The menu of hip, non-traditional izakaya 12/10, created by Gab Bustos and Thea de Rivera of The Girl + The Bull, just got an “update” this month. Except, it’s not the update in the traditional sense of the word.
12/10’s menu change sees a shorter, more compact selection of dishes. There are no radical additions or recreations in the dishes; in fact, a lot of things, Bustos says, still remain the same.
The noticeable change in the menu though is that the categories have been removed, leaving just a list of plates following what Bustos describes as “our general progression of ‘smaller-to-bigger’ and ‘more raw-to-more cooked.’”
“With this new layout, we’re able to be more creative with our offerings—making sure that each dish featured on the menu has its own profile or voice and a distinct place and function in the dining experience,” Bustos says. “This also allows us to push more for an omakase experience, and it gives us more flexibility to adjust or replace dishes depending on what’s in season or available in the market.”
The “new” menu was released last Feb. 14. Here’s a peek at some of the new offerings:
The spicy scallop (which replaces the spicy tuna) features a snack of diced scallops in spicy mentaiko sauce with pickled radishes over a sheet of nori.
Bustos also personally recommends the asparagus, which is grilled over charcoal and served on top of chawanmushi made with dashi of mackerel bones, with sake-cured salmon roe and mussel furikake.
12/10 also has their take on takoyaki—the octopus croquette, which according to Bustos is also an homage to his Spanish roots. The croquette comes with gooey gorgonzola.