Recipes

January 23, 2013 Chinese

Brrrr - it's FREEZING out + Giveaway!

Brrrrrr! Are we cold yet?

It's times like these I wonder what possessed Bryan (who's from sunny Southern California) to leave what he calls "the happiest place on earth" to this freezing place we call home now.

It's times like this I start to really miss the sunshine. In the dead of winter, the sun sets around 4:30PM here in Boston, which means it's pretty much pitch black by the time I leave work. On a freezing cold winter's night like today, it's sooooo hard to get myself psyched up to open that door and brave the cold winds that come blasting inside. I've been listening to podcasts to distract myself so I can get lost in my thoughts, not my environment!

I find that this cold weather makes me quite lazy. I lose all motivation for spending tons of time chopping, cutting, and stir frying after a long day at work (plus a loooong cold walk home!). I yearn for warm, simple, and healthy meals.

With Chinese New Year coming up, my thoughts have turned towards dumplings. Sure, ideally I would make these from scratch, filling them with my favorite ingredients - Chinese chives and ground pork. But I must confess, frozen Chinese dumplings is one of my favorite "emergency" staples to keep in the freezer.

I think of dumplings as a complete food. They encompass virtually all the "food groups" (yes, I'm a child of the 80's pre-food pyramid days!) - a nice balance of meat, vegetables, and carbohydrates (OK, so we're missing the diary food group). This glorious little all-in-one package is easy to portion out (you just cook the number you feel like eating), and you can easily pan-fry them straight from the freezer.

I almost always have a few packages of frozen dumplings in my freezer, usually purchased from a local dumpling restaurant or from a Chinese supermarket. I've never bought them from any Western supermarket. So when Whole Foods contacted me telling me about their new healthy frozen line of foods (many of which were international), I was immediately dubious about the Chinese food.

Nevertheless, I figured it wouldn't hurt to try their new line. After all, frozen food comes in handy quite often during the winter, especially on those freezing nights (like today!) when you really just rather not even step foot outside.

Whole Foods gave me a $25 gift card to pick up various frozen foods from their new line. I thought Italian food would be the safest, so I picked up a couple of those. I also got some Chinese dumplings. I figured if they could make a good dumpling, I'd be completely sold.

Their dumplings come in a pack of eight for $3.99. This is a far cry from the bag of thirty that I'm used to getting in Chinatown for $2.99 or the bag of fifty frozen handmade dumplings I can get at Mulan, Golden Garden, or Qingdao for about $15.

They are pre-shaped in a way that facilitates pan-frying. I found it easy to follow the directions to get a nice, crispy bottom, just like a restaurant "gyoza."

But how did it taste?
It was . . . . OK. Frankly, I didn't love it. Sure, the skin texture was decent and the bottom fries up beautifully. I just didn't love the flavors inside. The pork + vegetable one had a very strong essence of celery inside, which I wasn't used to at all. I strongly prefer the flavor of pork + Chinese chives or maybe napa, a classic combination you'll see everywhere in Chinatown. I think this dumpling has been tweaked for the Western palate, which is not bad, but doesn't taste completely authentic.

Surprisingly, I enjoyed the vegetarian one a bit more, maybe because I had less pre-conceived notions about what I was expecting. It was reasonably tasty, though quite expensive at 50 cents a pop.

We enjoyed the Italian food much more. The frozen Italian meals come with the tomato sauce frozen in coin-sized chunks. This obviously speeds up the rate at which everything melts, which makes preparation quick and easy.

The Gnocchi di Polenta with Peas & Kale was not bad! The gnocchi itself was unusual in that it was made of cornmeal and thus had a slightly unusual texture. The vegetables had lost their bright green color, but overall the flavors were enjoyable. I appreciated how, unlike most prepared foods, the dish was not too salty. It came off tasting balanced and healthy, which was a nice refreshing change.

The Gnocchi alla Sorrentina was Bryan's favorite out of all the frozen dishes we tried. Of course, the texture of the gnocchi is nothing like fresh gnocchi, but it's acceptable and again, the sauce was bright and flavorful yet not too salty.

We also tried a Margarita Pizza. Although it had healthier ingredients and decent toppings, it most definitely tasted like frozen pizza. I haven't had frozen pizza in years, so this really stood out as being quite different from any pizza you'd get at a restaurant.

I guess my little home oven just can't come close to producing the quality of crust that comes out of a commercial wood or brick oven!

Finally, we tried a few of their new "Six Not-So-Secret Ingredients" ice creams. These ice creams come in a few simple flavors (I tried vanilla and coffee), and consist of cream, sugar, milk, eggs, vanilla, and a thickening agent, carob bean gum.

The ice cream was alright but not nearly as good as other premium brands. It lacked a depth of flavor and richness associated with the most premium ice creams. Priced at $3.69, the quality is in line with the price. It's not as good as the top premium/artisanal ice creams (which can cost anywhere from $5 to $12 a pint), but it's a step up from the national brands that typically cost about $4 for a quart.

Frankly, as someone who really loves her ice cream, I'll probably stick with making ice cream at home or buying them from my favorite local ice cream shops.

Thoughts
So it was a fun experiment. It's been so long since I've bought frozen prepared foods (with the exception of my Chinese dumplings) that it was interesting to consider this third alternative to food. I'm usually either cooking completely from scratch or eating out at a restaurant, so this in-between option was interesting to me. I sometimes forget that I can eat at home without it being a huge affair.

I guess I've been food blogging for so long that this third option doesn't even enter my mind anymore.

In any event, I doubt I'll be stocking up on these particular frozen foods, mostly because it's part of my "job" on this blog to continue to cook and try out new recipes. Nevertheless, I appreciate the fact that Whole Foods is trying to create healthy and tasty frozen prepared foods for those that don't have that much time. It's nice not to have to worry about crazy sodium or fat levels in your "fast food."

If I were to stock up on "emergency" food from this batch, I'd probably pick the gnocchi dishes, which I found to be hearty, flavorful, and quite enjoyable to eat.

Giveaway!!
Whole Foods has kindly agreed to give one Tiny Urban Kitchen reader a $25 Whole Foods Gift Card. You're welcome to try out the frozen dishes mentioned above, or you can buy whatever you want from Whole Foods. The store carries tons of fantastic produce, which I buy all the time.

To enter the Giveaway, please comment below telling me your thoughts about frozen prepared foods and how you use them. Do you eat it often? Are there some you hate and others you love?

I can't wait to hear what you have to say.

Giveaway ends this Friday, January 25th, 2013 at midnight EST. Winner will be chosen by a random generator and will be contacted via email and also announced on this blog. If I do not hear back from the winner within 24 hours, I will pick a new winner.

Good luck!

Disclaimer: The above products as well as the $25 gift card are provided by Whole Foods Market. All opinions expressed are my own.

January 22, 2013 Japan

Sushi Aoki

This is the sixth post in the series titled Tasting Tour of Tokyo detailing my recent trip to Japan. Other posts include Kikunoi Akasaka, Rokurinsha, Mikawa Zezankyo, Kaoriya, and Sushi Sawada.

Spending a week eating in Tokyo is more like a marathon than a sprint.

Usually many of the meals I enjoy are omakase in nature, which means they often have many, many courses. Near the beginning of the week I’m OK. However, by the end of the week, my stomach is crying uncle and I begin to feel like I cannot eat anymore.

It was near the end of our trip when I told Bryan, “I can’t do this anymore.” The idea of yet another omakase where a sushi chef would continue to hand me food, piece after piece after piece, terrified me.

I was all ready to just stop by a local ramen shop for a simple meal.

“But it’s our last night in Tokyo, a city known for its incredible sushi. We won’t get to eat sushi like this again for another year at least.”

Bryan wanted sushi. And I wanted control over what I ate.

So I asked the concierge at our hotel. Although most high-end sushi places only serve omakase, there are a few exceptions that still serve excellent sushi. The most famous one is Kyubey, which we’ve visited several times in the past. Kyubey not only offers a really reasonable lunch for around 5000 yen, it also offers various types of lower priced set menus, as well as a la carte. Our concierge also recommended Sushi Aoki, a 1-star Michelin family-owned sushi restaurant that has expanded to three locations. Similarly, it offers lower priced set lunches (3000-4000 yen) as well as a la carte options.

Mostly because we’d already been to Kyubey several times, we opted to try Sushi Aoki.
Clean and sparse, the ambiance of this location was similar to many other sushi places we had visited. Blond wood, bare walls, and serious sushi chefs focused on their craft in the middle of the sushi bar.

There was a bit of confusion at first as I tried to order a la carte for myself but omakase for Bryan. We got it clarified at the end, but in the beginning Bryan didn’t get the true omakase experience because the sushi chef was also giving him the a la carte stuff that I was ordering.

Oops!
We began with a gorgeous starter of bonito sashimi with chives, which was fresh, flavorful, and a perfect way to begin the meal. I tasted hints of ginger, likely from the sauce in which the fish sat.

Off to the side, one of the chefs began grinding fresh wasabi from the stem. Fresh wasabi is less pungent compared to the "imitation" horseradish variety of wasabi that we get in the States. It has a deeper and more intense flavor, even though it has less "sting."

And then, sashimi began to appear, starting with three slices of the delicate white fish hirame (fluke).

Next, we sampled various "grades" of tuna, from chutoro (medium fatty tuna) to otoro (fatty tuna). It was quite good, though I could easily tell that the quality and precision of these cuts were not quite up to par as the best sushi places in Tokyo (namely Mizutani and Jiro).

As part of my self-designed "a la carte" menu, I ordered ika (squid) because I was still dreaming about the luxuriously soft squid nigiri that I had enjoyed at Sukiyabashi Jiro earlier that week. Alas, even though this ika was still very fresh and tasty, the texture of it was much tougher, noticeably inferior to those served at Sukiyabashi Jiro or Sushi Sawada (places I had tried earlier that week).

We had another tasting of tuna, this time in nigiri form. From left to right: otoro (super fatty tuna), chutoro (medium fatty tuna), and akami (tuna).

The Rest of Bryan's Omakase
At this point I was quite full and decided to stop, but Bryan wanted to keep on going. Here is the rest of Bryan's omakase.

Kohada, or gizzard shad, is in the herring family and is a rich, fattier fish.

Saba, or mackerel, was softer than kohada and came as three slices on top of the rice.

Next was Scallop and Akagai (Red Clam) which were both very good. The scallop was fresh and sweet and the red clam had that interesting, characteristic "bouncy"and almost crunchy texture which we both love.

Ikura, or salmon roe, came served sort of as an "upside down" nigiri with the rice and wasabi on top of the eggs. You use the spoon to mix everything together, which tastes divine.

Out of all the sushi places we visited, Sushi Aoki was the only places to give us a sampling of uni from different regions. The lighter one pictured at left is from Kyushuu while the darker orange one on the right is from Hokkaido. Though both were delicious, Bryan preferred the Hokkaido one better, which was creamier.

Ebi (or prawn), was juicy and sweet. Anago (saltwater eel) [not pictured] was super soft and tender.

Next was hamaguri (clam), which came brushed with just a tad of sauce on top.

Finally we ended the meal with one of my favorite pieces, the tamago (egg omelet). This one was sweet and spongy with a lovely browned top. Perfect.

The Facts
In Tokyo, there are two locations of Sushi Aoki: the original one in Ginza and a newer one in Azabu-juban. There’s also a third one in London, interestingly enough. The one at Ginza was very hard to find! Signs are not written with English characters, so it's important to know the kanji (Chinese) characters. Even with our GPS-enabled phones, we still had trouble locating the entrance. We ended up searching for the restaurant's kanji characters on the web and comparing it with the sign shown below to confirm we were at the right place!

Sushi Aoki is open for lunch as well as dinner, and you can order either omakase or a la carte. It holds one Michelin star and often shows up on "Best sushi in Tokyo" lists. It's well known in Tokyo, and boasts quite a pedigree of "graduates", including the well revered Sawada-san. Everyone who works there is polite and pleasant, which makes a visit less intimidating for a foreigner (compared to Mizutani, who can be a bit distant, or Jiro, who stresses you out with the speed by which he doles out the sushi).

I was sort of biased when I visited Sushi Aoki because I had just tasted Sushi Sawada and Sukiyabashi Jiro right before, both arguably among the top 3-4 sushi restaurants in the world. Compared to those world class establishments, I definitely noticed some minor "misses" and differences in quality. I'm sure if I had visited any other time of the year, I would have raved much more highly about this place.

It's just that - Sawada and Jiro are pretty much impossible acts to follow.

So rest assured that this place is excellent and serves very high quality sushi. What I like best is that you can get excellent sushi in a very accessible location with friendly staff who are happy to let you choose your meal, if you so wish. No sushi nazis here.

Of course, if I'd had the stomach space, I would have still let them design the omakase. After all, chef seems to always knows best, and I confess that Bryan's meal seemed to have much better theme and flow compared to the haphazard toro-focused mish-mash that I created.

Live and learn.

Sushi Aoki, 2F Takahashi Building
6-7-4 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
+ 81 3 3289 1044

January 21, 2013 Cambridge

11th Annual S. Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Competition - New England Regionals

This is my third year covering the New England Regionals competition for the S. Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Competition [check out the past two competitions from 2011 and 2012 here!].

For the past 10 years, San Pellegrino has hosted the Almost Famous Chef competition. Top students from culinary schools around the nation compete against each other - Top Chef style - for a chance to represent their region at Nationals in Napa Valley. The grand prize winner takes home $10,000 as well as a one-year internship with one of the chef judges at nationals.

I've always been impressed by the dedication, skills, and pure determination of these students. They work really really hard preparing for this competition, practicing their dishes countless times together with their chef mentors. I was thrilled to have the honor to see what they would bring. Unlike last year (where I was one of the media judge), this year I sat as a dining guest - sampling the dishes, taking tons of photos, and watching the "show" from the other side of the stage.

For the first time, the competition was held at Le Cordon Bleu Boston (located in in my home city of Cambridge right next to Boston). In the gorgeous space of Technique, Le Cordon Bleu's student-run restaurant, we sampled the contestants' creations while sipping on unlimited amounts of San Pellegrino sparkling water and Aqua Panna still water (along with a nice variety of Italian wines).

The judge lineup was impressive. From left to right: Leah Mennies of Boston Magazine, Nicholas Calias of Brasserie Jo, Steve Aveson of New England Cable News, Raymond Ost of Sandrine's Bistro, Jonathan Soroff of Improper Bostonian, Chris Damian of Legendary Restaurant Group, Naomi Kooker, Food and Wine Journalist and Zagat Editor, and Chris Coombs of Deuxave and Dbar.

Leah Mennies of Boston Magazine and Naomi Kooker, Food and Wine Journalist and Zagat Editor.

For the competition, the culinary students cooked in Le Cordon Bleu's gleaming kitchen. Contestants had exactly two hours to complete ten servings of their "Signature Dish" for the ten judges.

While they prepped and cooked, kitchen judges (instructors from the various culinary schools), watched their techniques and scored them accordingly.

Meanwhile, at the side kitchen, culinary students from Le Cordon Bleu (aka the Cordon Bleu catering team) followed the contestants' recipes to make smaller portions to feed all the guests (like me!). Unlike last year where as a judge I tasted the exact dishes made by the contestants, this year I ate the catering staff's interpretation of the contestants' recipe.

Kris Yang from The Cambridge School of Culinary Arts was the first contestant to present her dish (exactly at 6PM). Kris, who just moved to the US from Korea last year, made Korean Braised Short Ribs and Bibimbap, inspired from her mother's kitchen but tweaked with "upgraded" adaptions. The judges loved her endearing personality and praised the quality of her dish, especially the flavorful and tender shortribs (made in a pressure cooker to save time).

Anthony Glieco from Johnson & Wales University in Providence made Pan Seared Saddle of Lamb. The perfectly cooked lamb came alongside gnocchi made with pâté choux over parsnip puree. Judges praised his gorgeous plating ("reminiscent of Eleven Madison Park) but emphasized that the plate had to be hot. The judges also did not like his use of mustard seeds, which they said were undercooked and bitter.

Jeremy Bergeron from Newbury College made a dish he called "Double the Trouble": Root Beer and Guinness Short Ribs with Popcorn Polenta. The judges were critical of the temperature and seasoning of the food on his plate, arguing that several of the components were cold or undersalted. One judge even came out and bluntly said "overall the concept just didn't really work."

Ethan Altom from New England Culinary Institute made Venison. The poor guy cut his finger about twenty minutes into his two-hour time block. As a result he lost a good chunk of time bandaging up the wound and was forced to be creative about how to adapt his recipe in view of the emergency. For example, he had originally planned on serving the cabbage as a wedge but decided that it would be too hard to assemble with just one hand, so he ended up just chopping all the cabbage instead.

The judges acknowledged his ability to improvise under difficult circumstances, but still had issue with his interpretation of a classic recipe. They thought his sauce was under-seasoned and they disagreed with his decision to remove wine from the original recipe. Similarly to the last several contestants, they were unhappy that the plate was cold.

Ismael Tavares from Southern New Hampshire University made Moroccan spiced lamb. Although his lamb was perfectly cooked, judges felt that the lively exterior seasoning did not penetrate the meat. One judge remarked that the vegetables were overcooked (the fava beans were a tad mushy), and another judge felt that the chanterelles were underseasoned and out of season. Again, judges lamented the fact that the food was served on cold plates.Audrey Carlson from Southern Maine Community College made Pan Fried Lamb Lollipops with a spiced parsnip puree and mango-pineapple yellow curry. She was inspired by Thai flavors and wanted to incorporate the cuisine into her dish. The judges loved her energy and vivacious personality but all agreed that her lamb was undercooked, rendering "rare, chewy" meat whose fat was not rendered. One judge thought that the flavor combination was odd, while another judge thought that the curry overpowered the flavors of the lamb.Kristen Thibeault from Le Cordon Blue College of Culinary Arts Boston (the hosting school!) made Porcini Crusted Vegan “Sweetbreads”. Kristen became a vegan after being diagnosed with (and overcoming!) double cancer in 2008. Her "sweetbreads" are actually made from seitan (wheat gluten), which surprisingly has a texture that really does resemble sweetbreads.

The chefs praised her for how she properly cooked vegetables (something they said they hadn't seem much of that evening), and also commended her for serving the food on a hot plate. They praised her for her use of interesting textures (e.g., fried onion strings, crunchy nuts, raw vegetables), as well as the excellent balance of flavors in her dish.

One chef even told her she had served him something he'd never eaten before, something he would have never expected from being a judge at this contest.

And then it was time to wait.

Host Jake Hanover explained all the rules to the audience, telling us that scores are a combination of points from the kitchen judges, media judges, and chef judges. Kitchen judges look especially at the contestants' cooking and safety techniques as they are making their dishes during those first two hours. Media judges focus on the presence and persona of the contestants, and chef judges hone in on the actual execution of the dishes.

Jake introduced each of the media and chef judges (standing behind him in the picture above).

Jake then thanked and acknowledged the kitchen judges, faculty from each of the participating schools.

And then they asked each of the contestants to come on stage.

This year, for the first time, they added a "People's Choice Award." Diners would vote on their favorite contestant based on "whatever criteria they wanted". This was a category that had existed at Nationals for years, but this was the first time they were awarding it at Regionals.

The winner of the People's Choice Award is . . .

Kristen Thibeault from Le Cordon Blue College of Culinary Arts Boston (left)!

Though it's gratifying to win People's Choice, the contestants are most keen about finding out the actual FINAL winner, who gets to compete at Nationals in Napa Valley.

And the winner is . . .

Kristen Thibeault from Le Cordon Blue College of Culinary Arts Boston AGAIN!!

Congratulations Kristen!

I had a chance to catch up with Kristen briefly after the contest. She is quite the amazing woman, I must say. She runs her own vegan catering company as well as raises four kids at home (one of whom was just adopted from foster care less than four weeks ago). The timing of the adoption couldn't have come at a crazier time for Kristen, but somehow, she was able to make it work.

Kristen clearly has a ton of determination, drive, and stamina.

I'm thrilled to see how she'll wow the judges at Nationals!

Congrats Kristen, and best of luck at Nationals!

January 15, 2013 American

Craigie on Main (brunch)

It's probably the most famous and sought-after burger in Boston, and maybe even the nation. (!)

It's got bone marrow and dehydrated miso mixed into the grass-fed meat. The homemade ketchup is laced with nutmeg. And the entire patty is cooked to a precise temperature with a C-vap oven before being seared a la plancha.

It's one heck of a burger.

In fact, there was a time not too long ago when the burger became so popular that it "disappeared" from the regular menu at Craigie on Main. Food and Wine Magazine had just named it one of the best 25 burgers in the U.S. Other media outlets were praising it left and right. Diners poured into Craigie on Main, all hoping to try a bite of that ethereal burger.

It became crazy. Chef Tony Maws just could not keep up with the demand. He sources his meat from two very small farms and he was unwilling to sacrifice quality for the sake of meeting the demand.

So instead, it quietly disappeared from the menu. Diners could still order it at the bar, but there were only a limited amount of burgers available per day.

We had friends that went at 6:00 PM once only to find out the burgers were already gone. It was so discouraging, I decided not to even try to fight the crowds for that elusive burger.

Instead, I took another, possibly lesser known route.

I went during Sunday brunch, the one day it's a guaranteed menu item.

Bryan and I stopped by Craigie on Main for brunch a couple Sundays ago. It had been a few years since I had tried the burger, and I was curious what the brunch version was like.

The burger ($17) itself is just as delicious as I remembered it. The patty is gorgeously juicy and flavorful - all around perfect, really. At brunch you have the option of adding a fried egg on top, which we did. It makes the burger horrendously messy to eat (see top photo, where the egg yolk just oozes all over the place), but it's totally worth it.

Additionally, the fries during brunch look more like thick home fries instead of the shoestring fries that normally come with the burger.

Finally, the brunch burger is a bit smaller in size than the normal bar version, which is totally fine with me. We had no trouble finishing it.

Though the burger is famous and an obvious dish to try, I must say everything we had at Craigie on Main was excellent. The side of Smoked Pork Belly ($8) was juicy, smoky, and beautifully charred.

I absolutely loved the Grass-Fed Beef Cheek, Brisket, and Smoked Beef Tongue Hash ($18), which came with crispy onion strings and a farm fresh fried egg on top. I was extremely impressed with the attention to detail of every single component of this dish. Each small cube of potato seemed to be cut the exact same size. The texture of the waxy potatoes was perfect (perhaps made using sous vide? It was almost eerily perfect), and the melt-in-your-mouth beef was flavorful and super soft. I loved this dish, maybe even more than the burger!

Bryan ordered a Bloody Mary and I seriously think it's the best Bloody Mary I've ever tasted (yes, significantly better than the one Bryan made at East Coast Grill a few weeks back, which was already very good). I just couldn't get over the intense and real tomato flavor in the base, which added so much deep complexity to the drink. Unlike most Bloody Mary drinks, this one did not need to be that salty. The other strong components provided plenty of depth and flavor to the drink.

Overall, Tony Maws did not disappoint at all. He seeks perfection in everything he does, and it really shows.

I can't wait to come back.

Craigie on Main

853 Main St
Cambridge, MA 02139

January 14, 2013 Japan

Sushi Sawada

This is the fifth post in the series titled Tasting Tour of Tokyo detailing my recent trip to Japan. Other posts include Kikunoi Akasaka, Rokurinsha, Mikawa Zezankyo, and Kaoriya.It’s doesn’t get much more personal than this.David Chang of Momofuku fame calls it “a breath of fresh air”, naming Sushi Sawada his favorite sushi restaurant in the world. The Michelin Guide has awarded it two stars. It is frequently uttered in the same breath as sushi giants Sushi Mizutani, Sukiyabashi Jiro, and Sushi Saito. Many consider it among the best in Tokyo.Dining at Sushi Sawada is nothing like eating out in a normal restaurant in Japan. It’s even markedly different from most high-end sushi experiences in Tokyo. Missing are the multitudes of sushi indentured “servants” making rice, massaging octopus, or churning out all sorts of other tasks in the back kitchen. There’s not a single server to take your beer order or bring you more tea.Instead, it’s just Sawada-san and his wife.

Sawada-san and his wife prepare every aspect of the entire multi-course omakase. You get to watch them from one of six exclusive seats at the tiny sushi bar. It’s an evening full of fascinating visual delights - from the mesmerizing transformation of a piece of fish as it slowly roasts over hot stones to Sawada-san’s ninja-like construction of sushi.

Entrance to the restaurant on the third floor

We arrive on a cool, autumn Sunday just around noontime. Sushi Sawada only takes one seating during lunch, and we are the first to arrive.

A shy but pleasant young woman bows with traditional Japanese humility and offers to take our huge backpacks (filled with camera equipment, among other things) and our coats. The tiny barstools at the small restaurant don’t accommodate such monstrous bags so well.

“Sorry, no camera,” She says.

Apparently, photography is OK as long as there are no other guests dining that day. However, if there are other diners present, the restaurant does not allow photography. In other words, unless if the other seats happen to be empty (very unlikely), or the entire party at the restaurant is part of one group, no photos are allowed.

“Is it possible to take photos until the other guests arrive?”

She bows with the utmost regret.

“So, so sorry, but no. I am so, so sorry.” She bows again.

“Maybe one picture before they come?”

She agrees to let me take one photo. At that moment, Sawada-san enters. I snap a couple quick pictures of the space with Sawada in the background.

Sawada-san setting up

There’s no food, but at least I got the room.

We sit down.

Sawada’s wife asks us what we want to drink, and Bryan orders a Suntory Premium Malt.

Sawada-san hands us each a small, round green “nut” that resembles a green olive. It’s warm, salty, and slightly starchy. If you're curious what it looks like, check out this photo of the same ingredient from my Kikunoi kaiseki meal earlier that week. It reminds me a bit of a boiled peanut or roasted chestnut, but more flavorful and less starchy. I love it.

“What is this?”

He smiles. “Ginko nut. In season right now.”

Hirame (turbot) is next, followed by hirame fin, which is dense and chewy. Aori-ika (bigfin reef squid), is gorgeously soft yet dense. A juicy and tender piece of abalone is served with a salty jelly, and chutoro (fatty tuna) is blessed as being OK to eat with wasabi and soy sauce.

Sawada’s wife appears in the background and begins preparing hot stones on a miniature “grill” of sorts. It has a wire mesh top on which she places a couple pieces of fish.

We watch, mesmerized by the amber glow of the hot coals. She begins slowly searing two small pieces of fish, patiently turning the pieces with a skewer at regular intervals.

