[Azusa] [Japanese] 黑櫻樓 Black Cherry Garden

Black Cherry Garden
黑櫻樓
530 S Citrus Ave #13
Azusa, CA 91702
(626) 339-6058

Wen's parents came to LA to visit last weekend from San Jose.  Saturday was Wen's mom's birthday.  It was also our friend Mr. E's birthday.  Where to go to celebrate 2 birthdays?  Of course we went to both Wen and Mr. E's favorite restaurant, Black Cherry Garden.



Black Cherry Garden is a small restaurant that serves traditional Japanese kushiyaki (or some people call it yakitori).  The chef, Atsushi, has been practicing the art of kushiyaki at his father's restaurant in Japan since he was 12 years old.  We went to Black Cherry Garden once before and loved the food.  So when we found out that we were going to BCG for the birthday party a week prior, we started craving for it for an entire week.




You can order individual kushiyaki from the menu.  Everything is $2~$3.



Or you can order from the 3 dinner sets, which are a better deal.  They just hired a new chef Thomas, who used to be a sushi chef before.  So now they also serve sashimi with the set dinners.  Since Mr. E. already made some arrangement with Chef Atsushi for this birthday party, we didn't need to order.  And a lot of the stuffs we had were not on the menu.


5 Kinds of Sashimi

Dr. P and I got stuck on the freeway, and arrived 30 minutes late.  Our friends were tempted to finish the sashimi plate, but I guess they value our friendship over the delicious food and stopped the urge.  haha....  There were yellowtail, fatty tuna, sweet shrimp, salmon, and squid on the plate.  Everything tasted fresh and delicious.  My favorite was the sweet shrimp.  We were really glad that our friends left the sashimi for us.


Asparagus-maki ($2.00)
Asparagus wrapped in pork

Kushiyaki time!  The first kushiyaki we got was Asparagus-maki.  A super thin piece of pork wrapped around the asparagus.  How did Chef Atsushi grill the thin pork like that without burning it, but also cooked the asparagus perfectly?  I guess that's what you call "skill".


Mizubasho, Ginjo

Food started coming, so did the alcohol.  Mr. E and Wen's hubby both brought alcohol... LOTS of alcohol.  We started with Mizubasho Ginjo sake.  It was the perfect sake to start dinner with.  It was sweet, and I love it.  The sake model, Mr. E., tried to suck in his tummy.  But by doing so, he got double chin instead.  So Mr. E, next time you gotta pick one, tummy or chin?  haha....


Fried Chicken Wing

This was the little "leg" part of the chicken wing.  The wing was fried, but it wasn't oily, and remained very soft and juicy.


Lychee Wine

The Lychee Wine was imported from Taiwan.  I never knew we had Lychee wine in Taiwan.  If I'd knew, I probably would be drinking those wine for the 3 years I lived in Taiwan a few years back.  The wine tasted a little bit like plum wine, but with lychee flavor.  It's on the sweeter side so it's more like a girl's drink.  I love it I love it I love it!  Wen's hubby told me he bought those from H-Mart.  Gotta go get myself some, too!


Eggplant Wrapped in Pork

The eggplant was super moist.  When I bit into it, sweet juice came out.  And the pork that wrapped around the eggplant was crispy and salty.  Perfect combination.


Black Bottle Sake

People sure were drinking fast.  It was time to open the second bottle of sake.  This one is called Black Bottle.  It was dryer than the first one.  Dr. P liked this one better because he generally just like dry wine better.


Enoki-maki ($2.00)
Enoki & fresh pork belly

Pork belly wrapped around enoki mushroom.  Those were so delicious!  I want to try to make this at http://www.eileenlikestoeat.com.


Japanese Chicken Rice

Chef Atsushi made special Japanese rice for us.  There were chicken, konjac, mushroom, and carrot in the rice.  The rice was cooked with stock.  It was very tasty.  I didn't take a picture of the next bottle they opened.  But now the guys started drinking Remy Martin with 40% alcohol.  They weren't exactly sipping the cognac, but downing glasses of it.  Crazy!


