In 1520, after sailing
past South America's Tierra del Fuego and through a perilous strait
which he named for himself, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan laid
eyes on the expansive South Sea.
At the time, the
waters were calm and peaceful. He renamed it the Pacific Ocean
(from the Latin Mare Pacificum which means "peaceful sea.")
Magellan vastly
underestimated the Pacific, thinking he would be able to cross it in a
matter of days to reach his goal, the Spice Islands.
For most of Magellan's
four month crossing, the waters of the Pacific did little to belie the
name he had bestowed upon it. During that crossing, however,
Magellan and his men suffered terrible hunger. They ran out of
fresh food and were relegated to eating grubs and rats.
Unfortunately Magellan
did not have the benefit of knowledge we now possess. We now know,
for example, that the Pacific covers 32 percent of the world's total
surface and that it separates the countries bordering its western and
eastern rims by eight time zones and the International Date Line.
Magellan would be
amazed that today, a sea crossing by the fastest ship will take a mere
two week. There's no way he could fathom the concept of air travel
or comprehend that a typical air crossing between population centers in
North America and a counterpart in one of the Pacific Rim's Asian
countries takes only 15 hours non-stop.
The advent of
information and technology has made the world significantly closer since
the days of Magellan and fortunately, insects and rodents are no longer
culinary fare during a journey across the Pacific.
Dining at the Asian
countries bordering the Pacific Rim is now considered a sublime culinary
experience, albeit one for which great wealth is required.
Since most of us can't
afford such an experience, we can be grateful for Albuquerque's burgeoning
growth over the past three decades. That growth has meant the
introduction into our dining culture, of restaurants crossing many
ethnic groups and demographics.
Today, it's easy to travel
throughout the city to partake of the great cuisine of Asia's Pacific
Rim nations. Restaurants abound which feature the cuisine of
Vietnam, Japan, China, Thailand, Korea and more.
On November 1st, 2007, a
restaurant launched in Albuquerque which purports to provide the best
culture and cuisine of all those great Pacific Rim nations.
That
restaurant is the Pacific Rim Asian Bistro which according to its Web
site, "combines the flavors of the Pacific Islands with the freshness of
California cuisine...the spices of the Southwest with the exotic tastes
of the orient."
That's a pretty audacious
claim, but don't bet against this restaurant. With an ownership
pedigree that once included Albuquerque's first Fortune Cookie
restaurant as well as the Samurai Grill and Sushi Bar, success is an
expectation.
The Pacific Rim Asian
Bistro is housed in a free-standing, 6500 square foot complex that was
previously home for
Eurasia Bistro and Sushi Bar and before
that, the Minato Japanese Restaurant.
While similar in concept
to Eurasia, the Pacific Rim's price point is more reasonable for
Albuquerque's per-capita. Even though it is situated near some of
the city's most expensive real estate (Tanoan and High Desert to name
but two), swanky and upscale doesn't mean residents aren't price
conscious.
Another reason to bet on
Pacific Rim is the presence of master sushi chef James Oh, one of the
most well known and respected sushi chefs in Albuquerque. Chef Oh
knows his way around sushi knives, having plied his craft across the
country. Oh designed the restaurant's fusion menu and manages the
busy kitchen.
The Pacific Rim
is a sight to behold and experience. Walk into the restaurant's
front room and you might feel the way Magellan felt when he first set
eyes on the Pacific. There's a sense of calm and peace even in the
front room. Attribute some of that to obvious feng shui principles
in application.
The soothing sounds of
rivulets of water cascading down a rock design greet you in that front
room and follow you into the restaurant where a larger waterfall design
continues the soft percussion of water against stone.
There is harmony and balance throughout the restaurant design.
This is a beautiful restaurant!
Two ceiling panels on either side of the industrial ductwork simulate
the twinkling of the night sky on an ebony canvas (although nothing can
compare to the night skies in Northern New Mexico.)
