Ramen Bar, SF

Finally a ramen place close by to me!  Ramen Bar, by Michael Mina.  Collectively the three of us ordered:
SF CHASU MISO-BUTTER HOKKAIDO: braised pork, garlic, sweet corn, soy-cured egg (richer, bolder flavor)
TOKYO-STYLE KUROBUTA PORK: wakame, soy-cured egg, spinach (lighter, aromatic broth)
GINGER-BRAISED CHICKEN: soy-cured egg, bamboo, spinach, yuzukosho (lighter, aromatic broth)

I did not love the noodles, felt a bit like instant noodles, but the broths were pretty good.  At $14, $12 and $12 a bowl the portions were decent too especially for downtown.  Special shout out to the ginger-braised chicken broth.  The broth was as described, light and aromatic, and I was pleasantly surprised by how flavourful yet clean tasting it was.  Yeah I think I would go back again when the craving for ramen returns and I do not feel like going somewhere far away.  Might be interesting to try the donburis, or add on a braised pork belly.

Pabu, SF (A Revisit)

Take 2 at Pabu.  We had heard numerous people tell us how wonderful it was, people whose food recommendations I somewhat trusted.  What we were told was that the omakase was really good.  Despite my lack of love for Michael Mina, I felt like I had to give the restaurant a second chance and try this much-raved omakase.

So off to Pabu we went.

According to the website, the tasting menu changes daily, but the date on the page as of today said August 27, 2014.  Seemed similar with variations.  I guess I cannot tell you exactly what we ate but here is my attempt.

Happy spoon - kusshi oyster, uni, ikura, tobiko, ponzu crème fraîche.  This dish is not pictured below, but we had it the last time and it was rich and delicious as we had remembered.
Some kind of raw fish, maybe kanpachi - great
Sushi courses - I would say this was truly the highlight.  The menu currently posted on the website shows 4 sushi courses, but I only have 3 pictures, which makes me think I got cheated and makes me angry.  However I think we did get tuna, which is what's missing in my photos, so maybe I was too greedy and ate without snapping a photo.  My favourite was the very fishy fish course, mackerel and all that.  Coming a close second was the shellfish course, clams, prawn, etc.  Normally I don't like the sweet raw prawn but this was exceptional and I think I'm ready to order this on my own!
Shabu - OK, something has to be done about this sad tasteless dish.  I love shabu.  But this extremely expensive shabu had no flavour whatsoever.  The sad little rolls of meat were very tender but seriously lacking flavour.  The dipping sauces were not particularly tasty or unique, I know I can buy that from Nijiya and it will taste better with my homemade broth and dipping sauce from a bottle.  I had contemplated requesting for something else instead of the shabu, but Lingon did not want me to confuse the server too much because we were eating with other people.  Should have listened to my gut, as usual.  Barf.  The vegetables were very sad too.  So I'm going to stop beating on this poor dish, but please do not order eat.
Dessert - I see Asian pear and some ice cream which may have been berry-like.  The pear was amazing, except I hated the fact that they poured sake into the dish.  Had I known that was what they were doing, I would have stopped them instantly.

So in conclusion (I feel like I'm writing an A Levels paper or something), the happy spoon and nigiri was fabulous, shabu sucked (which was sad since this course took a long time) and the dessert could have been nice for other people except I did not love the sake.  Order the nigiri portion of the tasting menu but don't waste your time with the shabu, seriously

Pabu, SF

Let me be very upfront, I'm not a fan of Michael Mina restaurants.  I actually really like his lobster pot pie, but that ridiculous price tag just does not warrant a second try.  Everything else is just so so or not good.  Sadly we live in the building above one of his restaurants RN74 and I would say avoid it if possible.

His Japanese restaurants at 101 California, Pabu (izakaya) and Ramen Bar ('nuff said) just opened earlier this week.  We managed to get a reservation at Pabu on the official opening night, so that was kind of exciting.  Off we went.

Here is what we ordered and my takes:
1)  Happy Spoon - uni, ikura, tobiko, ponzu crème fraîche.  Decadent and heart-attack worthy, loved it, ingredients were good, combination was great.
2)  Yuzu Kanpachi - yuzukosho ponzu, pine nuts, fried shallots.  Not bad, didn't taste the yuzu too much though.
3)  Robatayaki - we got meatballs, chicken tail and pork belly.  The table loved the meatballs, not me though.  The rest were so so.
4)  Shabu shabu Japanese A5 beef - miyazaki prefecture, enoki, mizuna, ponzu.  At $32/oz, and we ordered 3oz, we got 6 small pieces of beef wrapped enoki.  It was good, not phenomenal, but for the price tag, I'd rather go to Nijiya and get my own beef and wrap it myself and create a shabu pot.  This was a total bust.  The shabu broth was not very flavourful, some of the ingredients were unique but by no means spectacular, and the pot itself was just cumbersome and felt like it was going to fall off the burner.  I give this a negative 10 out of 10 for poor value, annoying, and lack of fabulousness.  We did get a bowl of noodles in broth with the ponzu and peanut shabu sauce doused in it and that was delicious.  But that probably cost the kitchen all of $2 max.
5)  Negitoro roll - bluefin fatty tuna, scallion.  Waste of money, not that great.
6)  Crispy flounder - gomoku gohan, ponzu, lemon.  Kind of tempura style with shaved daikon provided for the dipping sauce.  Didn't think the breading was particularly yummy, but at least it wasn't a thick gross coat of it.  Nicely battered and fried and with the sauce it was OK.

We passed on dessert for lack of innovation or excitement.

Overall will say Michael Mina to me is still a bust.  Food was good, but not special, and the price tag is largely due to is big famous name.

I had blazed through probably the past 5 reviews so I could write this one on time, coz I was actually rather excited about a Michael Mina Japanese restaurant, so that was good motivation, but I'm sad I could not give a happier review.