The Other Critics

Kauffman Is Very Much In Love With the Sushi at 2G Brasserie; Erickson Visits Seiya in San Carlos

2G Brasserie
2G Brasserie Photo: Genevieve Y./Yelp

We had kind of written off 2G Japanese Brasserie as just another random sushi spot when it opened seven months back at Opera Plaza. But Jonathan Kauffman pens a review this week that makes us think otherwise, revealing that they recently hired a new chef: Toshio Oguma, who helped open Morimoto Napa. Kauffman calls it “the best sushi meal I’ve eaten all year,” and describes some “succulent saba” and some lightly marinated fluke nigiri with “umami-dense notes of seaweed” and “a flash of sweet citrus” from a touch of yuzu. “Everything was seasoned so beautifully,” he writes, “that the thought of pouring a dish of soy sauce or touching the lump of wasabi never occurred.” Also we learn that male uni is sweeter than female uni, and that Oguma adheres to an “old style” of sushi making that requires seasoning or marinating every piece of fish. As for the other stuff on the “brasserie” menu, Kauffman says don’t bother. [SF Weekly]

Now that Reidinger is gone, and his semi-replacement Virginia Miller is covering booze this week, we turn to L.E. Leone, the Cheap Eats columnist at the Guardian, who amidst a characteristically stream-of-consciousness road-trip narrative manages to sneak in a few words about Mingalaba Restaurant in Burlingame, which serves Burmese and Mandarin food, and cheap! “The asparagus was tough, the potatoes were undercooked, but the chickens and fishes they accompanied were excellent. And the mango salad! Yum!” [SFBG]

And over at the Chron, Mandy Erickson’s on the two-star, outer-Bay-Area beat today, discussing Seiya, a Japanese small-plates eatery in San Carlos. She says all the food is executed well and service is “attentive,” and she gives the place two and a half stars for food. But she says some dishes get “out of hand,” like the Great Balls of Fire, which is “slices of a tuna roll coated in panko, deep fried and drizzled with sriracha, mayonnaise and unagi sauce.” Also, the portions tend to be pretty small. [Chron]

Kauffman Is Very Much In Love With the Sushi at 2G Brasserie; Erickson Visits