more than a food blog

We must be doing good work here at morethanafoodblog, because we were invited to a pre-opening tasting event tonight at Fulfilled Pastries. We are baller.

Totally kidding. I snagged an invite to the event because I’m friends with the owner, Susumu Tsuchihachi. If you think that’s a toughie to pronounce, wait till you hear the name of the wares he’s hocking – a classic Japanese pastry called imagawayaki, or “imas” as they call them at the shop. Don’t let your tongue relax yet, because his store manager is another friend of mine and her name is Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs. I love it.

Anyway, the place is LEGIT. First is the 90210 area code. Then, the interior was designed by Milan Lojdl of Crustacean fame. Further, they have been featured (even before they open!) at a number of celebrity events – the DKNY Beach House and Project Beach House in Malibu, parties hosted by Tori Spelling, Carmen Electra, celebrity jewelry designer Lia Sophia, Rick Fox’s birthday bash, and by Danity Kane at the MTV Video Music Awards. [Ah fuck now I have DO-DO-YOU HAVE A FIRST AID KIT HANDY? stuck in my head.]

Beautiful, no?

I went with Daniel who brought Sean, his profesh camera. His other camera, a compact digital camera that actually has a food setting instead of just the regular macro, is named Christian, because like the Nip/Tuck characters, one is serious and the other is a slut that you want to take everywhere. Also with us was Nina of moviesandmunchies. I thought I’d spread around the food blog love.

Not like Sus needed it! I noticed that EaterLA was all over it from the moment his “Coming Soon!” sign went up. When I talked to him last week, Susumi offered to let me come earlier, on Sunday, to be the first to cover it, and I was shocked. I said, “AN EXCLUSIVE?!?! Don’t you want to give that to EaterLA or something real?!?” He laughed.

K, Janet, enough with the blathering. I can’t believe it’s taken me five paragraphs to get to the food! Imagawayaki are, in essence, dough with yummy shit inside. Usually sweet bean curd, but the fusion iterations that Susumu and co. have come up with are mega mouth-watering:

Sweet

Sweet Geisha – Traditional Japanese Azuki Bean
Harajuku Monkey – Banana and Nutella
Nutty Buddha – Ghirardelli Chocolate, Toffee, Crunchy Peanut Butter
Karaoke Kitty – Strawberry, Cream Cheese, Ghirardelli White Chocolate

(Holy shit are you ready for the) Savory

Honey Yakuza – Goat Cheese, Mission Fig, Honey, Walnut, Cracked Black Pepper
Sumo Italiano – Prosciutto di Parma, Smoked Ham, Aged Parmesan, Fresh Basil
Spicy Samurai – Chicken Apple Sausage, Pepper Jack Cheese, Diced Chili, Fresh Cilantro
Green Ninja – Spinach, Feta Cheese, Sundried Tomato

This is how the whole night went:

Susumu or Hajnal: Would you like to try the-
Me, Nina, & Daniel: YES PLEASE. Nom nom nom nom nom.

I mean, with ingredients like that, and fresh, piping hot soft-yet-crunchy outsides, there’s no way they WOULDN’T be delicious, right? Each ima is $2.75, a freaking steal compared to, like, a disgusty Sprinkles cupcake. And the ultra-authentic Sweet Geisha is a mere $1.75!

My thoughts (and Daniel will no doubt append):

Sweet Geisha [Traditional Japanese Azuki Bean] Ahhh, the taste of my childhood. (I literally said that out loud and both Daniel and Nina politely refrained from rolling their eyes.)

Harajuku Monkey [Banana and Nutella] All I could think of was this video. (BANEEYANA. I’m baking muffins asbestos I can!)

But seriously, it wasn’t chunks of banana with dollops of nutella – the whole thing was mashed into a verrrry yummy gooey concoction inside.

Nutty Buddha [Ghirardelli Chocolate, Toffee, Crunchy Peanut Butter] Probably my favorite of the sweet ones! The crunch of the peanut butter totally makes it.

Karaoke Kitty [Strawberry, Cream Cheese, Ghirardelli White Chocolate] Messy in a super pleasing way. So gloppy as to be totally unsharable, but we did it anyway. Really lovely to have fresh strawberries inside a cooked thingie.

Honey Yakuza [Goat Cheese, Mission Fig, Honey, Walnut, Cracked Black Pepper] If I were to design an ima for foodies, this would be it, down to the “cracked” black pepper. No skimping on figs – delicious! I wanted even more goat cheese to nail down that savory/sweet combination, but still, this was super.

Sumo Italiano [Prosciutto di Parma, Smoked Ham, Aged Parmesan, Fresh Basil] The first one we tried – it went so fast down my gullet, I do not remember a thing.

Green Ninja [Spinach, Feta Cheese, Sundried Tomato] Three simple ingredients, but one of my favorites! Plus it’s vegetarian, so it’s totally healthy, right???

Spicy Samurai [Chicken Apple Sausage, Pepper Jack Cheese, Diced Chili, Fresh Cilantro] My favorite of the savories, as well as Daniel’s. The heat sang through and the sausage gave this a hearty chewiness that none of the other ima flavors had. I would say definitely put this on your list of first-to-trys.

…which you can do THIS SATURDAY at their Grand Opening!

My lil’ cammie takes great pictures, too!

When you go (and you must!), be sure to try their signature drink as well – Lil Misa’s Tea – Iced Azuki Green Tea Honey Latte, which was created by award winning barista, Eton Tsuno. While some small kinks need to be worked out, like bigger straws to be able to suck up the sweet beans, the drink was great with little flecks of shichimi [Japanese spicy seven-spice mixture]. Very chic.

Even more appreciated was the copious amounts of prosecco flowing into my flute. Leave it to Sus to have prosecco instead of regular ol’ champagne. So classy.

SO MUCH GOOD LUCK, SUSUMU! You deserve it. I hope all of you readers go on Saturday with big wads of cash and empty tumtums. I’ll be the one squishing a Spicy Samurai into a Sweet Geisha for the ultimate sweet/salty mess.