Written by Betts Griffone, Photos by Eric Reed
Omakase! In Japanese, it means to trust your dining experience to the chef. The lucky diner sits back and enjoys course after course of the chef’s finest cuisine.
At Restaurant Omakase in Riverside, the word is the restaurant. Patrons can order off the menu, but the real experience is the five-course omakase (tasting) menu.
Chef Brein Clements’ creative cuisine embraces both European and Japanese influences.The menu changes monthly — no small challenge — and all of his recipes use biodynamic and sustainable, organic produce. Not only that, the produce is grown locally by the Reeves family in Riverside.
When chef Clements heard about the rare citrus included in the UC Riverside collection, he called Tracy Kahn, curator of the citrus variety collection.
Although she was hesitant at first, she visited his restaurant and after talking with him, gave him a few blood oranges.The next day she dropped by and was surprised to find that he had already created a blood orange sorbet.
Their working relationship began, and with time he created the citrus menu that he presented Dec. 6 at The Beard House in New York City — an opportunity given to few chefs at restaurants that are less than five years old.
His diverse menu can include gnocchi in one dish and spaetzle in another. His use of vegetables and citrus with heirloom meats and fresh fish allows him to produce a unique menu that often is customized to the diner’s needs and preferences. Five people may order the omakase and not one of the dining experiences will be the same.
When Omakase opened 18 months ago, chef Clements and his wife, Roryanne, were looking for a place where they could serve the kind of food he loved in a comfortable, elegant setting. They had thought about Sonoma or the Bay area, but were put off by the exorbitant cost of floor space.
They finally decided on Riverside and, with a location across the street from the historic Mission Inn, they found a home.
The interior was designed by Roryanne, who was looking to combine traditional Japanese dining with the warm, unique atmosphere found in Europe.
Roryanne and Brein met when she was working as a line chef at the Balboa Bay Club & Resort in Newport Beach. He had graduated from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco after entering as one of the youngest in his class.
“It was really hard work,”he said, but he persevered and graduated as one of the top students.
While he was in school,he went to work at the Cypress Club in San Francisco. He would start at 2 p.m.,after his classes ended, and finish around 1 the next morning.
“Those were the hardest seven months of my life,”he said. “But it showed me that this was what it was all about.” In 1999, he moved to Napa where he interned for six months at Domain Chandon under chef Robert Curry, doing garnishes and staff meals. He was there for two years, finally serving as lead cook.
At age 21, Clements became lead chef at the Balboa Bay Club,where he impressed everyone with his cooking and later with his management of 75 people in the kitchen.
Today, chef Clements manages his own staff of three cooks and two servers.
He also selects all the wines that are served, supporting little boutique wineries that are trying to make it, and haven’t, as yet, marked up the prices.
At home, chef Clements cooks “mostly veggies and fish. A lot of lighter style comfort food.”
He leaves all the rich sauces at Omakase.
Restaurant Omakase
3720 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside Dinner Monday-Saturday, 5:30 p.m. to close; lunch Thursday-Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (951) 788-8820; www.restaurantomakase.com
For the potatoes
375 g russet potatoes
(2 large potatoes)
60g flour
7g salt, kosher
1 egg, large — organic
1 tsp olive oil, extra virgin
8 sprigs thyme
Pre-heat oven to 375 f.
Rinse potatoes well, then poke with a knife. Place potatoes on a baking sheet and place in oven for 90 minutes or until skins are crisp and potato is completely soft.
When done, remove from oven and let cool for 2 minutes.
Using a sieve and plastic pastry card, place thyme on top of sieve, then working fast, scrape out all potato on top of the thyme, discarding the skins. Using the pastry card, quickly push the potato over the thyme through the sieve, making sure to keep the potato hot. Once all of the potato has been sieved, weigh the potato to reach 375 g.
Again working quickly, combine the potato, flour and salt to create a well.
Add the egg and olive oil, then using your hands begin to bring together a soft dough. Once all is incorporated and the dough is not sticking to the work-space, split it in even halves with the pastry card.
Roll out the dough into long even logs about 3/4-inch in diameter. Then use the pastry card to cut it into 3/4-inch pieces.
Using the back of a fork, place each gnocchi and while pinching together each end, simply roll the gnocchi off to give it its shape.
Place on a piece of wax paper and reserve.
For the cauliflower
1 head cauliflower, trimmed
1/2 onion, brown, sliced thin
1/4 pound butter, unsalted
1 pint cream, double
1 cup milk, whole
tt salt, kosher
tt pepper, black from a grinder
Place the trimmed florets in a sauté pan with the onion and butter. Begin to sauté, making sure to not pick up any color.
Once tender and translucent, add cream, milk, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat. Cook about 1 hour until cauliflower is very tender.
Place in a food processor and blend for 2 minutes or until completely smooth and velvety. Strain through a fine mesh sieve and keep warm.
For the radish
2 pounds radish, trimmed, leaving
1/2 inch of greens
1/4 pound butter, unsalted
as needed, water
tt salt, kosher
tt pepper, black from a grinder
Place all ingredients in a sauté pan and simmer about 20 minutes or until radishes are tender, but tops are still green.
Remove from heat and keep warm.
For the lemon
4 lemons, meyer — halved, juiced
1/2 c salt, kosher
1/4 c sugar, granulated
1 1/4 c water
1/4 pound parmesano reggiano, shaved as needed, balsamic vinegar, 25-50 years of age as needed, micro greens or any fresh tiny herbs Place all ingredients in a small sauce pan and cover with a dish towel. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat. Let cook for about 3 minutes more, then remove from the heat and let cool at room temperature.
When completely cool, remove the lemon and scrape off the white pith and any seeds, reserving only the yellow rind.
Then very finely slice the rind into thin strips and reserve.
To finish
Place a medium size sauce pan on the stove and fill it with lightly salted water. When it comes to a boil, gently drop in the gnocchi and cook for about 3 minutes or until they float.
In a separate pan, add the cauliflower. remove the gnocchi and place in the cauliflower, glaze the gnocchi completely.
Place the gnocchi in a bowl. Remove the radish from their liquid and place on top of gnocchi. Sprinkle with the sliced lemon, parmesan, micro greens and balsamic.
Yields 8