Meanwhile, Sawada continues to serve us. Shimesaba (marinated mackerel), dried sea cucumber egg, and shimotori, a maki roll filled with chu-otoro (half chutoro and half otoro fatty tuna), daikon and wasabi.

Sawada is a master at making rolls, and it’s fun to watch him execute. His knives are razor sharp, and he slices through the rolls with precision. As a palate cleanser, sort of a prelude to the nigiri, Sawada-san constructs a roll that’s just filled with fish, shiso, and chives. A single piece of rice acts as the glue to hold the roll together. It’s refreshingly crisp, successfully cleaning our palates in preparation for the second half of the meal.

We finish this first portion of the meal with a piece of seared otoro (super fatty tuna) with soy sauce. Though mine has just the slightest bit of “stringiness”, overall the piece is fabulous. This is always one of my favorite pieces, and this is no exception.

Bryan finishes his beer, so we switch to junmai sake, a pure grade of sake where no additional alcohol or starch is added during the production process. Sawada's wife refers to it as having a “medium” level of flavor and strength. We find it to be light, refreshing, and a perfect complement to the sushi.

Nigiri
We begin with kisu (smelt or smelt-whiting), a fish that Sawada-san says is “famous for its use in tempura.” Dense and salty, this fish has excellent texture and tastes very good, though it's borderline salty for my tastes. Akagai (giant red clam), is also salty and almost a bit crunchy. I love the fresh, “popping” texture of this fresh clam.

Sawada-san motions his hand towards his mouth.

“Hand eat. Hand eat.”

I don’t know this at the time, but there is an entire article on CNN that highlights Sawada-san’s rules about how to eat sushi. It’s an elaborate step-by-step photo tutorial that explains how you hold the nigiri (with your hands), flip it on one side, dip the fish part into the soy sauce, and then put it back into your mouth fish side face down on your tongue.

It all makes sense now.

aka (red tuna) and some uni in a basket in the background

The gustatory exploration continues. Shima aji (horse mackerel) is gorgeously soft. It's followed by tairagi (razor clam) and then an ikura (salmon roe) gunkan roll (“warship” roll). I love the fresh flavors of the ikura. It's deep, briny, and flavorful - a far cry from the salt-bombs I've had in the US. Next is a “horizontal” tasting of tuna. We start with aka (red tuna), and progressively move up in fat level to various types of tuna belly: chutoro, chu-otoro, and otoro.

We're far from done. Sawada-san next begins us on a journey exploring Edomae sushi.

Edomae (often just called "Edo" style sushi) refers to a style of sushi that emerged in the late 1800's in Japan. Edomae literally means "in front of Edo", and the style uses only fish and seafood available during the Edo period when Tokyo was a shogun capital, about a hundred fifty years ago. Those that stay true to the style stick to only using seafood you can find in Tokyo Bay. Typically, they cure or marinate the fish, using techniques that were common back in the Edo days prior to the invention of refrigeration.

Tokyo Bay at Sunset

Katsuo (smoked bonito), is one of my favorites, beautifully smoky and salty. We also enjoy Edo-style ika (baby squid) filled with rice and sesame seeds. Continuing on the Edo journey, we sample Sawada’s own one-week marinated kohada (gizzard shad), which tastes “cooked” and has a tougher texture than the other pieces.

We move away from Tokyo Bay to sample uni (sea urchin) from Hokkaido, which is extremely fresh and sweet though just a tad too cold for my mouth. Anago (saltwater eel) is served cut in half, meant to be eaten two different ways. The first half we dip into wasabi and salt; the second half we dip into soy sauce only. This anago is the best I’ve ever had. It is so incredibly soft (melt-in-your-mouth) and sweet at the same time.

Finally, we end with the traditional piece of tamago (sweet egg omelet), the culminating piece of every omakase that is extremely difficult to execute well. The tamago is often the signature item that separates the mediocre from the masters (just watch Jiro Dreams of Sushi).

Sawada-san's tamago is nicely browned at the top. More like a sponge cake than a typical omelet, this finishing bite is sweet and delicate. Though it's not the most complex tamago I've had, it hold its own and is a perfect ending bite to this meal.

As a parting "dessert", Sawada-san hands us each a single gooseberry.

Fresh gooseberries from Massachusetts

Overall, the entire meal is exquisite. Sawada-san is jovial, outgoing, and friendly despite his limited (but perfectly workable) knowledge of English. At the end of our meal, we have gotten so chummy he’s telling us funny horror stories about his last trip to America.

“America is not like Japan. In America things are so often late! We wait wait wait. Then we fly to the next destination. Then we wait wait wait some more! Delay! Delay! So different from Japan, where everything always runs on time.”

He even share with us some of his favorite restaurants, places he likes to visit when he’s not working. Apparently, the man loves his tempura. In Azabajuban, he recommends Hatanaka Tempura, Gaiyen Mae, and Tempura Motoyoshi as places he likes to frequent.

On our way out, both Sawada-san and his wife treat us with the utmost respect. They escort us to the door, both bowing and wishing us well as we head out the restaurant.

The Details
Similar to most sushi places in Japan, the restaurant is difficult to find. It seems to be customary to only use traditional characters for signs, so don’t expect to see any English signs pointing the way. Memorize the Japanese characters and read closely. Sawada is on the 3rd floor of an elevator building, so you’ll need to find the building before going up. Even with our GPS enabled phones, it still took us a few tries to find the right entrance to the correct building.

Reservations are notoriously difficult to obtain, and the rules surrounding them are unforgivingly harsh. A credit card is required for reservations, and there is a 100% fee for cancellations made with three days of the reservation. I made my reservation through my hotel concierge, who asked me to fax over a form that included my credit card information. The cost of a meal is the same regardless of whether it's lunch or dinner, and will be between 32000 and 35000 yen (all inclusive).

If it helps, I've included a picture of the front of the building below, so you'll have an easier time finding it than I did! The characters for "Sawada" number 3.

Final Thoughts
Sawada-san is definitely up there with the finest sushi masters in Tokyo. The quality of his fish is as good as it gets, and his sushi rice is excellent as well (though I still give Mizutani and Jiro a slight edge). I thought a few of the pieces were a tad saltier than I preferred, though Bryan thought they were just fine.

Overall, it still sits among the best sushi meals I've ever had. There is no other sushi dining experience that feels quite as personal, exclusive, and warm. It's fun to watch some of his unique techniques, such as the way he cooks his fish over hot stones. He's also really warm and friendly, which always makes a huge difference in the enjoyment of an omakase of this type.

It's not surprising that this is one of the most difficult reservations to get in Japan right now. At least he's young, so hopefully he'll be doing this for a long, long time.

Many opportunities to keep trying for a reservation.

January 12, 2013 Asian

"Homemade" Rokurinsha Ramen (Tsukemen)

When asked by Eater Boston to "describe 2012 in one word" as part of the Friends of Eater interview series, my answer was simple: ramen.

Ramen has taken Boston by the storm. Ever since Guchi's Midnight Ramen made its debut just under a year ago, (wow, has it only been a year?), various restaurant have started serving ramen to try to meet the serious hunger for this dish. Yume wo Katare just opened at the end of 2012, and still boasts lines that average an hour or more. Uni Sashimi Bar started serving midnight ramen, as did Myers + Chang, Pigalle, and even Strip T's.

Though I've been to Japan countless times, I've mostly focused on sushi during my previous visits, and thus am woefully a noob when it comes to ramen.

My last visit to Japan I finally had a chance to see what the hype was about in Japan (where people have been lining up to eat good ramen for decades). I visited Rokurinsha, one of the most popular ramen places in Tokyo.

This post is not about Rokurinsha. You can read all about that experience here.

Instead, this post is about their "ramen kit" that I bought at the store. It's about how that one package of their specialty ramen kit catapulted me onto this crazy cooking journey where I ended up using both a sous vide machine as well as a pressure cooker in order to execute this "packaged" ramen.

Definitely one of the most time-consuming and elaborate "instant" meals I've ever made.

Rokurinsha sells ramen kits and vacuum sealed roasted pork right at the restaurant. That way, if you want to make their ramen at home, you can make a pretty good approximation. Since I was bringing this back to the U.S., I knew I couldn't bring the packaged pork. However, I did buy one package of the ramen kit so that Bryan could try it.

In Japan, it's not unusual to find "half-dried" noodles in the market. They aren't exactly fresh noodles, but they aren't quite completely dried either. I find these noodles to taste more al dente and chewy than traditional fully dried noodles. They typically have a shelf life of about 1-2 months, so you do need to cook them soon after you purchase them. They do dry out.

The Rokurinsha package came with these half-dried noodles, which I cooked for about 10 minutes in boiling water.

It's gorgeously al dente, and I would highly recommend that you pick some up if you are in Japan.

The soup base part of it was pretty straightfoward. Although the instructions were purely in Japanese, I was able to use a combination of the pictures, my crude knowledge of Japanese, and my medium knowledge of Chinese characters in order to figure out what the instructions said.

But it can't be that easy, can it?

Of course not! It wouldn't be on this blog if it were that straightforward. In order to bring this "instant" dish up several notches, the first thing I decided to do was to add a sous vide "onsen" egg. Onsen literally means "hot springs" in Japanese, and refers to these barely cooked eggs which still have a slightly gelatinous yolk. They are decadent and easily made in a sous vide machine.

Just dial the sous vide machine to around 63 °C (146 ° F) and cook for about 45 minutes (in the shell). Crack open the shell (just once using a sharp jab with a fork), and break open, releasing the velvety egg right into the soup.

I also made chashu pork shoulder using my nifty new pressure cooker, which resulted in beautiful, tender meat after cooking for only about 1-2 hours. Please click here for the recipe.

Finally, inspired by multiple sources, I decided to make 48-hour sous vide pork belly. According to the Modernist Cuisine at Home, pork belly can be cooked sous vide within a number of different temperature ranges and time (anything from 12 hours to 48 hours!) The resulting pork belly was gorgeously soft and tender, infused with soy, aromatics, and spices. Please click here for the recipe.

For an "instant" dish, this entire bowl of ramen took me three days to compete. There was a heck of a lot of planning, and (of course), lots of waiting.

The final product was awesome. Of course, we all know that the broth is the most important part, and in this case, I "cheated" because the broth was provided by one of the most famous ramen shops in Tokyo. However, having insanely tender pork belly, super soft and flavorful pork shoulder, and a luxuriously velvety egg didn't hurt one bit.

January 10, 2013 Asian

Chashu Pork Roast (pressure cooker)

This post is a part of a larger post about making ramen using a kit from the famous ramen shop in Tokyo, Rokurinsha.I hope this doesn't get old too soon, but I'm having so much fun with my new pressure cooker.I'm still floored by the idea that something that should take hours to cook can be finished in ⅓ the time, just because it's cooked under a higher pressure (and thus a higher temperature).

I decided to make braised chasu pork as one of several components of my super complicated "instant" ramen from Rokurinsha in Tokyo. I was already cooking the pork belly sous vide for 36 hours; why not go all out and try to cook the pork roast in a pressure cooker?I had actually originally planned on making pork shoulder. Unfortunately, the normal American supermarket that I visited didn't have any, so I had to settle for "pork roast", which is leaner than shoulder (or butt), and therefore, harder to make super soft and tender.

Nevertheless, the pressure cooker performed gorgeously. I stopped by a grocery store on my way home from work; picked up some pork roast; and managed to cook the meat in an hour for our ramen dinner.

The recipe is pretty simple, actually. Gather up your typical Asian aromatic (onions, ginger, garlic, and scallions).

Briefly brown the pork roast until a nice, brown surface forms on both sides.

Add your aromatics.

Then add all the lovely flavoring liquids, such as soy sauce, mirin, sake, and water. Cook under pressure for about 1 hour (minimum), and 2 hours for insanely soft results.

We did eat a portion of it after it had cooked for one hour. We left the rest of it in the pressure cooker and continued to cook it for another hour. After two hours, even the super lean pork roast was meltingly tender.

I'm guessing if you used pork shoulder/butt (which is higher in fat content), you won't need to cook it for as long as I cooked the pork roast.

Assemble, and enjoy!

Chashu Pork Roast
2 lbs pork shoulder
200 mL soy sauce
200 mL sake
200 mL water
100 mL mirin
5 tablespoons sugar
2 stalked of scallions
5 cloves of garlic
2 inch knob of ginger

Sear pork shoulder on all sides in pressure pot. Add liquids and aromatics. Cook until sugar is melted. Cover and wait until pressure reaches 4 bars. Cook for 2 hours. Cool and slice.

January 10, 2013 Asian

36-hour Sous Vide Chashu Pork Belly

This post is a part of a larger post about making ramen using a kit from the famous ramen shop in Tokyo, Rokurinsha.

Pork belly is a tricky thing to cook.Because it has quite a bit of fat and collagen, it needs to be cooked for long periods of time before it becomes tender. Unfortunately, the higher the temperature at which you cook your meat, the more moisture it loses, and thus the tougher it becomes. Therefore, making good pork belly involves dancing in between that fine line of finding the optimal temperature and time.

The Modernist Cuisine at Home outlines various temperatures and times for cooking pork belly using sous vide. The general rule is - the lower the temperature the longer the cooking time. I decided to go with 36 hours, since The Modernist said there was not much noticeable difference in tenderness between 36 hours and longer cook times.

According to some sources, it's preferable to roll up the pork belly to prevent moisture loss. My pork belly came rolled up already, so I didn't need to add that extra step. For presentation purposes, it's nice to have it rolled up so you can slice it that way later. Make your marinade by heating up soy sauce, mirin,and sake with sugar until the sugar is completely melted.Once slightly cooled, pour this marinade into a vacuum bag with the pork belly and seal. Hanging the bag over the edge was the best way I found to vacuum seal a bag full of liquid (something the FoodSaver does not usually handle).Cook for 36 hours with liquid at 146° F. I actually ended up cooking it for closer to 40 hours since I didn't come home from work until the evening.

At this point, the pork belly is gorgeously soft and gelatinous. Wait until it cools. Once cool, you can easily slice it with a knife into thin slices for ramen.Serve with your favorite ramen dish!Enjoy!Sous Vide Chashu Pork Belly

Adapted from this recipe

2 pound slab of boneless pork belly, rolled up

Marinade
½ cup soy sauce
1 cup sake
1 cup mirin
½ cup sugar
6 scallions, roughly chopped
6 whole garlic cloves
one 2-inch knob ginger, roughly sliced

1. Heat up soy sauce, mirin,and sake with the sugar in a small saucepan until the sugar is melted.
2. Add scallions, garlic cloves, and ginger. Let cool.
3, Pour the marinade into a vacuum sealer bag with the pork belly and vacuum seal the entire thing.
4. Sous vide cook for 36-40 hours with liquid at 146° F.
5. Remove the bag from the sous vide machine.
6. Cool down the meat by either putting the entire bag into an ice bath (if you need it soon), or let it cool in the refrigerator overnight. Don't try to slice it when it's hot - you will fail.
7. Once cool, remove from bag, dry off the liquid, and slice.
8. Serve in your favorite ramen dish!

January 8, 2013 Boston

East Coast Grill (brunch)

Back when I was in college, there was a restaurant called Jae's Cafe in Inman Square that served Japanese inspired dishes, sushi, and the like. It had a sign right outside its door that said, "Eat at Jae's, Live Forever."

Next door to Jae's was an old sign from Dixie's BBQ (now part of East Coast Grill), which said, "Eat BBQ here, die happy."

Since then, Jae's Cafe (which used to have multiple locations in Chestnut Hill, Cambridge, etc) has shrunken down to a single location in Boston. The "healthy" sign is no longer in Cambridge.

East Coast Grill changed its focus to seafood in 1996. Though the "die happy" sign is still on the wall, the window reflects perhaps a motto truer to their current focus: "East Oysters, Love Longer."

There was a time when we visited East Coast Grill all the time. How could you not? Their barbecue is excellent, they dabble in all sorts of interesting flavors (especially more exotic hot peppers!), and they even have a cool vegetarian platter that's really good.

Maybe it was the difficulty of parking in Inman Square, or perhaps the fact that you could never just show up and get in since it's so popular. It somehow fell off our radar for the last couple years (I know, terrible, can you believe it?).

Just a couple weeks ago Bryan and I got out of church early because of a special earlier worship service they were doing for the Christmas holiday. We showed up at East Coast Grill just a hair past their opening time of 11AM and easily got seated without a wait.

Of course, within half an hour, the place was packed. Thanksfully, by that time, we were well into enjoying some really fun, creative, and downright delicious brunch.

One of the most fun things to get at East Coast Grill is the "make your own Bloody Mary." They give you a TALL glass filled with ice, vodka, and a little spiced salt around the rim. A small costs $9, a large costs $11 (I'm pretty sure that's a large that you see in that pic).

Then you get to go to the "bar" and add whatever you want. The choices are dazzling and seemingly endless. Check it out - from left to right: Ghost Chile Jam, "Inner Beauty" Hot Sauce (Scotch Bonnet Chile and fruit puree), Smoked Chipotle Puree (smoked jalapenos in adobo sauce) . . .

Sambal Olek (Southeast Asian raw chili paste), Chile-Garlic Puree, Banana Guava Ketchup, East Coast Grill BBQ Sauce . . .

Plus all sorts of pickles and hot peppers.

Add whatever you want to your glass filled with vodka. You are the bartender. Of course they give you a huge pitcher of tomato juice, which acts as your starting base.

Voila! I loved the Bloody Mary that Bryan made. It was packed with flavors and tons of heat from the various chilies and other ingredients that he added.

We enjoyed the Monterey Jack Grits which came with crispy smoked bacon and toasted hazelnuts.
Sweet Chili Glazed Smoked Pineapples ($2) came gorgeously seared and definitely had a slight kick, though the sweetness of the pineapple was much more pronounced than the spiciness.

Banana Rellena ($6) is one unique dish, comprised of a smoked pork stuffed banana topped with a generous helping of Inner Beauty Hot Sauce. Made from scotch bonnet, this sauce is really, really spicy. The sweetness of the banana is a welcomed relief to the intense heat of the rest of the dish. It's very good, but you definitely need to have heat tolerance. I could only eat a little before needing a break. Bryan loved it.

Two "Wicked Hot Links" ($4) were most definitely spicy and very good. They also sell normal sausage links if you don't like heat. Please ignore the weird neon green reflections. There was a green light above me that cast a funny reflection in all my photos. Rest assured the food is not psychedelic!

Special Breakfast platter of the day ($10) consisted of 3 eggs (scrambled), roasted sweet potatoes & red peppers, a sweet Italian sausage link, grilled toast, and garlic-sauteed kale.

I absolutely loved the kale, which was seasoned really well and had a hefty garlic flavor to it. The grilled bread was lovely, having an intense smoky flavor that I just can't recreate in the toaster oven. Everything else was solid as well.

Overall, we really enjoyed our meal. We especially liked trying so many different kinds of hot sauces and chili peppers. Even with that huge Bloody Mary, our entire meal cost only around $40, which we thought was extremely reasonably considering how much extra food we ended up taking home.

It's quite clear why there's always a wait here. East Cost Grill has fantastic food at very reasonable prices. It's rare that I get to come here, but I'm thrilled I had a chance to enjoy a fantastic brunch here.

If you're really into spicy foods, you should try their "Hell Night", a night when only "wicked hot food" is served. You'll most likely get to try the "Pasta from Hell", made from the super hot Inner Beauty hot sauce. Rumor has it that you have to sign a waiver in order to participate - the food is that hot.

Even if you're not into such spicy food, everything at East Coast Grill is executed well. We've never had a bad meal there, and more often than not, I come away pleasantly surprised at the interesting and unusual combinations of flavors that come out of that kitchen.

East Coast Grill
1271 Cambridge St
Cambridge, MA 02139

January 7, 2013 Asian

Chili Chocolate Domo Cookies

I have always loved Domo.

Domo is the mascot for NHK, one of Japan's broadcasting television stations in Japan. He's brown, furry, and looks like he would be mean (those teeth!), but in fact he's quite endearing and not scary at all. Domo loves Japanese potato and beef stew but hates apples, due to something about his DNA. Domo originally cracked from an egg and lives in an underground cave with a rabbit (Mr. Usaji) and his friends. He became popular when he appeared in a series of shorts shown on television in 1998 in honor of NHK's 10th anniversary.

Although I've made countless versions of Totoro, Keroppi, and Hello Kitty, I've only made Domo once in food form - as hamburgers a couple years ago.

I've been wanting to make Domo as a cookie for awhile now. Ever since I saw Diamonds for Dessert make Domo into sandwich cookies, I've been trying to think of a way to make a Domo cookie that looks 3D instead of flat.

After much brainstorming, I finally came up with a way that seems to really accentuate Domo's huge open mouth yet still keep him looking cute, the way he should be.

To put a slight twist on the traditional chocolate cookie, I spiced up the batter by adding some chili powder and a touch of cinnamon, similar to Mexican chocolate. After all, a Domo cookie should have some kick, right?

Although this recipe is not difficult, it does require some time. In order to get the best performance from your cookie dough, you need to refrigerate it so that it's cold. It's much, much easier to work with this dough when it's a bit cold.

Working fast, cut out the Domos with a rounded square cutter. I actually didn't have a cookie cutter this shape, but I did have a random tiny plastic storage container that happened to be just about the right size. Of course, you can easily buy rectangular cookie cutters or cookie cutter sets that will work. I just didn't plan ahead and had to be resourceful with what I had at home.

In half of the Domos, cut out a mouth using a tiny rectangular cookie cutter. Of course, I didn't have any on hand. You can easily make cookie cutters by cutting up some plastic from the top of a take-out container, which is what I did. The benefit of making your own is that you can cut it to be exactly the right size. The negative, of course, is that the plastic cutter is flimsier and won't cut as cleanly.

Nevertheless, I was able to make do and cut out several Domo mouths successfully.

For best results, freeze the first half of the already completed cookies while you cut the other half. This prevents the first batch from losing its shape or warming up too much.

Bake until slightly crispy and browned on the edges, about 8-10 minutes. Let cool.

There are many ways to start decorating. For my birthday, my friend have given me black edible ink markers and colored edible ink markers, which are great for decorating. Of course, if you'd rather not use artificial coloring in your baking, you can consider making jam based Swiss "linzer" style cookies, which I'll show below.

In order to have Domo's mouth show through boldly, we will "paint" a layer of white chocolate onto the bottom Domo cookies (the ones that do not have a mouth cut-out).

White chocolate is tricky to melt, so definitely watch it carefully. You can melt white chocolate in the microwave in small spurts. First, heat for 1 minute at 50% power. Then heat in 30 second increments at 50% power until the chocolate just starts to become soft. It may still look solid when it's read, but poke at it with a fork. It should sort of collapse and become easily stirrable when it's ready.

It took me about less than 2 minutes total to get it soft enough so I could swirl it around and spread it.
If I had a paintbrush, I would have used it. Unfortunately, I did not have one, so I used a fork, which works OK, but the resulting surface is not as smooth as it would be with a paintbrush.

Although you can paint the entire length of the cookie, you can also just paint in the area over the mouth (see half-painted one at the bottom), if you don't love the flavor of white chocolate.

Place a cookie with a mouth over the white chocolate side in order to see how to draw out the teeth. Using a red colored edible ink marker, draw an outline of the teeth.

Remove the cookie and fill in the red part of the mouth. Draw on the eyes using a black edible ink marker.

Assemble and serve!

On top I made a few jam "linzer" style cookies. The traditional Swiss linzer cookie is a shortbread sandwich cookie with jam peaking out of a "window". In this case, the jam is peaking out of Domo's mouth.

Although you don't have to paint the jam cookies with white chocolate, I found that the white background made the jam look much brighter red than when you just spread the jam directly on top of the dark chocolate cookie.

I think both Domos are cute, though obviously the one with teeth looks more authentic. If you're up for it, you can always try forming teeth out of white chocolate to add to the jam version. I tried cutting white chocolate into teeth, but it was too hard to shape it so precisely.

Maybe I need to buy a teeth chocolate mold or a zig zag cutter!

Enjoy!

Chili Chocolate Domo Cookies
Adapted from Martha Stewart

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
⅛ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (or other chili powder)
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ½ cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 oz white chocolate (½ of a 4-oz bar)

Chocolate Cookie
Sift together flour, cocoa, salt, cinnamon, and chili powder.

Cream butter and powdered sugar together with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat to combine. Reduce speed to low. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until just combined.

Divide dough in half; flatten each half into a disk, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour (or overnight).

Between pieces of wax paper, roll out one disk of dough to just under ¼ inch thick. Optionally transfer to a baking sheet; freeze until firm, about 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Cut out "Domos" using a large rectangular cookie cutter. Using a small square cookie cutter, cut out "mouths" from half the Domos. Optionally freeze until firm, about 15 minutes.

Bake cookies until crisp, about 8 minutes, firmly tapping down sheets once and rotating them halfway through. Let cool completely on wire racks. Note, I used a convection toaster oven for this step, which worked just fine.

White Chocolate
Melt white chocolate in the microwave in small spurts. Heat for 1 minute at 50% power. Then heat in 30 second increments at 50% power until it's a bit jiggly. It took me about less than 2 minutes total to get it soft enough so I could swirl it around and spread it.

Assembly
Paint the melted white chocolate onto the flat Domo "bottom" half pieces. Let dry completely.

Using edible-ink markers, draw teeth designs onto the white chocolate with a red marker. Color in his mouth. Alternatively, spread a small amount of a red fruit jam (e.g., raspberry, strawberry) onto the area where his mouth would be.

Place the Domo cooke half with the mouth cut-out on top.

For fun, you can take the mouth cut-out cookies and make baby Domos (see above). In that case, I just cut out tiny rectangle white chocolate pieces and drew the teeth on directly.

Serve!

January 4, 2013 Japan

Kaoriya Soba (Ebisu)

This is the fourth post in the series titled Tasting Tour of Tokyo detailing my recent trip to Japan. Other posts include Kikunoi Akasaka, Rokurinsha, and Mikawa Zezankyo.

Who doesn't love a hidden gem that's so authentic the menu's basically only in Japanese, and the place is filled with only Japanese people?

Sure, in some ways these restaurants are intimidating. You can't read the menu, and you have to struggle your way (with a mixture of broken Japanese and English) to figure out what to order. On the other hand, the experience is real.

Bryan and I visited this quaint little soba shop in Ebisu twice. The first time, we went alone and braved it, entering this cozy place by ourselves. The second time, it just so happened that Bryan's Japanese co-workers decided to invite us to dine there with them.

It was really interesting to experience the same restaurant from both side: that of a clueless tourist and that of an inside "friend" of a local Japanese person.

