Shogun Pasadena

As with many people who grew up in the SGV in the last two decades of the 20th century, Shogun was a common special-occasion dining destination for my family. 

I felt a need to return, even though I knew it would never be as fun, and probably not as good, as it is in my memory. 

I eschewed the teppan grill for the traditional dining room, as I was by myself. 

But to use the restroom, I had to walk past the main part of the restaurant. It was hard to hold back the flood of memories. 

5 memories from this room: 

1) April, 1992. The chef accidentally threw a sizzling-hot shrimp onto my dad's arm and then yelled "Oh so sorry! Japanese mistake!" My best friend was there, we were 13 years old, and more than three decades later I can text him "Japanese mistake!" and he will laugh. 

2) July, 1998. My family and friends threw a surprise birthday party for me. My grandmothers paid for it. There were at least a half-dozen of my friends there. We were not yet 21, so we could not (legally) drink alcohol, otherwise the bill would have been twice what it was.

3) January, 2000. Some friends and I went to a taping of The Price is Right. The boyfriend (Owen) of one of my best friends from high school (Cara) won a Chevy Camaro. Cara's parents took us all out to dinner to celebrate and we got really fucking drunk. 

4) November, 2003. My brother and I ate dinner here and were seated next to a gay couple who assumed that we were a couple rather than brothers and kept asking us personal questions:

"How long have you been together?"

"More than 20 years." 

"Holy shit, that's a long time, especially for two people your age."

Eventually, we just decided to pretend like we weren't brothers, like we actually were both gay. Which, looking back, wasn't too hard for my brother.

5) September, 2017. My parents, my brother, and I had dinner here the night before my parents left on a month-long vacation to drive around the West in search of the town in which they wanted to retire. 

My brother was late and apologized and said he had been feeling like crap lately and wasn't himself. The dinner was great - I gorged myself - but the memory from this dinner comes more from the fact that 48 hours later he finally went to the doctor and was quickly diagnosed with leukemia, from which he died 17 months later. 

 I don't know why this kind of art makes me so happy. I should get a print like this for my office wall. 

The house salad is the same as it ever was, which is to say delicious. The ice-cold lettuce and even colder ginger dressing is the perfect start to any meal here. 

The Firecracker Shrimp: Crispy Tempura Battered Shrimp, Topped with Sriracha and Dynamite Sauces. 

I do not believe I have eaten these before, and they sounded good.

I love tempura. I love fried shrimp. I love condiments. 

But holy shit they used a heavy hand here. If the dynamite sauce had been reduced by 50%, this would have been a great appetizer. It was instead merely average. 

The Caliente Roll: Tempura Style Spicy Tuna Roll with Jalapeños and Cream Cheese Inside. Topped with Eel Sauce and Spicy Mayo.

About a decade ago, this was one of my favorite things to eat in the SGV, up there with the smoked turkey sandwich at Matt Denny's, tacos at Taco Lita, and half a dozen things at Yang Chow. 

And it was still quite good. Delicious, even. But, as I texted Bryce: 

"Note to self: Don’t go anywhere else for sushi the day after Sugarfish. It’s probably going to disappoint." 

He wrote back: "I am at work. Don't you have any other Japanese friends to bother?"

(Actually, he didn't write that. He wrote "Still looks pretty tasty.")

I am not going to say these are the worst spicy tuna crispy rice I have ever eaten... but they were certainly the most overcooked. 

This came out last, a full twenty minutes after I ordered it, and I wonder if they were frying the rice the whole time. 

I took most of them home for Murph, but he wouldn't eat them.

This was my last trip to Shogun. I knew it wasn't going to be as great as I remembered it, and it wasn't.

In many parts of the world, Shogun would be one of the better options for Asian food. 

But the SGV is not one of those parts.