A Repertoire Worth Repeating

How many sizzling catfish has Shiro served in the 11 years that it’s been open? We ponder this as we prepare our chopsticks for an all-out assault on an impressively large example. The answer must be in the thousands, we speculate after spying platters of catfish on almost every table in the crowded room.

In fact, chef-owner Hideo Yamashiro (who goes by Shiro) can’t get away from that catfish. If he adds new items to his stripped-down menu, hardly anybody bothers to try them. Regular customers--and they are legion--are fanatically devoted to their favorite dishes. They walk in, dreaming of his shrimp-filled Chinese ravioli, his lobster spring rolls and his crispy wonton skins stacked with custard and berries. Most often, they ask for that delectable catfish, which comes arched on the plate, garlanded with cilantro and splashed with light ponzu, slices of ginger tucked between the scored flesh. Fried in a wok to the color of dark toast, the fish is moist and subtly infused with the taste of ginger. Wielding our chopsticks like surgical instruments, the more skillful among my party manage to ferret out the prized cheeks and the tasty morsels closest to the bone.

Before you get to the catfish, though, start with one of Shiro’s impeccably fresh salads in a beautifully balanced dressing. I like the spring rolls filled with nuggets of sweet lobster and dipped in a spicy yuzu (Japanese citrus) sauce. Try his delicious Chinese ravioli, too, made with supple wonton skins and a stuffing of shrimp mousse studded with firm, pink shrimp. The sauce--thickly sliced fresh shiitake mushrooms and all that butter and cream!--is as rich as they come. Sometimes there’s also a snapper carpaccio lavished with too much ginger dressing or lovely house-smoked scallops, each sitting on a pillow of mashed potatoes, garnished with sour cream and salmon eggs or a dab of osetra caviar.

After working around town at Michael’s, the old L’Ermitage and Les Anges, Shiro opened his own place in 1988, offering a sort of budget Chinois on Main with a similar emphasis on Franco-Asian cooking. He’s still in the kitchen most nights, but the food seems less consistent than it used to be. (Occasionally, the catfish is dry and overcooked or tastes of muddy funk. The Chinese ravioli sauce can be impossibly rich, too.) Sometimes what comes out of the kitchen is just plain tired and uninspired. (Two dishes to avoid: New Zealand snapper smothered in a sauce cluttered with three types of mushrooms, and sea scallops marooned in a strong crab sauce.) But when Shiro is cooking well, his Franco-Japanese food has delightful grace and harmony. He’s also a stickler for ingredients, scouring the fish market in the early morning for the best that day.

As a cook, Shiro is an able technician, but, unlike many classically trained Japanese chefs, he also has a creative side, one that he doesn’t often get the chance to exercise unless someone asks him to cook a special menu for the table. When I was invited to one such occasion, the chef served, among other dishes, a delicate salad of tender calamari rings with wisps of frisee, peppery daikon sprouts, enoki mushrooms and a yuzu dressing. (Though I wish he’d had the good sense to omit the tasteless out-of-season tomatoes.) Filet of bell fish from Brazil sat atop a puree of celery root and potatoes. And duck breast, grilled rare, came in a transparent dark reduction with a touch of orange. The special menu seemed understated until we tasted the dishes and understood how well each set off the wines.

His signature dessert is one of his best: crisp wonton skins layered with a tart yuzu custard and fresh raspberries. I love the way he sometimes serves three creme brulees in sake cups--a luscious vanilla bean, a chocolate that tastes like the world’s best chocolate pudding and an oddly beguiling truffle version, barely sweetened and suffused with the earthy taste of Chinese black truffles.

The most amiable of chefs, Shiro would probably rather talk golf or dogs, not food, with longtime customers. He’s found his milieu in this quiet area just off Fair Oaks in South Pasadena. I could wish he’d push himself more, but if, in an unpredictable world, his customers want to be able to come and find the same dishes week after week, who’s to argue?

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Shiro

CUISINE: French-Japanese. AMBIENCE: Spare contemporary restaurant with local crowd, smart service and chef who’s there almost every night. BEST DISHES: baby green salad, lobster spring rolls, Chinese ravioli, sizzling catfish, crispy wonton skins, trio of creme brulees. WINE PICKS: 1996 Josmeyer Riesling, Alsace; 1997 Zaca Mesa Roussanne, Santa Barbara. FACTS: 1505 Mission St., South Pasadena; (626) 799-4774. Dinner only Tuesday through Sunday. Appetizers, $5.75 to $9; main courses, $16.50 to $23.50. Corkage $12.50. Street and lot parking.