1215

[Mooshmouse]

Being fans of Hapa Izakaya, *Deborah* and I were eager to check out the new digs owned by former Hapa Chef Takahiro Toyoshige (Shige).

The rather industrial-looking metal front door opened into a black room. And by black, I mean black. Like Jim Morrison painted a whole room from ceiling to floor instead of his famed door. The restaurant was about half full -- not too shabby, I suppose, on a Wednesday night for a restaurant that runs no advertising whatsoever.

Admittedly, I was a bit disappointed when I glanced over the menu. No silly, fun Japanese drinks. And where was the fish? Three or four tuna specials on the fresh sheet but scant other evidence of sea life other than the much-raved-about crab croquettes and a scallop dish.

Asparagus and Bacon Spring Rolls

This is two shy of the six that we were served. No worse but certainly no better than any spring roll I've tasted elsewhere. We were given ample warning that the accompanying dipping sauce was "very hot", but it was nothing more than a smoky-sweet tomato based sauce, almost like a banana ketchup, that barely registered on my palate's heat meter. Geez, they look like deep-fried fingers, don't they.

Clam Chowder Noodles

We ordered this out of morbid curiosity. Tasting it revealed little more than we had guessed at: a low-rent tasting foodstuff reminiscent of clams-à-la-king. Kinda like something we would have made in university with ramen noodles and Campbells Chunky during those lean food-budget months.

Next up was Marinated Kobe Beef with mashed potatoes and green salad, one of two dishes that I neglected to photograph. I tasted the potatoes first. Okay, but cold. Odd. The beef was done medium with a barely perceptible patch of red in the middle, very salty but still tender. And lukewarm. Meh.

Pork Tortillas

Deborah said that the meat was tasty; however, I could barely taste it once it had been wrapped up despite the small portions of accompanying fillings. Perhaps they would have been better served using something thinner and less overpowering than a tortilla like a thin crepe or spring roll wrapper.

Pumpkin and Cottage Cheese Dip

Of the six dishes that we ordered, this looked the most promising but turned out to be the most disappointing vis-à-vis its delicious counterpart at Hapa. Bland and almost devoid of flavour save for the orange marmalade that had been drizzled over top. Orange marmalade: one sure-fire way to kill a dish for my tastebuds.

By the time our Tuna "Tar Tar" arrived, I was perilously close to being overwhelmed by culinary lassitude and completely overlooked photographing it. Four sheets of nori accompanied chunks of tuna topped with large chunks of avocado and a small dollop of tobiko. Deborah deemed it clean tasting, and that it was. No other seasoning had been added unlike the ethereal version of this dish that's served at Feenie's. Thank goodness for soy sauce.

In the end, we waited more than 20 minutes before finally receiving our bill. Would I go back? Not for a while. I'll wait until they sort out their menu which, at present, lacks depth and sophistication in its execution.

Before tapping out this writeup, I read back through Tim Pawsey's review of 1215 to see if I had somehow missed the point. He writes, "Shige later tells me he's embarked on a "new style of fusion tapas," with dishes that just don't emulate but deliberately differ from traditional Japanese food-not even a hint of sushi, teriyaki or tempura here. 'I want to push the borders as far as you can go,' says Shige, 'without losing that connection to more traditional izakaya completely.'" Ah. Hence the lack of fish. Sure, push those borders, Chef Shige. But don't push them so far that you push the taste out of your food.

Take two will be some time in the future. For now, Hapa takes round one.

[fud]

'I want to push the borders as far as you can go,' says Shige, 'without losing that connection to more traditional izakaya completely.'"  Ah.  Hence the lack of fish.  Sure, push those borders, Chef Shige.  But don't push them so far that you push the taste out of your food.

←

Ahh if that's true then did you get a unified "Arashi-Masen" when you arrived? And a crescendoing "Arigato-Gazaimas!" starting with the waiter closest to you moving away from you and getting louder till it hits the chef/crew in the back?

If not I'm not sure I want to try it

[Andrew Morrison]

If you're anywhere near a WE box today, you'll find my review of 1215. I wasn't too impressed with the food (three stars out of five), and was equally mystified by the cold miso-marinated beef that tasted like biltong and the colder mashed potatoes (I rather enjoyed his croquette treatment of kobe sauced on the inside with a sweet demi). The room, reminiscent of a Twin Peaks dream sequence shot on a shoestring is, methinks, evidence of a tight budget (as is the signage afterthought out front). I was surprised that there was little Japanese influence on the menu, but there was plenty of hot and cold sake as well as several shochu options. The bellowed greeting, fud, was there in full force.

Much of my article was positive because I tend to applaud chefs who take chances with their concept. Shige would be more successful if he kept to his izakaya roots, but he's trying something new, and I like that. Whether that translates into excellence, however, is a different kettle of fired mackeral altogether (the table-side seared halibut carpaccio sounded delicious, but it didn't make the cut of the 8 dishes I tried over two visits). With the new wine bar soon to open just a few doors down, I'm just happy to see the Peloponnese Pridelands on the up and up.