First Meal - Solo
Kaoriya is cozy inside, with a long wooden communal table that a majority of the diners share. It's tiny, and as you can see, fills up pretty quickly.

There's a peanut that acts as your chopsticks holder. The menu consists of sheets of rice paper bound together with string, filled with Japanese characters written in artistic brush strokes. Everything feels like the opposite of "modern."

As a free "snack", everyone receives a small bowl of lightly salted puffed soba wheat, which is delicious. It's crunchy, airy, just lightly toasted, with just a touch of oil (maybe sesame oil?). I find myself really wishing they sold this in stores.

At the beginning of our first visit, the server hands us the string-bound menu filled with pages and pages in Japanese. Of course we can't read it.

"eego no menu, arimasu ka?" I ask (do you have an English menu?)

The server runs back and hands us one white piece of paper. There are about 10 items on it.

"Soba only" she replies.

Well, it's all we can do at this point. We can tell by looking at the other guests that the menu includes a lot more than soba. However, this is a soba house after all, and that's why we came, so we're OK ordering their specialty.

After much contemplation, Bryan orders the soba with the quail egg and mountain yam.

The mountain yam is sticky and starchy, and with much agitation, mixes well with the quail egg yolk and soy-based soba sauce.

The homemade soba is fabulous, gorgeous al dente, chewy, and nutty.

It comes in two sizes, so we try both.

Though they are both good, Bryan proclaims that he prefers the thicker one, mostly because of it's chewier texture, but also because it's more unique and harder to find.

At the end of the meal, the server offers to add hot soba broth to your dipping sauce. At that point, you drink the entire cup like a bowl of soup. It reminds us of the time we got fresh soba at Nobu's Mastsuhisa in L.A.

Second Meal - with Coworkers
Our second visit occurs about 3 days after our first visit. This time, we are guided by two of Bryan's Japanese coworkers.

We tell them how we felt stuck the first time, limited by the "soba only" menu.

Our host immediately begins ordering all sorts of interesting snacks and appetizers, none of which showed up on the English menu. I'm happy to report that everything is tasty and very reasonably priced. I can totally see why this place is popular with the locals.

I *think* this is a Japanese potato salad of sorts, but I regret to say I can't remember exactly!

Assorted shrimp and vegetable tempura are all expertly fried and quite good. Of course, it's not the same as high-end tempura, but then it costs about 1/10th the price. It's an excellent value.

Sliced fish cakes with assorted accompaniments.

Smoked miso paste is served with fresh cucumbers and scallions (it's sort of like a veggie dip on umami steroids).

Japanese omelet topped with scallions and served with shredded daikon.

Cold tuna salad with local greens.

Of course everyone also eats soba. We still order it as our main entree after having all these snacks.

Apparently this place is also well known for their selection of soju (Korean distilled alcoholic beverage) and sake (Japanese alcoholic beverage made from fermented rice). A big part of coming here is to start off by enjoying some spirits alongside these "snacks."

I must say, I really do not like the soju. Compared to sake, I find it much harsher, less sweet, and overall more "boozy." Perhaps it's the particular bottle we ordered, but we end up sticking with beer the rest of the evening!

Overall, we really like this little gem. It's not too far from the Ebisu JR station, and is a perfect place for a casual yet high quality meal. The prices are quite reasonable. I think most of the soba dishes are in the 1000 yen to 2000 yen range, which is pretty decent considering how weak the US dollar is these days (though I believe it's gone up quite a bit since we were there). Add on a few appetizers and drinks, you should be able to easily get out of there for well under $50 USD a person all inclusive.

I can't deny it though. The overall experience feels much more complete with our Japanese hosts. All is not lost, though. After all, at the end of the day, our favorite dish at the restaurant is still the soba.

I guess the bottom line is: even if you can't speak a lick of Japanese, you can still come to Kaoriya and enjoy the best food they have to offer. However, if you want the entire authentic experience, it's still better to come with some Japanese friends.

Related Posts:
Soba Koh (New York City)
Matsuhisa (Los Angeles)
Hand Pulled Noodles (video tutorial)
Guchi's Midnight Ramen Pop Up (Boston)

January 3, 2013 Boston

Sycamore

We had such a great thing going. Why did it have to be cut short so soon?

Bryan and I moved into the neighborhood just north of Harvard Square a little over a year ago. After ten years, we had gotten quite comfortable living between Central and Harvard Square (where we'd established our favorite haunts). It was a bit unsettling to start all over when we moved.

Thankfully, we soon discovered Ten Tables, a cozy, quaint little restaurant tucked away on a residential street just a few minutes' walk away from our new home.

Chef David Punch was super friendly and showered us with warm hospitality every time we visited. Soon, we became regulars, preferring to sit up front at the newly installed bar so that we could chat with Dave, mostly about our common passion: food.

One day - out of the blue - we arrived at Ten Tables to learn that Chef David Punch was no longer there. He had left to open his own restaurant in Newton Center. Chef Dan Janus (who had been sous chef while Dave was there) had been promoted to executive chef.

Newton?? Why so far away, Dave??

We knew we had to visit our old friend and say hello. A couple days after Sycamore opened in December, we drove through rush hour traffic (yes, it took 45 minutes from Cambridge) to visit Chef Dave Punch and his new digs.

The menu at Sycamore is divide into four sections: snacks ($4-$7), starters ($9-$13), mains ($19-$25), and sides ($5-$6). Some of Dave's signature dishes from Ten Tables, such as his incredible boudin blanc, have made their way over to the Sycamore menu.

The plan is to change the menu relatively frequently, guided by the seasonality of ingredients and Dave's imagination.

We ran into some friends who were dining there that same night. After exchanging pleasantries, they got straight to the point.

"You have to get the gougeres. They are transcendent."

That got my attention. These friends of mine do not use the word "transcendent" lightly. It sounded like we had to try some for ourselves. The Warm Gougeres, which Dave calls "alpine cheese puffs", is a "snack" that's sold for only $4. We immediately placed an order for gougeres.

Warm Gougeres $4

The gougeres were delicious. They were light and airy, yet had a substantial and deep cheese flavor at the same time. Instead of being thick and dense, oozing out cheesiness like some gougeres I've had, these were more like pillows - light as a feather. You could eat these all day and not feel weighed down.

In fact, our friends liked the gougeres so much they decided to get two additional orders as their dessert.

I kid you not.

Because we really didn't know what to order, we just asked Dave to "cook for us." We gave him complete free reign in deciding which dishes he wanted to share.

Keep that in mind while you look at these pictures. While some of them may reflect the actual size of the dish on the menu, in other cases he may have scaled down the portion sizes since we ended up eating 5-6 courses.

We started with the Roasted Beet Salad, a "special of the day" that is not on the regular menu. This particular salad came with pistachios and a horseradish (or was it parsnip?) cream. As I've come to expect from Dave, the ingredients were fresh and excellent quality. I love beets in general, and I liked having the combination of red and golden beets. It was a great way to begin the meal.

The Grilled R.I. Squid came next served over pinquito beans, arugula, braised cardoons, and crispy black olives ($13). Chef Dave is a master at cooking rustic, flavorful dishes, and this was no exception. The Mediterranean-inspired flavors came together beautifully, and the squid was incredibly soft and tender. They were barely cooked (that's a good thing!) and had absolutely no hint of that rubbery texture you see too often with overcooked squid.

Dare I say this? It was the best squid I'd had since the squid sashimi I had at Sukiyabashi Jiro in Japan.

This dish was most definitely a winner and probably my favorite of the night.

The Roasted Fluke, a main dish, came with crispy potatoes, artichokes, and garlic confit. It was served with this vividly green herb puree and topped with a Meyer lemon chip. The fish was executed well, with simple but solid well-balanced flavors.

The Handmade Agnolotti (a "starter" on the menu) became a mid pastas course for us. It was tossed with sage in a savory roasted bird jus sauce. The texture of the agnolotti was excellent (yay fresh pasta), and the roasted bird jus gave the dish an intense, deep umami flavor.

One of the most special items on the menu is the Hudson Valley Duck Board for two for $60. On this board, you'll enjoy duck prepared a number of ways - roasted breast, leg confit, grilled sausage, and duck marmalade. The board also includes chestnut puree, grilled pear, parsnip mostarda, and cranberry compote.

The picture above only shows you a portion of the duck board. My friends had ordered it and had already started eating it when we arrived at the restaurant. I was able to snap a photo of most of the board (looks like the leg confit and the breast are still intact, but maybe they ate all the sausage?).

Dave also served us various bites from the duck board, such as the leg confit over crostini.

Dave's house-made duck sausage was fantastic served with a little bit cranberry compote.

The roasted duck breast was gorgeously cooked (look at how pink it is on the inside!) and came served with the grilled pear (also part of the normal duck board). Our friends were very impressed with the entire duck board, and I must say that all the little bites we had were excellent. This was another one of our favorites from the evening's "tasting."

For dessert, the server highly recommended the Lemon Pot de Crème, which came topped with huckleberries and served with a side of rosemary shortbread ($9). Bryan and I both loved this dessert. The pot de creme was rich and creamy yet well balanced by the tartness of the sweet huckleberries. I loved the intense fruit flavors that came from the huckleberries as well.

I would definitely order this again.
Bryan got the Warm Beignets ($8), which came with apple butter and canela crème anglaise. Not surprisingly, these were delicious, though I've had good beignets in lots of places. It's a safe stand-by, but I personally found the lemon pot de creme to be a much more interesting dessert.

Overall, we were very impressed with all of the food. For a restaurant that's only been open for less than a week, we were pleased with how smoothly everything went. The place wasn't completely packed, which probably made it easier. Chef Dave said they wanted to open quietly and softly so they could slowly ramp things up. Honestly, they seem to have it together pretty well already.

Chef Dave Punch is really talented, and it's exciting to see him finally open up his own place. I can't wait to see what he dreams up once spring arrives and he has the whole bounty of spring produce with which to experiment.

Expect rustic, flavorful dishes that are executed really, really well. You won't see anything too crazy here (no foams or weird gels). After all, Chef Dave is more of a traditionalist when it come to cooking ("kids these days can use all these fancy gadgets yet don't even know how to properly grill a fish!"). He uses age-old techniques, but executes with extreme precision and skill. Sometimes I swear the food he cooks is so tender it must be done via sous vide, even though I know it hasn't. The guy's just that good.

I'm still a bit sad he's not in my 'hood anymore, but I'm also really excited for him. Opening up Sycamore is a fantastic opportunity, and I'm sure he'll do really well.

And it's not like Ten Tables disappeared. In fact, Chef Dan has been doing a great job as executive chef so far, and we still continue to frequent Ten Tables. At the end of the day, perhaps the biggest blessing of all is that Boston gets to gain an excellent restaurant without losing another one.

Win win, I say.

(especially for you folks who live in Newton)
Sycamore
755 Beacon St
Newton, MA 02459

January 2, 2013 French

French Lentil Soup (lentilles du Puy) with Bacon and Fennel

I confess.

I haven't really been cooking that much.

Or, at least I haven't been cooking "blog-worthy" stuff for awhile. Perhaps it's the busy-ness of life, or maybe I need motivation, and there hasn't been anything as epic since Project Food Blog to really motivate me to stretch my imagination and creativity.

I've realized I'm a goal-oriented person. If there's a specific person, event, or . . heck, competition for which I'm cooking, I'll easily go all out. My brain's creative juices go crazy, and I dream up wild ideas with food. Left to my own devices, however, I'm actually quite boring.

So it's a new year. And I want to bring some fun cooking back to this blog. Thanks to an awesome birthday gift from Bryan last month, I think I may just be adequately motivated to start cooking really cool stuff again.

For my birthday just a little over a month ago, Bryan got me the coolest combination of "toys": Nathan Myhrvold's Modernist Cuisine at Home and a Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker.

You may have heard of the original Modernist Cuisine, a six volume, 2400 pages ($600!) set of books that explores modern cooking techniques. The book explores all sorts of different techniques, from water baths and homogenizers to centrifuges and liquid nitrogen.

This past year, they came out with a whittled down home version. Instead of requiring esoteric ingredients and strange lab equipment, you can pretty much execute most things in the Modernist Cuisine at Home if you have two major pieces: a sous vide machine and a pressure cooker. Since I already had the sous vide machine, Bryan got me a really nice pressure cooker with the book.

I decided to start easy. After all, I've always been scared of pressure cookers. The idea of scalding liquid under extreme pressure exploding in my face has always made me steer clear of pressure cookers. I've had my share of lab accidents back when I used to be a chemist, and I'd sure as rather not re-visit those days.

One of the first dishes I decided to make was a twist on the traditional lentil soup. Instead of using normal mirepoix (carrots, onion, and celery), I switched out the celery with fennel root, which is a bit sweeter. I also added bacon because . . . well, bacon makes almost everything better.

Finally, I used French lentils (lentilles du Puy). These lentils are greenish in color and have a much more intense flavor than normal lentils. They also have less starch and cook up more "al dente" and less mushy, which I like.

I sauteed chopped bacon straight in the pressure cooker, and then added the carrots, fennel, onions, garlic, and the like. After it had all softened, I just dumped everything else in (lentils, herbs, broth), and closed up the pressure cooker. I monitored the pressure, turning down the heat whenever it looked like it was getting a bit high.

After about 13-14 minutes, I pressed down on the valve on top, which released the steam inside. It took about 1-2 minutes before it completely released. I think I actually ended up using tongs to press down on the button because the steam became very hot very fast!

Finally, I opened up the pot and seasoned the soup to taste with just salt and pepper.

It was so easy. I couldn't believe I made such a gorgeous soup in less than 40 minutes.

Let me just say that the Kuhn Rikon works like a dream. I'm still flabbergasted at how much time I can save making soups, braised meats, etc. Bryan did a lot of research before buying this gift for me, and he claims it's the "Mercedes Benz" of pressure cookers.

I've just begun playing with it, but so far, I have to agree. This thing is really easy to use. The pot is really well aligned with two principles that are dear to my heart: saving time and saving energy. This does both.

Stay tuned as I begin a new Modernist/Pressure Cooker series on various dishes I make with these new toys.

Happy New Year!

Bacon & Fennel French Lentil Soup

Ingredients
3 strips of bacon (about 2-3 oz)
1 carrot, finely diced
1 small onion, finely diced
1 cup of green lentils, washed
1 small fennel bulb, finely diced
1-3 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
4 cups chicken broth (or enough to cover lentils by 2 inches of liquid)

Cook bacon over medium heat in the pressure cooker until fat is rendered, about 5-6 minutes. Add carrots, onions, and fennel and cook until soften, about 10-15 minutes. Add broth, lentils, and herbs and cook for about 10-14 minutes at around 0.4 bar (5.8 psi). serve!

Notes: this recipe works fine with celery in place of fennel root. The flavors are a little less complex, but still perfectly enjoyable. Although I've never tried it, I'm guessing you can switch out the chicken broth for vegetable broth if you want to make this dish vegetarian.

January 1, 2013 American

Braised Lamb Osso Buco

Happy New Year!

Can you believe it's 2013?

Reflecting back, this holiday "break" has been really different from most holiday breaks I've had in years past. One major difference is that for the first time since we've been married, Bryan and I did not go back to California to visit his parents.

We had spent three weeks traveling around Australia and New Zealand with them in November, and essentially we had used up almost all of our vacation days for that trip.

So this holiday season, we spent a few days in Ohio with my parents before coming back to Boston to just chill at home.

After traveling so much, it was actually really, really nice to finally be at home. I felt like I hadn't seen my kitchen in ages. It was fun to finally, finally, experiment in the kitchen again. I cooked, baked, and did all sorts of fun things that I haven't had time to do in months.

I can't wait to share some of those kitchen exploits with you in the next few weeks.

For today though, I just wanted to share with you the insanely delicious (and easy!) dish I made for our New Years Eve dinner.

I have a friend Peter who's really into wine. I may have told you about him before. He's been collecting wine for years and is always looking for fun and creative ways to showcase the wines.

This year for New Years Eve he decided he wanted to do a French Bordeaux tasting.

He prepared an excellent presentation about the wine region in general, and we had an education tasting, I guess you could say.

It was a potluck style dinner, and therefore each person was responsible for bringing some sort of dish that would pair with Bordeaux. More than once, Peter not-so-subtly hinted at me that I should really make a lamb dish.

"I know you don't like lamb," he wrote, "but it's a great application for the pressure cooker."

It's true. I don't love that game-y distinct flavor of lamb, though I often eat it since Bryan loves is to much. And I agree, lamb is probably one of the best meats with which to pair French Bordeaux.

So I buckled under pressure. We also happened to find these lovely lamb osso buco pieces at Costco , which helped seal the deal.

I decided to try out my new pressure cooker, a gift from Bryan not too long ago (more on that soon!).

This dish is pretty straightforward and doesn't take that long if you have a pressure cooker. If you don't have a pressure cooker, it's still easy, but just takes a couple more hours.

Sear the osso buco pieces until they are nicely browned on all sides. Remove from the pot.

Cook your lovely mirepoix ingredients - carrots, celery, and onions plus some garlic until soft.

Deglaze with wine. We went with a very good but not insanely expensive Carbernet-Merlot blend (2009 Château de France, Pessac-Léognan WS 93). According to Peter, you should never cook with a wine that you would not be willing to drink. The quality of the wine most certainly affects the flavor of your dish.

After about 40 minutes in the pressure cooker, the lamb becomes fall-off-the-bone tender. I removed the meat and further reduced the liquid until it was slightly thick, like a nice, hearty sauce.

When I tasted the "sauce", I felt that it needed something to round it out a bit, so I melted just 2 tablespoons of butter into the mix. Finally, in order to brighten it up just a bit, I added a splash of sweet balsamic vinegar (the good thick stuff you usually eat with strawberries!).

Serve with gremolata, which further brightens the dish up perfectly.

Enjoy!

The dish was fantastic. The flavors were deep and hearty, yet well balanced by the brightness of the gremolata. I'm sure the fact that I used really good wine added to the beautiful flavors of the dish.

I would absolutely make this again, especially since I can make the entire dish in an hour with a pressure cooker!

Pressure Cooker Braised Lamb Osso Buco
Serves 4

4 pieces lamb osso buco
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

2-3 cups wine (can be white, red, or a mix of both)
1-2 T tomato paste
2-3 cups chicken stock (or enough to cover the shanks in the pan)

2 bay leaves
1 sprig of rosemary
2 tablespoons butter
1 -2 teaspoon sweet balsamic vinegar (optional)

Make sure pressure cooker pot is big enough to comfortably fit all the osso buco.

Over medium-high heat in the pressure cooker pot, sear all sides of the lamb osso buco in olive oil until browned. Remove from the pot. To the oil in the pan, add the chopped onion, celery, carrots, and garlic and cook until browned and aromatic (~20 minutes). Add the tomato paste and mix well. Add wine, turn up the heat, and deglaze the pan. Let the mixture cook for about 5-10 minutes to boil off some of the alcohol. Add the osso buco pieces back in, and pour in the chicken broth and tomato paste. Make sure that the meat is covered (or at least mostly covered) in liquid. Add bay leaves and rosemary. Cover and cook at the "1 red ring" level (around 0.4 bar (5.8 psi)) for about 45 minutes.

Release the pressure and remove the meat.

Making the "demi-glace"
Reduce the remaining liquid on medium-high heat until it is almost sauce-like. If you think the sauce needs to be rounded out or brightened up, add butter (to round out) and/or sweet balsamic vinegar (to brighten). I added both, but it may depend on the nature of your broth, wine, lamb etc.

Serve the osso bucco with the sauce, optionally topped with gremolata.

For starch, consider serving with saffron rice or roasted potatoes.

If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can also make this dish in the oven. Check out my post on oven-braised lamb shanks. If you would prefer to make it over the stove top, check out my Milanese Veal Osso Buco post which uses that method.

Here's to 2013!

December 27, 2012 Misc

Merry (Belated) Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope you're all having a wonderful holiday so far. Bryan and I have been blessed to have an entire week off from work. We've been visiting family - spending quality time with my parents, sister, brother-in-law, and 1-year old nephew.

Of course, that also means we've been eating way too much.

Christmas lunch: Hot Pot Noodles Soup

In accordance with our family tradition, we had a Chinese hot pot for dinner on Christmas Eve. It's something we've done on Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember.

One of the best "side effects" of a hot pot are the leftovers. During Christmas lunch the next day, my mom prepares bowls of hot, piping noodle soup made with the leftover hot pot broth. The broth itself is super flavorful, brimming with complex flavors from all the goodies cooked in the hot pot from the night before. To that broth, my mom adds fresh noodles and lots of fresh vegetables, tofu, and meat. On a cold, snowy morning, there's nothing that's hits the spot like this satisfying soup.

For dinner on Christmas this year, our family made our own Taiwanese "lumpia", or fresh hand-rolled spring rolls. I'm sure every culture makes these slightly differently. My mom's version includes pork, cabbage, carrots, eggs, pickled turnips, and (mostly importantly), crushed sugared peanuts. I absolutely love the complex mix of textures and flavors in this flavor-packed roll - it's absolutely addictive.

Yum.

Finally, the day after Christmas, we had simple stir-fried vermicelli, which was both comforting, healthy, and totally reminded me of home. My mom told me that the secret to making good vermicelli is to soak the dried vermicelli in cold water before cooking. Hot water degrades the noodles too much and causes them to break apart when you stir fry it.

Who knew?
Jen in Sydney, Australia, where Christmas decorations begin in early November

Though it's been super relaxing being pampered by my mom while she cooks every single meal for us, I'm also anxious to get back into the kitchen. I've been inspired recently to try out new recipes from The Modernist at Home (a gift I received from Bryan) as well as playing with my new pressure cooker (which apparently is needed for many of the recipes in that book). It's also been awhile since I'ved baked, and I'm in the mood to make some super cute cookies - maybe of Domokun or The Snowman.

The Snowman in Ohio

We'll soon resume the Tasting Tour of Tokyo series, as well as explore some great local Boston-area restaurants I've tried in the past month.

For now, however, relax, slow down, and savor this special time of year.

Merry Christmas!

December 22, 2012 Misc

Last Minute Gift Ideas

My husband's really good at giving gifts.

He's thoughtful, does tons of research on products, and always has a running list in his mind (yearlong!) of potential gifts he could give you.

In some ways, it's really, really nice to be married to someone like that. I've gotten some pretty incredible gifts in the past 11 years we've been married.

In other ways, however, it's really stressful! I don't think nearly as methodically as he does, and I'm a huge procrastinator on top of all that. As a result, I can't even come close to giving as good gifts as he does. He's lucky if he even gets a gift by Christmas. Sigh . . yes, it's true. I'm really THAT bad sometimes . . .

So, I thought I'd share with you some of the gifts I've received over the years, maybe as inspiration for you as you go shopping on this last holiday weekend before Christmas. Some of these are a repeat from last year, but I've updated the list quite a bit. Not all of these gifts were from Bryan, but in many ways, he probably played some role most of these (he likes to buy me random things too, even when there's no special occasion).

Please enjoy the list, and I'm really sorry I didn't post this earlier!

ever the procastinator . . . some things just don't change.
Fun with The Modernist

For my birthday this past year (just a little over a month ago), Bryan got me the coolest combination of things: Nathan Myhrvold's Modernist Cuisine at Home and a Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker.

I've only tried the Kuhn Rikon a few times (posts coming soon!), but it works like a dream. I thought I was scared of pressure cookers, but this thing is so incredibly easy to use. I absolutely love this gift, and I can't wait to share with you some of the dishes I've been making from the Modernist Cuisine at Home. It's a great gift for any food enthusiast who loves experimenting.

An Insanely Good Basic Set of Pots & Pans

I've been using the same set of Ameriware pots and pans ever since 2001 when we first got married. Though they aren't bad, I've always been a little wary about heating non-stick cookware to really temperatures. Last Christmas Bryan got me this gorgeous set of All-Clad Copper Core pots & pans. This set is great because it has the durability and ease of cleaning that comes with stainless steel but the more sensitive heat conduction of copper. I've seen a tremendous difference in the quality of my cooking. Finally, I can carefully sear things, evenly heat things, and just have much better control over everything.

I've still kept my old set since it's still nice to have non-stick sometimes. By and large, however, I almost always reach for these first nowadays.

The Inner Kitchen Chemist

I got this present for my birthday last year from some good friends of mine. It's perfect for my inner chemist who likes to play around with powders, liquids, and vials!

This molecular gastronomy kit includes many of the basic ingredients needed to execute all kinds of molecular gastronomy techniques. They also gave me the Alinea cookbook, written by none other than Grant Achatz, one of the leading masterminds of molecular gastronomy in the U.S.

As you can see from the picture above, I've had tons of fun this past year having all sorts of fun with this kit. Check out this post, which summarizes the entire crazy project, as well as the individual posts on spherification, use of agar, foam, and sous vide.

Playing with Sous Vide

If you want to experiment with a cooking technique used by many high-end restaurants around the world, try the art of sous vide cooking, which involves cooking foods at very precise temperatures (in a water bath). For the adventurous, try cooking out of Thomas Keller's food dedicated to sous vide cooking, Under Pressure. For a more basic book that's chock full of really useful information, try Douglas Baldwin's Sous Vide for the Home Cook.

If you're going to get a sous vide machine, you really need a vacuum sealer as well. I got this Foodsaver vacuum sealer from friends a couple years ago at it works fine. It doesn't take up too much room on the counter (compared to older, non-standing models) and it functions pretty well. I sort of wish it didn't use up so much plastic in the process (the outer wrapper requires a huge "buffer" on each side of the food in order to seal). Perhaps some of the newer models are able to seal without using so much plastic each time.

Savor Beautiful Food Photography + Recipes

Speaking of books by amazing 3-star Michelin chefs, another great gift idea might be the new, gorgeous book by Daniel Humm about dishes from his newly minted 3-star Michelin restaurant, Eleven Madison Park. I got to try many of these dishes at a special "cookbook tour" dinner cooked by Daniel Humm himself (at Boston at Menton, of all places!). I haven't tried cooking out of the book, but I can attest to the fact that it's gorgeous and the food we had on the cookbook tour tasted incredible.

Jura-Capresso Impressa F9 Fully Automatic Coffee and Espresso Center

We absolutely love our espressos and cappuccinos. We drink them every single day. This trooper of a machine has served us faithfully for the last two years. It is Swiss built and super reliable. We love that it's completely automatic (everything from grinding, tapping, removing the grounds) and you can choose whatever type of beans you want to put inside. No K-cups in landfills!

This machine is quite expensive, but we've definitely gotten our money's worth and we absolutely love it. The espressos that it makes have excellent crema. The cappuccinos are solid as well. I would highly recommend it or perhaps one of the newer models since we've had our for so long!

