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Do-it-yourself BBQ restaurant is beefy, blissful

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At some Japanese restaurants, sushi or teppanyaki chefs turn a meal into a kind of performance, expertly crafting dishes before awestruck tables. Yakiniku, Japanese barbecue, is essentially the opposite – you, the diner, are in charge of your own destiny as varieties of raw meat and veggies are brought to individual table grills.

Tsuruhashi shows there’s still an art to these do-it-yourself meals. The tiny restaurant, tucked away in a Fountain Valley strip mall, serves up perfect cuts in bountiful variety. It’s a meat lover’s paradise that offers a unique dining experience.

On my first trip, the gas grill inset in the table of a booth is a little intimidating. In trepidation, I place a solitary strip of meat on the heated metal surface and cringe when it begins to sizzle. My worries are unfounded, though. With meat this good, it’s difficult to go wrong. After popping the first juicy, literally hot-off-the-grill chunk into my mouth, I’m a believer in the restaurant’s method. In no time, I’m confidently grilling up the rest of my order.

The menu’s Family Set option is a good way to try a little of everything. For $27, two or three people can enjoy a platter of boneless short ribs, outside skirt steak, chicken and ribeye. Each piece of meat seems impossibly fresh, and though there’s light miso and soy-based sauces to dip in, the meat has so much flavor on its own it doesn’t need the assistance.

All the meat is great, but after one taste of the Kobe cuts it’s clear why this beef has such a reputation. “Tender” barely begins to describe it. The plump boneless short ribs offer a silky texture, and each bite is like candy.

Pork belly is also plenty juicy – each slice is riddled with clear strips of fat. This is where manning the grill personally gets a lot of fun. Each piece is a bit of an experiment, and at my table we try a few cooking times. My favorite is a happy medium between soft and crispy, just how I prefer my bacon.

No cooking is required to enjoy the yukke, seasoned beef sashimi served with a raw quail egg. Yes, this is a plate of raw meat, essentially a Korean version of steak tartare. The soft morsels of ground beef are coated in sesame oil, which underlines the richness of the meat. Quail egg adds to that, and the dish would almost be cloying if it weren’t for the contrasts in the plate. Bitter greens balance the heavy sweetness of the meat, and thin spears of crisp pear offer a juicy crunch.

To go with the bounty of meat, we order the kimchi fried rice. This sizable portion is a good way to balance out the protein overload. The fluffy orange kernels offer a tangy kick from sweet and sour kimchi. Even this isn’t without richness, though – yolk from an over-easy egg keeps the dish fairly hearty.

Egg drop soup has savory clear broth and velvety wisps of yellow egg. Even in its most simple dishes, the restaurant makes an impression.

After a meal that’s become a little smoky, frozen desserts seem natural. Sweet and cool lychee sherbet is superlatively refreshing. Black sesame ice cream is creamier and offers an interesting taste somewhere between sweet and savory.

It’s another flavor to add to the variety offered by Tsuruhashi. No matter how you cook it, a meal here is sure to stand out for its quality – and you can claim a little of the credit.

Click here for 15 photos of Tsuruhashi, and leave your thoughts below in the comments.

Tsuruhashi
18798 Brookhurst St.
Fountain Valley
714-593-8393
Hours: 5 p.m. – 1 a.m. daily

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Do-it-yourself BBQ restaurant is beefy, blissful is a post from: Food Frenzy


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