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Gyu kaku, a closer look
Aloha!
6/29/09 - In the world of Japanese Yakiniku, or meats cooked at your own table by your own hands, noone can touch Yakiniku Hiroshi's in Waikiki. However, you'd be doing yourself a great disservice by discounting the other two players on the island, namely Toraji and the subject of today's closer look, Gyu-Kaku. Yeah, there's a plethora of Korean yakiniku restaurants available, but these are generally so inferior in terms of quality that they really can't be compared. In fact, I once went to Yakiniku Seoul, supposedly one of the better ones out there, and ordered shrimp one evening. I got my shrimp, allright, but couldn't help but gasp in horrah'z when our hostess brought us a block of several tails that were, quite literally, frozen-solid together and nonchalantly placed on our live grill, the ice slowly melting, bubbling- away as it ran-off onto the hot plate, slowly disappearing into thin air! And I can't even tell you how often you'll receive beef cuts, even, still glistening with ice crystals at some of these spots, as well. Not gonna happen at Hiroshi's, Toraji, or Gyu-Kaku, that's for sure!
Gyu Kaku is part of a large chain found all over Japan, California, New York, and Hawaii, with a streamlined, well-organized system that runs as smooth, consistent, and orderly as any good American chain restaurant. There's just a certain look and feel to better yakiniku places, a kind of vibe that's in-tune with all the hip, new izakaya's out there, but a little different in that the atmospheres are bolder and more modern/rustic, much like a Japanese version of an American Steak House. We are primarily talking about beef in both cases, after all!
The inside of Gyu-Kaku is waaay cool, and along the lines of most stylishly-minded yakiniku houses, with lots of solid wood, along with a few metallic elements, and all done in a relatively dark setting aided by strategically-placed lighting. If it doesn't look dark to you, that's only because my camera helped light the way. You kinda wanna see everything, yes?
Despite the look from these shots, the dining areas at all Gyu-Kaku restaurants, at least on the island, are quite large. It's just that you can't always tell because there are high dividers separating tables and sections, an aspect I really love about this place, since it affords lots and lots of privacy.
Though they offer parking inside the building that also houses the Pancake House and Bose Sound System Store, and sits right across from the new Honolulu Design Center, the lot was full tonight, so we had to find something on the street. No problem. The entrance is not on Kapiolani, but behind the building, on Hopaka St., almost directly fronting that most popular of local-style bar/grills, Side St. Inn. The Waikiki location, at 307 Lewers St., is a similiarly designed restaurant with no validated parking, but it does sit right next to the parking lot entrance to the Duty Free building, where you may park for a small fee.
But getting back to our fine evening out, there's one thing here that deserves more than just a passing mention - draft beer! That's because the glass mugs are pulled straight from the freezer, complete with icy build-up all over! I know beer afficionado's and experts don't recommend icy mugs nor icy-cold beer, since they can both lessen the distinguishing qualities that separate and define each variety one from another, but I could really care less about what they think - to me, there's simply no better way to have draft beer, period, case-closed. See the icy streaks and islands?
Happy Hours, from 5pm-6:30pm and 9pm-closing, are indeed happy times here, as there is a rotating list of different meats at 50% off, as well as deeply-discounted (almost 50% off) cocktails, beers, and a host of appetizers. There are servings of edamame for $1.50, daikon kimchee for $1.75, chicken karaage for $2.95, ahi poke for $3, fried wonton for $3.50, and several more choices, all total bargains! To entice you even further, instead of mojito's and various martini's for $7.95, they are both only $4, and instead of mugs for $4.25 and pitchers for $14.95, you now have them for $2.25 and $7.50, respectively.
Wifey and I actually skipped the appetizers altogether and went right into a couple of meaty choices, but for the life of me, I can't remember what the first one was! It sure looks like flat iron or skirt, but I really can't say for sure - sorry! All I can say is that the buggah was ono...
In the background lay another beautiful platter, this time holding some bone-in kalbi:
No, they didn't go straight down the hatch! As stated, this is a yakiniku restaurant, so raw items are brought to your table and cooked over a live grill. Gyu-Kaku uses a type of oak wood to infuse a more rounded, natural-tasting smoke taste into the meats, although gas is also used so the heat stays more uniformly consistent - try maintaining ideal temperatures for any amount of time on coals alone - not gonna happen!
