Poke Sampler

Shrimp, citrus, blood orange

Tuna, wasabi mayo, cucumbers, edamame

The tuna with wasabi mayo was also heavy and needed some restraint.  I’m not a fan of overly mayo-ed foods.  We all preferred the citrusy and lighter shrimp poke.

Eight-Legged Duck baby octopus terrine, seared foie gras, crispy rice, crispy shallot, sweet chili sauce

OK, this was frankly the oddest dish of the night.  I’m not sure where they got the idea of pairing octopus and foie gras.  It made no sense.  The octopus had no taste.  All the random other components made for a really confused dish.  On the upside, the foie tasted fatty and unctuous.

Pork Belly Lechon Ssam bibb lettuce, cucumbers, chilies, fresh herbs, island chimichurri, green sriracha

Out of all the dishes, this dish was the cleanest, simplest, and therefore the strongest dish.  It felt the most true to the original flavors and concepts of the first iteration of A-Frame’s menu.  It felt like they took the beer can chicken dish and reworked it into this pork version.  The pork skin was so perfectly crisp, and all the accouterments made for delectable little wrap.  I passed on using the perilla leaf when the bibb lettuce ran out.  Yuck! Perilla.

Yakisoba Noodle seasonal vegetables, pickled red ginger, fresh herbs, yakisoba sauce

I honestly cannot remember much of this dish, so that probably speaks for itself.

Huli Huli marinated rotisserie chicken, cilantro, huli butter sauce

The next few dishes all were pretty tasty in a similar way.  Some tasty sauces carried home these proteins.  This chicken dish felt particularly Indian in some way.  I couldn’t pinpoint the exact spice, but everyone agreed.

North Shore shell-on shrimp, garlic, butter, bird’s eye chili, pineapple

The shrimps were meaty and sweet, but that sauce, while quite flavorful felt a little too goopy and monotonous after a while.  The dish seemed to lack the refined simplicity of the lechon ssam.

Loco Moco hambagu steak, rice, curry gravy, sunnyside egg, pickled pearl onion

I’m quite partial to curry sauces, so this might have been the best loco moco I’ve eaten and probably my favorite of the goopy trio of dishes.  I wish I could order this at my local Curry House.

Butter Mochi Cake dulce de leche, pickled cara cara oranges, candied orange peel, mint

I thought this was gonna be more cake than mochi, but it really was like a sweet square of chewy slightly buttery mochi.  The tops and bottoms were crispy, which was nice for the texture.  I’m not sure the masses are gonna gravitate towards something like this, probably opting for the more familiar texture of cake or custard.

Chu Don’t Know Mang pound cake, cinnamon sugar, malted chocolate milk, vanilla ice cream

I was very happy that this dessert was one of the few items that survived the revamp.  It was pretty spectacular the first time I had it.  On subsequent visits, as with this visit, I felt the pound cake was a bit too fried and not cakey enough.  Still though, the idea of making marrying pound cake and churro is still genius in my book.