evaluate the location and where the seafood was feasibly obtained e.g., nearby lakes or oceans.