Here's the last two cuts, thrown on the hot grill recessed right into the table:
As you can see, these mini-slabs were very thick as compared to the super-thin, high-quality slices at Yakiniku Hiroshi, but there's a big reason for that. With all beef orders listed at below $10 for regular prices (except tongue and Kobe - I'll explain why I italicized the word soon...), the grades of beef are understandably lesser, quality-wise. Not that average Joe's like myself will have a problem at all with that, as they are still great cuts with all that wonderful grilled-steak flavor, only there's no place in the world where you can dish-out ten bucks and expect to partake in the foie gras-like virtues of real, genuine Kobe beef!
And speaking of genuine Kobe beef - just remember that there are a lot of imposters out there, so be sure to read the fine print, or better yet, experience the real thing for yourself at least once, so you can recognize it, or at least something comparable to it, simply by taste, look, and yes, price. If it's not expensive, it definitely ain't Kobe! If it doesn't inherently contain luxuriously soft marbling, but larger blobs of tough to semi-tough fat or even sinewy strings, it definitely ain't Kobe. See the Yakiniku page if you want to learn more.
I've seen establishments flat-out lie about having genuine Kobe. At Gyu-Kaku, at least they're up-front when they tell you that their version is actually a mixed breed, combining the real thing with American Black Angus cows, and grown right here in America. Though Black Angus cows can't compare, they are still highly-regarded, and still one of the best varieties you can get, so I wouldn't worry about it - just keep this fact in mind, is all. Your two Kobe choices (see now why I had the word italicized again?) here at Gyu-Kaku are a boneless kalbi shortrib, $21.95 for 3.5 oz., and a ribeye, at $23.95 for 5 oz.
But besides beef, you can always opt instead for bacon-wrapped asparagus, Berkshire pork sausages, boneless yuzu chicken wings, boneless basil pesto or chili mayo chicken thighs, shrimp, scallops, and fish choices of ahi, butterfish, or opakapaka. And don't forget your veggies, either, like shiitake mushrooms, sweet onions, eggplant, zucchini, and tofu, or those in a section called vegetables to steam, so named because they come in a foil container and are cooked by steaming them slowly on the grill in butter, ponzu, or other types of liquid.
We chose to steam an order of whole garlic cloves, bathed in a light sesame ponzu, which came out absolutely delicious.
Another fabulous treat from the vegetable world comes from shiitake mushrooms, this time grilled directly on the fire. Like garlic, you just can't go wrong with these things. You may have had them in stir-fry's, stews, or curries, but to appreciate them even more, you gotta try them whole, over a fire, with just a little natural salt or a shoyu-based tare. Unbeatable!
As far as veggies go, there's one item that ain't grilled, steamed, nor cooked in any way. It's called sanchu, and is simply several leaves of a soft-lettuce variety, which are used to create a vegetable wrap with your meats coming hot-off the grill. Very popular in Korea, where yakiniku most likely came from, it also comes with a sauce of sweet miso, which is also placed within the wrap. The combination is excellent.
Besides meats coming either marinated, salted, or slathered in miso, like the shot above, you'll always find additional sauces, used to dip meats after grilling, should you choose to do so. At Gyu-Kaku, they are found right at your table in three varieties, a teriyaki version, a spicy/sweet soy, and a ponzu, from left to right. Both of us preferred the middle sauce, with its sweet, fruity taste and slightly tangy, slightly spicy flavor. Yeah, go ahead, make haole-style and pour some of it on your rice - just not when you're trying to learn the culture, nor out with that cute Japanese girl you've been trying to impress!
Though I would have preferred trying an order of chicken or seafood, wifey could only manage to bend by agreeing to the other red meat, a pork toro, which is a fatty, almost bacon-like cut coming in either a sprinkling of salt or miso marinade. We went with miso:
The pork was good to try, but aaah, I'd rather stick with beef. See all the wide bands of fat, just like bacon or cheaper, tougher fat types? While I luuuv-luv fats, all fats are not created equal, and these are not the particular types I crave when going yakiniku.
