Shochu

Photo: Marzena Abrahamik

Even with a delicious cocktail in hand, even in the Zen-den comfort of the sage-green dining room, and even under the unpretentious eye of knowledgeable but unobtrusive servers, I had to laugh when the first dish I ordered at Shochu arrived. Sure, I knew that this Lakeview newbie was claiming similarities to Japanese-style izakayas (gastropubbish eateries where sake and its distilled cousin shochu go hand-in-hand with grilled skewers or fried snacks), but I was looking at maybe three tentacles and a dozen soybeans in the grilled octopus and edamame salad. Still, the dish was good. The seafood was tender, the soybeans were incredibly fresh and a sweet basil vinaigrette tied the whole thing together. But it served as a warning that Shochu is a very different experience from the area’s bigger-is-better pasta plates and mediocre all-you-can-eat sushi.

To get the full effect of the place, bring a clan that’s up for ordering a lot, sharing, drinking plenty and letting the server stagger delivery of the small plates so you can take your time. First, just to get through reading the menu, start with one of the signature shochu-based cocktails: the kiwi-lemon Izumi and the soda-spritzed raspberry-lime Toyo-tama both pack punch-in-the-mouth fresh-fruit flavors with an almost hidden hint of toasty alcohol. Keep sipping while you start with cold plates like that teeny-tiny octopus salad and the kampachi tartare, a smartly concocted combo of Hawaiian yellowtail, briny capers, basil leaves and bits of fresh, spicy-sweet piquillo peppers, all with purple potato chips for piling it on. (Skip the Kobe version of the tartare; while the fresh ginger, green onion and shiso leaf is a nice flavor combination, the beef is too fatty and too hard to chew diced this way.)

Likewise, a couple of other gotta-try-it dishes that leap off the menu fall flat: Kurobuta pork sausages resemble mass-produced links and don’t taste distinctively better. Likewise, fried gyoza dumplings are pretty one-note, both the pork and the mushroom versions, and tonkatsu (breaded pork tenderloin) is cut too thick to get good meat-to-crunch ratio and it’s underseasoned, if at all. But remember, you’re dealing with a gigantic menu of skewers, snacky fried things, maki, nigiri, curries, random small plates vaguely of Asian origin…it would be tough to nail every one of the dozens of options. You could either do a wide sweep, visit often or take our word for it. If it’s the latter, more safe bets include the simple red curry shrimp dotted with peanuts and apple slivers, spoon-tender spare ribs drowned in serrano-spiked plum sauce, juicy quail breast wrapped in crispy bacon and addictive chicken wings smothered in sweet and spicy sambal-brown sugar paste. And if you run into something you don’t fall in love with, it’s not as if you made a commitment—it’s really just one bite.