Sasami Wasabi ($2.00)
Chicken breast with wasabi

Next was Sasami Wasabi.  The chicken breast was perfectly cooked.  Really tender and wasn't dry at all.  The wasabi was quite strong.  It definitely cleared my sinus.


Sweet Shrimp Soup

Chef Thomas made us Sweet Shrimp Soup using the sweet shrimp head from the sashimi plate.  The soup tasted soooooo good!


Tebasaki ($2.00) / Hatsu ($2.00)
Chicken wing / Chicken heart

Tebasaki, or chicken wing, was perfectly seasoned.  Dr. P kept on saying this was the best chicken wing he's ever had.  I forgot to take a picture of the chicken heart, but you can kinda see it in the background.  Dr. P wasn't a fan of chicken hearts.  He tried a few times before and just didn't like the flavor.  But he liked Chef Atsushi's version and finished everything.


Tomato

Tomato was grilled, and sprinkled with garlic, cheese, and bacon.  Yup, bacon!  I think they actually grated bacon.  The tomato just burst in my mouth.  The sweet tomato juice mixing with cheese, garlic, and bacon.   It was freaking good!



I don't know the name of this sake.  Mr. E said this sake was recommended by Chef Atsushi.  Mr. E went to all the Japanese supermarket and couldn't find it.  Then he found it at Musha Restaurant, and bought it from them.  Yes, it was really good.  It was sweet and very smooth.


Tsukune ($2.00)
Chicken meatball

Tsukune, chicken meatball, was one of our favorite item.  The meatball was seasoned really good, grilled really good, and tasted really good.



This was how much Miho liked the chicken meatball.  And tried really hard to compete with sexy Miho!  haha....


Nagaimo ($2.00)
Japanese Yam

I really like Nagaimo.  It's healthy, and also yummy.  It was crunchy, but also had a slimy texture.  Really tasty!


Pork Belly

I think I was pretty drunk by this time.  But I still remember Miho kept on telling me the pork belly was damn good.  It must be good because I finished it in like 3 seconds.


Kurosawa Sake

Kurosawa Sake was a gift from Chef Atsushi.  It was a giant bottle.  Mr. E went around to other guests in the restaurant and started offering people free alcohol.  haha....  It was really funny, and we met some more new friends!



Hi new friends!  Yanni, are you reading my blog now?  ^^



This was one of the new friends we met that night.  He happened to be wearing the exact same shirt + jeans as Jack.  Awwww..... how cute!


Chicken Skin

I've never had chicken skin on a stick before.  Who knew chicken skin could taste this good when it's grilled?


Hotate ($3.00)
Scallop

The last kushiyaki was Hotate, scallop.  The scallop was super fresh, so it was only grilled to medium.  It tasted really soft with a hint of sweetness.  It was super good, but I only ate one and gave one to Dr. P only because I know how much he liked it.  That's love, isn't it?  haha....



Delicious food, good sake, and great friends.  Somebody's happy!


Peanut Mochi

Mr. E took out a big box from under the table.  He even brought dessert!  This was peanut mochi.  The peanut inside the mochi tasted like crunchy peanut butter.  Thick and very yummy.


Coffee Jello

But of course we still gotta have Chef Atsushi's signature dessert, coffee jello.  This is a dessert that's actually not sweet, but I love it.



It was toward the very end of the meal.  Time to open this special bottle of sake.  It was a limited edition sake, a gift from Chef Atsushi for Mr. E.  This was definitely the best bottle of sake of the night.


Strawberry Mochi

The waitress, Takae, made us fresh strawberry mochi.  It was so yummy!


Fruit Plate

Chef Atsushi made a special fruit plate for Mrs. P, and we sang happy birthday together.



Big group picture #1.



Big group picture #2.  (I'm not in it because I was taking the picture. >_<)



Happy Birthday Mrs. P and Mr. E!!

We had so much fun and so much good food at the birthday party.  (And so much alcohol, too!)  Gotta do this again next year, ok?  ^_^

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