WAGYU, BERNADETTE AND GOOD BOYS

My usual Sunday of lunch and two films.  I started by walking into Shabuya at the Ala Moana Center because it was so favorably reported on by dinner mates at 15 Craigside.

I chose to skip it for three reasons:

• I expected to pay $18 or so, but was quoted something close to $28.  Maybe weekends cost more.
• I then realized I had not gone golfing on Friday because it was a State holiday, when my monthly card cannot be used, so I thought it best to avoid an all-you-can-eat meal, for golf is my method for maintaining an acceptable weight.  This was the overwhelming reason.
• I took a photo of the drinks available, and they were all from Korea.  My experience in the past was that any Japanese restaurant that is Korean-influence suffers from some adjustments.

So I strolled around Shirokiya Japanese Village Walk:

Wagyu Alley is now Gourmet Alley, with only one wagyu stand.  At one time they must have had ten of these stations, except very few meals were sold because the price was too high.  Then they closed down this section for a very long time.

Now, this lane is operative, but the wagyu place shows a sign that says they only serve 10 wagyu meals/day.  I guess this has something to do with the cost of wagyu and the $38 price, for the best in Hawaii is sells for $150/pound...and in Japan this can go up to $250/pound.

I ordered a wagyu steak meal, for they had not yet reached 10:

After tax and tip, I would say it was not worth it.  For one, if this was wagyu, and the serving was around a third of a pound, it must have been Grade 2 or 3, at best.  The worst thing was that the distinctive wagyu taste was totally missing.  American and Australian wagyu also lack this special quality, and I suspect this is what was being served.  So then why limit the number of meals?  Could be reverse psychology P.R.  Also, too, even non-Japanese wagyu beef, if you can find it in your market, generally goes for $30/pound and more.

Japanese wagyu beef standards are complicated, so I will just show one graphic indicating that Grade 5 is the best:

A5 has the highest yield, with C5 the lowest, but still very expensive.  The Japanese wagyu beef sold at Marukai in Honolulu is usually A5 from Miyazaki (this photo was taken three years ago when I was in Miyazaki, and the beef sold from $60-$80/pound) and usually sells for around $100/pound at Marukai.  The wagyu at J-Shop (that article is two years old and the price there has significantly increased) is never from Miyazaki and ranges from $100-$150/pound. Every piece of steak I've purchased at both locations had that distinguishing savoriness.

I might finally add that Shirokiya Japanese Village Walk still has that $1 beer sign.  Except that this option is no longer available.  The cheapest is $2 per glass.

Moving on to my two films of the weekend, Rotten Tomatoes reviewers didn't particularly like the first, Where Did You Go, Bernadette (43%), but audiences rated it higher (78%).  I would agree with the latter.  It came in #11 for weekend revenues.

Starring Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup and Kristen Wiig, the movie was entertaining enough.  I'm generally impressed with Richard Linklater's films, but this one was somewhat limp and could have used a more boffo ending.

Good Boys, sort of a Super Bad for 6th graders, did much better, 80%/89%, and, wow, #1 at the box office, beating out The Rock, Lion King and Angry Birds, which is almost astounding.  Yet, I didn't particularly enjoy this effort.  It was entertaining enough, with some highlights, but there were too many missed opportunities.  The film had a first-time director, Gene Stupnitsky, who co-wrote the script with Lee Eisenberg, who is not inexperienced.

The film earned an R-rating, so the production should have taken advantage of various scenes, particularly with those two teenage girls.  I remember my sixth-grade life, and the times they have changed.  Of course, that was two-thirds of a century ago.

Let me end on a more positive note by featuring my three goldfish and lanai with sunbursts:

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