Food Review

Flavor County: Café Hiro

By: Tyler Moore

“East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.” -Rudyard Kipling

Kipling is a jackass. And Café Hiro proves that Kipling was in fact, wrong. For those ignorant enough to assume that all Western influence in Japan is derived from America, Café Hiro serves as a stark reminder of the European spectre haunting not only Japanese culture, but cuisine as well. I mean, driving on the left side of the road isn’t exactly a George Washington-type thing to do.

Café Hiro, brain child of Japanese chef Hiro Ohiwa, manages to affordably blend French, Italian and Japanese cuisines, all while keeping a unique atmosphere impressive for its hole-in-the-wall Cypress surroundings.

The perpetually busy restaurant placed the Forest Fire crew in the rear dining, a move that was preempted perhaps by a suspicion of notoriously cheap college tippers. I happen to prefer the seating in the front of the restaurant, in awe of the eclectic surroundings. How could you not be taken back, or at least look around, dining under a faux blue sky framing an idyllic French summer day, complete with vines growing out of the walls and an interior roof? Did the struggling art student portraits of Jimmy Hendrix distract from the flavors of my meal? No, because it was out of sight in the front. Our senses in the back were bombarded by a steady stream of staff and customers anxious to use the restroom. Not the best seat in the house to place a food critic. Oh well, I suppose our cover was maintained. I highly recommend any future diners to request a seat in the front.

The waitress left us in the company of a billboard sign filled with daily specials. Disappointingly, the sign held little deviation from the “specials” I had witnessed in the past. I suppose one of the allures of “specials” is their changing and impermanent nature. While I could recommend the beef tongue stew one day, the next day it would be gone forever. I should translate that as a French haiku. It would match the interior quite well. Roughly half of the restaurant was filled by Japanese speaking patrons composed of businessmen and trans-Pacific hipster couples. At least enough for my Japanese 2C-trained ears to struggle with.

We started our meal with the apple-ginger based crispy fried tofu. The name implied a bit more apple flavor than what actually arrived, but still very tasty and with excellent texture. Crispy on the outside, soft and gelatinous on the inside. It almost resembles a hot apple pie, but less deadly. Next up was the entrée, which included salad resembling your common variety Val-U-Pak green set, but with a delectable ginger dressing. If only they would distill the stuff and sell it at the register. Then I could have Café Hiro dine with me in the comfort of my own home!

The salad was followed by split pea soup, which I mistakenly first deduced was broccoli based. The soup was solid, serving as a nice transition between salad and entrée, but nothing to really write home about.

My main entrée consisted of seared ahi tuna, served with bok choi, eggplant, and covered with a sweet sauce. In my opinion, tuna should never be cooked. There is just so much flavor that gets passed up by the heating process, not to mention the rather unattractive brown color. I’ll give one exception to the searing process. It retains the flavor and color and adds a highly satisfying texture. The inner tenderness of the ahi was complimented by the bitter nature of the bok choi. Serve that up with buttery drippings of cooked egg plant and you’ve got a winner. My ahi was arranged in a pyramid, supported by outer flanks of eggplant and bok choi, all drizzled by a sweet sauce delivered with artistic flair.

The rest of the crew ordered Kobe beef curry, Jidori chicken curry and a plain order of Jidori chicken. The Kobe beef curry arrived on a huge, multicolored plate. The beef sat atop a small bed of rice and was surrounded by a pool of thick, orange-ish curry. It was awe-inspiring. The Jidori chicken came on a little pile of braised vegetables and rice. Also very beautiful. Then again, almost everything is at Café Hiro. But neither of them even came close to my tuna. I guess I’ve got a soft spot for dishes that entertain more than two of my senses.

Dishes: $8-20

www.cafehiro.com

(714)-527-609

10509 Valley View St., Cypress, CA. 90630