Newport Beach: Nana San

No trip to California would be complete without sushi. The state's proximity to the Pacific Ocean means that it has access to some of the freshest and most varied catch in the United States, at prices lower than one would find for fish of the same caliber on the East Coast. At the recommendation of a born-and-raised Southern Californian friend, we left the bustle of Los Angeles for an afternoon and drove to Newport Beach to have lunch at Nana San, a generic looking restaurant in a strip mall. A seat at the sushi bar is a must.

When I'm at a quality sushi restaurant, I almost always opt for the omakase. There is no better way to taste the day's freshest fish or to experience the full spectrum of the restaurant's potential. Nana San is as good a place as any to order the omakase - if you're lucky, Goro Sakurai, the owner and head sushi chef at Nana San will be serving you that day. Friendly and accommodating, his easygoing demeanor belies the care he devotes to his craft.

Japanese red snapper with fresh yuzu and sea salt

This red snapper appetizer is a signature dish at Nana San. Crisp and clean, it was an austere precursor to the flight of fish to come. The word “digestive” comes to mind.

Herring roe

In stark contrast to the simplicity of the red snapper was the pickled herring roe, which arrived immediately after. The golden beads of roe are anchored to a firm, rubbery section of tissue, which has a texture similar to that of kelp. It takes a bit of chewing, but you are rewarded for your efforts with an explosion of salty brininess, each bite intensely evocative of the sea.

Kumamoto oysters with scallions, grated daikon radish and ponzu

Shigoku oysters with scallions, grated daikon radish and ponzu sauce

Next came oysters on the half shell, each painstakingly dressed in scallions, grated daikon radish and ponzu sauce. The craggy Kumamotos were appropriately creamy and full-bodied, while the Shigoku specimens, in keeping with their sleek and streamlined abodes, exhibited a sharper, cleaner flavor.

Bluefin tuna (left) and hamachi (right)

Seared salmon with fresh lemon and sea salt

Sea eel with sea salt

Santa Barbara uni

Seared scallop with yuzu and lime pepper

Then the sushi began. A swatch of hamachi dissolved in a swirl of melting fat on the tongue; it is perhaps one of the best cuts of hamachi I have had to date. A chunk of barely seared salmon atop a bed of rice prompted a hush of wonderment over our end of the bar, while a slice of cooked sea eel elicited murmurs of contentment, its rather drab appearance belying its flaky tenderness. Goro continued to impress with a mound of uni, straight from Santa Barbara, and a ludicrously paunchy raw scallop, as voluptuous in flavor as it was in form, the yuzu and lime pepper garnishes rounding out its curves.

Toro

Chu-toro

Spanish mackerel with scallion and ginger

Nana-san is not without some missteps. A hunk of toro was slightly sinewy, although a subsequent cut of chu-toro fared a bit better. The Spanish mackerel lacked its usual meaty complexity, its flavor overpowered by the minced ginger.

Halibut with jalapeno

Amberjack with yuzu

Albacore

Cucumber maki

Citrus gelee

The meal ended on a light note, with two bites of cucumber maki and an intensely refreshing citrus gelee.

Nana San may not offer the prize cuts that are monopolized by the most high end sushi restaurants, but for what it is, it is a great value. And what is it that you get? Very fresh fish, without pretense or sternness, transformed by the lightly creative touch of Goro and his disciples at a laid back little sushi bar bathed in the California sun.

Thanks to Michelle C. for the recommendation.

Nana San

3601 Jamboree Road, Ste 15B

Newport Beach, CA 92660

Phone: (949) 474-7373

Hours: Mon-Fri 11:30 am - 2:30 pm; Mon-Thu 5:30 pm - 10 pm; Fri-Sat 5:30 pm - 10:30 pm

Basta Pasta

The hackneyed, usually misguided notion of "East meets West" has conferred a number of horrors upon society. An era of bad "Asian" fusion restaurants. General Tso's chicken. Steven Seagal movies.

