The sad news: they're gone for three months! I am reminded of how sad this is by last night's yummy dinner (sans toddler of course - he'd be standing on tables trying to reach those globesque light fixtures). JAI IS OUR FAVORITE RESTAURANT IN SAN DIEGO. I put that in caps because I mean it. We like it better than all the other tops: Tapenade, Nine-Ten, Blanca, A. R. Valentien, etc etc., not to mention Cafe Chloe and all the more modestly priced yummies. And while I haven't been to Market in a while (I love it, the Dad doesn't), I'll say I think I like Chef Yoshinori Kojima even better than my beloved Carl Schroeder - even though Chef K gets no respect or name recognition because Wolfgang Puck's name is all over the restaurant.
Ok - why do we like Jai so much? a) Unpretentious atmosphere - classy without being stuffy. But more important b) THE FOOD, THE FOOD, THE FOOD, THE FOOD. Chef Kojima is some kind of genius. Every single flavor I have had out of his kitchen makes me want to clean the plate (honestly, there are no morcels left). The Dad loves it too - how rare is that??? Usually, I love a place and he thinks it's ok (we all know his faves: he could dine at Bongiorno's and Wahoos all week long). But we both LOVE LOVE LOVE Jai....
Last night I had:
--miso sesame cone ahi: I know, I really should have tried something new. There was a new butternut squash soup and a beet salad on the menu. (both sound boring but in Chef K's hands would have been a revelation, I am sure). In his hands, tomato soup and heirloom tomato salad, two favorites of last summer season were absolutely spectacular - nothing like the same dishes at other places.....And yet with Jai closing for 3 mos., how could I not get the little ice cream-cone style tuna tartare??? And of course it was scrumptious and when it came I was thrilled that I had not deprived myself of this yumminess by ordering something else.
--miso butterfish. It's their signature dish. I ate every last morcel of their brown rice (which tastes nothing like bland brown rice), plus the bok choy (which tastes nothing like boring bok choy), not to mention the yumminesss of the butterfish - and then there was an amazing sauce on the side I had almost forgotten about....ate every last morcel.
--Dessert: Here I lived on the edge. Was going to get the warm truffle cake (theirs is such a fine representation). But I decided to get the "warm fruit crumble." (what the hell)? OHMIGOD....At first glance it appeared to be a sea of jam with three little 1-inch diameter beignets and a bit of ice cream on the side. ("This is my whole crumble", she thinks?). And yet....my first taste of jam was delicious....and then HOLY ^&&^(()&^^% those little beignet things, as tiny as they were were just about the best ^&*()()(&* thing I ever ate. Definitely one of my favorite desserts of all time (I don't mean only at Jai).
In sum....Jai has incredibly delicious food, and on top of this they go very very light on carbs. And so we end up having 3 courses and being perfectly sated - full but not overstuffed or overheavy. The desserts are the perfect size - you didn't overeat but you got something really yummy.
HAVE I MENTIONED THAT WE LOVE JAI??
Only negatives: wines by the glass cost way too much. (Really? 12.50 as one of the cheapest??). And my cocktails have been not very exciting lately (loved the basil gimlet martini the first visit, and it has been more boring since).
And yet....did I even mention that you can use restaurant.com gift certificates there? So it ends up being Restaurant Week type prices all year....
And so, my friends, please do mark it on your calendars to try it when it reopens in summer. I hate to build it up so much that you'll be like "oh, it didn't live up to Foodgirl's hype"....But I CAN'T HELP THAT I LOVE IT AND CAN'T DO ANYTHING TODAY BUT SING ITS PRAISES!!!!
MAY IT COME BACK STRONGER IN SUMMER!!!
PS: I should have included info on The Dad's dishes (but of course, I was exulting only about what I ate. He had the veggie spring roll, which I tasted: much much better than your avg. spring roll, but it's still a spring roll, so that was only good, not amazing. Then he had the lamb, which he loved. Then he had the warm truffle cake, which he always gets and which is delicious....(he didn't let me share it this time, but I didn't want a taste anyway since I was dying over my jam and beignets!). Yummy for the carnivores and the piscivores!
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