So my mom and I were again looking for a place to eat dinner the other night. We decided on The House, a restaurant I pass by all the time while going to Mo's. I went to The House many many years ago, and more recently (but still a long time ago) I also tried the bigger but now closed House over in the Sunset. I'd say that the original House on Grant was one of the earlier fusion restaurants - they started doing it way in the beginning, back when Oritalia was on Fillmore I think. Years later, I still remember House's delicious garlic noodles. The restaurant hasn't changed at all from what I can tell. The dining room is clean, simple and modern, not to mention rather small. We got a table near the window with a good amount of natural light still coming in.
blue lake bean tempura with pickled ginger soy - $7.5
My mom was all over this dish - bean tempura is one of her favorite dishes, I think. The beans here were big, crisp, and meaty. They were maybe a touch greasy, but that's really nitpicking.
deep-fried chicken liver with baby greens - $8
This sounded better than it tasted. For some reason, I sort of half-expected an overbattered mess, which luckily these livers were not. They were tasty with that familiar livery texture, but not mindblowing. The accompanying salad was just okay.
vegetarian wasabi house noodles with tofu, carrots, eggplant, mushrooms, I forget what else... - $?
So the garlic noodles I remember have now become wasabi house noodles, which are usually served with something else - on the night we went, it was flatiron steak (listed at $17; I'm sure our vegetarian one was less). The waiter told us making a vegetarian version would be no problem, so my mom opted for this. Now I'll be honest: I didn't really taste any wasabi in these noodles. That didn't matter though, because these noodles were awesome, and they could have called it whatever they wanted and I'd still have eaten them. These noodles just had a wonderful texture and substance to them that made them slightly chewy and delicious. I'll definitely order this with the steak next time...
grilled ahi tuna (rare) with spicy mustard aioli - $21
Lucky for me, my mom's noodles didn't win the dinner. My ahi tuna totally stole the show, considering we went in expecting great noodles. As you can see, the menu description totally does not do this dish justice. Other than mustard aioli, the tuna was surrounded by rings of two more flavors - some chili oil, and also some kind of lemon-infused oil. The mixture of the aioli, the chili, and the citrus, PLUS the roe, created a delicious dressing for the tuna (which itself was moist, nicely seasoned and cooked just right). Combined with rice, this was almost like eating a really good maki. The simple spinach and fried vermicelli were just icing on the cake. I wiped this plate completely clean, as did the guy eating next to us who ordered the same thing.
apple crumb pie a la mode - $7.5
We asked the waiter to suggest a dessert, and he said the apple crumb pie was the best hands down. It was very good indeed, piping hot and very crumby, with a good ratio of apple to crust.
It's good to see The House still doing well after so long. I'll definitely be back.