Giusto Gusto

An is Asian Fusion, a term that gets thrown around way too much and that many chefs fail to deliver on. Chef Michael Chuong’s catch phrase is “New World Cuisine” but that seems a little too broad, every item on the menu has some type of Asian flavoring or technique included so Asian Fusion seems to fit better.

Located in the Arboretum at the corner of Harrison Ave. and Weston Pkwy. in Cary, An is a representation of the way Cary has changed, for the better or worse is up to you. When we first moved here in 1994 Preston corners was covered in red clay, the old gas stations served bright-red hot dogs, and there were more farms than shopping centers. That shits gone, instead Cary is left with corner after corner of almost indistinguishable chain strip malls full of drug stores, grocery stores, and the obvious chain restaurant.

I can rant all day long on the ups and downs of this quiet middle class town but there’s one thing that’s slowly creeping back into the old corners and newly broken ground: Food! An is just that, a hopeful answer to all of these yuppie suburbanites with money. Good news: It’s delicious! Thus, I explain a gratifying valentines dinner Megs and I spent at An this past Sunday night:

Pulling up under the large facade overhang feels a little bit like checking into a hotel, but once inside you feel like a posh celebrity hanging out at Bobby Flay’s new Asian venture. The decor is similar to Buku, a tasteful mix of contemporary design and architecture riddle with Asian motifs from all corners of the East. The colors are soothing, burnt orange, rich browns, bright Chinese reds, jade greens, quiet but loud at the same time, very well done.

The ceilings seem to span 50 feet up, especially in the bar where we enjoyed a local Red Oak Battlefield and 2005 Valpolicella. Our table was in a back room connected to the main dining room (top pic). The restaurant was full of that wonderful buzz any well-to-do establishment should have, making you even more excited to start eating. The menu, covered in wood (pardon me), is more concise than you’d imagine and seems to change slightly with the seasons. A dozen starters, a dozen mains, a sushi menu, and a sake list Mr.Miyagi would be stoked about. It’s color coded for cripes sake (get it? I’m too much): from dry to sweet you can find an affordable glass in each section. Asking the waiter for his fave I received a very dry variety (floating..cloud…blossom something) which tasted somewhere between very dry wine and grain liquor…not the best but it seemed to get sweeter and more melon-ish as the meal went on.

Our meal, a gut busting 6 plate journey, included the following:

Big Eye Tuna Sashimi – awesome, top quality fish.

Spiced Tempura Calamari with sweet and spicy dipping sauces. Not the real name, An’s online menu seems to be very old, but you get the idea. May have been some of the best fried calamari Meg or I have ever had in a restaurant, top notch!

Crawfish and Matsutaki Mushroom tart with a deep and rich sauce full of beautifully sauteed crawdad tails and earthy matsutaki. The phyllo tart got a little soggy with the sauce but the flavors were spot on.

Roast Duckling with Sweet Potato Schnitzel and braised Bok Choy. Meg’s pick, absolutely outrageous. One of those dishes that makes you laugh it’s so good. The Schnitzel stole the show, fragrant and full of autumn flavors they were like little gnocchi doused in Duck pan drippings….I just drooled on my keyboard.

Kobe Beef Sirloin seared rare with Persimmon Salsa and Baby Veg. I hate baby veg, not at home but in a restaurant it’s a joke. These were the only poor showing of the whole meal, barely “roasted” they were nice to look at but that’s about it. The beef, on the other hand, was the most tender and flavorful beef I’ve ever had in my life!

Kobe Beef is found only in Japan (although now you can find Wagyu – a similar variety –  in the states and Australia) that yields incredibly well marbled meat full of flavorful fat and tender meat. Every Japanese Kobe farmer has their own trick to creating such incredible cattle but some techniques include feeding the cattle Japanese rice and beer and bathing or massaging them in Sake. Sounds nuts? It’s the highest ranked beef product in the world so they must be doing something right. For the price not worth the whole dish but the meat was worth every penny on it’s own, maybe that’s the idea?

Back to the dishes. After almost crying over the other-worldly slab of meat I just devoured we moved onto dessert: Molten Dark Chocolate Cake with Fresh Berries, Peanut Butter Ice Cream, and Sesame Seed Tuile. Meg almost pulled a Harry Met Sally diner routine, the cake was expertly baked to just set the exterior leaving the interior still piping hot and fluid. The berries were as fresh as they come and the peanut butter ice cream was only slightly sweet to balance the richness of the cake.

What else can I say? A verdict I suppose:

An: YUP!

I’ll worn you, save this place for a special occasion, expensive is an understatement. But, unlike other over priced venues I’ve been to, An gives you very generous portions of the utmost quality and even greater service. All of our food was delivered with minimal wait on the busiest restaurant night of the year with a packed house, very very impressive.

It was a mouth watering ordeal, each plate more interesting and inspiring than the next, and sitting across from the most gorgeous signora in the place didn’t hurt either (ti amo ragazza). I may have to sell a kidney to go back but if that Kobe’s still there it just might happen, I’m an organ donor anyways…