To celebrate Taro’s birthday, we are actually going up to San Francisco for the weekend. However, I still wanted to do something on the actual day of his birthday and the first thing to pop into my head was steak. Taro loves steak and I have been dying to try Mastro’s Steakhouse. So I thought, “Why not?” and made reservations. I think I was far more excited by it than he was. So when Wednesday approached, I hopped onto the Metro and Taro picked me up from the Wilshire/Western stop and we headed off to the restaurant.
When we were seated, Taro already knew what to order. He talked to his coworker, Kevin, who once claimed Mastro’s had the best steak before he discovered Cut. Kevin always ordered the Double Cut Porterhouse, a whopping 48 ounces of USDA Prime meat. For one person to eat it and finish it is beastly. However, Taro and I were sharing it. We also ordered oysters on the half shell, French Onion Soup, which is a must whenever we see it on the menu, and we were sold by our waiter’s description of the signature Lobster and Garlic Mashed Potatoes.
Our starter of oysters was a mix of Northern Pacific Oysters and Blue Point Oysters. Taro and I love oysters and these were not too bad, although Taro made the comment that Vegas really does serve top-notch seafood. It still just doesn’t compare to the oysters from Mon Ami Gabi or Bouchon. Despite that, the Blue Point Oysters were much better than the Northern Pacific Oysters. There was a hint of cucumber flavoring to them and with a dab of Tabasco and cocktail sauce, they were quite delectable. After this, the rest of the food came out, but Taro and I were not prepared for the enormity of the Double Cut Porterhouse. It was massive! The chef sliced the meat off the bone, dividing the filet and the New York cuts. And when the waiter said that it was going to be pink on the inside, he was not kidding. We love our meat medium-rare and this was the rarest we have ever had our steak. I definitely don’t mind since I am a carnivore; even though I love eating meat, I could not conquer this cut of steak. After just eating two slices, I was done. I felt stuffed, but it was oh so good. The French Onion Soup was also very good – not too salty, but still full of flavor. It is definitely one that has stood out amongst the french onion soups that I have tried recently. Last but not least, the Lobster Garlic Mashed Potatoes. Can I just say amazing? There were chunks of lobster mixed in with creamy, buttery mashed potatoes. Granted the mashed potatoes could have stood alone, but with lobster? Heavenly.
Even though I was stuffed, I had to get dessert. I have heard so many things about Mastro’s Signature Warm Butter Cake. When it came out, the aroma was just so warm and savory. I even told our waiter that the smell alone was fantastic and he just said, “Wait until you actually eat it.” Was it good? Yes. It was a little bit heavier than I thought it was going to be, but it was not overly sweet and it went well with the ice cream and cream on the side. The Butter Cake was a good way to end our dinner and it was nice to treat Taro (and myself) for the night.
I would definitely recommend Mastro’s Steakhouse to people just because the dishes we got were very good and considering the size of the porterhouse, I felt we got value for our money. It was definitely a treat and I can only imagine what Cut must be like. But that is for another day…
Happy birthday again, Taro, and I hope you enjoyed your monster steak. Here’s to our adventure in San Francisco this weekend!
I think it is funny that whenever we meet people, they call me and Taro newlyweds. I mean, we are newlyweds, but the term is just so strange. I have known Taro for a while now – we lived together in three different apartments, bought a house together, and share ownership of Peanut…all before getting married! So newlyweds? Yes. New to each other? Far from it. A series of questions will then follow after the newlyweds statement: When did you get married? Is it different being married? And of course, then there are comments like, “It’s your first [fill in the blank] as a married couple!” So I guess this was our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple, but really I don’t see anything different about it. It is just an excuse to get each other something and then enjoy the night. We don’t need a day to celebrate love, but it is nice to know that there is someone special to celebrate the day with.
Our Valentine’s Day was pretty low key; I booked a massage for Taro at The Massage Place – he desperately needed one to get the knots out of his back from work – for an hour and a half and when he was done, we had lunch at home – sandwiches, salad (leftover from Mozza), and clam chowder from Bristol Farm (My fave!). What did we do afterward? Nap. Massages are exhausting and Taro slept for three hours! I only napped for an hour and did a mixture of reading and watching the Olympics when I woke up.
So at 6:30 p.m., we headed off to the Metro Gold Line since it now goes all the way to Little Tokyo. Once we got there, I had to pick up imagawayaki from Mitsuri Cafe; these things are amazing, especially when they are freshly made. I always buy some and take them home because they are one of my favorite things. Then we walked over to KaGaYa, a shabu shabu restaurant, which we went to a few years ago and really enjoyed. Shin-Sen-Gumi does not compare when it comes down to shabu shabu and why we haven’t returned earlier to KaGaYa, I’m not sure, especially since I remember how delicious their meat was and how their banana dessert was something to be remembered. So we were excited to return and it did not fail our expectations. I ordered the special – live king crab – and Taro ordered beef (USDA prime rib) with a side of premium wagyu beef. Live king crab is amazing; to order the regular Alaskan king crab does not even compare. We dipped it just long enough to have it cook and savored each bite; the portions were actually generous considering it also came with clams and oysters. The beef was also delicious, but when it came to the wagyu beef, it was like butter. You have to just count to three when you swirl it in the broth and then, it just melts in your mouth. Taro and I left KaGaYa stuffed and we seriously cannot wait to go back.
After dinner, we headed over to Casey’s Irish Pub to watch Joe Romero, Taro’s friend from high school, do an anti-Valentine’s Day stand-up. I have only been to the Laugh Factory once, but this was nice and intimate, and also a treat because it was Taro’s personal friend. There were a lot of jokes made about dating and overall, it was a night filled with laughs, drinks, and more laughs.
It was a good Valentine’s Day – nothing outrageous, just a nice day. So Happy Valentine’s Day again, Taro, and here is to many, many more.
Dark because of the pub (I didn’t want to use the flash to blind him), but here is a picture of Joe Romero making the audience laugh:
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