Blendtec or Vitamix ??

The Blendtec 1560 watt blender is one of the newest toys I've gotten this past year (thanks Bryan!). Many people have a hard time deciding between the Vitamix and the Blendtec. Frankly, both are excellent machines and will perform beautifully. From the multiple reviews I've read, the difference comes down to height (Blendtec fits under a kitchen counter whereas Vitamix does not); controls (Vitamix is more manual while Blendtec is more computerized); and noise (Blendtec is louder than Vitamix). There are other differences that people debate about such as power, ease of cleaning, tamper, and how "smooth" the shake is.

We chose the Blendtec mostly for counterspace reasons and the fact that you could turn it on and walk away. So far, I've had tons of fun with it - everything from making my own soy milk at home to whipping up gorgeous, restaurant-quality velvety smooth blended soups. Although it is a loud, the blending is only for a short amount of time, and the results are so worth it!

Zojirushi Fuzzy Rice Cooker

I have an older model of this rice cooker and I love it! It makes perfect rice every time. I also like how it has settings for different kinds rice, and you can set different types of timer options. Seriously, after having tried one of these rice cookers, it's hard to go back to a normal one. 🙂

Lello 4090 Gelato Pro Quart Ice Cream Maker

Bryan got this for me as a birthday present one year and I absolutely love it. It has its own condenser so you don't have to bother with taking up precious freezer space for a huge dewar. Best yet, you can make ice cream on a whim just by turning it on. It makes luxuriously beautiful ice cream. You can check out some of the more unique ice creams I've made on this blog, such as avocado, olive oil, black sesame, simple lemon, and grape nut.

Le Creuset Enameled Cast-Iron French Oven

I can't believe it took me this long to appreciate how awesome cast-iron Dutch ovens are! I finally bought my first Le Creuset piece the summer of 2010 at an outlet store. I am still amazed at how evenly it heats everything and how well it retains heat. Seriously, it has made stir frying a breeze. I love the versatility of this pot. Yes, it's heavy and a pain to lift up, but it's totally worth it for the performance. It has become one of my default pots of choice whenever I want to stir-fry! Perhaps I'll look into a cast iron wok next!

Zester

New generation zesters (inspired by the original Microplane zester) are surprisingly useful for so many things! I love the Oxo zester (pictured at left) because it "cuts" in both directions. Of course I love my original Microplane zester as well, which works like a charm. I use them to zest my lemons, create gorgeously fluffy Parmesan cheese shavings over pasta, and make chocolate shavings! It's quite sharp, so be careful!

Shun Classic 7-Inch Santoku Hollow Ground Knife

For the longest time, this was my favorite knife. Bryan gave this to me one Christmas. It far surpassed all the cheaper Tramontina knives I had in my starter set. I still swear by Japanese knives (I think they are among the best in the world), though I recently purchased some Masamoto Tsukiji knives (hard to get outside of Japan, though do check out Korin), which are nothing short of amazing. For a knife that is easily purchasable in the U.S., I still think this is a fantastic option. It's great for someone like me who has slightly smaller hands.

Bryan's Favorite Point & Shoot Camera

Bryan recently bought himself a pretty snazzy point & shoot camera. I have to say, I'm really, really impressed with this little Sony camera. It's small enough to fit inside his pocket, yet takes quite impressive food photos in pretty dark lighting. This is definitely Bryan's travel camera of choice for his business trips, and he takes it with him everywhere he travels. To see food pics taken by this camera, check out this post.

Panasonic Lumix GF1

A birthday gift from Bryan in 2009 (soon after Tiny Urban Kitchen was christened), this is my carry-with-me-everywhere camera. It is small enough to put inside my purse and it's really light. I love the f/1.7 aperture, which allows me to shoot really nice pictures in extremely low light conditions (typically inside restaurants). It is seriously the ultimate food blogger's camera. Click here to read more detailed thoughts about it.

Also consider getting the new generation Lumix GX1, either just the body or with a 14-42mm lens.

(2012 - present) Canon 5D MKIII

When I know I'm going to a special event, or if I know I'll be in a very challenging light situation, I will bring this camera along. I swear, it can almost take pictures in the dark. We bring it along with us on all of our trips, and it's really versatile. It's biggest (and only) drawback is that it's HUGE. It's still worth it, though, This is an amazing camera that really takes seriously good photographs.

(2009-2012) Canon 5D MK II

The Mark II was the camera I used from 2009-2012. It is still an excellent camera and performs gorgeously in low light situations (as well as many other situations). Click here to read more detailed thoughts about it

24-105 mm f/4 lens

Another present from Bryan, this is my favorite all-time lens as its zoom range is versatile. Although this lens doesn't quite have as low light capabilities, it has a wonderfully versatile zoom range and can still handle reasonably low light due to the fact that it has stability control. It is my favorite travel camera.

Bryan's favorite travel lens is the Canon 24mm f/1.4 wide angle lens. It takes wonderful sweeping shots of landscapes and cityscapes, and performs beautifully in low light conditions.

After raw files leave my camera (yes, I don't advise shooting in jpg! Please shoot in raw if possible!), I use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 to catalog and work up my images. I absolutely love Lightroom because it makes photo processing so much easier! There are little sliders on the right side which allow you to fine tune parameters such as exposure, color, and clarity. Finally, there are all these plug-ins you can get that allow you to automatically upload to Flickr or post to your favorite blogging software all in one step. Definitely a time saver!

That's it, for now . . .
I could go on and on and on, but I'll stop here. Hope I gave you some inspiration for possible gifts, either for someone else or even for yourself!

If you'd like to support Tiny Urban Kitchen through your shopping, feel free to search for amazon.com items through the link on the left sidebar of the blog, or click here to get to Amazon.

Have a great final weekend of holiday shopping!

December 19, 2012 Cambridge

Puritan & Co

I cannot tell you how long I've been waiting for this.

Well, I guess I could, technically.

I still remember that fateful day back in May of 2011 when we stopped into our favorite local hangout, Garden at the Cellar, and found out that Chef Will Gilson had left, planning to do a pop-up in the Cape for the summer.

Noooooo! It can't be!

The Garden at the Cellar had quickly become our favorite place to visit, a mere one minute walk (maybe two minutes if we had to wait for traffic on Mass Ave) from our tiny urban condo. It was a place where we knew we could enjoy Will's ever changing seasonally-inspired menu as well as the fantastic truffle fries (which we got every single time).

I knew Will was talented, and I was itching to see what he would do next.

The following year flew by. Sure, I saw Will here and there, but he was pretty mum about his plans, though he did hint there was something in the works.

The waiting is finally over.

Will Gilson opened up his first restaurant, Puritan & Co, in Inman Square less than two weeks ago.

The name "Puritan & Co" is inspired by the "Puritan Cake Company", a company that occupied the Inman Square space back in the 1920's. Will wanted his new restaurant to reflect his roots (Will is a 13th generation New Englander). He grew up at the Herb Lyceum in Groton, Mass, a white country farmhouse surrounded by rows of greenhouses brimming with herbs and other seasonal plants.

The decor at Puritan & Co evokes this same sense of heritage and feeling of traditional New England country. The 1920's Glenwood stove at the host's stand is actually the first stove that Will ever cooked on as a child, brought over from the Herb Lyceum.

It's a comfortable, warm, and inviting space. I love the tall ceilings and relaxed feel.

The folio style menus remind me of a certain Thomas Keller restaurant I visited less than a year ago. The menu is divided up into six sections: Oyster & Charcuterie Bar ($10-$15), Snacks ($6-$7), Starters ($11-$18), Salads ($12-$15), Soups ($12-14), and Hearty ($24-$28).

The potato Parker House rolls are baked fresh throughout the day by pastry chef Mike Geldart. We find them to be super soft, slightly sweet, and really good with butter.

The meal begins with an amuse bouche of Cobia Crudo with Butternut Squash Gelato and Sea Beans. Cobia is a white fleshed fish that, according to Chef Gilson, is really flavorful and sustainable. He cites cobia as the "hardest dish that we've tried to get people to get behind . ." I agree that the cobia crudo is delicious, although I am not sure if I like the pairing of the icy cold gelato with the crudo. It is a bit too cold for my tongue (and teeth!) so early in the meal.

The Snack Section: The gougeres ($6), which are sort of like cheese-filled pastry puffs, come highly recommended by our waiter. Chef Gilson makes his gourgeres with rosemary and Clothbound cheddar mornay.

What is "mornay"? It's a Béchamel sauce (traditional creamy white sauce) made with cheese. Chef Gilson's gougere oozes with this rich cheesy sauce when you bite into one. It's rich, it's flavorful, and very heavy. I am expecting the cheese to be hot, but it's actually cold, which sort of detracts from the enjoyment of the gougere. An order comes with two, which is more than plenty as an appetizer. In fact, I almost feel like it sort of filled up my stomach before my appetizer even comes.

Charcuterie Bar: Swordfish Belly Pastrami ($15), which comes with pickled Brussels sprouts and a savory ice cream, is one of the several "composed charcuteries" on the menu. We both really, really enjoy this starter. The swordfish is just perfectly seasoned (yes, it really does taste like traditional pastrami spices), and pairs well with the accompanying components (including the ice cream). It is one of our favorite dishes.

Soups: The presentation for the clam chowder is stunning. A row of clams perfectly dressed with goodies like bacon and herbs stand center stage while the soup is poured tableside. The clams are fresh and tasty, though the flavor of the chowder itself doesn't strike us as anything special. We've had better.

Salads: I had always enjoyed Chef Gilson's salads when he was at Garden at the Cellar, so it's no surprise that I love this simple Baby Kale and Mustards Salad ($12). My favorite part is the "fried cheddar", which are airy and crunchy croutons made of cheese. They are salty, deeply cheesy, crispy, and absolutely delicious. The dill adds a lovely fresh herbaceous tone to the salad, and the grilled onions provide smoke and sweetness. In my two visits to Puritan & Co, I've ordered this both times.

Starters: The Baked Scallop ($15) looks like one huge baked scallop in its shell, although I think there are actually a few scallops inside the green, herb-based sauce. The scallops are very tender, and overall the dish is fine, though we aren't sure if we would order it again.

Starters: The grilled Cobia Collar is a special of the day and not on the regular menu. Grilled fish collarbone is pretty popular in Japanese restaurants, though I seldom see it in Western places. This collar is marinated (I think) in sake, mirin, and possibly soy. The flavors are good, though I wish it had just a hint of sweetness. I find the dish just a tad too salty.

Starters: One of the most popular dishes to date is the Lamb Belly ($14), which is served with eggplant, orange + moxie (an old school soft drink). In fact, on our way out of the restaurant after our first visit, Chef Gilson asks us, "did you guys try the lamb belly?" He is bummed that we did not, and tells us we have to try it.

Sure enough, Bryan orders it during our second visit. He loves the tender belly meat and the juicy layer of fat right on top of the meat. The orange + moxie sauce is a bit sweet for him, but he still thinks the lamb belly tastes perfectly fine on its own even without the orange sauce.

Sides: The Toasted Barley Risotto at $18 is by far the most expensive side dish on the menu. We soon realize that this "side dish" is really quite misplaced in this section of the menu. It's huge, and realy more a full-fledged entree than a side dish. Update: it appears that the section is now named "vegetables."

Bryan absolutely loves the risotto. He can't get enough of the really nice, al dente texture of the barley. Furthermore, the flavor is excellent, full of deep, rich mushroom essence and that nutty, toasted barley flavor.

Hearty: One of Bryan's favorite dishes to date is the Wood Roasted Muscovy Duck ($28), which is served with quinoa, salsify (the big white root vegetable in the picture), and roasted mushrooms. Thyme is the predominant herb. Chef Gilson does a beautiful job on the meat - it's juicy, tender, and really flavorful.

Hearty: The Lamb Chop and Lamb Sausage ($27) is a fun play on a traditional lamb chop and is served with hay roasted carrots, ash oil, and lamb jus. Chef Gilson combines the two by wrapping the lamb sausage around the lamb chop.

I'm a huge fan of sausage in general, so I enjoy this dish more than I would a normal lamb dish. We still have visions of lamb in our heads from our recent trip to New Zealand (more on that coming soon!). Though Bryan still thinks the lamb in New Zealand is better, this is pretty darn good for what you can get in the US.
Desserts: Current autumn/winter offerings for dessert include a pumpkin ice cream, parsnip cake, toll house cookie dough sundae, and a quince galette. We opt to share the Quince Galette ($7), which comes with marcona almonds, apply jelly on the side, and is topped with a buttermilk glace.

We both enjoy this dessert a lot. The galette is not too big and thus it's a nice, not-too-heavy way to end a perfectly enjoyable meal.

Before we leave, complimentary Puritan Cakes accompany the bill. Chef Gilson's father found the original recipe for Puritan cakes in a newspaper clipping. They recreated the recipe, "improved it", and now serve it as a parting bite for all the guests.

It's a nice nod to the history behind the space. Frankly, the modified Puritan cake is still sort of dry and not that amazing (especially compared to everything else), but it's still a nice little parting "snack" and I still eat it every time.

I'm thrilled that Will's new restaurant seems to be getting off to a fantastic start. We were extremely impressed with the service there. Our server knew the ingredients in each dish, the characteristics of each wine, and even the tasting notes of the beers inside and out without missing a beat (yes, we peppered her with a lot of questions).

Overall the food is excellent at Puritan & Co. Sure, there were a few things I would skip, but there are plenty of dishes for which I would happily return. Our favorites thus far? The mushroom barley risotto, swordfish belly pastrami, anything made with lamb, and the muscovy duck. Yes, the man's an expert when it comes to meat. I personally loved the salads as well.

I expect Will plans on constantly changing the menu, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see all sorts of creative charcuterie showing up. It seems like the perfect place to sit at the bar and sample all sorts of little bites paired with their collection of interesting beers and wine.

Welcome back, Will. It's really, really nice to finally have you back.

And I'm glad your new place is still relatively close to my home, though it's hard to beat those days when you were literally across the street.

Puritan & Co.
1166 Cambridge St
Cambridge, MA

December 18, 2012 Japan

Mikawa Zezankyo (tempura)

This is the third post in the series titled Tasting Tour of Tokyo detailing my recent trip to Japan. Other posts include Kikunoi Akasaka and Rokurinsha.

Rick Bayless called his meal here "one of the most impressive, most intimate meals of my life."

Michelin deemed it worthy to receive one Michelin star.

Chef Tetsuya Saotome has been called a "living treasure", a "maverick", and even "idiosyncratic."

Opened only since 2010, Mikawa Zezankyo has quickly become recognized as being one of the top tempura places in Tokyo. It's not that surprising, actually. After all, Chef Saotome spent over thirty years making tempura at his original Mikawa restaurant in Kayabacho. It became so popular he eventually opened up a second, larger location in Roppongi. Chef Saotome estimates he's made over half a million pieces of tempura in his lifetime.

Mikawa Zezankyo is Chef Saotome's newest project. After handing off his other two successful restaurants to his apprentices, he opened Mikawa Zezankyo in 2010. Hidden in a small residential street east of the Sumida River, this tiny restaurant is not that easy to find.

There are only nine seats, so reservations are very difficult to get. Furthermore, Chef Saotome works alone to create the actual tempura. The assistants will help with everything else, but only Chef Saotome does the actual frying. If he's on vacation, the restaurant closes.

According to Chef Saotome, "I am able to see the scales on the fish that other people cannot see and then just coat each piece in the appropriate amount of batter. After that the trick is simply to count the seconds the fish should be cooked for." [source]

It's an art that takes extreme precision and skill. Come here, and you know you'll have the master himself cooking for you.

I had originally tried to book this place through my hotel concierge, but had no luck. Thankfully, my friend and fellow blogger Shirley from Lovely Lanvin (who happens to be a local!) called them and was able to reserve a table in the private room upstairs.

I couldn't wait to see what kind of magic would arise from Chef Saotome's expert hands.

I love places that already have something for you to taste at the table as soon as you arrive. Here, the table was set with these lovely seabeans with sesame and bonito, a small cube of jelly with fish egg and scallions, and octopus. On the right, we tasted a simple broth with a seafood cake of sorts inside. It was as great mini-appetizer.

Traditionally, you can dip your tempura into a sauce made of ground up daikon and soy sauce. Oftentimes, however, I preferred to just enjoy my tempura with a bit of sea salt. It's really up to you.

Chef Saotome cooks in the edomae tradition. This means he only serves seafood and produce that was available during the edo period when Tokyo was a shogun capital, about a hundred fifty years ago. Most of the seafood would come out of Tokyo Bay.

We started with ebi, or shrimp. Lightly fried to perfection, there was not a hint of oiliness in this shrimp. The shrimp was fresh, sweet, and very good.

As is traditional in Japanese tempura places (as I've learned from past experience), they always follow up a shrimp "tail" with the deep fried head. Though I'd typically be a bit squeamish, I actually thought the head here was fantastic. It had a stronger, deeper shrimp flavor than the tail. It was light yet very crispy.

Next we tried kisu (whiting), which was also sweet, tender, and (again) flawlessly fried. I enjoyed it with just a touch of salt, which brought out the natural flavors of the fish without overpowering any flavors.

The ika, or squid, was beautifully soft and tender. I am impressed at the sheer delicate nature of the batter, which almost seems paper-thin at some points. I preferred enjoying this just with a touch of salt as well.

Because it was autumn, we had the opportunity to sample some seasonal ingredients. On the left is shiso wrapped uni (sea urchin), while on the right is a skewer of ginko nuts.

I must say that the gingko nut was my favorite discovery of this trip. This classic Japanese fall ingredient looks like an olive, tastes starchy like boiled peanuts, and has a lovely, complex flavor that's sort of sweet and earthy. I had tried them boiled earlier for the first time at Kikunoi and I had fallen in love. It was equally fantastic fried.

Shiso and uni are really a match made in heaven, and this was no exception. I think I am still more impressed with the version at Tempura Kondo, but this one was still excellent.

Next we had meguchi (3 little fish), which was soft and flavorful. At this point I realized I was hardly using the daikon soy mixture as a dipping sauce. I guess I really like to savor each piece with just a touch of salt. I find it's easier to really taste all the nuanced flavors of each piece.

I am a huge fan of anago (conger eel). The meat of the eel is naturally really tender and sweet. It tasted excellent fried, although this was the only piece where I thought the tail portion was just a tad greasier than I would have liked.

I decided to cough up the extra yen and add matsutake mushrooms to the tasting. Matsutake mushrooms are very seasonal. You see them pop up all over the place in restaurants during autumn. I had tried these lovely, earthy mushrooms in many forms at Kikunoi earlier that week. They were absolutely fantastic fried - though I still wonder whether matsutake mushrooms are really worth their extremely high costs.

I love vegetables, and these fresh asparagus and shitake mushrooms were delicious - fresh and flavorful, I could really taste the essence of the asparagus and the mushrooms. It was also a nice, lighter way to wind down the meal.

Finally, going along with tradition, we ended the meal by enjoying kaibashira, deep fried clams over rice with pickles and miso soup.

The pickles were fantastic. Fresh, super crispy, and not too sour or salty. The flavoring just right and did not overpower at all.

I was quite stuffed at this point, but I still managed to eat a few bites of this lovely ending part of the meal. You can also opt to have a tea-based soup poured into the rice, which results in a lovely congee of sorts that's extremely flavorful. Shirley preferred this style because the clams stay crispy. If you're here to enjoy this chef's incredible frying technique, why not enjoy it as much as you can? We did try the tea soup version at Kondo, so you can see pictures over there if you're curious.

Finally for dessert, a few huge, sweetened beans. I enjoyed these - they reminded me of sweetened bean desserts I used to eat as a kid. It was a nice ending to an excellent meal.

Thoughts
There's no question about it, the tempura here is excellent. I did find it interesting the number of similarities between my two tempura experiences in Japan. There must be all these traditional steps that make up the authentic tempura meal in Japan. It's something I've yet to see in the States.

It's worth making the trek to come try this place. The decor alone is unique and whimsical, and the intimate experience is hard to beat. On the flip side, the restaurant is not easy to find. Definitely use a GPS and/or write down detailed instructions. We used the instructions under the "How to Get There" section of this article, which worked out well.

If you're short on time, I think the tempura at Tempura Kondo in Ginza is just as good, if not better in some cases.Tempura Kondo is also more centrally located in the bustling area of Ginza, which is nice.

All in all, you can't go wrong if you pick either of these places. Along with Rakutei, these three restaurants are often hailed as the top tempura places in the entire city.

Sources
Nick Lander (Financial Times writer)
Japan Times
Eater

December 14, 2012 Cambridge

Giulia Cambridge

This is the fourth restaurant post in the series, Welcome to My New Hood, focused on restaurants in the neighborhood between Harvard Square and Porter Square. Other posts in this series: Rafiki Bistro (no longer open), Super Fusion Sushi, and Temple Bar.

"Why Giulia?" we asked.

Giulia is the name of a street in Italy where Chef Michael Pagliarini's brother works.

In fact, there are little hints of Chef Pagliarini's Italian roots all over the restaurant, from the generous sprinkling of Italian words all over the menu (we had to ask several times, "what does this mean?") to the traditional Italian cookies offered for dessert - baked by his mom - who learned these recipes from friends in Italy.

If you haven't heard, Chef Pagliarini, who previously worked at Via Matta in the Back Bay, has just opened up a new Italian restaurant in Cambridge.

There has been much pent up demand for this place. In the past, people regularly bemoaned the lack of Italian restaurants in Cambridge, especially on this stretch between Harvard Square and Porter Square where gastropubs rule. Sure, you can head up north to Gran Gusto (excellent place, by the way) or to Huron Village and check out Trattoria Pulcinella . . . but for a place that's really close and convenient?

As you must know by now, Bryan loves fresh pasta. When we heard that Chef Pagliarini would be making fresh pasta daily right at the chef's table, we absolutely could not wait for this place to open.

Last week it finally opened on Tuesday. We immediately called them up and made a reservation for four (plus a baby!).

The inside is warm and cozy, with a long bar (yay, I love eating at the bar) and a chef's table at the back which functions as a pasta-making table by day. It has a similar layout as the old Rafiki Bistro, but it's much more spruced up and, frankly, looks much nicer.

The restaurant was surprisingly accommodating for my friends' newborn (only 4 weeks old!). They have a nice table that's right next to the window sort of separated from everyone else. We arrived right when the restaurant opened (5:30PM) and my friends were able to keep the stroller with the sleeping baby right next to our table the entire dinner.

The menu is divided up into five sections: Sfitzi, which are like little bites, cost from $3-$5. Antipasti ($10-$16) are appetizers, and include dishes such as a burrata salad, salumi plate, crudo, and bruschetta (just to name a few). Then there are various Pasta 'della Nostra Tabola', which are fresh pasta dishes made in-house (right on top of that loooooong chef's table) which are "primo" sized (starter portion) and cost between $15-$22. The Meat & Fish section contains various cooked meat and fish entrees ($18-$42), and then there are Contorni (sides), which cost $5-$7. Desserts come on a separate menu and includes dessert cordials, sweets, and cheeses.

One of my favorite bites of the entire evening came first. The Warm Semolina Cakes with Lardo ($5) was fantastic. Soft, light, fluffy, yet super moist inside, these bite-sized cakes were topped with a paper thin piece of lardo, which virtually melted on top of the warm cake. It was absolutely fantastic.

The Tiny Clams 'in brodetto' ($16) came cooked in a fragrant broth with pancetta, garbanzo beans and spinach. The flavors for this dish were excellent, beautifully aromatic and well seasoned. We couldn't help but soak up the broth with our bread in order to savor the flavor a bit longer.
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'Carne Cruda' crostini ($11) was beef tartare served with mini-toast (crostini) and pickled, roasted, and fresh "allium" (garlic, shallots, the like). Unfortunately, this dish was a bit disappointing. The beef pieces were just a bit larger than we liked, and the beef itself was slightly undersalted and not particularly flavorful. The accompanying mix of pickled vegetables was OK, but a bit too sweet for my tastes.

The Burrata di Puglia ($14) was served with charred peppers, golden raisins, and pine nuts. The ingredients were definitely good quality, and the overall combination of flavors was solid, though nothing particularly special.

We've been enjoying some incredible salumi at home lately, so Bryan was really keen on trying the Assorted Salumi ($15), which consisted of mortadella, soppressata, fincchiona, and wild boar.

Overall, the salumi plate was OK ("it's fine" according to Bryan), but probably not something I would order again. Bryan and I both enjoy the salumi we buy at the local gourmet market a lot more. To be fair, at the market we get to try a bunch before picking which to buy, which makes it a lot easier to get the ones that we love.

The staff was a bit confused about the salumi. At first they indicated that it was "local", but then affirmed that it was from Italy. When they served it, they were unable to distinguish between two of the types (they looked really similar), and told us we should be able to find out once we tasted it.

The fresh pasta is really, really good.

We love the fact that they make the pasta daily on that huge chef's table. Nothing beats homemade pasta, and all of theirs are excellent.

I loved the unusual Spelt Fusilli with Roasted Mushrooms ($15). Loaded with fresh herbs, this simple pasta is tossed with butter and grana padano. The spelt pasta adds a lovely nuttiness to the dish, which was excellent. Of course, the texture of the pasta was great - very dense and chewy. This was definitely one of the favorites at the table.

The Boston Bluefish Puttanesca ($16) was quite an unusual dish, made with with maltagliati (a type of pasta), capers, anchovy, tomato, and hot chilies. I personally found the very strong bluefish flavor to be a bit weird. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't my favorite flavor either. My friend thought the strongly flavored sauce worked well to stand up to the strongly flavored bluefish.

The Papardelle with Wild Boar came with black trumpet mushrooms, juniper, and aged parmigiano. Again, the homemade pasta texture was excellent, and the flavors of the dish were perfectly balanced and really came together nicely. The wild boar was soft and tender, and everything was executed well. This was probably Bryan's favorite pasta dish.

The Bucatini all'Amatriciana was my least favorite of the bunch. Even though I fell in love with this dish in Rome, this version was not nearly as flavorful. The tomato sauce was a bit too acidic and lacked a deep, sweet "tomato" flavor. Several of us thought it was a bit too salty, though one of us really liked it because it had a nice, real spicy kick. Of course, the texture of the bucatini was perfect - I just wished the sauce had something more . . .

The Brussels Sprouts, Orange Zest, and Hot Peppers ($5) was another one of my favorite dishes (it's just a side dish). How come I never thought of roasting Brussels sprouts with hot peppers? It is ingenious and so good. One of my friends didn't like how charred the sprouts were, (he thought the food was burnt), but I personally really enjoy sprouts when they are a bit charred, so I didn't mind one bit.

