"At Tokyo Noir in Long Beach, the cocktails have all the complexity and showmanship of a multi-course tasting menu. There's no limit to what bartender Kevin Lee will do to achieve the desired alchemy in a glass.. You could sip through the menu for dinner, starting with lighter, more refreshing cocktails before moving onto a savory tipple, then finishing with sweet."
"A bartender pulls a daikon radish from a sink behind the bar at Tokyo Noir, a small speakeasy off 4th Street in Long Beach. The vegetable is more than a foot long, and the width of the barrel of a baseball bat. "Is that for my cocktail?" I ask. He offers a firm nod, then proceeds to grate the radish, releasing its pungent, peppery aroma into the air. Its snow white shaft seems to glow in the dark. The room is dim enough to make your pupils dilate."
"The daikon in question is a garnish for the Dirty Soba, a cocktail served in the sort of soup bowl reserved for miso soup at your local Japanese restaurant. Remove the top of the bowl to reveal a shiny, smooth square of ice swimming in a mixture of bonito dashi, Iichiko shochu, buckwheat shochu, gin, sake vermouth and yuzu. On top of the ice sits a small pile of the freshly grated daikon. The bartender instructs me to first sip the cocktail on its own, then use the provided wooden spoon to stir in the daikon."
"The drink is intensely savory, nearly on the edge of too earthy, but the yuzu yanks it back into balance. Each sip is beautifully layered with woody mushrooms and konbu from the dashi, and with the warm, nutty notes of buckwheat. Stir in the daikon and there's a burst of freshness from the radish, its bitterness slicing through the heavy layers of shochu."
Tokyo Noir in Long Beach is a hidden speakeasy offering cocktails with the complexity and theatricality of a multi-course tasting menu. Bartenders use fresh Japanese ingredients and elaborate rituals, such as grating a foot-long daikon for a garnish. The Dirty Soba is served in a miso-soup bowl with a square ice block floating in bonito dashi, Iichiko and buckwheat shochu, gin, sake vermouth and yuzu; patrons are instructed to sip, then stir in the grated daikon with a wooden spoon. Cocktails range from light and refreshing to savory and sweet, presenting layered savory, earthy and bright citrus flavors.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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