I assume the fun cocktails will appear as soon as they get their shit together. I have a sneaking suspicion that they found the location, pounced, and opened almost immediately due to financial constraints (if you have a killer nose you might still smell the souvlaki). I'll give them a few months before I go back.

Edited April 7, 2006 by Andrew Morrison (log)

[*Deborah*]

We smelled...something.

1215 was definitely OK, but not as tasty (or as fun) as Hapa. Our server was ex-Hapa, too, and I think some of the other staff have followed Chef. There was the big greeting and farewell, Wes (including Shige asking us to "Come back tomorrow!!" ), so you do enter and leave with a big smile, even if the middle bit is a bit meh. (I didn't find that anything was bad, or not to my taste, but there was nothing that made me go WOW! which is sort of what I was expecting, after my happy Hapa Izakaya experiences, that's all.)

I have high hopes that it will improve; and we didn't try the famous croquettes, for one thing, so there is definitely a reason to go back. I think it's only fair to allow for growing pains. The funniest part of the meal was that clam chowder: it was good, but weird, and it reminded Moosh and me of the sort of strange concoction you make in university when you're broke and hungry...except this was full of good stuff, nice clams, fresh vegetables and so on. very funny.

Edited April 7, 2006 by *Deborah* (log)

[bccoati]

We tried out 1215 last week. The most memorable dish was the miso-marinated beef tongue (melts-in-your-mouth soft and very rich). The chicken dish was also good. I don't remember what it was called. It was kind of like Agedashi Tofu using chicken instead of tofu. We preferred to call it Agedashi Chicken Karaage. We found the squid stuffed with garlic rice a bit over-cooked. The seared blue-fin tuna special was OK, nothing too special. We also had a salad with prosciutto and soft tofu, which was an interesting combination, but we probably won't order it again. All in all, we found the restaurant's future promising.

[ozver]

Had a chance to check out 1215 last week with C, and our thoughts fall pretty much in line with Mr. Morrison. In fact we were there the evening that his younger one fell through the somewhat dated high chair (we were the couple continually looking over at your table, hoping to read into your thoughts, almost like a preview of your review). Food was interseting but had more misses then hits for myself. The room has a neat feel, but the chairs and tables are the last remnants from the previous restaurant and as such look and feel quite out of place. I will probably be back in a few months to see how things have progressed.

[Andrew Morrison]

Owzer, it was your presence that made me so nervous as to momentarily lose track of Pip. In such esteemed company, I always want to look as professional as I can!

I trust Shige has a plan, but as Clausewitz said (a great busser when not campaigning): "No plan survives first contact with the enemy."

I'm sure a little time is all they require.

Edited April 9, 2006 by Andrew Morrison (log)

[barolo]

Mia Stainsby reviews 1215 in today's Sun.

She's relatively positive giving it 31/2 stars overall, as well as for food, ambience, and service. She notes it doesn't have the ambience or the buzz of Hapa Isakaya but she liked most of the dishes she tried.

There have been pretty mixed reviews about this place and Davie is tough street for restaurants, I wonder how they will fare over the summer with no patio and no windows.

[PearL]

My friends and I were having a night out at Balthazar one weekend last month so a gf and I decided to do dinner on Davie and only park the car once. I picked 1215 as we're both regulars at japanese/izakaya joints, and although I hadn't heard too much about it since spring, on passing by, the room generally looks at least half-full; so off we went...

...and came out with the conclusion that neither of us would return. Service was slow and hard to find when needed. I'm still not fully accustomed to having to pay for tea at asian places, and less enjoyable was drinking it out of thimble-sized cups. The menu was not all that inspired, and it took us some time to actually find four dishes that sounded interesting enough to try. We then learned that they were 'sold out' of two. So we ended up with three: 1) Dungeness crab croquette. Not to our liking at all. There seemed to be no crab in the very large croquettes, which seemed to be filled with a mushy nondescript creaminess that we concluded resembled condensed cream of mushroom soup. There was, however, a tiny pile of crabmeat at the side of the plate; I suppose that's where the crab part of the dish came into play. 2) Tuna tartare. Not dressed, coarsely chopped avocado and tuna with square nori sheets. Clean tasting, yes, but very forgettable. 3) Cold tofu, avocado, crab. This sounded like it had some potential, but it was very similar to the tuna tartare in preparation. As in, barely dressed and with minimum prep. The square of tofu was plunked onto the plate straight out of its plastic container and not cleaned up for presentation (the grooves from the container running down the sides), a quarter of avocado thickly sliced onto that, topped with a bit of crabmeat. Served with the same square nori sheets, which we found impossible to incorporate, so ended up just picking at the block of tofu with our chopsticks and leaving the nori untouched. Including tip, for 2, our meal was $45. Not a huge sum, as we're used to dining out. But for what we were served, we felt ever so unsatisfied. As mentioned in previous posts, the room does look put together on a shoestring budget, but I think this budget also is reflected in the food...

Edited November 2, 2006 by PearL (log)