ForkAndPen

The Joy of Sake

What a great night it was. Lots of people came out. A HUGE selection of sake that made even me blush (from all the nice samples). And the most suprising thing was the food - lots of it and really good stuff. Its good to be on the west coast. Sorry to all that look here for food notes - i have been no existant lately. Hopefully once life calms down a bit i will share a bunch of stuff.

Sex, Ramen, and Long Tang

The second day of my trip to Japan, I was surrounded my more neon then ever in my life. Tokyo is like nothing I have ever seen before. I had a nice hotel (thanks mom) and was rather tired. I thought I'll go for a walk and find some food. I started walking around west Shinjuku. I had a map but couldn't really find anything. People were out and having a great time. My eyes were wide open and just amazed at everything I saw. Of course I was hungry, but where to eat. There are so many restaurants. I didn't yet know that I probably would have been happy with 90% of the restaurants. So I kept looking for THE place. I ended up going to Kabukicho - the red light district. A large man with a thick African accent followed me through the crowd. He kept saying " Come on man you know you want it - the girls here will do anything". It creeped me out some - probably the most of the whole trip. While weaving through the strip clubs and love hotels, I saw a simple ramen place. Ramen was perfect.

I eat ramen in New York every once and awhile and it is always fine, but I was really looking foreward to having it in Japan. And boy are there a lot of ramen shops. The Japanese love these chinese noodles in broth. The place I stumbled into was almost empty and I guess this helped ease the intimidation factor. I sat at the bar (most ramen places look like the one in Tampopo) and through broken Japanese ordered shoshu (soy sauce based) ramen with roast pork, pork gyoza, and a beer. The cook and waitress were joking with me. It was exactly what I needed. This random ramen joint had better ramen then any I had tasted in NY ( hmm maybe not Momofuku ) and the gyoza was hand made. Much better then I had ever had. I didn't care that this was not even close to the best ramen I was going to have on the trip or that I wasn't eating something crazy or new. This meal showed me that it was going to be an exciting month.

Click below to see some more pictures of Long Tang.

Tamago?

A 10 hour flight is not fun. But it gets much worse when you have three other flights in two days. Still when I landed in Osaka i was overjoyed. Everything was interesting. Roaming lost in the airport was amazingly fun because everyone was speaking Japanese and running around. The stores were very different. Already i saw food everywhere i wanted to try. In the airport there was a food court that was rather large. Newark airport in New Jersey where i left has a few places near each terminal but nothing like this. But I was still a little disoriented and wanted to find my hotel before setting into my first meal.

About an hour later of trudging around in the cold and rain in Osaka I was more then disoriented. Once I finally found my hotel I decided to wait till the next day to try some of Osaka's fine food.

Things look much better in the morning.

I was so hungry - I went to the closest mall area. A grouping of restaurants and stores is basically a mall - not the same as a mall in America. First place that looked good I went in.

I see a few people eating various bowls of noodles and rice. Three guys are sitting and drinking a bottle of whisky and smoking. It is 8:30 am - welcome to Osaka. I say hello to the waitress - most of the menu is in japanese characters that i can't read - so i smile and say tamago (egg) ?. And this is all I needed to say. A few minutes later an amazing breakfast set is brought to me.

It made me so happy. Tasty rolled omelete with grated daikon + fluffy white rice + miso soup + boiled potatoes and konnyaku in sesame oil. I ate pretty fast as i was real hungry. What did this little feast cost - 500 yen ( around $4.50)! And all it took was one word (and a few "please and thank yous".)

Back from the east

My month long excursion to Japan is now over. It was in a word amazing. All that I hoped to do on the trip I did. I drank and ate my way through a good portion of Japan. The train carried me (real fast) north from Osaka to Sapporo and then back down ending in Osaka a month later. Tokyo is a site to be seen - more crazy and amazing then i ever thought it could be.

Overall the food was some of the best I have ever had. Your every day random restaurant serves a higher quality of food then I am use to in every day places in new york. And some of the places i went that specializes in a type of food served meals with bright tasty food that sang out in support of the main ingredient.

The Japanese are also food crazy. I don't think the term foodie would ever make much sense in Japan. Everyone has a favorite ramen place. Most people know that you have to get to the fish market early and pick up what you need for dinner. And they love to play with food. "Ice cream city" or "Gyoza stadium" - it is all fun. This is the country that brought us Iron Chef. TV is full of food shows. During prime time I watched many variety shows where the hosts went on an expedition to a great chicken place or a grilled meat place. Off hours - elaborate cooking shows took place where chefs would show a host how to make a very complex dish.

Oh and the pastries...ok i could go on and on - and will! For the foreseeable future i will post stories and photos from my trip. Viva la Nihon no tabemono (viva Japanese food)!

Pour me another, Asahi robo bar dude

I am going to Japan folks. Yup i am leaving the sweet confines of New York city and enjoying a country hopping, ramen slurping, robot fueled adventure through Japan.

I will be eating and relaxing all over the place. If you have any suggestions ( particularly food related) please send them to jruvel@yahoo.com - I promise to take lots and lots of pictures and to post everything here.

