Miyabi, the new “Japanese Gastro Pub” that’s filling the spot previously held by Rain Sushi on 45th, opened last week. We ducked our heads in for a quick peruse, but, as we only discovered that it had opened by walking by, and as conducting an interview with a new restauranteur can be difficult with a tired four-year-old in a superhero costume riding on your shoulders, we’re going to be short on details.
What we can say is that the house was packed, and that 95% of the clientele appeared to be Japanese, which we consider a good sign. We had a nice chat with Diane and Becky from Li’l Klippers, but they had only stopped in for a cocktail, so no food review there.
Miyabi specializes in Soba noodle dishes, and their soba is made from scratch in-house: indeed, they grind their own buckwheat. The bar also has a tasty sounding assortment house-infused liqueurs and specialty cocktails. Appetizers are $8 – $13, entrees $15 – $20 and cocktails $9 – $12.
Sadly, our house is gluten-free, so we won’t be able to enjoy the menu. Who wants to write us a review?
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Sounds like a great, authentic place, great!
How does freshly ground buckwheat figure into gluten-free? Does their recipe for soba include other ingredients? (Fagopyrum esculentum – Buckwheat – from my understanding – is the “groat” of a plant related to rhubarb and inherently gluten free.) If they serve a tamari-based broth the non-gluten people would be home free.
Source: the new whole foods encyclopedia, rebecca wood.
Excellent point. From their menu, though:
Washington State is the largest producer of buckwheat in the United States and is a great source of nutrients that are not found in significant amount in other grains. Using Washington State buckwheat, chef Soma grinds the grains into a mixture of 80% buckwheat and 20% wheat flour to make the soba noodles by hand
So…Washington: The Buckwheat State!
Thanks for the clarification. How about we challenge them to make a buckwheat buckwheat soba noodle in a dedicated grinder? Or even substitute with some commercially made ones? That cold soba dish is one of my favorites from time spent in Japan.
More details about the this place with pictures of some of the items on the menu.
http://gastrolust.com/2013/02/miyabi-45th-where-soma-makes-soba-and-so-much-more/
FTGOTO:
Eden Foods sells a 100% buckwheat soba noodle; I think I have seen it at PCC but it can also be ordered directly from Eden Foods. http://www.edenfoods.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=29_83&products_id=108300
Here’s the review I posted on Yelp.
Went (accidentally) to the soft opening, uninvited. The hosts were gracious, invited me, my dauighter and wife to sit at a nice table, and apart from a brief gap between sitting and getting our drink orders, it was remarkably smooth and efficient, with none of the normal hitches of “opening day” blues. And it was full.
The food was absolutely excellent. We ordered cold soba with pork belly (hot) broth, hot Soba with duck meatballs, a Katsudon bowl for our daughter (we told her it was chicken) – a chopped salad, Shishito peppers (with anchovy aoili) and three different cocktails (I am awesome). Having a full bar is great, and they also have an interesting and unusual selection of beers, including a Japanese black porter and Sapporo Lite, which I didn’t even know existed.
The chef brought an amuse bouche of soft tofu stuffed with peanut butter, which wasn’t cloying or sweet, but was so good I wish they’d put it on the menu proper.
Service was nervous, but excellent, with good, smart wait staff who were engaging and curious. The decor was impeccable and appropriate and the oohs and aahs of the Japanese hausfraus sitting opposite us were an excellent indication of excellence that proved true.
I have eaten a lot of Soba in travels to Japan and I can tell you objectively that it’s very authentic, and subjectively it’s actually better than most. I am pumped to have this place in the neeighborhood and while I wish Rain all the best, this is a far better replacement, and not even redundant on a street already full of Japanese options.
We don’t know the chef, the owners or the Rain folks before them, so accept this as an unbiased, if ebullient review.
Nicely done, Frankie! Any time you want to crank out a restaurant review for Wallyhood, we’d love to feature it!
“Sadly, our house is gluten-free, so we won’t be able to enjoy the menu” Yeah and you are all allergic to MSG, militant vegans, only consume food grown within 1 mile of your home, transported to PCC by pigmy goats, comute to work in a recumbent bike “contraption” and teach your children to fashion clothing and footware out of corn husks and turnips. Get a life…
Having gluten allergies isn’t some kind of socialist trend, Pierce. Swelling up and being ill aren’t protests against greenhouse gasses. But they should get a life, then they could troll neighborhood message boards with weird vitriolic ad Hominem attacks.
Actually, I am surprised that it took to post #8 to read an uninformed opinion about The Gluten Deal. And other deals to boot.
“Pierce”: Why not share what you know, refrain from being mean or glib, and offer constructive ideas. Really.
Thank you for the considered review, “Frankie.”
@NancyM, me too. It’s a curiosity to me why celiac and gluten sensitivity seem to inflame some people. I mean, sure, you can say “it doesn’t affect me”, and it’s probably true that SOME (but not all) people who say they have it are being hypochondriacs, but why it would make someone ANGRY, angry enough to rattle out a typo-ridden rant on a neighborhood blog, is a mystery to me.
I just read an interesting book that took a socio-anthropological / psychological perspective on how the “left” and the “right” approach moral issues. It helped me make sense of a lot of Republican views that (while I still disagree with), I now get. Worth a read, if you get the chance: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0307455777
But this, just odd.
It is envy. He overestimates pygmy goats.
One idea for those who are looking for a 100% buckwheat noodle might be to make them at home. They aren’t going to come out as well, by usual soba noodle standards, but they might have more flavor. Recipes online make it out to be easy enough.
Is this an episode of Portlandia?
Put a headless bird on it.
some people are actually gluten intolerant. some people are dramatic trendy fuss-pots and just looove to be able to order in an annoying fashion at a restaurant.
I am glad I don’t know anyone that willfully stupid, in fact I am baffled to find out such a creature exists. How was this poltroon exposed, pray tell? Did someone sneak gluten into his tea, perhaps, to make sure he wasn’t a dramatic trendy fusspot and expose him as a gluten-tolerant lunatic, out to hurt the feelings of wiser people who know gluten intolerance is vanishingly rare?
I can’t believe this hasn’t made the news.
FYI, we just found out tonight, sadly, they do not let you take out.