For $5, I would totally get this again.

Secondi - Meat & Fish

Rohan Duck Breast ($32) came with Umbrian lentils, cippolini, and pomegranate saba. This duck was quite fatty, and because the skin was not scored, none of the fat was rendered. This resulted in pieces duck that were attached to a rather thick and chewy chunk of fat. According to my friend, "the fat to meat ratio is off." Bryan thought the flavor of the duck was fine, though not particularly memorable. We did love the lentils, which were extremely flavorful and had a nice, al dente texture.

The Grilled Branzino ($24) was roasted with anise and potatoes and topped with sea urchin. The fish was perfectly seared and we loved the crispy skin on top. The fish itself was also nice and tender. We wished for more uni (that little dollop on top was not quite enough for the whole piece of fish). Other than that, the dish was pretty good. Solid execution, quality ingredients, and overall good flavors.

House Made Lamb Sausage ($18) came on top of a pile of broccoli rabe, pepperonata, and "gigante" beans. These beans were definitely huge ("gigante"!) and were really tasty, reminding me a bit of starchy mashed potatoes. I loved the flavors of the beans together with the vegetables underneath. The lamb itself was a bit salty to eat on its own, though it went well with the vegetables and beans.

Sicilian Style Swordfish ($24) came with autumn vegetable caponata and fresh oregano. Although I would have loved for them to cook the swordfish just a hair less, it was still executed reasonably well, better than most restaurants. The fish was tender yet fully cooked through. Though I found the caponata to be a bit too sweet, overall the dish was OK.

The server highly recommended the Cheese Plate ($14), which comes with these gorgeous homemade tninly sliced crackers that are filled with all sorts of goodies, like almonds, raisins, and walnuts. The crackers were absolutely fabulous. They were so delicate yet so flavorful at the same time. I longed for more than three slices to go with my cheese, which were all pretty enjoyable.

The Cookie Plate consists of cookies made by the chef's mother, who learned how to make these while she was in Italy. These were authentic and solid, though definitely quite sweet for my tastes. I can only nibble a bit before I need a big swig of coffee!

First Impressions?
Overall the food is very good at Giulia. Their strength is definitely the homemade pastas, which have excellent texture and really nice flavors. The starters were mixed but there were definitely some standouts (e.g., the clams). We fell in love with the semolina cakes (I hope he never takes that off the menu), but were a bit disappointed with the beef tartare and uninspired by the salumi plate. Except for the duck, we really enjoyed the "secondi" main dishes as well. All the fish dishes were executed well, with quality ingredients and nice flavors.

If you're a huge pasta fan and you live in the area, you'll be thrilled that we finally have some really nice pasta options right here in Cambridge. Instead of heading out to Boston for a nice Italian dinner out, you can just walk down the street.

It's actually quite expensive to eat at Giulia's. Although the individual menu items don't cost that much, expect to order at least a few courses (if not more) to equal a regular meal elsewhere. In fact, the server told us that the menu portions are designed to allow diners to eat all five (!) courses.

I couldn't believe it at first, but evidence speaks volumes. Four of us ordered two "sfitzi" (small bites), four "antipasti" (appetizers), four pastas, four entrees, a cheese plate, and a dessert. We ate everything, and though the women felt a bit stuffed, the men felt just right.

I think the "antipasti" are actually reasonably portions (comparable to an appetizer at any other restaurant), though I agree the pastas are a bit too small to really count as a regular entree. Bryan definitely thought he needed to order two pastas dishes if he wanted to eat it as a dinner, which means spending around $30 just for the pasta entree.

The place is priced like a higher-end Italian restaurant in the North End, but we're not quite sure if the ambiance, service, and location quite match the prices. I guess time will tell if this neighborhood is willing to pay those prices on a regular basis.

Nevertheless, I'm still really excited to have such quality food in the neighborhood. I'm hoping they think about offering more reasonably priced weekday deals like many of the other local restaurants (both Bergamot and Ten Tables offer a 3-course $39 deal, which is really nice). It would definitely incentivize locals like me to stop by more often on random weeknights for a more "casual" dinner at the bar.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Giulia. We're anxious looking forward to seeing what other cool pasta dishes you'll dream up next.

Giulia
682 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 441-2800

December 11, 2012 Sponsored

Recent Favorite Food Cities + winner of Giveaway

Thanks everyone so much for your participation in the giveaway. I was thrilled at the response. I really think it's the most popular one I've ever hosted. I guess everyone likes to travel. 🙂

And the winner is . . . .

Gee Emm! This was chosen randomly (using random.org) out of 187 entries. Gee Emm said "I would love to stay at the only North American Club Carlson Radisson Blu... in Chicago!"

I must say, I was surprised how many people picked Radisson Blu in Chicago. I didn't even know about the hotel, but it must be pretty incredible. That reminds me, I really need to get myself out of Chicago one of these days - go back to my Midwestern roots!

Anyway, thanks everyone else for playing. It was heartwarming to hear your comments (I hardly get any comments on this blog, so I'm never quite sure what people think about my posts!). It was encouraging to hear what aspects you all liked, and thanks again for some great suggestions!

For fun, in the spirit of this travel-oriented giveaway, I thought I'd share about some of my recent favorite food cities to visit.

JAPAN
Japan is one of my favorite countries to visit. I first got to know the culture when I spent a summer there during college working at a chemical research company. I loved experiencing the simplest parts of everyday life, such as riding my bike to work, shopping for groceries in the market, and cooking in my very Japanese kitchen. I made friends, explored the area, and really fell in love with the culture. It's in Japan that I first learned to enjoy raw fish.

The food in Japan is phenomenal. You won't find better sushi anywhere else in the world. For high end (and very, very expensive) sushi, check out Sushi Mizutani, Sukiyabashi Jiro (post coming soon), Sushi Sawada, Sushi Kanesaka or Sushi Mitani. My favorites are probably Sushi Mizutani and Sukiyabashi Jiro, but you can't go wrong with any of them.

If you'd rather not be forced to eat omakase (which was me after one of those days when I had a huge lunch), some places offer a la carte sushi at dinner, such as Sushi Kanesaka, Kyubey, and Sushi Aoki (post coming soon). It's a way to get that Michelin star experience without paying an arm and a leg.

Another way to save money is to go during lunch. Places like Kyubey have pretty reasonable lunch prices (though be aware - other places, like Sushi Sawada, charge the exact same price for lunch and dinner). Daisan Harumi is a great value, giving you excellent sushi at about half the cost of the highest end places.

Japan is also know for its beef, the most famous being Kobe (though there are many other just as famous types). You can try Kobe beef as shabu shabu at Seryna, where 6 thin slices of the prized meat will set you back over $100 USD (oh but it's so worth it!). There's also teppanyaki, which we tried at Ukai-tei this past time. (According to Bryan, the best steak he's ever had in his life).

The Japanese are obsessive about their pork too. Try Butagumi for specialty tonkatsu (pork cutlet), where you can find over 50 different breeds of pork offered. Maisen is more mainstream (there are several locations) and still excellent. On top of pork, they offer other breaded and fried options, such as shrimp.

For other fried goodness, you must try Tempura Kondo, which is still (to date), the best tempura I've ever had in my life.
Although I've written mostly about high-end food, there's a ton of really good casual food in Japan as well. Just look for long lines at a ramen stall - it's bound to be pretty good. Rokurinsha is one of the most famous, and branches can be found at both Tokyo Station (Ramen Street) as well as at the Tokyo Sky Tree shopping complex called Solamachi. We also loved Suzuran in Shibuya, which is a little off the beaten path and very, very authentic.

For other fun casual food, try an izakaya (Kago specializes in Kagoshima cuisine) or a fun robatayaki when they grill all these gorgeous seafood and produce right in front of you (Inakaya in Roppongi).

Finally, if you want a taste of what cutting edge chefs are doing in Tokyo these days, check out Aronia de Takazawa for some really creative, artistic, and whimsical plates, as well as Tapas Molecular Bar for a sampling of molecular gastronomy bites while sitting at the top of the Mandarin Hotel in Tokyo overlooking the city lights.

TAIWAN

Taiwan will always bring back fond, nostalgic memories because that's where my family originates. I have been to Taiwan a lot as a kid but not as many times as an adult. I guess because Bryan hardly ever has business trips there, I have less opportunity to catch a "free ride" to Taiwan compared to Japan, where I've been visiting almost annually the past few years.

Of course, my all time favorite place to eat in Taiwan is the original Din Tai Fung for dumplings. The food is excellent at the other locations as well. I just like the ambiance and feel of the original one, which is more traditional, cozy, and less modern & sleek. For a traditional Taiwanese breakfast, try Yong He Soybean Milk, where you can get all sorts of freshly made goodies such as scallion pancakes, egg pancakes, soy milk, and you tiao (fried crullers) for a mere few dollars. Taiwan actually has excellent food representing many regions of China. Bryan loves Peking duck, so we had excellent traditional (and reasonably priced) Peking duck at Celestial Restaurant. Of course, you can't leave Taiwan without visiting at least one night market. Bryan and I went to Shilin Night Market, one of the most famous ones.

I can't wait to go back again. There are still so many things I have yet to try!

CHINA

China is a vast, vast country and it will be impossible for me to summarize everything in this short paragraph. Check out the China Eating Guide for more details.

Beijing is well known for its duck, noodles, and dumplings. As a result, we focused largely on those types of food while we were there. If you want to see a cool show of noodle making while you eat, check out Noodle Loft, made even more famous after Anthony Bourdain visited. Of course, there are many other excellent places where hand-pulled noodles are made (e.g., Noodle Bar). In fact, you can even take a class (in English!) and learn how to pull your own noodles and wrap your own dumplings. Frankly for $30 USD, the class was a steal.

We ate tons of Peking duck while we were there. Bryan's favorite is Made in China (he still goes back everytime he goes to Beijing!), while my favorite was Da Dong for their leaner ducks and wide variety of other types of dishes. We sought out several recommended dumplings places and they were all fantastic. Xian'r Lao Man didn't have any English language menus, so we struggled a bit to understand everything that was offered. Even then, everything we ordered was fantastic. Bao Yuan Dumpling had lots of pretty photos on its menu and some English, which was very, very helpful. Bao Yuan offers different colored dumplings (all naturally dyed with beets, veggies, etc), which is both colorful and fun.

Finally, for a change of pace, check out Beijing's best snacks at Nine Gates Snack Street, right near the touristy and popular spot called Hou Hai.

In Shanghai, we mostly spent time at the World Expo. When we weren't visiting all the various pavillions, we had early morning soup dumpling breakfasts at Jia Jia Tang Bao or Yang's Fry Dumpling (both incredible and super cheap) late night dinners at Din Tai Fung and Crystal Jade (fantastic but expensive for China, even though still quite reasonably by US standards).

ITALY

Bryan and I first went to Rome for our honeymoon over 11 years ago. The past year, we took a spontaneous weekend trip back to Rome. It was my first time blogging about it.

Although high-end dining in Rome was perfectly enjoyable (we had a lovely meal at Il Convivio and Etabli), our favorite meals were actually the simpler ones. We fell in love with Roscioli for their incredible pasta carbonara (among many other things). We couldn't stop raving about the incredibly thin crust pizza at Pizzeria dal Paino. As always, gelato was fun to get, and I ate it almost everyday. Don't miss the excellent coffee at the numerous cafes, of which Sant'Eustachio Cafe is one of the most famous.

A note from our sponsors: Consider traveling to Turkey! Though many of us food enthusiasts undoubtedly will be excited at trying the food there, Turkey has something for everyone. Check out the link and consider visiting Turkey for your next vacation.

I do want to see Turkey some day. The amount of history in that region alone is reason to visit. I've realized from my visits to Greece and Italy that I really love exploring really old cities. Of course, it would be fascinating to sample the cuisine as well. It's so different from Asian food, and frankly, an area at which I'm a complete newbie. My small exposure to Turkish-influenced cuisine in America has been quite positive, so I'm sure I would love it.

December 9, 2012 Japan

Rokurinsha (tsukemen ramen)

This is the second post in the series titled Tasting Tour of Tokyo detailing my recent trip to Japan. Other posts include Kikunoi Akasaka.

How do you find a good ramen place in Japan?

Easy - just look for the place with the longest lines. Japanese people absolutely adore their ramen and are very willing to patiently wait in long, organized lines in order to partake in this soul-satisfying hot bowl of noodles.

A perfect example would be Rokurinsha, a ramen shop that opened in 2005 in a quiet residential area in the Osaki district of Tokyo. Although it was a bit out of the way, the place was always packed, filled with lines that sometimes reached over 300 people on busy weekends. It was not unusual to show up at 11AM and wait about two hours before getting into the tiny 12-seater dining area.

Eventually in 2010, under much pressure from angry residential neighbors complaining about the crazy lines, Rokurisha closed its Osaki shop and re-opened elsewhere in the city.

The location most people talk about is the one inside Tokyo Station on Tokyo Ramen Street, a corridor full of ramen shops all in a row. A second one resides at the shopping complex at the Tokyo Sky Tree, Tokyo's newest attraction (and the tallest tower in the world).

The Tokyo Sky Tree is very, very tall and opened up to the public on May of 2012. The opening was so highly anticipated that some people waited in line for a week to get first dibs on tickets. Even now, it is quite popular with both tourists and locals alike. In fact, I waited over an hour in line before getting onto the uber fast elevator to the observatory.

It's quite fun to see Tokyo from such a height. I saw parts of the city I had never seen before (what is that cool area with all that water??)
On a clear day, you can see many of the surrounding mountains, including Mt. Fuji.

If you're not afraid of heights, you can step onto the glass floor area and look all the way down. It's quite something!

Afterwards, you can head on over to Rokurinsha. Take the elevator back down and head over to the 6th floor of "Solamachi", the new shopping complex that's connected to Tokyo Sky Tree. Yes, there will be a line, of course (it wraps around the entire restaurant). What do you expect?

At least they have chairs for the people who have waited in line for quite awhile. Once you get to the chairs section, you also get a copy of the menu to peruse.

You have to purchase your "tickets" for the ramen before you enter the restaurant. The prices are quite reasonable, with most bowls being somewhere around 850-1050 yen range (about $10-$12 US).

After about an hour, we were finally seated! We had awesome seats at the bar, which was great. It was fun watching the chefs making the ramen right behind the counter.

They give you bibs because they think it's so messy!

After all, Rokurinsha specializes in tsukemen, or dipping noodles. You get your noodles and broth separately, and then you just dip the noodles into the soup. This explains why you may sometimes make a mess.

I'm not sure if the noodles were freshly made on site (perhaps not), but the texture was still excellent. They were super thick, very chewy, and really fun to eat.

But the star of the show was the gorgeously thick broth. I really think it was one of the best bowls of ramen I'd ever had in my life. The tonkotsu (pork bone) and dried fish based broth is stewed for over 13 hours. This results in a deeply flavorful broth that's brimming with umami. The bonito flakes on top add even more umami, making the entire soup oh-so-satisfying to eat.

The egg is boiled just the right amount to retain that soft, almost gelatinous center. Here I've dipped some of my noodles into my broth.

It was a fantastic meal. Because I had waited in multiple lines by lunchtime (both at the Sky Tree and then in the ramen restaurant line), I was famished by the time these noodles were laid in front of me. I was happy about the bib, as I'm sure I splashed some broth around in my attempts at dipping the noodles.

By the way, it's perfectly OK to making slurping sounds while eating your noodles in Japan. In fact, you should slurp. It shows that you are really enjoying your noodles. It's almost more rude not to slurp, since the chef may think you don't like the noodles.

So slurp away!

I was thrilled to discover that they sold takeaway packs for Rokurinsha ramen at home. Definitely not cheap at around $15 a pack (serves two people I believe), I bought one to take back with me to the US so that Bryan could try it too. Unfortunately, I could not buy the pork that they sold (no meat products!), but I'm really excited to try their packaged noodles + dried soup base to see how good it is!

In short, I cannot recommend this place highly enough . Granted, I haven't tried that many ramen places in Tokyo (after all, I've been focusing on sushi for quite sometime my past few trips). However, the rest of Tokyo seems to be vouching for this place as well, evidenced by the insane lines at all of its branches. Is it any surprise that the branch of Rokurinsha at Tokyo Ramen Street always has the longest line?

Definitely check out this place if you're visiting Tokyo. It's worth the wait. I promise.

Reminder - today's the last day to enter the Radisson Hotel free night's stay Giveaway. Winner will be announced tomorrow.

December 5, 2012 Japan

Kikunoi (Akasaka)

This is the first post in the series titled Tasting Tour of Tokyo detailing my recent trip to Japan.

One negative aspect of being a tag-along on your husband's business trip is that you're often alone. After all, he's in the destination to work, which means he can't hang out with you during much of the trip.

Thankfully, Tokyo is an easy city to navigate, and at this point, I know it quite well. I was perfectly happy to spend my afternoons shopping, exploring, and even visiting friends while he was at his conference.

Unfortunately, there were a few nights where he had business dinners and couldn't even eat with me.

Last time that happened, I bought simple take-out at the local depachika (basement of the department store) and ate in my hotel room. This time, I decided to head out into the city and dine solo at one of the most famous kaiseki establishments in Tokyo.

Kikunoi specializes in Japanese kaiseki cuisine, a traditional, multi-course, Japanese meal. Kaiseki meals typically involve the use of fresh, seasonal ingredients prepared in such a way as to emphasize their flavors. The entire experience is a big part of kaiseki cuisine, and therefore the ambiance of the surroundings as well as the artistic presentation of the food are also very, very important.

Kaiseki has been around for over 500 years, starting back in the 1600's when Sen no Rikyu, a tea master in Kyoto, felt that the powdered green tea used during tea ceremonies was too strong for an empty stomach, and needed some food to accompany it.

The original kaiseki meals consisted of just miso soup with three sides, but over the years they have evolved significantly, turning into one of Japan's most elaborate and high-end cuisines. Naturally, Kyoto is famous for its kaiseki cuisine, and houses some of the most famous restaurants.

Yoshihiro Murata is one of the most famous kaiseki chefs in Japan. He has his own TV show and owns three restaurants in both Kyoto and Tokyo, totaling 7 Michelin Stars.

Chef Murata practices a form of modern kaiseki that draws influence from many difference sources, such as imperial palace cuisine, the traditional tea ceremony, shojin ryori (vegetarian temple cuisine), and obanzai (traditional Kyoto cuisine that includes tofu, gluten, vegetables). Murata also derives inspiration from other well-known chefs, such as the famous Ferran Adria (with whom he is close friends) and Nobu Matsuhisa.

Kikunoi is Chef Murata's prized creation. The original flagship Kyoto branch (Kikunoi Honten) boasts three Michelin stars, while the other two "offshoots" (Roan Kikunoi in Kyoto and Akasaka Kikunoi in Tokyo) each have 2 Michelin stars.

Since I didn't quite have enough time to zip to Kyoto on a shinkansen (bullet train), I "settled" for the Tokyo branch in Akasaka.

Like many Japanese restaurants, Kikunoi has a bar area that makes solo dining much nicer. You can interact with the chefs and also watch them cook.

Although the staff's command of English was only so-so, they did have Chef Murata's colorful kaiseki ryori book which includes pages describing (in English!) important details about the dishes I was enjoying. Furthermore, they had English language menus, which was very helpful.

For dinner, you get a choice between three set-menus. The price difference is based on the expense of the ingredients. Matsutake mushrooms (which are very expensive) were in season during the fall, and thus set menus that included lots of the prized mushrooms naturally cost a lot more.

The prices are 15,750 yen, 18,900 yen, or 21,000 yen. Seeing how weak the US dollar is these days (about 79 yen for every US dollar) , that definitely hurts!

I went with the cheapest one, partly because it had a bit less meat and because it still focused quite strongly on matsutake mushrooms, which I love.
I gasped when the first course came - it was so utterly beautiful. Made to conjure up the image of one "watching the moon from a boat on a lake", this exquisite dish features many seasonal ingredients. Let's take a closer look.

The Grilled Saury Sushi at left was topped with a strongly marinated sea bream which was quite "fishy" and salty. The single pink peppercorn on top gave the entire bite a nice "pop" of flavor that I liked. In the middle front, we have Grilled Chestnut Paste (shaped like a dumpling), while in the back we have Roe bearing Ayu (sweet fish) poached with sansho peppercorns. On the very right, a half-cut lime is filled with Prawn Marinated in Shao Xing Wine. The alcohol made the dish a bit bitter, almost boozy like Sojo.

Because gingko nuts were in season, we enjoyed a small sampling of Glazed Ginko Nuts topped with a gingko-leaf shaped chip. I loved the gingko nuts. They were warm, lightly salted, and toasted with sake and salt. The intricate pine needles are actually dried green tea noodles, which surprised me with its strong tea flavor!

Next came the Poached Baby Kabura Turnip topped with walnut miso sauce and crushed walnuts. This local Kyoto dish is traditionally served with yuzu miso. Chef Murata's own version uses a beautiful, creamy walnut miso paste which was really, really good. Though I usually don't like walnuts, I couldn't stop eating this dish. The flavorful, umami laden miso sauce worked well to balance the light, steamed turnip, which reminded me of boiled daikon.

Sashimi of Butter Fish and Tai (Red Sea Bream) came with pickled chrysanthemum petals and freshly grated wasabi. The tai was chewy and had a very clean flavor. A flavorful, salty "gel" was sandwiched between one of the fish slices and added flavor to the entire dish. The pickled chrysanthemum was pleasantly not-too-sour, The texture reminded me of tiger lilies we used to eat in Chinese soups.

The next course was Sashimi of Koshibi (young bluefin tuna) topped with a small dab of mustard and served with a soy-marinated egg yolk sauce. The young tuna was buttery soft and picked up the thick, eggy sauce quite nicely. The flavor of this dish was excellent, although it didn't stand out as being particularly unique or unusual.

This next dish was one of my favorites all evening. Hamo (pike eel), Matsutake (pine mushroom), and Mitsuba Herb steamed in a teapot with Sudachi Lime. I love Matsutake mushrooms, and in my opinion, any broth made with these oh-so-expensive mushrooms is heavenly. The eel added needed umami to the fragrant, herbaceous broth. After slowly savoring the golden elixir sip by sip, I opened up the tea pot and ate all the mushrooms inside. The Sudachi lime added a nice, bright citrusy splash to the strong savory notes of the dish (though I don't think I was supposed to pour the tea over the lime - oops!).

The next bite, Salmon Roe with Grated Radish, sounds simple yet was surprisingly really, really good. The slight bitterness of the daikon was nicely balanced by the briny roe.

At this point I was already getting really, really stuffed. Honestly, I almost groaned when I saw the next dish - two whole Salt-Grilled Ayu (Sweetfish) with Roe. Nevertheless, I had to admit it was an absolutely beautiful presentation.

The chef placed two perfectly grilled fish, sliced so that the roe was spilling out, onto a bed of pine (?) needles and autumn leaves.

I was definitely a bit squeamish about eating a whole fish. I had watched the Japanese ladies to my right eat this, and they polished the entire thing off -head and all! At the end, I couldn't bear to eat those eyes staring at me, so I left the head.

Objectively, the dish was perfectly executed. The fish nicely grilled with a gorgeous char and a crispy tail. Although it was tasty, the dish didn't strike me as mind-blowing (though, to be fair, I was getting stuffed at this point).

Almost like a break, the next course was refreshingly light, a salad filled with Mibuna Greens (A variety of mizuna), Grilled Shitake Mushrooms, Grilled Maitake (Hen of the Woods) Mushroom, and Trout Roe tossed together in a sasame and ponzu dressing. Edible flowers completed the colorful display.

I really liked the use of bonito flakes, which add a bit of umami to the very leafy salad. The flavors were nice, though the salad did not quite strike me as a Michelin-level dish.

The final main savory course was an Anago (sea eel) Baked Custard with Lilly Bulb, Carrots, Shimeji Mushrooms, Mistuba Herb, and Yuzu. The custard was very light and delicate, reminding me of the steamed Japanese egg custard chawanmushi. The custard was only lightly salted, giving you an opportunity to really taste delicate nuances of all the seasonal ingredients inside.

Finally (I was sooo full at this point), they brought over a HUGE bowl of Steamed Rice brimming with Matsutake Mushrooms, Mitsuba Herbs, and Yuzu. I was so sad that I was so full. I sampled just a tiny bite.

I was so surprised when the chef offered to wrap the rest up for me to take home. He wrapped it up so nicely, it was like I was taking a gift home. I'm so glad that 1) we had a refrigerator in the hotel room and 2) I was able to eat more of the rice at the airport on my way back to Boston.
Yum!
Finally, for dessert, I had Hojicha (Roasted Green Tea) Ice Cream with a Rum-Raisin-Fig cake. The tea ice cream was the best part, full of that strong, roasted tea flavor. The cake was dense, cold, and only OK (reminded me of fruitcake a little).

* * * * *

General Notes
This place is really, really hard to find on foot. I took the subway to Akasaka (cute neighborhood, by the way) and then tried walking to the location, using my phone GPS as my navigation guide. Even though I was almost standing right on top of the restaurant, it still took me about 15 minutes of wandering before I could find how to get in. It turns out the entrance is in a back alley, down a dark, bamboo-lined path (see top picture). Perhaps if you take a cab it will drop you right in front!

Service here is excellent, and the staff took really good care of me. On my way out, they offered to take a picture of me at the door. One of the chefs also walked with me down the dark, wooded path until I got the the lit road just to make sure I was OK.

As for the food, it was good, but I'm not sure if I would come back. Sure, there were some dishes that I loved, such as the Matsutake Soup, Matsutake rice, and the gingko beans. However, there were many other dishes that I only thought were good, but not mind-blowing. I also thought the food portions were way too big, and that affected my enjoyment of the entire experience near the end.
Overall, however, it was a fascinating experience. I loved the focus on seasonal ingredients and the artistry of the food was really an integral part of the entire meal. I learned I love fall ingredients, especially Matsutake mushrooms and gingko beans.

This is only my first kaiseki experience, so jury's still out on what I think of the cuisine style as a whole. In general, their raw fish dishes aren't as good as those from the top sushi places. However, I do enjoy the interesting variety of cooking methods and flavors.

Can't wait to try more!

December 3, 2012 Sponsored

Giveaway! Free night stay at the Radisson Hotel

Rome, Italy

Before we start our Tasting Tour of Tokyo series, we'll have this fun little travel related giveaway.

