Dinner with my Kru (Kru - Sacramento, CA)

(It was dim inside so pictures are a bit fuzzy, so bear with me.)

I and a bunch of the other Sac food bloggers had b-days coming up so we all gathered up for a dinner at Kru to celebrate. A decision we had come to while over at Zocalo a few weeks back.

It'll be hard to try to relay the food to you in this post since we had a lot of different dishes, and amongst the banter and laughing, I found my memory a bit fuzzy what we ate. Still my overall opinion of the place is still what it was when our meal was finished. "It was good food. Not great. But good. And they sure do like their banana leaves..."

The poke trio was the best dish I think we had. Spicy tuna, hamachi (young yellowtail), and tako (octopus) were marinated in soy sauce and other yummy Hawaiian flavors, then served alongside green tea, schichimi, and nori salts. All were fabulously sweet, salt, a little bitter, and a lot delish.

The grilled lamb chops with miso polenta and plum sauce was another truly stellar star of the night as the lamb was juicy and fatty in all the right ways, with the plum sauce tickling your sweet n' savory tooth. The duo of ribs which were lamb ribs and hamachi ribs were totally yummy with miso glaze and ginger, though the hamchi ribs might stab you with a bone or two. Ow. Overall, the small plates were real winners.

We were then presented with two sashimi mixes, which were exactly what they sound like. Fun, yummy, and exactly what I wanted. I couldn't get enough.

Rob had the grilled New York steak in truffle butter sauce. It. Was. Amazing. No fault here in any possible way. It was a large portion with crispy onions, some balsamic reduction, and crunchy asparagus. All was right with this dish.

The rolls were over the top things you couldn't fit into your mouth. The kind you find at every trendy sushi place. The Aden, a veggie roll, was the only that really stood out in a positive way. It was fun, with a hint of spice in the background. The tempura veggies were light and crispy, but not overly greasy to the point where I felt I needed to cleanse my face afterward.

The Cindy Roll, a spicy tun and snow crab roll was disappointing. It was a lot of heat that took away from the flavors of the fish, and was way to big for anyone at the table to eat in one bite, so each piece just fell apart. The J-Street roll, with it's laundry list of ingredients, was good, but just too much going on in it to really enjoy any distinct flavors or textures. It was just like a mosh pit in your mouth and you were in the center of it; too much activity to be able to hear the music.

The biggest offender wasn't anything with the food though, it was the room itself. The back dining room is a tiny cavern where every sound constantly ricochets off every wall. It got so loud between our party and another party that it got so that you couldn't hear the person next to you. I mean it was deafening. It was a shame we couldn't sit in the much quieter front room, or patio, but ah well.

Also and this is just what a few of us thought; the host had way to much attitude. As in his demeanor, the way he looked at me (I was in jeans and an old shirt (laundry day) and still recovering from punishing some b-day tequila) and flipped his hair with annoyance, and his tone with me were just uppity bitchy. You're a host at a Sac sushi joint duder, not the personal assistant to Jesus Christ. Get over yourself, and ditch the uber-emo haircut.

Still, I'll come back someday for a light lunch on the patio, avoid the flashy rolls, and enjoy the small and main plates.

Kru
2516 J Street
Sacramento, Ca 95816
916.551.1559

Oh yeah, by the by, the salted edamame... I ate the whole thing, pod and all, then asked why these were so popular since they were so rough to eat. It was then Becky informed me to shell the damn things first. Yeah... I'm an idiot. Go me!