Luluish Uni Pasta vs Basta Pasta

Lately, I've been into Japanese food more than normal. Hard to believe right!? I've been going to Yuba's a lot. Their quality is jut stand up and consistent. One of my favorite reasons why I go so often. Its just a cute and quaint place and the sushi is simple, no frills, and fresh without being over expensive.

With that said, I've also been craving Basta Pasta. The last time I was there, the uni pasta was a total miss! The uni was not fresh at all and I could barely finish my entree. So I decided to make my own! It also helped that my sister bought me a tray of uni from a local Japanese supermarket. The uni was darker than I normally prefer but its known that when they package uni, they sort by color and its not that there is anything wrong with it, it just makes it prettier in the tray.

As you can see, my sister couldnt wait to try it so she took a few bites. That ended up being a good thing since she gave me the idea of making pasta! She didnt think these uni were up to par with the ones we had gotten before so this was the spark of the idea. After work, I went to the grocery store to pick up a few of the ingredients. Like many cream based sauces, I used the basic ingredients. These included heavy cream, garlic, shallots, olive oil, and salt. The shallots and garlic had to be chopped super fine because i didnt want it to be super chunky.

After the uni sauce was prepared (it tastes a lot better than it looks!), I just mixed it up with some cream in my pan and threw in some pieces of uni for a more rustic texture. Then threw in the pasta, making sure it was al dente, mixed it up and plated it. There you have it - luluish uni pasta! Take your vote!

Basta Pasta Uni Pasta

Luluish Uni Pasta

One year older, one year wiser

I picked RobatayaNY for a close friends birthday not only because I heard great things about it but heard about the food and the intimate atmosphere. Since we didnt have reservations, we had to wait a bit but service at the front was great. I put my name down and when our table was ready, which was less than the promised time, I received a call on my cellphone. We walked in and was a little taken aback by the market like action going on. Once you walk past the front counter area, the back area resembled a Japanese garden. It was absolutely soothing and made you feel at home. We were able to catch up and eat at our own pace. Service was polite but not pushy. So the three of us girls decided to order a few small dishes and two main entrees. First up was the grilled uni topped with konbu which is a type of japanese seaweed. My take on uni is that if it's fresh, it should only be eaten raw. However I was pleasantly surprised. The portion was a good size for what it was. The texture was smooth and creamy. The konbu added a nice touch to it. Next came the 5 sashimi special. This included salmon, tuna, red snapper, seabass. All five types were fresh and it was a good selection of fish. A plus would be the freshly grated wasabi. Since its not so easily found in markets around here, I tend to overdose on it and make myself cry but my goodness its a great feeling. Third dish came the grilled stingray fin. We wanted to try something a bit unusual. This came with a small scoop of sweet miso and a slice of lemon. Very well paired and we were told the cartilage was edible. It was a bit hard. The meat of the fun was extremely fine and well cooked. Our other main dish was a grilled ribeye cooked medium rare and perfectly medium rare it was. It was served with a dipping sauce that resembled aujus with a bit of light soy sauce. Lastly we ordered two orders of grilled rice cakes. We didn't want to order rice or noodles but we needed substance. When I was in Japan I would eat this every morning. They're grilled mochi squares that are brushed with a light layer of soy sauce and ten wrapped in seaweed. Filling, simple, and delicious! Of course we couldnt leave without dessert. We ordered a green tea ice cream topped with soybean powder and brown sugar syrup and mung bean/green tea soup with strawberries an rice cakes. The soupy dessert was a bit sweet for me but the ice cream brought me home to Japan. I loved the experience here and I will be coming back except I'll be sitting at the front counter area where all the action is taking place! Anyway, happy birthday Melissa!