Kana was nice enough to school me in sake pairing for the omaksae [tasting menu] this week. It was awesome! We went through 16 or so to find the right accompaniment for each course.  Her philosophy is to offer a contrast between each sake as well as a contrast between the food courses. We tasted each potential sake to find the food match; locked it in and then tasted the new potential pairing candidate for the next course.  Sort of like working backwards: trying the new candidate, then going back to taste the preceding course’s sake, and finally trying the candidate once more, making sure it contrasts with the preceding sake, so it stands out or doesn’t get lost. I learned so much going through this exercise.

Just before I rolled out of Austin, I was lucky enough to Uchiko it, omakase style, twice with my brother Joe. Both dinners were outstanding. To put things into perspective, their omakase is over $100 per person without the pairings. Biwa’s is $35 for seven courses. Nice.

Moreover, at the two ounce pours per course for the pairing option at Biwa, if you added up what we should charge for the accompaniment, it would be $38, instead of the $25 dollars we charge. Gabe isn’t as concerned with the cost, but wants more folks to taste the omakase with the pairings.  Anyone who is coming into our busy izakaya for more of a dinner dinner as opposed to a quick snack or a ramen might seriously consider going omakase. It’s totally soignée, and it’s way under-priced!

The final lineup as pictured, handwritten above
sommariva prosecco brut, conegliano-valdobbiadene superiore [non-sake for the 1st course]
chokaisan junmai daiginjo, akita
minato yamahai namazake genshu, akita
otokoyama sesshu, hyogo
seikyo omachi junmai, hiroshima
mantensei junmai ginjo, tottori
kiminoi yamahai junmai ginjo, niigata

What will these be paired with? You’ll have to come in and find out, I suppose!

Anthony Garcia
http://twitter.com/wineisdivine