I hope i get to hang out with one of these guys

Sushi how to

Eat that sushi!

japanese food notes

a page from my must try this out soon notes (spelling mistakes intact):

Go - sushi delux - $10
Lan - 56 3rd ave - 10st - shabu shabu
Esashi - 32 Avenue A, around 3rd street - $15 sushi delux
Ushiwaka Maru - 136 West Houston - expensivish - $38 special
Ajisai - 1466 1st Ave Btwn 76th & 77th St - great dinner box special - ok sushi
Tsuki - 1410 1st Ave - 75th st
Tomoe Sushi - 172 Thompson St Btwn Bleecker & Houston St - big fish
Sugiyama - 251 W 55TH St - Between Eighth Avenue and Broadway - traditional kaiseki style
Minca - 536 E 5th St - ramen
Nadaman Hakubai in the Kitano Hotel - 66 Park Avenue At 38TH Street - kaiseki
Uminoie - 86 East Third Street (First Avenue and Second Avenue) - Goto udon; dashimaki-tamago
(rolled omelet) nikujyaga (beef stew); kakuni (pork belly); gyoza
Japanese bars - some no english - (also some on 43rd and Second Avenue) - "53rd street (it's the street
the south side of the Lipstick building is on), between second and third avenues, midway down on the south side of the block, up a short flight of stairs from the street"
Katsuhama - 11 E 47th St - Btwn Madison & 5th Ave
Poke - 305 East 85 street btw 1st and 2nd ave - byob - great sushi
Donguri - 309 East 83rd Street (Second Avenue); (212) 737-5656 - reservations needed - kinda expensive

I don't want it to stop

I sat thinking about the past few weeks yesterday. I have been eating a lot of sushi. And really I don't want it to stop. The sushi when done right is such a good meal. The price though can easily go out of control if you don't watch out.

Last week I went to Blue Ribbon Sushi. This place is impetus enough to become filthy rich. I had a spicy scallop roll that was perfect - the scallop was very fresh and sweet - the rice had a strong flavor without overpowering and the spicy sauce was some of the best I have ever had. But the roll cost $10 and it was one of thier lower priced rolls! I also had a piece of big eye tuna that was very nice. Add ontop 2 pieces of japanese snapper (flown in) and a piece of eel and that was dinner. Expensive alright but rather good. Having a expensive but mediocre sushi place is not hard, many do it. But having an expensive good sushi place or an inexpensive good place is something of a find.

Cheap eats in Tokyo

I know i am obsessed with Japanese food but here is another Tokyo food link:

Eating cheap in Tokyo

Comparing Sushi

I have thought about this a good amount. Sushi might be one of the most suprising food style I have ever had. Tastingmenu.com got me thinking with this post and then this post about how the difficulty of judging your local sushi place to others you have been to.

For me I did not eat sushi at all till sometime at the end of high school. It really is a bit hazy but at somepoint between 18 and 20 I had already fallen in love with those small pieces of raw fish. I seem to be a traditionalist when it comes to sushi. I like the interesting rolls for creativity sake but give me artfully done sashimi that is fresh and I am yours.

I have never been to Nobu or Bond St in New York. And really I have eaten very little sushi out of the east coast area. But still a few places have really shinned. They might be because they are local or they might actually be doing something special. I will mention two here.

Both I have found recently. In Edgewater NJ, there is a large Japanese mall called Mitsuwa. They have a bookstore, toy shop, and a huge supermarket. In the supermarket they have a good size food court.

First I tried onigiri for the first time. Triangle shaped rice with spicy salmon roe inside. The rice is wrapped in plastic with a sheet of nori (seaweed) seperate. The nori is used to wrap the rice and then you eat. A burst of spicy sweet flavor came through. I have had salmon roe before but this tasted of so many different things. Ocean falvor mixed with a balanced hotness. Excellent. Then a sushi bar in the corner of the supermarket gave a friend and I a great lesson in good sushi. It just tasted fresh, vibrant. The rice was on the cold side without being too cold. I personaly preffer that. This is also the first time I have ever had toro (tuna belly). I feel it was a good time to start.

The second sushi place that makes me jump with delight is Tab Toe sushi. A tiny (4 or 5 tables) sushi place on Ave C and 5th street. My guess is that it is family owned. It is BYOB. And the chef puts out both creative and astoningly tasty dishes. I have not gone all the way there yet. There are a few rolls that sound very excitting. A dab of this sauce or some green tea powder but it was the Tuna Tataki salad (given free with a sushi box of peppered salmon) that realed me in. A light ginger soy dressing over seared tuna. A black pepper taste lingers in your mouth after every bite. Here is a recipe for Tuna Tataki.

So it seems to me that comparing varying sushi places is just like comparing any kinda restaurant. Find out what you like and then order something new.

got to love those Japanese

Japan's Beard Papa's Pipin' Hot Cream Puffs come to New York -- Beard Papa's Sweet Cafe opens this Friday. (via Nyc Eats)

Taishoken

Have some Ramen

Yet Another Best Sushi List

Sushi NYC

one more for the road..

She Loves New York Sushi Issue