As many of you know, I love, love, love to travel. I love exploring new cultures, new landscapes, and (of course), new cuisines. Food is, naturally, a huge part of any of my trips, and I always do tons of research before choosing where to eat on each trip.

6-mile hike along the coastline of the island at Santorini, Greece

I also have been getting into photography a lot more lately, and it's been really fun to explore new cities and countries behind the photographer's lens. I've gotten to the point where the photos are really my main "souvenir" from each trip, and I hardly bring anything physical back with me these days (with the exception of some local snacks, of course!).

Stanley Park in Vancouver, Canada

Of course, lodging's a big part of travel, and something I almost never talk about on this blog. The quality of your lodging can make or break a vacation, especially when you're in a foreign country where you really don't know how things work. I've often relied heavily on hotel concierges for help regarding various things, and they can make such a difference depending on how good they are.

Just a couple weeks ago, I was in Australia and stayed at a Radisson Hotel in Sydney. The location was fantastic and the free wifi in-room was really, really helpful (and not something we got everywhere else on our trip). The hotel breakfast was pretty pricey, but I just skipped out on dining there and walked right outside where there were endless choices for food.

China Pavilion in Shanghai at the World Expo, 2010

I'm thrilled to announce that I'm participating as one of 50 bloggers in Radisson's celebratory giveaway event called "50 Years, 50 Days, 50 Rooms." In honor of the hotel's 50th anniversary, they are giving away fifty free night vouchers over a span of 50 days.

I'll be running the Giveaway for one week, ending on Monday, December 10th. To enter, please comment below telling me what kind of posts are your favorite here on Tiny Urban Kitchen (and what you'd like to see more of . . ). For a second entry, please comment on this facebook post telling me where you would travel if you got the free voucher. Maximum 2 entries per person.

Yosemite National Park, USA

The free night voucher is valid for one free night, standard room, double occupancy at any North American Radisson Blu or Radisson hotel of the winner’s choice. The voucher expires one year after issue date. The full terms and conditions are located on the room night voucher.

Good luck!

Disclaimer - Radisson is providing the free hotel stays both to the winner of this giveaway as well as to Tiny Urban Kitchen as a thank you for participating in this event. I fully paid for the Radisson stay in Australia detailed in the post above.

December 1, 2012 Asian

Tasting Tour of Tokyo

Bryan travels a lot for work (did I mention he recently hit the two-million airline miles mark?)

In fact, we recently calculated that he has spent the last 7 weeks (out of 12) on the other side of the world. Interestingly, he's spent most of that time in countries that walk and drive on the left side of the road, which has made coming back a bit confusing (especially when walking on sidewalks and such).

Although it's not fun having your husband away so frequently, there are sometimes perks. Occasionally, if the destination is enticing, I'll choose to go with him. It's great because I get to spend more time with him, and the trip becomes a bit cheaper because lodging is usually already covered by his work.

About a month ago, I had the opportunity to go with him to Tokyo. I love Japan, and it's hard for me ever to pass up a chance to go there. Instead of focusing so much on sushi this time, we branched out, and tried several different types of Japanese food.

Of course, we still had sushi. In fact, we had a chance to taste sushi made by probably the most famous sushi master in the world right now.

Here's a brief summary of where we went on our trip, all to be described in mouthwatering detail in the upcoming posts in this new series: Tasting Tour of Tokyo.

This pic is just for fun. It's the gorgeous mansion that houses Joel Robuchon in Tokyo. It was right across the street from our hotel, so I walked by it everyday. Alas, my biggest regret is that I never took the opportunity to pick up some fresh baked items from the bakery downstairs.

Bryan loves fresh noodles, so we visited this quaint, cozy, and very, very Japanese (the entire menu was not even translated) soba shop that made its own soba, served here with mountain yam (yamaimo) and quail egg.

Speaking of noodles, I queued up for over an hour for one of the best bowls of ramen I've ever had at this simple, tsukemen (dipping noodles) shop inside the Tokyo Sky Tree complex.

I love snacks, and it's always fun to see what different countries eat. I stopped by a 7-11 and picked up these cool, fried, bitter melon chips (surprisingly tasty!).

Of course, the most fun place to get Japanese snacks is to stroll the street at Asakusa leading up to the Sensō-ji Temple, where vendors sell snack-sized, freshly made portions of all sorts of goodies, such as homemade sembei (rice crackers), mochi balls, ningyoyaki (red bean filled cakes), and many other fun, delectable nibbles.

This street is walking distance to Kappabashi, my favorite place to shop for inexpensive, Japanese kitchenware. It was easy and pleasant to visit both during one of my day-excursions while Bryan was at work.

While I always want to visit Kappabashi, Bryan invariably wants to go to Akihabara, electronics capital of the world. This time, we browsed endless rows of iPhone 5 cases (every type imaginable), as well as tons of other types of fun gadgets. Seriously, there's nothing else like this place in the world.

I finally found "Tokyo Character Street", a fun section in the Tokyo Train Station that houses stores devoted to different Japanese characters. Immerse yourself in all sorts of fun products featuring the likes of Domo-kun, Hello Kitty, Doraemon, Snoopy, and Totoro (just to name a few!).

I didn't find out until later that Ramen Street was just around the corner - gahhhh! Next time, next time . . .

To relax, I took the monorail train across the beautiful Rainbow Bridge to Odaiba, a manmade island right in Tokyo Bay that offers gorgeous views of Tokyo, funky futuristic architecture (reminds me of Tomorrowland in Disneyland), as well as many recreational activities.

On my first night dining alone, I visited a two-star Michelin kaiseki place whose "mother ship" restaurant in Kyoto actually has three Michelin Stars. Matsutake mushrooms were in season at the time, and I had a sublime soup made out of them.

Bryan has always wanted to try really, really good Japanese beef, so we tried ukai-gyu, top quality black beef (a breed of Wagyu) at a one-star Michelin Japanese teppanyaki place. Bryan's thoughts? "Best steak I've ever had in my life."

Tempura is treated very, very seriously here in Japan, to the point that it's an art form. I trekked out into the "burbs" in order to enjoy ethereal seasonal tempura (uni & shiso on left and gingko nuts on the right) made by a famous tempura-maker who essentially came out of retirement to open his own shop.

Although we tried more of a variety of food, we had to at least eat some sushi in Tokyo. After all, sushi is really one of Tokyo's specialties. We sampled different types of uni (sea urchin) from two different regions at this one-Michelin star sushi place in Ginza.

We weren't allowed to take pictures at this tiny, seven-seater two-star Michelin sushi restaurant, where the entire meal is prepared solely by the sushi master and his wife.

And finally, the epitome of our trip - a chance to try sushi made by the eighty-six year old master (first ever to get three Michelin stars for sushi) in a tiny, basement shop right inside the Ginza subway station.

It was a fabulous yet whirlwind trip (we were there for only 5 and a half days!), and I can't wait to share the details of it with you. Stay tuned!

P.S. Yes, you're supposed to eat nigiri with your hands.

UPDATE: Here are all the posts in the series
Kikunoi Akasaka (kaiseki)
Rokurinsha (ramen)
Mikawa Zezankyo (tempura)
Kaoriya (soba)
Sushi Sawada (sushi)
Sushi Aoki (sushi)
Street Food in Tokyo (street food)
Omotesando Koffee (coffee)
Ukai-tei (teppanyaki)
Japan's Underground "Depachika" Markets (market)
Sukiyabashi Jiro (sushi)

November 26, 2012 California

Matsuhisa (Nobu)

This is the 4th and final post in the Great Eats in Los Angeles with the Family Series. Other posts in this series include 101 Noodle Express, Pizzeria Mozza, and Cafe Hiro.

Some of my favorite "Japanese" style nigiri is not that Japanese at all.

After all, traditional Japanese sushi is really quite simple. Master sushi chefs in Japan spend years perfecting fundamental techniques (e.g. making rice, slicing fish, etc.), rather than designing new and innovative flavors. If you look at the menu served at the top sushi restaurants in Tokyo, you might be surprised to see that they all look the same.

After all, it's just the freshest fish of the day from Tsukiji Fish Market, optionally over vinegar rice, occasionally seared.

Tiradato - Peruvian style sushi

That's where other cultures can sometimes play a role.

When Nobu Matsuhisa moved to Peru at the age of 24 to help open up a Japanese restaurant, he soon realized that many Japanese ingredients were not available down in South America. Nobu learned to improvise, making use of local Peruvian ingredients to create flavor combinations that are now imitated all throughout the world.

It's this type of "fusion" cuisine, Japanese raw fish combined with Peruvian flavors, that Nobu introduced to the US in the form of his first restaurant, Matsuhisa.

Uni Shooters

Matsuhisa is different from the restaurants called "Nobu", Chef Matsuhisa's other venture with Robert DeNiro and a couple other partners. Nobu has this modern, upscale vibe that reminds me more of Las Vegas than Tokyo. Matsuhisa feels more Japanese, more traditional, more "cozy."

Bryan and my brother-in-law Mike were immediately drawn to the uni shooters. Mike said it was one of the best one's he's ever had. In fact, they loved it so much we recreated them at home a few weeks later.

Hearts of palm salad

Because I was in a group with all different sorts of people (aka, my family, who vary in their love of raw fish), we ordered a wide variety of dishes off the menu, using the a la carte menu to design our own "omakase". Many of the dishes at Matsuhisa incorporate South American flavors. You have the option of ordering traditional nigiri (and we did order a few of those); but why do that when the Peruvian influence is what makes his dishes unique?

The hearts of palm salad was light and refreshing, spiked with a spicy jalapeno dressing.
Toro Tartare with Caviar

I was sadly a little disappointed with the toro tartare with caviar, though I'm not sure exactly why. I guess I've had some permutation of these ingredients so many times at various places (e.g., Morimoto, Oishii Boston) that it just doesn't feel all that creative to me. There weren't any special flavors in this dish - just a bit of soy sauce and wasabi. I almost felt like I could buy these same ingredients and just make this dish myself for half the price.
Tamago and giant clam nigiri

If you really must, you can can order traditional nigiri right off the menu. My sister really enjoyed the egg custard (which looked excellent), and my brother-in-law thought the giant clam was great.

Crispy rice with spicy tuna

We had a lot of fun with an appetizer called Crispy Rice wth Spicy Tuna. Square rice cubes are deep fried and served with mashed up tuna, scallions, and soy sauce.
It's fun to create your own little fun "bites." The flavor wasn't exactly groundbreaking, but the combination of textures (crunchy rice with the raw tuna) was interesting and fun.

Matsuhisa supposedly invented the (now classic) combination of jalapeño and yellowtail with ponzu sauce. I've definitely seen versions of this combination in more modern sushi places (e.g., O Ya in Boston). It's a killer combination, and this, along with the Peruvian tiradito (pictured waaay up top), were probably my two favorite dishes of the evening.

The yellowtail quality was excellent, and the combination of the fish with the ponzu sauce and jalapeno was addictive.
Certain members of our party were not huge raw fish eaters, so we ordered several cooked dishes as well. This squid "pasta" actually has no noodles. Instead, the squid is cut in a way that resembles pasta. The flavors of the dish were excellent - very flavorful, well-seasoned, and just all around tasty.
This next dish, the Rock Shrimp Tempura, was my dad's favorite dish. It's a crowd-pleaser type of dish, something that's easy for even the pickiest eater to enjoy. The rock shrimp w juicy and sweet, fried to perfection.
The Chilean Sea Bass with Truffle was a bit disappointing. Again, I felt like they were trying to throw expensive ingredients on top of each other and hoping the final outcome would be tasty. It was OK, but, again, probably not worth the added cost.
The King Crab Tempura, on the other hand, was definitely another crowd pleaser at our table.
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We all thought we were stuffed when Bryan noticed there was homemade soba with jalapeño sauce on the menu. Bryan loves noodles so much that he decided to order it.

It was awesome. If you've never had homemade soba before, you really need to try it. The texture of homemade soba is so much superior to any dried soba I've ever tried. It's much chewier and has a deeper, richer buckwheat flavor.

When you finish dipping your soba in the sauce, they give you a pot of hot water to dilute your sauce so you can drink it as a broth.

Finally, we tried a few desserts. The ice cream was fine but nothing special - simple Japanese red bean ice cream.

Surprisingly, I actually loved the green tea mochi. I'm typically not a huge fan of the dense, ultra-sweet red bean filling that you often find inside green tea mochi. I was delighted to discover that this mochi was filled with a light green tea mousse that was not too sweet at all. I really, really liked it.

Thoughts
Overall, I left surprisingly satisfied and happy. We sat outside in the annex area, which was a bit more quiet, spacious, and relaxed. Our family decided to design our own "omakase" instead of ordering the chef's tasting, and I think it worked out great. The price was cheaper than if we'd gotten the omakase, and we had full control over which dishes we wanted to order.

The food at Matsuhisa is still overall very solid. I would skip some of the gratuitous "luxury" dishes and instead focus on dishes that Chef Matsuhisa does best - fusion dish that incorporates Peruvian spices. My favorites were the tiradio and yellowtail with jalapeno, although I also really enjoyed the squid pasta, the tempura, and the soba.

Matsuhisa

129 N La Cienega Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90211

November 21, 2012 California

Cafe Hiro

This is the third post in the Great Eats in Los Angeles with the Family Trip Series. Other posts in this series include 101 Noodle Express and Pizzeria Mozza.

This is exactly the type of restaurant I would visit frequently if I lived nearby.

Cafe Hiro is a little, unassuming restaurant in a random strip mall in Cypress, a city about 30 minutes south of downtown Los Angeles. Chef-owner Hiro Ohiwa trained extensively in both Japan and France (at one and two Michelin starred restaurants no less!) before moving to Los Angeles, where he cooked at places like Matsuhisa and Cafe del Rey. His restaurant reflects his broad international training, and is a comment on how Japanese food has been influenced by so many cultures.

The restaurant is self proclaimed "a blend of Japanese and French, with a touch of Italian", though I would argue it's much broader than that. Here's just a random sampling of the menu: steamed shao mai (Chinese?), osso bucco (Italian), chicken and mushrooms in cream sauce (French??), spiced fries (American??), sea urchin (uni) spaghetti (Italian-Japanese) and "hamburg" steak curry (Japanese, American, and Southeast Asian??).

Most restaurants that serve such a wide variety of food are usually very, very bad. However, Cafe Hiro is able to blend together flavors from all these different cuisines flawlessly, creating fun, innovative dishes that are delightful to eat.

The best part? The prices are a steal for this quality of food.

This Tuna Tartare Salad was a special and came with arugula, jicama, and a poached, runny egg on top.

We all loved the Calamari Frit, which consisted of fried calamari covered with Parmesan cheese and parsley. Expertly fried - the richly flavorful fried squid was crispy yet not a bit greasy.
Minestrone soup came with several of the set menus. This was solid, though nothing particularly exciting.
My mom ordered the Kurobuta Pork Loin Cutlet. Also know as tonkatsu in Japanese, this breaded fried pork loin cutlet is made with the famous Kurobuta (Black/Berkeshire) Pig. It comes with a choice of a demi-glace sauce or a citrus ponzu sauce.

Kurobuta is tender, juicy, and very fatty. If you look closely at the photo, you can see a layer of fat on one edge of the pork cutlet. Most people find this to be tender and juicy, the pinnacle of a rich and flavorful pork cutlet. In fact, the high end tonaktsu we had in Japan was jut like this. Unfortunately, my mom doesn't like the texture of pork fat, and ended up cutting off entire chunks of fat.

Yes, food connoisseurs of this prized kurobuta pork may think this is sacrilege, but for those that don't like pork fat, it's a bit much.
The Roasted Chilean Sea Bass with Asparagus is served with an oven roasted tomato in a garlic lemon soy sauce. This is Bryan's mom's favorite dish, and my dad loved it as well. Bryan, who loves uni, got the Sauteed Shrimps with Sea Urchin (uni) "Risotto". This dish was excellent, with uni mixed throughout the thick, creamy risotto. My favorite (and Bryan's favorite as well), was the Sea Urchin "Uni" Spaghetti. Topped with toasted seaweed, this dish was simple yet shined due to the fresh ingredients and excellent execution. The pasta was al dente and the uni-flavored sauce was smooth, creamy, and oh-so-flavorful. This is one of Cafe Hiro's signature dishes and I can easily see why. Bryan's dad ordered the Osso Bucco, slowly braised Australian Wagyu beef served with a demi-glace sauce.
I think Bryan's mom ordered another special of the day, a flavorful Roasted Miso Marinated Black Cod over an assortment of vegetables.

The Matcha Panna Cotta was topped with a lovely, really strong green tea sauce, which I thought went so well with the rich, creamy panna cotta underneath. Everyone loved this dessert, and I think my father (who has a huge sweet tooth), was sad that we only ordered one for everyone to share.

Overall Thoughts
This is a great find nestled within a random strip mall in Cypress, though I would hardly say it's "hidden." The place is always packed, so definitely make a reservation if you don't want to wait.

The food is fun, creative, and excellent. The basic menu hasn't changed too much since the place opened in 2002 (favorites such as uni spaghetti, chilean sea bass with shitake risotto, and the osso bucco) although Chef Hiro does continue to offer specials which are posted on the blackboard each day.

Prices are great. Most of the simpler curry rice and pasta dishes hover in the $10-$15 range, while the main entrees are priced well below $20.

This is really the perfect little gem to have in your backyard. I'm sincerely jealous of Bryan's parents, who could eat here every week if they wanted.

November 19, 2012 California

Pizzeria Mozza

This is the second post in the Great Eats in Los Angeles with the Family Trip Series. Other posts in this series include 101 Noodle Express.

It's not everyday that someone, especially someone my father's age, says, "this is the best pizza I've ever had in my life."

My father's not a huge fan of pizza. His idea of pizza comes from the Little Caesar's take-out we ate growing up (buy one, get another one for an extra $4!), and the frozen pizzas my mom periodically will buy and heat up at home.

He's an easy-going guy, however, and did not complain one bit when I told the family we were going to a pizza restaurant for lunch (yes, surprise, surprise, they all put me in charge of planning our meals during this trip).

This meal was a revelation for him (and me too!). The pizza at Pizzeria Mozza is incredible. Even though I've had a lot more really, really good pizza, I'm inclined to say it also ranks among the best pizza I've ever had.

Pizzeria Mozza is a collaboration between Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich, three well-established food industry gurus. We're generally huge fans of restaurants from Batali and Bastianich, so it's no surprise that this place would churn out really, really good food.

Nancy Silverton is the co-founder and head baker at La Brea Bakery. She was also one of the judges for Project Food Blog Competition, which is when I first learned who she was.
It's not very often that every single dish you order is excellent. We really felt that way about the food at Pizzeria Mozza. We began with the Calamari al forno, which came with fagioli, tomatoes & oregano. ($12). The flavors of the calamari, tomatoes, and beans came together beautifully, and the calamari itself was cooked just right - not a hair too rubbery.
We also got some Spicy Corn Al Forno with Parmigiano, which was awesome. It's a bit messy to eat. Bryan hates getting his hands dirty, so he foolishly tried to eat it with a fork and knife. The buttery corn slipped right off his plate and landed on the ground.

My mom (in all her wisdom), was more skilled and offered to cut up the rest of the corn for Bryan. What a nice mom!

The simple arugula and mushroom salad (Rucola, Funghi & Piave $14) came with fresh ingredients and was solid. And then the pizza started to come. Our waiter recommended the Fennel Sausage Pizza ($17), his favorite on the entire menu. We are so glad we took his advice. The house-made fennel sausage itself is fantastic and basically defined the pizza. This was definitely one of the favorites on the table.

I loved the doughy, crispy crust of this pizza. It's not surprising that the pizza dough is good, considering that Nancy Silverton made her name as a baker.
My sister ordered the Pizza alla benno, which comes with speck, pineapple, jalapeño, mozzarella and tomato. The quality of all the ingredients was excellent, and people enjoyed this one as well (though I did not have a chance to try it).My brother-in-law chose the White Anchovy, Tomato and Fresno Chiles pizza. Unlike traditional anchovy pizza, which uses the salty black anchovies, this pizza came with vinegary, marinated white anchovies. It added more of a bright note to the entire pizza, yet still plenty of umami. My personal favorite pizza was the one I chose: the simple Margherita with mozzarella, tomato & basil. I'm a sucker for this simple pie, but when the ingredients are good, there's nothing that's better. The mozzarella on this pie was outstanding. I have no idea where they source their mozzarella, but it totally made the pie. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the crust is delicious, nor the fact that they've cooked this at ultra high heat in their special brick ovens.

Even though we were crazy full, everyone gobbled this pizza up.

It's no surprise why this restaurant, which started out as a fun side venture, became one of the hottest reservations in LA when it first opened in 2008. Fresh, high quality ingredients coupled with a fantastic crust = very, very enjoyable pizzas.

Thoughts
This food here is really, really good. I hazard to say the pizza is among the best pizza I've had in the US (though, to be fair, I haven't tried that much pizza outside of Boston except for a couple signature pies in Chicago and New York). I love their use of fresh ingredients, and you can't beat the crust.

It's not just the pizza that's good though. Every single appetizer we ordered was excellent as well. After all, you also have Mario Batali's extensive knowledge of Italian food expressed all over the menu.

I would most definitely consider returning if I am ever back in Los Angeles. Heck, if this place were closer to me, it would likely become a regular haunt.

Thankfully, Boston has its own share of excellent pizza places, and I have several personal favorites that I can visit at a moment's notice.

Pizzeria Mozza
641 N Highland Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036

November 15, 2012 California

101 Noodle Express

This is the first post in the Los Angeles Family Trip Series.

The greater Los Angeles area is really, really big.

Unlike here in Boston, where we can drive an hour north or south and essentially end up in another state, LA seems to sprawl on and on forever. In fact, people who live in Orange County think that Los Angeles city proper is quite a trek away; and similarly, places in the valley feel really, really far away from the oceanside cities.

I got my first taste of this when we visited LA as tourists.

As tourists, we aimed to hit many places in the general LA area, from the Getty Museum (sort of west) to the Huntington Library (pretty far east) and Orange County (to visit Bryan's family). We soon realized that, not only is the land huge, traffic is really, really bad. You have to really plan your days well and allot plenty of time to travel between destinations.

On the third day of our trip, we visited the Huntington Library (gorgeous place, by the way - you get to see one of the few original Gutenberg Bibles, as well as some of the most beautiful gardens I've ever seen). By around 2PM we were famished and headed over to Din Tai Fung for lunch.

Because traffic would become bad pretty soon, we decided it was better to stay out in the San Gabriel Valley area than to try to head back to Bel Air, where we were staying.

The San Gabriel Valley is really known for its Chinese food. It was hard to pick just one place for dinner. Did we want world-famous dim sum? Or maybe hand-pulled noodles? Or family-owned Taiwanese restaurants?

Bryan voted for noodles. After some research on our phones (while hanging out inside an Asian supermarket!), we settled upon 101 Noodle Express, a place famous for its beef roll and hand-torn noodles.

101 Noodle Express focuses on food from the Shandong region in the northeastern part of China. It started out in Alahambra selling a few signature dishes. As popularity for the place grew, it expanded to four locations - three in the San Gabriel Valley and one in Irvine (Orange County).

We visited the original, humble location in Alahambra.

One of their famous signature dishes is the "De Zhou" chicken. The waitress strongly suggested that we order it, telling us that it was a very unusual dish and something we would not be able to easily find elsewhere.

De Zhou Chicken comes from the city of De Zhou in Shandong, China and was developed during the Qing Dynasty around the late 1800's. It involves deep frying a whole chicken until it's golden brown, and then braising the whole chicken in soy sauce mixed with water, mushrooms, and aromatic spices such as star anise, cardamon, and cloves.

The dish is a cold dish - something we did not necessarily expect. The flavors are enjoyable enough, though it didn't exactly taste that unique or interesting. Furthermore, the fried, braised chicken skin was a bit rubbery - not the most inviting texture to eat.

It's not the most beautiful dish to look at. In fact, Jonathan Gold, who still speaks highly of the dish, calls it a "gray, withered bird, which resembles the Ghost of Chickens Past".

We ordered one additional appetizer, the Soy Marinated Pig Ears. These were great - chewy and flavorful.

The Scallion Pancakes, which really resemble the exterior of their famous Beef Roll, were excellent. They were thin, delicate, full of fresh scallion flavors, and not at all greasy. If you're looking for something crunchy and deep fried, you won't find it here. This scallion pancake is almost moist, chewy, and very flavorful.

Bryan said it reminded him of the way his mom made scallion pancakes - healthy home cooking!

The free ginger, garlic, and scallion sauce that's just sitting at each table was an awesome flavoring agent and added a delicious zing to any dish.

The Beef Noodle Soup with "Hand Torn" Noodles was the main reason we came. After all, the place is called "101 Noodle Express" and supposedly specializes in "hand-torn" noodles.

We soon discovered that "hand-torn" and "hand-pulled" are two very different things. These noodles were short and roughly shredded (thus hand-torn). Frankly, we were disappointed with the texture of the noodles, which were a little soft and mushy for our tastes. The beef noodle soup tasted fine, but we had really been hoping for some awesome "QQ" al dente noodles.

We also later found out that the hand-torn noodle was a recent addition to the menu, added in 2010. It wasn't one of the original specialty menu items that made them famous in the first place.

Other noodle dishes, like the Za Jiang Noodle, Da Lu Noodle, or Dan Dan Noodle, were all solid but used the same noodles, and thus were just a bit disappointing on the texture front. In fact, multiple times, Bryan said, "I like the version at Peking Restaurant better."

But then there was the famous Beef Roll and Pork Roll. Imagine flavorful, soy-braised meat, freshly chopped cilantro, scallions, and a special, slightly sweet sauce all wrapped up in a very thin scallion pancake.

I can totally see why they became famous. The Beef Roll was fantastic - dare I say the best beef roll I've ever had? Yes, I do like the one at Peking Restaurant, but I like this one better. It's a bit smaller, the meat inside is more tender, and the outer scallion pancake is thinner and chewier. The overall package seems more refined and perfectly executed.

And I thought the beef roll was tastier than the pork roll, which was still OK, but just didn't compare.

If I came back, I'd just stop by for lunch and eat a whole beef roll. It's by far their best product and their claim to fame is well deserved. They should really just call themselves 101 Beef Rolls or something like that.

The owner claims to be dedicated to local and organic ingredients, with an aim to provide low-cost at the same time. The prices here were definitely really reasonable, with most dishes hovering in the $7-8 range.

Everything is pretty solid, and the scallion pancakes and especially the beef roll stand out. If nothing else, it's worth the trip just for a taste of that beef roll.