A unique dinner
offering at the Pacific Rim are the bulgogi tables. Prime cuts of
tender marinated beef are brought to your table where you can prepare it
to your exacting specifications. This service is only available
for two or more diners.
Even
the
menu portends great things in store for your meal. The appetizer
section is called "Great Beginnings" which is subtitled with "a perfect
way to start your meal."
Signature dishes are
served with miso soup and steamed white rice. The miso soup
arrives even before the appetizers. It is a very good soup with
more wakame seaweed and less salt than miso soup at other Asian
restaurants in the Duke City.
Chile addicted New
Mexicans will enjoy the restaurant's green chile tempura which is
lightly battered and deep fried to allow the chile's flavor to stand
out. The green chile has a fresh flavor, but we could not discern
the distinctive aroma of the roasting process. It is only medium
on the piquancy scale, but quite good nonetheless.
The green chile
tempura is served with the restaurant's signature "Tokyo sauce," a sweet
soy sauce with ginger, sugar and other seasonings. It is wholly
unnecessary as great green chile needs no ameliorant.
Another excellent
starter, especially if you love fleshy fungi, are the Kinoko
Mushrooms, which are stir-fried wild mushrooms from Japan.
They are prepared with scallions and garlic. Its thin broth is
light and delicate, wholly unlike a more intense porcini stock. It
would have made a wonderful soup.
I've always said that
if you want to curry my favor, treat me to a curry blessed dish.
When you're ensnared by the addictive properties of great curry
(particularly when it's ameliorated by fresh coconut milk), it makes
ordering anything else a challenge.
Fortunately the
Pacific Rim has several curry dishes and if the pineapple curry
is any indication, they're quite good. This pineapple curry
balances sweet and piquant flavors with the juicy tanginess of pineapple
and the pungent exoticness of a yellow Thai curry.
This curry isn't
dessert sweet as you might find it in some Thai restaurants.
Because the chef went easy on the coconut milk, the yellow curry truly
stands out. This dish is made with green peppers, onions,
flecks of red chilis and other Thai seasonings.
The pineapple curry is
served with two egg rolls sliced diagonally so as to present the
ingredients: shredded pork, cabbage, carrots and sundry ingredients.
The egg rolls are served with a "Shanghai dipping sauce" which is an
iridescent red color and is nearly cloying in its sweetness.
If
ordered for one, bulgogi is prepared and served hot off a grill
in the kitchen. You may lose out on the fun experience of
preparing it yourself, but you'll still enjoy the
harmonious marriage of
sweet, savory and spicy flavors.
Thin
strips of lean beef are marinated in the restaurant's signature bulgogi
sauce then stir-fried nearly to the point of caramelization with green
and white onions then topped with sesame seeds. At Pacific Rim, the
meat is fork tender with absolutely no sinewy or fatty pieces.
The
bulgogi is served with assorted salads known as namul. These
salads are comprised of pickled, spicy and hot vegetables.
The pickled cucumbers and bean sprouts are quite good, but the
centerpiece is the kimchi, a fiery cabbage-based staple of Korea which
is heavily seasoned with garlic and chile.
The
sushi menu includes the standard maki and nigiri rolls as well as "fire
rolls" which are spicy and tempura based rolls. The sushi menu
also includes a section featuring "Festival rolls" which appear to
showcase the chef's inventiveness with sushi.
The
Pacific Rim's "Love Boat," a boatload of sushi and sashimi for two
includes sashimi, nigiri, maki, Viagra salad, combo tempura, squid
salad, chicken teriyaki and fresh oysters. At more than $30 per
person, it's about what sushi aficionados will pay when they binge on
sushi. Best of all, the Pacific Rim continues to serve sushi late
into the evening (in Albuquerque that generally means past ten o'clock).
Thanks to the Pacific
Rim, you no longer have to drive to different restaurants around town to
get your fix of your favorite Asian delights. Most of them are
available in one restaurant--the culture and cuisine of the Pacific Rim
right here in Albuquerque.