Unfortunately, Basta Pasta joins the ranks of these botched attempts at cultural amalgamation. An experiment in Japanese-Italian cuisine, it exhibits many of the same qualities that befall the worst offenders of the East-meets-West cliche: novel enough to pique your interest, questionably lauded by many, neither country represented particularly well. The result is confused and poorly executed fare that captures neither the clean precision of Japanese cuisine nor the comforting heartiness of Italian food.

The meal begins innocuously enough. Truth be told, I enjoyed myself somewhat at the bread and appetizer stage. Little crisps of bread anointed with slices of goat cheese "lite" were brought to the table. I say goat cheese "lite" because it tasted like a cross between butter and goat cheese, the usual gaminess of the goat's milk diluted by a creamier, saltier flavor.

Calamari alla griglia: Grilled squid served with homemade sausage stuffed with curry risotto, golden raisins, pistachios and prosciutto.

Bagna cauda: Fresh vegetables with warm anchovy cream dip.

Calamari alla griglia arrived next. Though a bit salty, this dish wasn't half bad. The squid was tender, and the sausage was moist and well-spiced with curry. A less aggressive hand with the salt shaker and this would have been a solid appetizer. However, bagna cauda, the Piedmontese garlic-anchovy vegetable dip, would have been more aptly named "cream of garlic and salt." There was not one discernible anchovy in the white gloop that was served, and the consistency was reminiscent of those Campbell's condensed cream soups that I loved as a child. Still, strangely tasty, in that processed, I-know-it's-crap-but-my-taste-buds-like-fat-and-salt kind of way.

Spaghetti ai Ricci di Mare: Spaghetti with sea urchin, tomatoes and basil in garlic oil.

Server tossing pasta in Parmesan wheel.

Spaghetti con Prosciutto e Parmagiano: Spaghetti with Parmesan and Parma Prosciutto

Then the pastas arrived, and things took a turn for the worse. The much-hyped sea urchin spaghetti is perhaps one of the worst pastas I have ever had. Lackluster, pink tomatoes (can someone please explain serving out-of-season tomatoes in the middle of summer at a half-Italian restaurant?) languished on top of bland, store-bought noodles. Raggedy scraps of sea urchin littered the plate, polluting the dish with a bitter and metallic taste I never quite managed to rid my mouth of. The Spaghetti con Prosciutto e Parmagiano was equally as insipid, despite being energetically tossed in a gargantuan wheel of Parmesan cheese tableside. This bit of theater is probably the best part of ordering pasta at Basta Pasta, but it's sort of like going to the strip club - you get a tantalizing show, but leave with a noticeably thinner wallet and a hard-on for something a lot more fulfilling and expensive.

Tagliolini con Ragu di Pesce: Homemade tagliolini with Chilean sea bass ragu, capers and shredded zucchini in a spicy tomato sauce.

The tagliolini with Chilean sea bass is the one saving grace of the restaurant's pasta offerings. The texture of the pasta is slightly better, and the sauce is zesty and chock full of fish and ripe tomatoes (presumably, not the same ones thrown on top of the sea urchin monstrosity).

Vulcano: Melting chocolate inside warm cocoa sponge cake with vanilla gelato and fresh fruit

Crepe con Mela: Crepe filled with vanilla gelato, apple compote, Earl Grey jelly and sliced almonds.

For some reason, we ordered dessert. The molten chocolate cake was even more generic than most, being neither dense nor molten enough. And the Crepe con Mela tasted strangely of Kool-Aid, which was amusing and nostalgic, but nevertheless, unsatisfying.

In the right hands, fusion cuisine can be a success. However, Basta Pasta's neglect of the basic ideals of both Japanese and Italian cooking (unripe tomatoes? old sea urchin?) makes for a muddled and subpar experience that fails to impress on either front.

Basta Pasta

37 W. 17th Street

New York, NY 10011

(212) 366-0888

Best dishes: Calamari alla griglia, tagliolini with sea bass ragu