Yum.

101 Noodle Express
1408 E Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91801

November 14, 2012 California

Great Eats in Los Angeles with the Family

This is most definitely not the first time Los Angeles has been featured on this blog. After all, Bryan grew up in Orange County, and every Christmas, we go back to the area to visit family, see friends, and enjoy the great weather and food. We've gone to Disneyland countless times, and I can't even tell you how many times I've gone to Din Tai Fung or South Coast Plaza Mall.

However, I never visited LA as a true tourist. Bryan's family lives in Orange County, and thus we typically stay around that area during the holidays. If we do go to LA, it's usually to see a specific friend or family member, not really to see the city.

So this past summer, I finally had a chance to visit LA as a proper tourist with my family. Yep, all six of us - my mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, Bryan, and I - met in LA and, over a period of four days, visited some of the most famous sites in the city.

Not surprisingly, I was put in charge of the food.

We definitely enjoyed a great variety of places - from famous, known classics to off-the-beaten-path delightful finds. Here's a sneak preview of where we went, with posts to follow!
Seriously the best pizza I've ever had on the west coast - founded partly by one of Bryan's favorite chefs and one of the Project Food Blog judges.

Japanese food with a Peruvian twist - the first restaurant of a very famous Japanese chef whose food is heavily influenced by South America.

Uni Spaghetti and other fun, Japanese-Western fusion dishes at this off-the-beaten-path hidden find in a strip mall in Cypress, a city 45 minutes outside of Los Angeles.

Probably the most famous "beef roll" in Southern California, and definitely the best one I've ever had.

Stay tuned for upcoming posts as we explore some great eats in the Greater Los Angeles area!

November 13, 2012 Asian

Food Photogaphy & Styling Workshop at BAASIC

What a whirlwind weekend!

On Saturday I hopped across the river to Boston University to give a food photography workshop at BAASIC 2012, an annual conference put on by the Boston Asian American Student Intercollegiate Coalition (BAASIC). I was thrilled to meet people from so many different schools all over, such as West Point, the Air Force Academy, the Naval Academy, Northeastern, Clark, Simmons, Tufts, and more!

I spent about 30 minutes giving an educational presentation about basic food photography techniques. For a summary of the talk, check out my post on ITASA at Georgia Tech, where I gave a very similar presentation.

Then, I put them to work!
We took a very difficult-to-style dish, Taiwanese meat sauce over rice, and tried our best to make it look as pretty as possible.

Check out their creations after the jump, and vote on facebook for your favorite!

Students took to heart my strong suggestion promoting the use of natural light, flocking to the windows to take their photos.

I gave them all sorts of props and tools, such as different colored plates, Asian bowls, colorful sheets of paper, and various types of utensils.

Of course I also provided some standard garnish, such as cilantro, scallions, and a few sauces. But that was it!

Here are the results of the students' hard work. I think there were six teams, and I seem to only have five different dishes on my camera, so I'm not sure what happened to the 6th one. I did find a candid picture that seems to include the 6th one, so I've included that picture at the end. Please enjoy these photos, and vote on facebook for your favorite!

A classic but beautiful presentation.

Check out that creative artistic swirl with the Sriracha sauce.

Nice use of contrasting colors!

Domo-kun!

Pac-man!

I don't think this group took a picture with my camera, but I found this picture on my camera.

I regret I did not have a chance to take pictures of all the groups (it was a bit crazy with everyone running around trying to style their dishes in the very crowded classroom), but I managed to catch a few.

Thanks again to all who came to my workshop. It was fun teaching you all a litte about what I do, and (of course), playing with food together.

November 10, 2012 Boston

Troquet

My friend Peter is a huge wine enthusiast.

Although he lives in a two-bedroom condo, his two ceiling-high wine "caves" occupy a bulk of his kitchen area. He's on multiple mailing lists from the city's best wine vendors, and he's always seeking out the best wine deals in the city.

Recently, he couldn't stop raving about Troquet. More specifically, the wine selection and, most importantly, the wine prices at Troquet.

It's like a little "best-kept secret" of Boston.

Troquet is a beautiful French-inspired classy restaurant in Boston's theater district. Diners enjoy a relaxing view of Boston Common from the second floor dining room. Troquet's wine prices are unusually low compared to industry standard.

Restaurants typically mark up wine prices about two times what you'd pay in a store. Wines by the glass are marked up even more, with the price of one glass equaling the wholesale price of the bottle. Typically, cheaper wines are marked up more (percentage-wise) than expensive wines.

What's so incredible about Troquet is that, at least for higher-end wines, it's not uncommon to pay below retail price for the wines. Troquet has a fantastic wine collection, and some of these harder-to-get wines go up in price on the open market over time. Suddenly, something at Troquet appears cheaper than what you'd see at a local wine shop.

At the end of the day, however, it really comes down to owner Chris Campbell's philosophy about wine.

"[W]e try to sell high-end wines at just a few dollars over retail. I want to turn over our inventory. I don't like seeing wines on the list too long. . . I prefer to mark up short, turn it over, and reinvest the money." [source]

According to Chris Campbell, markups go down as the prices of the wines goes up. You'll get best deals on wines that cost over $100, which, as I mentioned before, may sometimes be at or below retail.

If you really want a deal, you can always try stopping by the wine bar (first floor), where they often offer "bin end bottles" (the last few bottles of a case that they can't put on the wine list anymore) for just a few dollars over retail.

OK, but what about the food?

Having a superb wine selection and excellent prices are useless if the food and atmosphere do not match. Thankfully, I'm happy to report that the food and service at Troquet are quite good. It may not fall into my initial list of "best restaurants in Boston." However, it's hard to argue that any other restaurant in Boston comes even close to having this good of a food quality + wine value combination.

It was late summer when we came, so tomatoes were heavily featured on the menu. The Yellowtail Kampachi consisted of thick, generous slices of yellowtail over gorgeously sweet heirloom tomatoes and tomato jus. The fish was fresh and good quality, but nowhere near as good as any sushi-level yellowtail I've ever had. The bright, intense citrus-tomato jus was excellent - slightly tangy and full of that late summer tomato flavor.
New Zealand Langoustines $21
With green papaya, champagne mango, & tamarind glaze

The panko-crusted langoustines were perfectly fried with a lovely, solid "crunch." The langoustines themselves were fresh and very sweet. The slaw underneath had classic Asian flavors of sugar and soy sauce. I personally found the slaw a bit too sweet, but Bryan and Chia Chi thought it was a refreshing balance with the savory, fried langoustine. In fact, Bryan's first words were "it's a good mix of flavors and textures."

Casco Bay Lobster Crepe ($21) with coral emulsion, butter sugar corn, & chanterelles
Ricotta Cavatelli $18/$28
With wild mushrooms, parmesan, & black truffle

This was by far everyone's favorite dish overall. The fresh homemade cavatelli had a nice chewy texture, and the sauce was excellent. It was deeply flavorful and well-seasoned, both from the intense mushrooms and the strong black truffle flavor. We shared one plate between the four of us as a "mid-course" (between our appetizers and entree). It's the type of intense, rich dish that you wouldn't want to eat in large volumes, but works perfectly as a "primo" to your main entree.

Assiette of Vermont Lamb $39
With Moroccan chickpeas, spicy harissa, & anise caponata
The Vermont lamb was cooked three different ways. The seared lamb loin was a perfect medium rare with a nice, intense "lamb" flavor.

"Mmmm that's tasty!" said Bryan.

The shank was a bit fatty and, frankly, a bit undersalted and flat in flavor. Contrast that with the last piece, the fried lamb belly, which was a tad too salty.

Despite these small mishaps, everyone agreed that the lamb was the best entree of the evening.Rice Crusted Atlantic Halibut $36
With fresh udon noodles, hon shimeji & soy glazed pork belly

Bryan ordered the halibut because he was intrigued by the fresh homemade udon noodles (you know he has such a weakness for homemade noodles). Sadly, the udon was not as chewy as he would have liked, though he did enjoy the rice crust on the halibut. I personally didn't love the hon shimeji broth - I found it a little unbalanced - too sweet and not enough wine or umami to offset it. The fish was slightly overcooked, though the crispy rice on top was quite nice, giving an unexpected nuttiness to the entire dish.
Maine Dayboat Sea Scallops $36
With caper raisin puree, nicoise olives, & hearts of palm barigoule

The scallops were huge, sweet, and executed perfectly with a nice char on the outside and soft and sweet on the inside. Unfortunately, perfect execution of a mediocre recipe just won't get you that far. The sauce that accompanied the scallops was rather monodimensional and a tad oversalted. The scallops were fine, but the sauce did not help. If anything, the saltiness detracted slightly from the sweet juicy scallops.

Wines
Of course, the wines were the stars of the show, and we took full advantage of the excellent wine prices (don't worry, there were four of us enjoying a long, multi-course meal!). Yes, we even bought a bottle of wine from 1989, probably one of the oldest bottles of wine I've ever drunk!

Troquet has an incredible wine list, and their prices are really, really reasonable. They turn over wine quickly, so the selection constantly changes and can be a pleasant surprise.

Their cheese come from Formaggio Kitchen, and they offer a nice assortment of creamy, stinky, and hard cheeses from which to choose. At $18 for a choice of three generous blocks, it's a reasonable price considering the quality.

The cheese plate also comes with your typical accompaniments, such as sliced apples, candied nuts, and a jelly of sorts.

All in all, the staff at Troquet took very good care of us as we enjoyed our self-designed multi-course meal. As we walked out, I declared that the best way to enjoy this restaurant would be to sit at the bar, order the cavatelli to share, and share a bottle of wine, preferably one that's typically hard to find (without paying exorbitant markup fees). Heck, maybe I could even score a great deal on a "bin-end" bottle.

Perhaps I'd finish the meal with a tasting of cheese before rushing off to catch whatever cool show was being performed in the theater district that night.

Troquet
140 Boylston St
Boston, MA 02116

November 7, 2012 Boston

Behind the Scenes - the filming of Kitchen Nightmares Relaunch Night

Some of you may know that I made a brief "cameo" on Kitchen Nightmares on the first episode of the season when Gordon Ramsey came to Boston to "fix" La Galleria 33 in the North End. We weren't allowed to talk about our experiences until the week of the airing of the show. Now that the show has aired, I will share with you my actual experience that night.

It was early May, 2012. I had just won Saveur's "Best Food Blog Award" for Restaurant/Dining. Soon after, I received an interesting email from one of the producers at FOX.

"Would you be interested in dining on camera for this episode, and giving us your thoughts on the food/changes as Chef Ramsay's surprise guest?"

Surprise guest? Really??

I was intrigued, but also a bit anxious. I had searched around on the internet, and saw that another food blogger from Rhode Island had gotten criticized quite a bit by the public after they featured her heavily on one of the shows.

Nevertheless, I agreed and asked three friends to join me (Bryan was away on business at the time).

The moment we arrived, we knew this would be no ordinary dinner.

My friend Loren holding up the waiver forms. Chia Chi Sun and Peter Sun in the back.

First, there was a huge line outside the restaurant. Word had gotten out that Gordon Ramsey was filming in Boston, and reservations that night were open to the public (if you could nab one). There was an initial line to "check in", where we all signed our lives away on multiple waiver forms (essentially, they can do whatever they want with your image with no compensation to you).

Furthermore, as a media member, I had to promise to keep everything top secret until now, basically.

They did not want to overwhelm the kitchen all at once, so they only let people enter in small waves to emulate what a real restaurant would be like.

After about thirty minutes waiting outside in the wet rain, our names were called. We'd been lucky. Some folks waited well over an hour in the rain.

We stepped inside.

"Welcome to La Galleria 33."

The two owners, Lisa and Rita, stood at the front of the house. The environment was warm, quaint, and really cozy.

I told one of the producers, "this is really, really nice! I love the exposed brick. It really makes it cozy."

"Wait! Can you repeat that for the camera? That's perfect."

It wasn't until later that I realized why they loved my statement. Gordon Ramsey had torn down all this artwork to expose the brick. I had inadvertently said exactly what they wanted to hear.

I repeated it for the camera, though that particular statement didn't make it onto the show.

There were cameras everywhere - a huge one in front of the restaurant, multiple cameramen walking around the dining room, a hanging boom mic dangling over our heads. It was almost comical, in fact.

It was hard to act naturally when the cameras and microphones were hovering over us, but we tried.

What I didn't realize until later was that our table was bugged! The "plant" on our table actually had a microphone wire coming out of it, and there was a huge security-type camera pointed at us the entire time. If you watch the show carefully, you can tell which shots are taken with the "security" type cameras. They are usually lower quality and everything is a bit distorted in a weird, fish-eye, spherical kind of way.

Scene from Kitchen Nightmares where Jen is trying the arancini and says,"It's fried perfectly. I like it."

The restaurant coordinator, holding a clipboard in one hand and sporting a headset, came up to our table and warmly welcomed us to the restaurant.

"Thank you so much for coming here tonight. I want you guys to be honest. Really tell us what you think. Any feedback would be really helpful to the restaurant. Enjoy!"

A friendly and sweet waitress named Sarah (who became a major character in the show), handed us our menus and told us about the new small plates concept as well as the "special" that day, the branzino. We ordered a variety of dishes (including two orders of the branzino), as well as a bottle of wine.

The meal did not start out well.
The bread arrived. It was comically hard. Peter had trouble biting it, and I had a really hard time pulling it apart.

The wine was reasonably priced (we got a $50 bottle), and the wine list had a nice variety of lower price choices. Sarah, in her nervousness, forgot to pour Peter his glass of wine. Not a huge deal, but it was a bit funny.

Shortly afterwards, Sarah came by and offered us an appetizer "compliments of the chef."

It was a small plate of Cheese Agnolotti with Pesto. Unfortunately, this was one of the most awful dishes of the night. Although the flavor of the pesto was reasonably good, the entire dish was much too oily. Furthermore, the homemade agnolottis were not evenly cooked. Some were not yet done and had pretty hard skins. Others were OK. We did not finish it. For me, it was just too oily.
Thankfully, the Basil Arancini was much better. An unusual shape, these arancinis (deep, fried risotto balls) were square, sort of like a deck of cards, and green inside (from the basil).

"It's perfectly fried. I liked it." I said. Not surprisingly, this was the only statement of mine that made it onto the actual show.

I did think it was perfectly fried. The execution was good, and the dish was fun to eat. My friend Loren thought that the heavier breading (which oddly reminded him of frozen chicken patties), overpowered the subtleties of the risotto. I agree that it's harder to taste the nuances of the basil flavor. Nevertheless, the dish is enjoyable to eat, even if it's not exactly that authentic.

One of the best dishes of the night was the Chicken Liver Crostini. We all thought that this appetizer was perfectly executed. The topping was not too "livery", making it more friendly to those like me who don't particularly care for the flavor of liver.

The coordinator stopped by again.

"How is it so far?"

He had been working very closely with me up to that point, wanting to know when I was going to tweet, what I was going to tweet, etc.

We gave a ton of honest but very constructive feedback. I mentioned the weaknesses of the agnolotti, and praised the chicken liver crostini. We gave specific feedback regarding various aspects of the dishes we had tried.

He looked a tad nervous. He asked if we could only tweet publicly our positive comments. These people are really trying hard to turn things around. "We really want to help this restaurant out."

So much for true reality TV.

It's understandable, though. It's their first day trying to execute a brand new menu with a new concept. They are on camera. Gordon Ramsay is yelling at them. It's not surprising that the staff is super, super nervous.

Not Entrees, but "Small Plates"
We started with the Cioppino, a fragrant seafood stew. Although the flavors of the stew were pretty tasty, the seafood was unfortunately overcooked and suffered a bit in texture.

My friend Peter ordered the Chicken Marsala. He thought the chicken breast was very tender, likely achieved from being pounded so thin.

"It's good, though the sauce does not really taste like marsala. It tastes more like chicken with sauce." (whatever that means, maybe chicken jus?). Overall, Peter said he enjoyed the dish and that, for $15 in the North End, it's not bad at all.

My friend Chia Chi ordered the Linguini with Clam Sauce. The fresh, homemade pasta was cooked a decent al dente (within acceptable range, though I personally though it could be just a tad more al dente). Peter and Loren wished the noodle strands were longer (for some reason they were all cut in half). Everyone agreed that the flavor of the clam sauce was excellent, and they were generous with the amount of chopped clams. Peter thought the clams were fresh, although Loren was convinced they were canned (no proof, though if they had used real clams in shells then it would have be indisputable).
The Gnocchi was another winner. Nice, pillowy soft, it had fantastic texture. The tomato sauce had pretty good flavor, and our most critical friend, Loren, actually said he would consider coming here for this dish. Though I liked the texture, I personally thought the sauce was a tad salty and not particularly deep in flavor.

I ordered the Asparagus risotto with Black Truffle. We all thought the black truffle must be missing - there was absolutely no black truffle flavor. The risotto was cooked just a tad under (with a slight crunch in the middle), and the dish was a bit soupy. There was inconsistency in execution, because the same risotto that was later served with the branzino was perfectly cooked.
Speaking of the branzino, the Branzino over Asparagus Risotto ($24) was the daily special. The risotto was perfectly cooked, though the dish was a bit boring in flavor because the asparagus was merely blanched, not roasted or grilled. The branzino was a bit undersalted and overcooked, though the skin was nicely seared. It was unlike most branzinos I've seen in Italian restaurants because we were only served the filet, not the entire fish.

We had wanted to get two orders of the branzino. Because they had run out, the chef recommended that we get the Porchetta ($24) instead. It was little dry, though it was properly salted.

Dessert

We tried two desserts. It wasn't until later that we found out that the Tiramisu was featured quite a bit on the show. It was one of the few original dishes that Chef Ramsey actually thought was good. The tiramusi had a nice dark espresso bitterness and the marscapone cheese was denser, thicker, and creamier than what I typically encounter. Overall it was pretty good.
Similarly, the Olive oil cake with Fruit was solid. The tartness of the berries offered a nice contrast to the spongy and light olive oil cake.

At the end of the day, standouts were Chicken Liver Crostini, Liguini with Clam Sauce, and the Gnocchi. The Chicken Marsala and Basil Arancini are nontraditional, but still enjoyable to eat. Desserts are pretty good. The risotto is hit or miss, and the meat dishes are probably their weakness.

Overall, they seem to execute basic pastas well (although I'm still not sure why the agnolotti failed so much!)

We briefly met Gordon Ramsay. I shook his hand and said "nice to meet you." All he said was "sorry about the branzino" and then he ran off. I thought he was apologizing because it was overcooked, but Loren thinks it's because they had run out. That makes more sense, I guess.

Service was understandably slow, but I think this restaurant has promise. They were able to execute some of the dishes quite well. They just need to keep working at it, getting their act together so they can consistently put out good dishes.

Walking out the first time in the show. We actually did not visit the restaurant twice, though in the show you see us walking out after the initial "bad" dinner as well as the relaunch dinner. In fact, we only went to the relaunch dinner. I guess there were just good "exiting" shots of us.

Have I gone back?
Not since May. It's really hard when there are so many excellent options in the North End. If La Galleria 33 were down the street from me in the Harvard/Porter Square area (where there's such a dearth of Italian restaurants), I'd probably go pretty frequently. However, if I'm making the trek all the way out to the North End, right now, it's not my top choice.

Having said that, their prices are pretty reasonable, and I like the idea of small plates for those of us who don't like to eat that much.

After watching the show, I kind of feel like I know these owners, and I really do hope they succeed. They've made major improvements already, and hopefully it can only get better from here.

Our group walking out of the restaurant - the closing scene of the entire show was us saying good-by and walking out.

Credit: Thanks to Fox for providing the images of the food and of me dining at the restuarant. There are also three screenshots from the TV show.

November 1, 2012 Boston

O Ya

There are very few restaurants that have mastered the combination of exquisite artistry, extreme attention to detail, and stunning flavor combinations. There are even fewer restaurants who are able to create dishes that are "transcendent" - dishes with flavors so interesting, complex, and mind-boggling, they delight and surprise you to no end. These are flavors that stick with you forever; flavors you still taste in your mind years later.

A few more recent memories come to my mind, such as the consomme at Le Bernardin, the cherry gazpacho at Joel Robuchon, or the black truffle xiao long baos at Din Tai Fung in China. By and large, however, those tastes are rarely encountered at home.

But not never.

Near South Station down a dark alley is nondescript wooden door. If you squint and look really hard, you'll see a tiny sign way up high that says O Ya.

Welcome to one of Boston's gems, O Ya. You could call O Ya a Japanese restaurant, but it's really much more than that. Chef-owner Tim Cushman, who trained under Nobu Matsuhisa before moving to Boston, uses basic Japanese cuisine as a canvas on which to experiment with flavors from all over the world.

O Ya has won many, many awards and has been recognized by all sort of well-known figures. Chef-owner Tim Cushman won the James Beard Foundation Award in 2012 for Best Chef Northeast. New York Times food writer Frank Bruni named O Ya as the best new restaurant in 2008 when it first opened. O Ya has the highest Zagat rating of any restaurant in Boston (29), and was named as a "top highlight" by Andrew Zimmern when he visited Boston.

Tim's wife, Nancy Cushman, is a sake sommelier, having completed multiple levels of Sake Professional Course in Japan under John Gauntner, one of the world's foremost sake experts. O Ya has a dizzying array of sakes, and they offer sake pairings with their dishes.

Eating at O Ya most definitely comes at a pretty price. If you eat a la carte, small plates (which could contain a couple pieces of sashimi, nigiri, or other ingredients) range from $8 to $20 each. You most likely need to order several of them. Don't be surprised if you end up spending close to $100/person.

There are also a couple different types of omakases (chef's tastings). The normal omakase is a tasting of dishes off the regular menu and costs $175. The Grand Omakase, which also includes off-menu, "special" items, costs $275.

Please join me as I take you through the Grand Omakase, one of the most beautiful, exquisite, and incredible meals I've ever had in Boston.

Kumamoto Oyster watermelon pearls, cucumber mignonette
Compressed watermelon spheres and tiny chopped cucumbers sit delicately on top of sweet Kumamoto oysters. The dish is beautiful, light, and refreshing, a perfect prelude to the meal.
Santa Barbara Sea Urchin & Black River Ossetra Caviar Yuzu zest
It's hard to go wrong with creamy uni and strong, salty caviar over rice. It takes me awhile to get used to Tim Cushman's rice, which is mushier, denser, and a bit wetter than traditional Japanese sushi rice. The flavors of the toppings, of course, are fantastic.

Hamachi Nigiri spicy banana pepper mousse
This is one of the most popular dishes at O Ya, and it's easy to see why. The marriage of yellowtail (hamachi) with jalapeno is a classic combination, supposedly first "invented" by Nobu Matsuhisa, Cushman's mentor. Cushman has taken that concept and put his own spin on it, using spicy banana peppers instead.
Langoustine Tempura ao nori, spicy langoustine sauce, lemon zest

House Smoked Wagyu Nigiri yuzu soy
My first time seeing beef on nigiri, it works here because Wagyu beef is so well marbled with fat and is melt-in-your-month soft.
Wild Salmon verte sauce, house pickled ramps, salmon roe Kindai Bluefin Chutoro Republic of George herb sauce
Kindai Bluefin is a type of farmed bluefin tuna that's touted as being more sustainable than wild bluefin tuna (which is rapidly being depleted). Opinions are very mixed about whether this type of tuna is actually more sustainable or not. Nevertheless, several restaurants have embraced it as a way to provide environmentally-conscious diners with an alternative to bluefin tuna.

Chef Cushman did a great job of dressing this tuna up with this herbaceous pesto.
Fried Kumamoto Oyster Nigiri yuzu kosho aioli, squid ink bubbles
This is another classic signature dish that you'll also see on the normal omakase. Though it seems hard, you must pop the entire piece in your mouth in one bite in order to enjoy the fascinating mix of flavors - the warm fried oyster, the bright yet spicy citrus notes from the yuzu kosho, and the salty umami from the squid ink bubbles. It's an ingenious dish, and one of my favorites.

Uni "kabob" soy, shiso, olive oil snow
This artistic dish almost looks like a piece of art painted on the white plate. The olive oil "snow" uses molecular gastronomy techniques to achieve the unique powdery texture, which pairs well with the creamy uni and floral shiso leaf.

Madai white soy ginger, myoga, lemon oil

Geoduck reed shiso vinaigrette, verjus

Kanpachi Baby Hamachi jalapeno sauce, sesame, apple, myoga

Kindai Bluefin Otoro wasabi oil, lots of green onion

Arctic Char yuzu cured, smoked sesame brittle, cumin aioli, cilantro

Foie Gras miso, preserved california yuzu
This creative, powdery version of foie gras, which is served with preserved yuzu, reminds me of David Chang's well-known dish shaved foie gras course at Momofuku Ko. It's a delightful little bite, and this is coming from someone who doesn't really love foie gras!

Hokkaido Sea Scallop perigord truffle, sake sea urchin, jus, chervil
This is one of those dishes that I still remember to this day - it was so incredibly perfect. Raw scallops from Hokkaiddo (the northern part of Japan) are thinly sliced and served in a delicate sauce topped with shaved truffles.

Shiso Tempura grilled lobster, charred tomato, ponzu aioli

"Farberge" Onsen Egg black river osetra caviar, gold leaf, dashi sauce, green onion
The "onsen egg" on the regular menu is already incredible, consisting of a single egg cooked at low, low temperatures (I'm assuming sous vide by the texture) in a gorgeously flavorful dashi broth. The Grand Tasting elevates this dish several, several notches by topping this luxurious egg with osetra caviar and a gold leaf. The presentation and flavors are equally stunning.

Grilled Chanterelle & Shitake Mushrooms rosemary garlic oil, sesame froth, soy
I never knew how good mushrooms could taste until I tried Chef Cushman's version of mushroom "sashimi." Frank Bruni of the New York Times called this the "best dish of my entire journey", praising its "magnificent taste" which "settles all debate over umami." The flavors of this dish are absolutely gorgeous, capturing the strong earthiness of the mushrooms with just enough soy and sesame oil essence to enhance, but not overpower, the dish.

Seared Petit Strip Loin of Wagyu
Though it may seem surprising at first, it actually makes sense my favorite steak in Boston comes from a "Japanese" restaurant. Japan is where Kobe beef originated, and it's a country that's meticulously obsessed with the quality of its beef (not to mention everything else, really). These tiny little cuts of Wagyu are phenomenal, perfectly salted and seared on the outside and meltingly tender on the inside.

Simple citrus palate cleansers in preparation of dessert.

