Review: Kai Zan
By Julia Weeman in Food on Jun 27, 2012 7:45PM
When we visited Kai Zan on their very first Friday night open, word had already spread about the best new Japanese restaurant in Humboldt Park. The small restaurant was bustling and every table was full - we were glad we had made a reservation.
The majority of the restaurant was built by hand by the chefs, twin brothers Melvin & Carlo Vizconde and designed by senior manager Yuko Kagawa with Pgai Design Partners. Kagawa explained to us that Kai Zan means ocean and mountains in Japanese. Since Chicago has neither, this restaurant is designed to bring them here. Kagawa said she wanted to not only make it feel like her home in Japan, but also for diners to feel at home there too. We certainly did - the warm, thoughtful details throughout the restaurant coupled with clean, modern design and gracious service made us want to move in - and that was before we even started eating.
We decided to sit at the sushi bar, which we recommend for foodies who enjoy talking with the chefs and watching the action. However, if you're on a date, the cozy booths offer a more intimate experience. The kenchikukagu booths can be moved for parties and are nestled against corkboard walls and divided by beautiful traditional japanese patterns that Kagawa described as a "peaceful wave" that the chefs carved out of wood.
Kai Zan's menu includes sushi, noodle dishes, teppan yaki grill dishes which are cooked on an iron plate, and kushi-lava rock char-boil dishes which are bite-sized and skewered. They also offer an omakase menu which allows you to set your price and let the chefs create a tasting menu based on your tastes and budget. We chose the omakase menu as it allowed us to experience the full glory of Kai Zan.
We began with the Tofu Tororo - a delicate, silky tofu with okra and dashi sauce. It was a revelation - one of our dining partners, who isn't a fan of tofu or okra, was amazed at the texture and flavor. Up next was the calamari fry paired with unagi poppers. The calamari was lightly fried, not a bit greasy, and full of flavor, but the unagi poppers really stole the show on this one. Spicy and crunchy with a nice kick, the combination of BBQ eel, cream cheese, and jalapeno deep fried in tempura batter was superb.
Next up was the hijiki seaweed - sweet, soft, and salty, and followed by one of our favorites - the escolar pearls. This dish of rice topped with scallions and seared super white tuna was full of flavor and perfectly tender. The tuna is soaked in soy sauce, truffle oil, spicy mayo, and chili oil, but we found it to be perfectly balanced - the spice didn't overwhelm the fresh flavor of the fish.
From the kushi-lava rock char boil menu, we tried the scallops onion and the enoki bacon. The scallops were delicious and perfectly cooked, but the enoki bacon was like nothing we'd ever tried before. It's simply a golden needle mushroom rolled in bacon, but the earthy flavor plays beautiful with the smoky saltiness and the Kai Zan sauce. The green monster roll - shrimp tempura wrapped in fresh thin sliced avocado - was a wonderful combination of creamy avocado and crunch. The orange rush - salmon and scallop topped with roe had a spicy smoky flavor with subtle citrus notes. The Kai Zan salad is a unique and refreshing mix of raw fish, shrimp, mixed greens, and paper thin cucumbers tossed in a dressing that was slightly sweet. The chefs told us it is a mix of toganrashi (a Japanese seven spice), spicy mayo, and chili oil.
We barely had room for dessert, but we were so glad we ordered it anyway. The green tea ice cream with red bean was wonderful, but the coffee gelatin is what we recommend. A traditional dessert in Japan, but less common here, they make it with Star Lounge coffee and top it with whipped cream and red bean. The sweetness of the cream and red bean with the strong coffee flavor is a wonderful way to end a meal.
Kai Zan is located at 2557 1/2 Chicago Avenue in Humboldt Park. They are open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday from 5-10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5-11 p.m. and closed on Wednesday. The restaurant is BYOB and reservations are recommended - call (773) 278-5776 for more info or visit their Facebook page.