I tried getting away from the solid-fat strips altogether, but our next order didn't help the situation much, actually. Wifey prodded me to get the premium boneless kalbi, which would have been filled with lots of fatty marbling (not solid strips!), but for some reason, I mistakenly ordered a premium ribeye! Now, you know I always talk about ribeye being the absolute-best cut for grilling giant steaks, American-style, but for thin-cut yakiniku, kalbi is more often the way to go. It's even fattier than rib-eye, but when cut into thick slabs it's often a bit overkill, and tends to be somewhat tougher.
Anyhow, here's the premium ribeye, something that would please just about anyone except us tonight. Since when does ribeye steak seem so inferior? Only at better yakiniku houses, guess. Spoiled rotten, I tell you!
The last order of meat for the evening was a harami, or skirt steak, sitting in a marinade of sweet miso. The luscious Black Angus cuts were thick, fatty, and tender, the heavy flavoring perfect for local tastes. In America, Gyu Kaku actually ramps-up the sauces and seasonings a bit higher to suit the different needs found here.
And finally, to top it all off, a bowl of wakame (seaweed) soup. A fixture in yakiniku restaurants, this tasty bowl was large enough for the two of us to share, as you can see by the two smaller bowls provided. Besides the strong dashi flavor that comes from wakame, I always look for leaves that aren't so thin and cooked-down until it becomes mushy, and this one didn't dissapoint on both counts. Not as good as Yakiniku Hiroshi, but still, not bad at all, and hot liquid is a great way to help wash down all that animal fat you just consumed!
Great food, great atmosphere, decent prices - no wonder so many people love this place! It all makes for a perfect date-night, or perhaps an evening out with a carload or two of friends, who will no doubt enjoy the fun and entertainment of such a unique set-up. And that ice-cold beer? Worth the price of admission alone!
Hey, hope you all had a great and wonderful weekend - I sure did, with everyone over hibachi'ing! Minowamon junmai daiginjo sake from Japan, Zaya Grand Reserve rum from Trinidad; live abalone, lobster tails, ribeye steaks, and more on the grill; poke, sashimi, shiitake mushroom dip, and more served cold - how could life get any better? Spoiled rotten, we are! What else can we do but count our blessings and be thankful for such luxuries? Life truly is good, yes?
Take care and Aloha till next time!
Aku
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Comments:
Tracy T. (7/14/09) - To whom it may concern; Would you know where I could buy the marinades and sauces? Or do the sell it at all? Thank you, Tracy
Aku (7/14/09) - Oh, geez, I'm so not sure, but I don't think they sell the marinades nor sauces there at Gyu Kaku. You could probably get away with asking for a few small plastic containers of tare, if you asked. Don't know if you specifically wanted Gyu Kaku stuff, but both Don Quijote and Marukai are packed with yakiniku sauces (tare) and marinades. There are very few Japanese yakiniku restaurants on the island (though there's lots of Korean), and I haven't seen any of them selling the sauces. Sorry, wish I could tell you more!
Tracy T. (7/15/09) - Thanks anyway but I've been to Daiei lot of sauces and other stuff, but not the Gyu kaku stuff. Mahalo for the quick response, cool website akueats.com.
Aku (7/15/09) - Good news! The whole "not knowing" thing was bothering me, so I simply called the Waikiki location and they said that they actually do sell both the marinades and the sauces! I left messages with the Ala Mo spot, but they haven't called back yet. No worries though, cuz if Waikiki has them, the other side gotta have them, too - garan's!
Tracy T. (7/15/09) - Eh Aku, Mahalo for the update so I guess the Kapi'olani location sells it also. I will be stopping by to get some sauces and marinades. I've been trying to email them but no response, Again keep up the good work, awesome website.
Aku (7/15/09) - Ai Suuusss!!! Kapiolani just called, and said they used to, but no longer sell the sauces! Hopefully, the guy I spoke to at Waikiki knows what he's talking about, and that they really do sell them there - he seemed sure, but you never know! Lemme know if you get them!
Tracy T. (7/15/09) - Just my luck I wil call them myself and ask them how much it is for the sauces. I'm thinking they do sell it at all, need to go there and eat. I saw them on Sam Choys last show they did'nt really say when sam asked them. So don't really know!
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