Work has been a real "bear" for me this year. This past quarter, I've had to make several trips to the OC for work, which culminated in a two night support stay.
It was over a weekend…no biggie since I'd already done almost 20 days straight of work. We had a bunch of choices for places to stay, with most of the support team staying in Irvine near our customer.
I chose to stay in Cypress. Yes, Cypress. You see, since this was a weekend and I'd be heading to our location at around 6am, there wouldn't be any traffic. Plus, this hotel was even cheaper than the other choices.
But why Cypress? Well, it sure wasn't to check out the Noodles & Company or the El Torito that basically shared the same parking lot with my hotel.
No, it was to be able to finally visit Café Hiro.
I'd been waiting to check this place out for years. You see, when I first started this blog back in May of 2005, the focus of the food blog back then wasn't a career path and social media as know it now was in its infancy. Remember Friendster ? Facebook was still a Harvard campus oriented site; it wasn't released to the public until 2006. By the time I had started the blog; there was already a pretty strong food blogging community, yes, in those days it was sort of a community and "Elmomonster", perhaps you are more familiar with his food blog Monster Munching was going strong. Elmo, or you probably know him more by his real name these days, was one of the first to comment on this blog. One of Elmo's favorite places is Café Hiro; he's done multiple posts on the place over the years, culminating with a poetic Valentine's Day post in 2016. In November of 2017, a full twelve years since I first read about the place, I finally had an opportunity to check out Cafe Hiro.
I made my reservations for later in the evening since I'd be working almost a full day in San Diego, then drive up. And oh what a drive it was….a full 140 minutes of thrills and excitement. I managed to check in at the hotel and then decided to do something that drew a bit of attention; I walked there from my hotel, up Valley View Street. Several cars actually slowed down to see the odd sight of a person walking of his own free will up the street. I'd forgotten………
The place was full, except for the small bar area, which is where I was seated.
Things were pretty busy; but the two young ladies working were very efficient and quite nice.
I had my sights set on Uni Pasta, but when a woman walked in to pick up 10 orders of Uni Risotto, well, my mind was made up.
Things started with a simple, refreshing crisp salad.
And a cup of creamy potato soup; which, to be perfectly frank, could have been hotter.
Though I did enjoy the touch of curry flavor in smooth and creamy soup.
For some reason I was a lot more hungry than usual. I really can't eat as much as I used to anymore. Perhaps it was the twelve years of anticipation? Regardless, I ordered the Beef Tataki – "Japanese Style".
Which was pretty much by the book; the beef pleasantly toothsome; I enjoyed the refreshing ponzu-daikon oroshi, and the pungency of the onions. Not a big fan of the fried garlic which was on the bitter side. This was a nice version of Beef Tataki.
My risotto took about thirty-five minutes; which is perfect in my book. Risotto takes time. There are very few versions of restaurant risotto here in the states I enjoy. Most of it is terribly par-cooked, leaving the center of the Arborio rice hard and rather unpleasant. This was nice and creamy all the way through.
All the seafood as a whole was well prepared; the shrimp plump, juicy, with a briny-sweetness, the calamari adequately tender, ditto the mussels. The Manila Clams had a bit of grit in it, but not enough to stop me from eating. The flavor was at once rich, yet quite mild and balanced with just a hint of sweetness and a definite oceany finish. It was very good. 
I actually wanted to return to Café Hiro the next evening, but wasn't sure of when I'd be finishing up work. So I decided against making reservations. I did show up and the place was packed so I had to go with a Plan "B".
I'm glad to have finally been able to check out Café Hiro. It is worth a visit. I spent a good amount of time during my meal thinking about how much time has passed since I started this blog; all those SoCal folks…..Dylan & Jeni, Pam, Kristi, ChubbyPanda, Andy…..Beach! I wonder how they're all doing now. Passionate Eater still has a post once in a while and Elmo of course, still does a post weekly. But time has passed, lots of things change in twelve years. And my visit to Café Hiro gave me time to reflect on things. So maybe I wasn't twelve years too late……I'm thinking it was just the perfect time!
Cafe Hiro
10509 Valley View St
Cypress, CA 90630
Elmo, I'm not sure if you still drop by once in a while. But thanks man. Not only for all the posts and emails over the years, but for being, along with Reid, one of the folks who inspired me to start this little old blog way back when!