FuRaiBo - City of Industry

FuRaiBo

17859 Colima Rd

City of Industry, CA 91748

(626) 964-4014

yes...i know...the one on sawtelle in west l.a. is better.  and let me say this, my friend's have been trying to set up a day for us to go down and eat there...and everytime something comes up and it never happens.  on monday night, i had some good friends visiting from philly and i thought...well...let's just go try it!  i said a quick prayer...please let it be good and not embarrass me! 

we had quite a few dishes, so lets just get started.  first up, tako wasabi...

yes, it was as slimy as it looks.  when andrew ordered this, he thought it was cooked, but it came out raw.  and i hate to say this, but it looked like a bowl of snot.  you want a closer look?

grace gripped most of it in her chop stick but you can still see that little bit hanging off.  ok...i'll give it one more chance.

still hard to tell, andrew and grace were troopers.  i had one piece, tasted like something slimy, chewy with lots of wasabi.  a definite NEVER order again. 

#2 - cream cheese wanton (this is how they spelled it)

fried wonton skin (they then spelled it this way) stuffed with cream cheese, crab meat and green onions.  these were fine, but what it really needed was a sweet chili dipping sauce which would've made it perfect!!

nasu miso, eggplant topped with sweet miso sauce...

i love eating nasu miso.  theirs was fine, simple and to the point.  nicely cooked and sweetened with the miso.

spinach bacon saute...

it was ok, spinach with very soft bacon...at this point i'm getting really tired of the lemon slices as the garnish.  i'm trying not to show them in every shot AND the tired looking lettuce they keep using.  i'm sorry...i have to share my thoughts on how people garnish.  one of my favorite things about japanese cuisine is the clean, elegant presentation.  less is more, let the food speak for itself.  i feel like they keep throwing the same garnish on almost every dish and truly, the lemon is completely useless and isn't even meant to be used on the dish!  its this super thin slice which i'm not going to try and squeeze like i do my wet face towel!  do you get what i'm saying?!  ok...i'm done venting.  next!

asari-sake, steamed clams in sake broth...

please, please let me taste what you are advertising.  first thing i did, taste the broth...the first words that came out of my mouth...tastes like sea.  i know...its not grammatically correct, i don't care.  i'm just telling you what came out of my mouth!  i think the chef forgot the actual sake because there was not the slightest hint of it!  and let me tell you, my palette can taste just about anything!  i'm like a bloodhound, but i use my tastebuds!  (i have a really great sense of smell too, but i'll save that for another time)  what was i talking about again?  oh yeah, the clams were ordinary and nothing special.  i'm sorry, its so difficult for me to talk about something that is so lackluster and boring.  just in case i didn't make it clear enough, no, i would not order this again.

#6 - wow...we're already on our sixth dish?!  grilled shiitake mushrooms...

 

correction:  burnt shiitake mushrooms.  this was awful and i cannot emphasize how much i dislike burnt food.  the mushrooms were totatlly dried out.  in fact, it was so bad, you might think that it was the dried shiitake mushrooms you get in the bag and must rehydrate in hot water!  i know this sounds pretty harsh, but come on!  how can you even think of serving this to us?  i'd be embarrassed and mortified to present this plate of blackened food to my customers.  enough said.

lucky number 7, tofu salad...

cubes of tofu, tuna (canned), lettuce, sliced onion marinated with sweet sesame dressing.  and a few sliced of cucumbers.  besides the tuna, this was a nice basic salad, the dressing was sweet and slightly thicker...but i liked the taste of it.  i did find the addition of canned tuna to be quite odd, so did bertina.  why canned tuna? if you can't do fresh...why do anything at all?  very odd choice. 

asians love the number 8...i hope its a good dish! tara kasu yaki - black cod marinated in miso

let's start on a positive note, the fish was cooked very well, it was tender and juicy.  on the down side, it didn't taste like it was super fresh to me. 

*sigh* i know, this blog on furaibo seems like it will never end.  just two more items!!  yahoo!!  oh i lied...three more items! 

show us number 9!!  enoki & scallop...

advertised as...enoki mushroom pan sauteed with fresh scallops.  see the lovely lemon and lettuce?!  hehe  ok...let's just get right to it, the scallops, not fresh.  not advertised, sake broth!  i think they got it confused and put all the sake into the mushrooms vs. the clam broth!  omg...there was so much sake in this you still got the burn from the alcohol.  *still sighing*

i think i might need another ice cream sandwich to power me through these last two items.  no, i must be strong, i can finish this!  i'm going to finish it without any outside help!

#10 - home made french fries

ok...i was very specific when ordering the fries...extra crispy please.  would you like to know the answer the waiter gave me?  he didn't know if the chef could make them crispy.  *yup...one more sigh*  they do look homey and beatiful don't they?  and just like the waiter indicated, the chef couldn't make them crispy.  he did not lie.  they were laid out so nicely....but oh so limp.  i don't know if the chef knows the secret in crispy fries, but i'm going to share it with all of you out there.  its called blanching.  you deep fry the potatoes at a lower temperature first, then you refry them at a higher temperature the second time.  the blanching process creates a barrier that can later be crisped up the second time around. 

everyone give me a hallelujah!  the last item of the night!!  kimchee chahan!

fried rice with smoked sausage and kimchee.  flavor flavor flavor.  i love fried rice.  when i hear the words kimchee, i want to taste fried rice that is spicy and tangy from the pickled kimchee.  i think the used one piece of kimchee and cut them into brunoise.  what is brunoise?  well, its like the tiniest dice you can think of.  like one centimeter by one centimeter.  hahaha  ok, i might be slightly exaggerating the size of the kimchee, but seriously, it wasn't that big.  i might get a bite of kimchee every 5 bites of rice.  i do wish the rice just had more flavor...even if it had more of the smoked sausage taste!  but i did eat it because i love rice. 

so are you curious as to what i might rate this place?  before i do, i will say, i can't believe reviewers on yelp gave this place 4 out of 5 stars.  there was so much more mediocre food than good food, that its very difficult for me to even recommend this place to anyone.  perhaps its not even just that it was mediocre, i think it was because the mediocre food was just so poorly cooked and presented too!  extremely disappointing.

i will try the one on sawtelle to be completely fair to the name of the restaurant.  but as for this location in the city of industry, i give this place a 1.999.   i feel terrible for recommending it to my friends, but they were so gracious and we ate just about everything.  go andrew for eating all those burnt mushrooms!  more power to you brotha!  God knows i couldn't do it.