Foie Gras Nigiri balsamic chocolate kabayaki, raisin cocoa pulp
The Finale. It's most definitely worth the wait for this final dish, a dessert that is yet another signature dish and truly one of their best. Seared foie gras "nigiri" is served with a balsamic chocolate sauce and raisin cocoa pulp. The warm, nicely browned, savory foie gras is perfectly balanced by the sweet, dark balsamic chocolate sauce and the fruity raisin cocoa pump. These pair gorgeously with the glass of dessert wine that comes included with this one course.

I savor my one bite, slowly, trying to make it last as long as possible.

What an incredible end to an incredible meal. Throughout the entire night, we've had the privilege of sitting right at the bar, watching the chefs prepare one course after another. I would most definitely recommend getting one of the counter seats. You get a much better view of all the action that's happening in the kitchen.

What can I say? I don't think there's another tasting menu in this city that's grander, more sophisticated, and more impressive than this one. Just the sheer number of different tastes, different presentations, and variety of ingredients is mind-boggling.

A truly transcendent meal.

Sayonara to an unforgettable evening.

Yes, that's Guchi from the famed Guchi's Midnight Ramen at his "day job"

O Ya
9 East St
Boston, MA 02111

October 31, 2012 Asian

Halloween in Japan

Happy Halloween!

I just returned from Tokyo (thankfully right before Hurricane Sandy hit), and was floored by how much they have embraced Halloween. From what I've heard, this is a more recent phenomenon.

One thing that surprised me the most was how many high end bakeries have gone crazy with the Halloween theme. It's something you see less of here in America.

Enjoy some fun photos from my exploration of the high end bakeries at the "depa-chika" (department store basement food halls) at Isetan in Shinjuku, a vibrant area of Tokyo.
Yes, that's a $10 cookie (exchange rates are horrible right now - the US dollar is so weak abroad!)

These have got to be the most elegant witch hats I've ever seen.

Custards, called "pudin" in Japanese, are immensely popular in Japan. Right now pumpkin flavored puddings are all the rage.

This one particular "pudin" shop brings in custards from all over Japan.

Fall foliage hits a bit later in Japan, so it was just starting to turn when I was there. I'm sure it will be gorgeous in a couple weeks.

Not exactly pumpkins, but I thought these were gorgeous and a nice way to end this post with a teaser to one of the most incredible dessert carts I encountered in a Japanese restaurant. I'll post a proper teaser for Japan next week. For now, enjoy the Halloween sweets, and happy trick-or-treating!

October 30, 2012 Cookies

Toasted Hobnob Ice Cream Sandwiches

What a surreal weekend.

Bryan and I had basically just stepped off the plane, back from a trip to Japan, when we started hearing about the crazy, unprecedented "monster" storm that was headed our way. We were advised to stock up on food, water, batteries, and first aid kits. People had learned (the hard way) during Hurricane Irene that it was possible to be out of power for days on end.

My refrigerator was empty, having been completely cleaned out in anticipation of my trip to Japan.

Bleary-eyed and jet-lagged, I jostled with the insane crowds at Trader Joe's on Sunday to pick at whatever was left in the store. For some odd reason, Bryan had to wait in almost equally long lines at Microcenter. Were people stocking up on computer games? Hard drives and motherboards?? OK, maybe flashlights and batteries.

Monday we hunkered down and stayed at home, bracing ourselves for the rain and heavy winds that would come. We spent the day on our computers, working. As the storm built in intensity, we stared out the window, in awe (and nervousness!), as we watched large trees sway around in the strong gusts of wind.

We ate simply. Pasta Carbonara for lunch and Baja style fish tacos for dinner.

As the winds began dying down around 9PM, we tore our eyes away from the Weather Channel to enjoy a nice, relaxing dessert.

A sigh of relief. No loss of power. No floods in the basement.

To celebrate, we munched on homemade Hobnob ice cream sandwiches.

For those of you who have been reading this blog for awhile, you may know that Grape Nut Ice Cream is one of my all time favorite flavors. It's virtually the only flavor I ever get at Toscanini's, and it was one of the few recipes I chose to feature in my final winning post for Project Food Blog.

I'm also a huge fan of Hobnobs, that British, oat-based biscuit that's oddly really, really addictive (yes, I even tried making my own once).

When Bryan brought me back tons of Hobnobs from a recent trip to Europe (so many that they started going stale), I decided that making ice cream was the perfect way to use up a chunk of my stash.

First step: Toast the Hobnobs
I learned this by accident, but toasted Hobnobs taste incredible, much better than normal untoasted Hobnobs. The slight caramelization of the sugars during the browning process gives the cookies a deeper, richer flavor, not to mention an incredible aroma while baking. Even though I was originally just trying to revive stale Hobnobs, they tasted so good I decided that I would always toast my Hobnobs from now on.

Crush up the Hobnobs and add them to your ice cream base right after taking it out of the machine. I would recommend completely pulverizing at least half of the Hobnob batch, and then crushing the other half into slightly larger chunks. There are many ways of doing this. I would recommend putting the cookies in a plastic Ziploc bag and just crushing the cookies with your hands.

Once well mixed, freeze for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight before serving.

Serve as a normal ice cream or make Hobnob ice cream sandwiches!

Hobnob Ice Cream
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups half and half
¾ cups sugar
4 egg yolks
¼ to ½ cups crushed Hobnobs (divided between finely crushed and coarsely crushed)
Additional Hobnob cookies for making sandwiches (optional)

Day 1
Heat the half & half, heavy cream, and sugar in a pot on medium low heat until the sugar is dissolved. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks together. Slowly pour the egg yolk mixture into the hot cream mixture while continually stirring.

Cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon (~8-10 minutes). Optionally filter the cooked liquid and allow to cool overnight in the refrigerator.

Day 2
Toast Hobnobs in the toasted oven until lightly browned, around 4 minutes. Once cookies are cool, crush half of the cookies in a plastic bag until finely crushed. Break up slightly larger chunks by hand. Set aside.

Pour the cream mixture into the ice cream maker and make ice cream according to the manufacturer's instructions. When the ice cream is "done," pour toasted Hobnobs into the mixture and stir by hand until incorporated. Freeze finished product for at least 4 hours but preferably overnight.

Optionally make sandwiches by putting a scope of ice cream between two Hobnob cookies.

Note: you can store the sandwiches by wrapping them individually in plastic wrap.

Enjoy!

October 26, 2012 Boston

Sportello

Ask anyone to name the best chefs in Boston, and undoubted you'll hear Barbara Lynch's name in the mix. After all, this "rags-to-riches" local Bostonian female chef has climbed through so much to get to where she is today.

Her achievements are numerous. She and her restaurants have won multiple James Beard Awards over the years. Her highest-end restaurant, Menton is the first (and only) restaurant in Boston to receive the prestigious Grand Chef Relais & Châteaux award. No. 9 Park her original flagship restaurant, is still is one of the most highly regarded restaurants in Boston today.

But no one eats at these restaurants on a daily basis. These are places that are reserved from special occasions, celebrations, and expense account dinners.

That's the beauty of Sportello, Chef Lynch's neighborhood answer for the local Bostonian looking for excellent, Italian food in a casual yet trendy atmosphere.

When given the opportunity to build something in a converted warehouse in the Fort Point neighborhood, Barbara Lynch looked at Boston and thought about what was missing.

She sought to build "the next level of fine dining" that Boston hadn't seen with the opening of Menton. She thought Boston could use some really good drinks, and built up Drink in the adjacent space.

Finally, she reminisced about the days when she was a child, and her mom used to take her to Woolworth's for a simple grilled cheese and a pie.

"The last thing is a cool sort of counter. . . . grab and go but sleek and stylish with my food."

That's exactly what Sportello is.

Two U-shaped counters essentially take up the entire dining area. There are a couple tables, but most of the seating consists of bar stools, many of which have views of the semi-open kitchen.

A lot of the prep work is done downstairs in the large kitchen that's shared with Chef Lynch's other restaurants (Menton and Drink are also in the immediate vicinity). However, you can still watch some of the cooking from your bar stool seat.

Bryan and I visited Sportello after watching the Red Bull Diving Competition at Fan Pier in Boston's waterfront area. Crazy divers jump off the top of the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art) building, which is many, many stories high. Admittedly, it may seem like nothing compared to jumping from the edge of space, but it was still pretty awe-inspiring to watch.
Because it was August when we went, we sampled the fresh, seasonal ingredients in the Heirloom Tomato Salad ($12), which was served simply with crumbled pecorino, fresh basil, and balsamic vinegar "dots". If the ingredients are top notch, you can't really go wrong with this salad, and this one was great.
All of their pastas are homemade, and you can order any pasta as a half size appetizer portion for half the price. We decided to order two half-sized pastas as starters and share one entree. Our first pasta was a seasonal offering: Pappardelle with Tuna Belly, San Marzano Tomatoes, and Eggplant. We both loved the perfect al dente texture of these wide ribbon-like noodles.
The Tagliatelle Bolognese, on the other hand, is a staple menu item that stays on all year long. We both liked it a lot, and would definitely be happy to order it again. I probably preferred the bolognese to the tuna belly pasta, though both were good.

Entrees vary a lot depending on the season, but there's always a "Market Fish" on the menu. In late summer when we went, we enjoyed a lovely grilled white fish which was served with grilled Japanese eggplant, summer squash, and an edamame puree.

I did want to mention that I loved the wine we got, a little find from a young winemaker in Sicily. We learned about this wine, Occhipinti Il Frappato Sicilia 2010, because we just happened to be sitting right next to a person from Central Bottle, who instantly recognized the wine we got (they sell this wine at Central Bottle as well).

True to Chef Lynch's promise, Sportello offers the opportunity for one to come and just "grab and go." You can walk up to a bakery/cafe counter inside the restaurant and order sandwiches or bakery items to take away.

Dessert is sort of a fun affair because you can either order off of the normal dessert menu or walk over to the counter and pick out whatever bakery items you might want for dessert.

Bryan and I decided to try both (!!). We ordered the Blueberry Cheesecake off of the normal menu, which was great. I especially loved those fresh, Maine blueberries.
We also got a Kit Kat Cupcake from the bakery, which, honestly, I thought was pretty average. The cupcake was a tad dry and not nearly as interesting as I had hoped.

General Thoughts
In general, we both thought Sportello offered high quality food and wine in a fun, casual, yet sleek environment. Pastas were especially tasty, and I really loved the wine.

It's still a bit of a trek from Cambridge, and not quite "destination-worthy" for us to make the trip out to Fort Point just to eat at Sportello. We have plenty of excellent restaurants close to home. However, if we're in the neighborhood (or, when my company moves there next year), I will happily stop by often, either to try their lunch take-away sandwiches or for the excellent pasta dishes.

As a cool side note, Sportello is currently offering a three course Sunday meal, including all-you-can-eat pasta, for $45. Sounds awesome yet dangerous at the same time!

Sportello
348 Congress Street
Boston, MA 02210

October 24, 2012 Boston

Tiny Urban Kitchen on Kitchen Nightmares?

This Friday at 8PM is the premier of Gordon Ramsey's reality drama "Kitchen Nightmares" on FOX. Although I normally never talk about TV on this blog (in fact, I hardly ever watch TV, too busy with all my other activities!), I will most definitely be tuning into this show on Friday.

Why?

Well, I was there.

That's right. This past summer, Chef Ramsey decided to do his magic on a struggling Italian restaurant in Boston's North End. The sequence of events surrounding this restaurant's "make-over" will span two weeks, and seems to promise all the drama that typically accompanies Ramsey's shows (yelling, crying, more yelling . . etc.)

I was invited to attend the re-launch dinner while it was being filmed in Boston. Along with a few friends, I had dinner on the very first relaunch night at La Galleria 33. It was a bit surreal, surrounded by endless cameramen, harried staff, and Chef Ramsey himself.

I'll write a more detailed post about the entire experience a little later. For now, I just wanted to let you know in case you wanted to tune in.

There's no guarantee I'll be on the show. Like with most shows, I "signed my life away" on those waiver forms essentially letting them do whatever they want with the footage that they took.

I'm a bit nervous about how they'll portray everything, but I promise that my follow up post will be a completely honest rendition of what I thought the evening was like.

Photos courtesy of FOX

October 21, 2012 Dessert

Jeni's Inspired Vanilla Ice Cream

I love ice cream.

It's one of my all time favorite foods and something I could eat at every meal (if only it were as healthy as kale or broccoli). Yes, I know it's all my dad's fault, but that doesn't make me crave it any less.

And I'm from Ohio. And my name's Jennifer.

It's no surprise that when I found out about Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream from Ohio (of all places!) whose immense popularity seemed to be sweeping the press and blogosphere by waves, I decided I absolutely had to try it (I mean, seriously, how often does my beloved home state get this kind of praise from the food community?).

But then, it's not like I can ask my mom to bring me ice cream from Ohio when she visits. And I usually only go back to Ohio during the holidays, so it means waiting months before trying it. That is, until Formaggio Kitchen started carrying it in their stores.

You can guess what I did next.

At $12 a pint, Jeni's ice cream is probably the most expensive ice cream I've ever seen. Part of the high cost comes from the fact that she sources all of her cream from grass-fed cows in Snowville Creamery, a local milk producer in Ohio.

Jeni's ice cream is unusual in that she does not use any eggs. She believes in truly highlighting the flavors of the ice cream ingredients, and eggs can sometimes detract from that.

In order to get a smooth creamy texture, she uses several tricks. First, to avoid any ice crystals, she painstakingly removes some water from the ice cream "batter" by boiling the cream/milk mixture. She also adds starch for two reasons: 1) as a desiccant to remove additional residual moisture; and 2) as a thickener to make the ice cream more creamy.

She then uses a bit of cream cheese to round out the ice cream, making it more scoopable.

We picked up Wildberry Lavendar and The Buckeye State.

For those of you who are not local to Ohio, the buckeye tree is the Ohio state tree. It produces a nut that looks very much like a chestnut. Buckeyes are also local chocolate-peanut butter candies made to resemble the buckeye nut. Jeni paid homage to Ohio by creating this ice cream filled with pulverized buckeyes.

Initial Thoughts?
I so wanted to love this ice cream. But alas, Bryan and I both found the ice cream to be just a bit chalky and not as lusciously creamy as we had expected. "The Buckeye State" was the chalkier one, possibly made that way by the peanut butter inside?

Bryan didn't really like the texture. And I agreed that I preferred the creamy texture of egg-based ice creams. Nevertheless, the flavors, especially the Wildberry Lavendar, were clean and pronounced, shining through with no competition from egg yolks or other strong flavors.

Despite my first experience with the ice cream, I was still intrigued at the idea of egg-less ice creams that would be smooth and creamy. Furthermore, since eggs are such a pain to deal with at home, I really was drawn to the idea of trying to make ice cream using her method.

So I finally did.
About a week ago, I noticed that my quarts of cream in the refrigerator were imminently about to expire. In order to avoid throwing them all out, I decided to make ice cream, immediately. Typically, I make a rich, custard-style ice cream with many, many egg yolks.

Alas, I had virtually run out of eggs. Intrigued by Jeni's ice cream process, I found a recipe online for Jeni's version of a simple egg-less vanilla ice cream. Thrilled that I actually had both corn starch and cream cheese at home (I virtually never have a stocked kitchen), I decided to forge ahead and see how a homemade version of Jeni's would taste like.

I must confess, I could not completely follow the recipe because of a lack of certain ingredients in my house (it was late at night too, so no chance to stopping by a grocery store). Most notably, I did not have simple white sugar and corn syrup. I took the plunge and substituted agave syrup. I've read elsewhere that Jeni specifically cautions against using other types of sugar (aside from what she recommends in the recipe), so I've put her original recipe below with notes about my modifications.

Despite all my crazy modifications, I still really enjoyed the final product! Sure, the texture was a not as creamy as I would have hoped, but how could I expect that given the changes I made? I'm pretty certain that my changes upset the delicate balance of water to other ingredients. In other words - my version had too much water, thus affecting the way the entire batch froze.

What about the Eggless Vanilla?
It tasted fantastic. I loved the clean, unadulterated fresh cream flavors of this ice cream. The vanilla really shown through, fragrant and sweet. I would totally consider using this method to make ice cream again. I'm pretty certain that if I cut down on the water content and used the right sugars (ahem - in other words, followed her tried and true recipe), it would turn out just right.

At least, what I've done is shown that even if you mess with several elements of the ice cream making process, the final product will still taste pretty darn good. Seriously, you really can't go too wrong with heavy cream and fresh vanilla beans.

Enjoy!

Jen's homemade version using Jeni's recipe

Simple Vanilla Eggless Ice Cream
[source: Food & Wine Magazine: Originally from the book Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home]

2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 ½ ounces (3 tablespoons) cream cheese, softened
⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 ¼ cups heavy cream
⅔ cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

In an small bowl, add cornstarch to a small amount (about 2 tablespoons) of milk and dissolve completely. Set aside. In another large bowl, whisk room temperature (important! Not straight out of the refrigerator!) cream cheese until smooth. Set aside.

In a saucepan, heat milk, heavy cream, sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla beans for about 5 minutes until the cream mixture is well infused with vanilla flavor. Remove from heat and slowly add corn starch/half & half mixture, stirring until everything is well incorporated. Return to heat and boil for 1-2 minutes until the mixture becomes thick and creamy.

Slowly add the hot cream mixture to the whisked cream cheese and stir well until mixed. Cool in an ice bath (at least 20 minutes) until cold.

Make in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Store the ice cream in airtight conditions and freeze for at least 4 hours before serving.

My Modifications & Notes
As I said, I was desperately trying to use up my cream, so in my haste I reverted to familiar ratios from the recipe I usually use, not fulling appreciating how the difference in water content could really affect the creaminess of the egg-less ice cream. To make matters worst, I had just enough corn starch, but not the extra amount I probably needed to make up for the extra liquid I was adding.

My Measurements
2 cups half & half + 2 cups heavy cream [admittedly too much liquid?]
½ cup agave syrup instead of sugar [yikes, even MORE liquid!]
2 vanilla beans [at least I'm upping the vanilla flavor, yikes!]

I basically followed the instructions from the recipe except that I cooled my ice cream base in the refrigerator overnight since I did not have time to make ice cream right away.

October 18, 2012 Cambridge

Hungry Mother

Why don't I go to Hungry Mother more often?

We are spontaneous diners who don't plan ahead. As many unlucky diners have learned throughout the years, not planning ahead = not dining at Hungry Mother.

I have found Hungry Mother (together with the likes of Bondir, The Helmand, and Craigie on Main), to be one of the most difficult reservations to get in Cambridge at the last minute.

It's not hard to see why. Their prices are reasonable and the food is phenomenal. It's unusual that I'll write about a restaurant three times on this blog, but I think it's warranted here. After all, the first post had no pictures (I know, crazy huh? Early days of the blog!) and the second post was just a recipe for one of their dishes. So now (finally!) for the first time, I have a proper write-up full of mouthwatering photos as well as my thoughts about the experience.

Hungry Mother is easy to miss. It's hidden in a little street corner right near One Kendall Square in Cambridge (across the street from the theater). It opened in 2008 to much anticipation and fanfare and has been very, very popular ever since. Forget trying to show up without a reservation on a weekend evening. Be prepared to wait.

The food is Southern American made using refined French techniques. The chef-owner is originally from Virginia and sprinkles various bits of his home state throughout the restaurant. For example, "Hungry Mother" is also the name of a state park in Virginia, and the state bird of Virginia is the cardinal (the logo of the restaurant).

The menu constant changes depending on what's available and what's seasonal. They try their hardest to source ingredients locally or (in the case of Southern-specific ingredients), from Virginia. For us, it had been quite a while since we had last visited, so we anxiously explored the menu and tried several dishes.

The house made Surryano Country Ham Biscuits came with a homemade red pepper jelly, smoked bluefish pate, and pickled okra. We loved the sweet + savory + spicy combo that came from the salty ham, buttery biscuits, and sweet & spicy jelly. I loved the spicy red pepper jelly so much I purchased a jar of it on my way out (yes, they sell them at the counter for $9 a jar).

One of my favorite dishes of the evening was the Crispy Smoked Pork appetizer, which came with Hakurei turnip greens and Jim Nardello peppers in a rich, savory potlikker broth. The broth was incredible, incorporating the rich, smoky flavors from the pork. A cornbread stick served as the perfect tool by which to soak up any remaining broth.

The Chatham Bluefish came with "hm" bacon ("hm" presumably means Hungry Mother? Or maybe House-made?). It was topped with tomato jam and served over a salad of arugula and red Norland potatoes tossed in a cider vinaigrette.

This dish was solid, though I think deep down inside we both thought that the famous fried catfish was the better dish.

Bryan absolutely loved the Baked Anson Mills Grits, which were made with "hm" Tasso ham and tons of sharp, Vermont cheddar. It was wonderfully cheesy, very creamy, and all around very good.

The Sauteed Local Collard Greens, cooked with pepper vinegar, was fine, but uninspiring.

My other favorite dish - the one I could not stop eating - was the Skillet Cornbread with Sorghum Butter. Sorghum is a type of sweet molasses made from sorghum, an early grain. Sorghum butter is sweet, sort of like honey butter.

The cornbread was addictive. Buttery and moist on the inside, crunchy on the outside - it was definitely amongst the best cornbread I've ever had. Heck, I'd go back for that dish alone. We only ordered a "small" portion (half circle), but you can easily get a whole one for the table to share. I guarantee it won't stick around for long.

Bryan got the Strube Ranch Wagyu Bavette Steak, which was served with creamed native corn, blacked arrow head cabbage, and "b-1" sauce. The steak was solid, though the entire dish was not particularly special. We've had more interesting dishes in the past, and I think this time around, our main entrees were good, but didn't exactly blow us away.
Nevertheless, we're still huge fans of the restaurant. My favorites are the Crispy Smoked Pork appetizers and the Sorghum cornbread. The fried green tomatoes are excellent, and we've enjoyed the French gnocchi a lot on a past visit.

Their menu changes daily, so there's always a chance to try something new. Of course, certain classics, like the cornbread and the fried green tomatoes, probably never leave the menu.

For dessert we tried the Blueberry Stacked Cake, which was great - not too sweet, and full of luscious, in-season berries. I still miss the buttermilk pie they had the first time I came. I'm not sure if they will ever bring it back, but I hope for it every single time.

Overall, this fun little Southern place is a gem in Kendall Square. It's very evident why Hungry Mother is so popular. On top of the great food, they also serve some really interesting cocktails and have an extensive spirits list. Finally, the space is warm and cozy, reminiscent of a traditional Southern restaurant with many rooms, each one painted a different color. You almost feel like you're inside a big house.

Hungry Mother
233 Cardinal Medeiros Ave
Cambridge, MA 02141

October 15, 2012 Michelin

Din Tai Fung (Bellevue)

This is the first post in the Summer in the Pacific Northwest Series, which is sort of being run concurrently with the Oh Canada Series (partly due to some overlap).

I guess you could say I'm on a mission.

It's not a difficult mission, really. I'm just trying to eat at every Din Tai Fung in the world, that's all. I've made reasonably progress to date. I visited the original one in Taipei, of course, as well as the one in Los Angeles opened by the family's son. There are franchises around the world, and I've gone to both the ones in Beijing and Shanghai. Heck, I've even been tricked and gone to a knock-off one in Toronto.

And then they finally decided to open a second location in the U.S. I prayed that they would choose the East Coast (why not? There is already so much good Chinese food out west!). Alas, they decided to open in Bellevue, just outside of Seattle.

Disheartened, I really had no idea when I would be able to go.

As it turned out, Bryan's cousin decided to get married in Seattle. Better yet, his aunt (with whom we stayed) actually lives in Bellevue.

It's not hard to guess where I wanted to go for dinner.

Unlike some of the older Din Tai Fung locations (like the original one in Taiwan or even the original one in Los Angeles), this one is prettier and "swankier" inside, with hard wood floors, cute hanging lights, and prettier dishware. It reminded me more of the slightly more upscale ones in Beijing and Shanghai (where Din Tai Fung is regarded as a really pricey restaurant).

Your food comes out on prettier, slightly more stylish dishware. The marinated cucumbers, always a refreshing starter, were great.

The spicy wontons were average and probably worth skipping. After all, if you're coming to Din Tai Fung, you should really be getting their xiao long baos!

Speaking of which, we ordered several dozens of the dumplings. These were solid, definitely serviceable, but we noticed a quality difference between the ones here and both the ones in California (slightly better) and Asia (noticeably better).

The skins aren't supposed to break, but I think we had one or two break on us.

But really, I'm arguably splitting hairs here. The dumplings were still delicious and very, very enjoyable. The soupy pork filling is still very flavorful and satisfying, and people still gobbled it up. If this exact restaurant opened up in Boston, I would still go at least once a week!

Sauteed Green Beans

Other non-dumpling side dishes, such as the stir fried green beans, were all fine. It's nice that they have a variety of offerings on their menu. After all, if you're a local, you may not feel like eating xiao long baos all the time.

Stir Fried Rice Cakes (chao nian gao)

Of course, I think Bryan would differ. He's pretty particular about what he will eat when he's at Din Tai Fung. In short, he only eats the crab roe xiao long baos. He thinks everything else is a "waste of stomach space."

Wonton Soup

Most people aren't like Bryan, so I still think it's nice that they have a variety of dishes. We found most of their dishes, such as the stir fried rice cakes (two photos above) and the wonton soup (above) to be pretty tasty. I would definitely consider ordering a bigger variety if I lived close by and came every week.

However, if I'm only coming to visit it as a destination restaurant, I would focus mostly on the dumplings, which are still their main specialty.

Definitely try the dessert dumplings if you've never had it before. My personal favorite (by far) is the taro dumpling. Often I'll eat the same number of taro dumplings as normal pork ones! Black sesame is also pretty good. We did not try the red bean one here, but we've noticed a difference in sweetness and texture between the Los Angeles and Taiwan ones, so I can't recommend one from a particular restaurant unless if I've tried it, and we didn't try it here.

Overall, I am still very, very jealous of all you people that live in the Seattle area. You are so lucky that Din Tai Fung picked another West Coast city in which to open their second restaurant.

This Din Tai Fung is very popular, just like every other Din Tai Fung in the world. We arrived early, around 5:30PM, so we did not wait in line. By the time we left, however, the line was super long. The restaurant is inside of a mall, so if you do have to wait a long time, I guess there's at least stuff you can browse while you wait?

I still hope that someday, they will come to the East Coast. The odds of Boston may seem low, but then they picked Bellevue over San Francisco, so we can always dream, right?

Din Tai Fung
700 Bellevue Way NE Ste 280
Bellevue, WA 98004