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The interior is a knickknack-cluttered, almost Middle American version of Orientalist décor, right down to the tiki flair of a backroom bamboo hutch and reams of kanji-printed paper lanterns. Meanwhile, in the hall leading to the restrooms, an 8-foot-tall scroll of painted text drills down Bamboo company policies in sans-serif English. "Create WOW!" employees are importuned, before receiving a reading on kaizen, the philosophy of continuous improvement that is the Nipponese equivalent of Six Sigma. Employees are also told to have fun. One feels, guiltily, like an eavesdropper.
Kaizen was still in play until recently on the menu, which is settling into place with the addition of ramen. Two items should not change—and both play to Bamboo's background in seafood.
First is the salted mackerel ($15), which arrives magisterially whole—its skin charred, its meat moist and pungent—with a side of crisply tangy ponzu sauce. It's a revelation in both simplicity and generosity, and a pointer to what the restaurant does best: Meat is treated with reverence on the house robata grills, arriving with its edges crisped and its insides tender.
Second is the Oregon Coast black cod ($12), which is elegantly presented and eloquently conceived, with lightly pickled bok choy, pickled Fresno pepper, and nouvelle cuisine dabs of saekyo miso and yuzu. The cod is politely flavorful, tender, and livened heartily by pickle and spice. It's the most fully realized and creatively conceived dish on the menu.
But though the wide variety of meat is well cared for both in life and death, most dishes contain little brightness, and no heat—no wow, in short. The flavor comes mostly from variations in soy and sticky-sweet accents, with maybe fried shallots or ginger to provide sharpness. But in a slight Iberico de Bellota pork-collar plate and a veggie ramen, ginger nonetheless overpowered dishes with otherwise minimal depth. The restaurant's midtoned décor is largely mirrored in the dinner fare.
The brunch, on the other hand, is a sort of bonkers '90s-style fusion: vinegar-sauced eggs Benedict with pork collar ($13), or a Bizarro World version of steak and eggs ($11). It's all somewhere between winking pastiche and a hunt for Carmen Sandiego. In the steak and eggs, a skirt skewer is paired with runny scrambled eggs that seem quixotically bent on approximating muddled tamago. Meanwhile, 7-spice potatoes are a marvel of texture, beautifully crisped with delicate softness within—as expertly torched as any patatas bravas. We mention without comment a five-piece, $12 bacon flight. Breakfast cocktails include a togarashi-kimchee bloody "maria" ($9) made with jalapeño sake—an overloaded, wearying flavor bomb that tries too hard to prove it's a small world after all.
The rest of the cocktail menu is arranged on similar fusion principles—plum and sake and shochu dropped into Euro-American stylings—most successfully in the Emperor ($14), a smoky 12-year Japanese whiskey with pepper-infused sake and bitters. Avoid cloying novelties like a Sake-rita ($8). Most sakes are served either singly or in 720 ml bottles, but instead get flights of shochu, a Japanese liquor that offers surprising variety of flavor because made from different starches.
In the end, one arrives at a restaurant with no singular vision, but occasional wonders—an uncurated museum box of two continents. But with a little citrus, and a little more chili, the cocktail might be a lot more intoxicating.
- Order this: Black cod, mackerel, shochu flight.
- Iâll pass: Oversweet Brussels sprouts, veggie ramen (so far).
EAT: Bamboo Izakaya, 1409 NE Alberta St., 889-0336, bambooizakaya.com. 5 pm-midnight Monday-Thursday, 5 pm-1 am Friday-Saturday. Brunch: 9 am-2 pm Saturday-Sunday.
WWeek 2015
