Sake - that greatly misunderstood adult beverage that is wonderfully unique to Japan. My husband has memories of having sake in Japanese restaurants where the beverage was served hot in small cups and tasted pretty strong (and awful). However, as I have come to learn more about wine, that hot, terrible brew that Ernie remembers is not the lovely creation that is now served in some Japanese restaurants.

My friend, Inez, loves sake. So for her recent birthday, we took her up to Baltimore to PABU, which is in the Four Seasons Hotel. What a great restaurant! If you haven’t gone, you must. Delicious sushi, plus many traditional Japanese dishes. And wow, what a selection of sake! We have gone there three or four times, and we have an adventure each time.

The technique for creating sake is different than that of wine. Where the alcohol in wine is created by fermenting sugar that is present in grapes, sake is produced more like a beer-brewing process. Sake is traditionally made from rice, but it is different from the rice one uses for cooking. The best sakes are made from rice that contain only starch, so the rice is polished to remove the outside bran. And did you know - there are at least 80 different types of sake rice in Japan! The type of rice combined with the yeast to start the brewing process determines the particular flavors that will be in the sake. Wikipedia and other sources have a great description of the sake-creation process, if you’re interested. It is good to note that sake typically has an alcohol level of 18-20% by volume, as opposed to beer’s 3-9% and wine’s 9-16%.

So back to PABU. For Inez’s birthday celebration, she and I both decided to have the “Satori” Menu, which is a tasting of the various specialties of PABU. This allowed us to have a cross-section of different foods along with both Japanese beer and sake pairings.

We started with an order of edemame along with a delightful sake for Ernie (and we tasted) called “Junmai Ginjo Nama Genshu” sake made by Narutotai. It had bold fruit flavors and a beautiful sweet aroma. It is noted for its great acidity and for its boldness, which went well with the roasted edemame that had paprika and a bit of chili pepper. Ernie drank that through the evening, and he said it went well also with the various types of sushi that he had for dinner, as well as chicken meatballs.

Inez and I started course one, “Happy Spoon” and Izakaya Appetizers, which was an assortment of appetizers to include a petite wianno oyster with uni, some other Japanese spices, and a crème fraîche; a soy-poached lotus root (very interesting); seaweed salad with a soy-dashi vinegar and creamy sesame dressing; and something called “goma-ae” which was steamed spinach with sweet sesame dressing. This assortment was paired with a cocktail called “Super X” which had Lillet Blanc, Yuzu, and house-made falernum along with spices such as cardamom. This delightful drink was lemony and spicy - very refreshing with the appetizers, but I suspect it could knock you for a loop if you had too many!

Course number two was PABU wings “Nagoya Style” along with a Berkshire pork “Country” rib. The wings and the rib had Japanese pepper, Tokyo BBQ sauce, red chili glaze, and Kewpie mayo. Wow, delicious! These were supposed to be paired with the Junmai Ginjo Nama Genshu. However, since we already had a bottle of that going, our delightful waiter (Mo) brought us an alternate sake pairing - the Jokigen Junmai Ginjo. This sake was less bold than the Nama Genshu - it had more of melon flavor with a hint of apple and melon rind. Really good to try - both Inez and I agreed that the original pairing of the Junmai was the more correct one for the wings and rib. But hey, fun to try!

Next up was Robatayaki which was grilled over Japanese White Oak. What is that? This was an assortment of grilled meats, to include Tsukune (chicken meatballs), skirt steak with a black pepper-garlic soy, Negima (chicken thigh with scallions) and Eringi mushrooms with a sweet garlic and red miso. This was paired with a French Burgundy - the Thibault Liger Belair 2011. The wine was light-to-medium bodied with flavors of strawberries and cherries. The pairing was very good, as the smokiness of the meat matched the earthiness of the wine. A bit more aging on the Burgundy would have made an even better pairing - if anyone asked!

Course four was Michael’s Chicken Noodle Soup, made with Ramen noodles, chicken broth, and soy-poached chicken. The pairing for the soup was - wait for it - a Hitachino Nest White Ale, a type of Japanese beer. Let me say right now - I HATE BEER! This one, though, I was able to drink! It had a light flavor, not overwhelming with hops. Almost hints of citrus to go with the beer head. With the light soy flavors in the chicken soup, it was really good. I don’t think I’ll go out of my way to order beer, but this was one that I might be persuaded to have again.

Inez masters Chicken Soup with chopsticks!

Then we got to the Chef’s Sushi Selection, an assortment of nigiri, bigeye tuna, and a spicy tuna hand roll. This course was paired with an Aoki Junmai Ginjo sake, which was much lighter, almost reminiscent of a sauvignon blanc. The lighter sake and its acidity went very well with the various types of sushi.

And then dessert. The standard dessert is Sake Baba, which is best described as a Japanese version of an Italian pastry (Baba Rum). The pastry is soaked in the yuzu sake and served with banana (with a sake glaze) and whipped cream. In addition, since it was Inez’s birthday, she got a chocolate mousse to go with the Sake Baba. All this was paired with another sweeter sake called Ichishima “Karen Coy”. The light sweetness of the sake went beautifully with both the sake-soaked pastries and also with the chocolate.

Dessert! Note the assortment of glasses in the background...

All in all, we had a fabulous time. The Four Seasons always does things up right, from their extremely helpful and knowledgeable wait staff to the terrific food. Mo was a charm from beginning to end, and PABU also has both a sake sommelier and waiters who have studied up on all aspects of sake. Plus, the restaurant keeps track of those of us who really like sake and are able to remind us of past dinners and bottles that we particularly enjoyed, which was helpful. PABU is a place for all age groups, from young couples to families with grandparents and grandchildren. Bottom line is that everyone has a great time and a super meal. And we got Inez well-started into her next year! Happy Birthday, Inez!