Another Trip to NYC

I was in New York again (lucky me) and the first place I want to write about is Forcella. It is the home of the famous Montanaro. That is a deep fried pizza (can you believe it?).

Surprisingly, it is not greasy and the crust is the right amount of crisp and chewy. The restaurant also serves the regular type pizza, but I think you go there for the Montanaro. It's in the Bowery which is a newly gentrified area that has a museum with interesting architecture and a number of fancy shops and boutiques.

Later in the week, I met my friend, Stacy, on the Lower East Side and we tried APizz--a Sicilian slang word for pizza. It gets a great write-up in Zagat and is really off the beaten tracks. We didn't get pizza this time, as the Branzino sounded wonderful: Branzino Wood Roasted, Deboned and Served Whole, Roasted with Rosemary, Thyme, and Lemon and served with a delicious Arugala-Tomato Salad.

The Little Owl is a small restaurant in the West Village with a big reputation. I went there with Pat and Tim with whom I have dined every time I am in NY for the past 40 or so years. I had never heard of the restaurant but was eager to try it. Unfortunately, it was dark and so I could not take very good photos. Two wonderful dishes were the Basil Lobster with a String Bean Salad,Curry Vinaigrette, and a Broiled Salmon with English Peas, Corn, Pesto Vinaigrette.

If you are looking to spend a fortune on great sushi, Gari is your place! The sushi served there are very creative in that there are inventive toppings on each of the fish served. The first time I went there, I took the Omakase (chef's choice) and had no idea how high the prices could go. But the sushi are terrific. This time, I chose an abbreviated menu and it was a lot less expensive but still painful for my pocketbook. Here are some examples of the beautiful creations:

The sushi are served with a cream or a spicy mixture on top. Of course, the sea urchin stand alone.

All the sushis are just wonderful and Gari is the only place you will find this.

Tune in tomorrow for a summary of my search for Lobster Rolls in Boston and other pursuits.

Kei: Fusion Cuisine in Paris

In a sobering minimalist decor, redo of a former classic French restaurant, is the new Kei. I went there with my friend, Noriko after we had tried Sola.

Once again, Japanese-French fusion food could transport me to great heights.

At lunch there are two menus, one more expensive and more substantial than the other. I chose the "big" menu. The menu started off with a bang: Crème Glacée de Truffe Noir, Potiron, Shizo. Shizo leaf is an aromatic herb that finds itself in many Japanese dishes.




The ice cream topped with a generous portion of black truffles was just luscious and I felt ready to start a great meal. Next was Asparagus Tempura with Peas. It came with three flavored salts: green tea, yuzu, cresson-agrumes.

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Next came soup: Velouté d'Asperges Blanches, Caviar, Gelée de Consommé de Legumes servie froide was a sensation. The chef was taking advantage of the seasonal vegetables and I love anything topped with a good caviar.

The lunch menu continued with a lion's share of luxury products: Foie gras de Canard, Gelée de Pomme Verte, Bière Brune condiment, Crumble de vanille et d'amandes. This was extremely flavorful and astonishingly creative.




The first main course was great: St Pierre, Velouté de Truffes, Petits Legumes, avec une Compotée de Pomme de Terre et Oignons, Couche de truffes noires; the second main course, wonderful: Quasi de Veau, jus, Croquettes de fromage sur un Lit de Mousse de Cresson, Feuille de Moutarde.



There was a cheese course, which I could not eat and finally a Vacherin: Meringue au Yuzu, Sorbet à l'Orange Amer et Yuzu, Creme Vanillée, Kumquat confit.

With each course, I had superb wines including a Chassagne Montrachet Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard Rouge 2010 and a Pouilly Fuisse Vieilles Vignes Domaine de la Chapelle 2009.

The difference between the menus was that I had three extra dishes and they were a bargain at 75 euros. This is a truly wonderful restaurant.

Sola!! A new one star restaurant in Paris

I was thrilled when my friend Noriko suggested that we try one of the newly starred restaurants whose kitchens are headed by Japanese chefs. To start us off, I reserved at Sola. This is a beautiful restaurant that has both a French room

and a Japanese room with a comfortable recessed space for your legs, rather than a tatami mat at which you would have to kneel.

They are both beautiful and when you call, you must choose one of them.

Sola has a set menu. Lunch is 6 courses for 44 euros; dinner is 88 euros for ten. The dishes are so delicate and pure that ten would not be too many. We were there for lunch.

There is a short and nice wine list and also a good sake list. As we were in the Japanese room, I chose a very flavorful Dassai sake, recommended by our server.

A delicious creamy emulsion of panais (a root vegetable) with lobster was a wonderful way to start.

This was followed by a caramelized slice of foie gras served on a piece of toast. The silkiness of the foie gras was delicious against the sweet foil of its crust. It was garnished with a purée of baked apple and a bit of fresh chervil root.

Next came two warm seafood dishes: one with bulots, (periwinkles), fried garlic and parsley root, and the next with scallops, yuzu (like a lemon), gobo (an orange root vegetable), and potato served in a light broth (dashi). They were both light and flavorful. The chef is very proud to use fresh vegetables from Joel Thibault.

The main courses were an excellent turbot wrapped in Italian ham and garnished with ginger pearls, leek, fried leek root, and a ginger jelly:

and a lean slice of roast Iberico ham, peas, pea purée, baby asparagus, nasturtium, in a sauce lightly flavored with vinegar.

This was a perfect end to a sublime meal.

But of course, the meal was not over. The Japanese know their way around French desserts. We were lucky to be served a dish with vanilla ice cream, chocolate ganache, hazelnut meringues and caramelized hazelnuts, and a fabulous and delicate tuile with bits of bitter chocolate.

I left with the feeling that I would like to come again for dinner on a special occasion.

Sola obtained one Michelin star after being open just a year. It is a star well deserved. This is a place to remember.

Restaurants in Japan: Part Two

Ryugin, Akita Udon (Sato Yosuke), Ramen

Ryugin is the first restaurant I went to on my arrival in Tokyo. It has three stars and is sensational. The chef is young and extremely creative.

The meal started off with a bang: 13 types of vegetables with a pine nut sauce. Next came flash fried uni wrapped in shizo leaf and nori (seaweed) served on a bed of burdock root.

There was a long parade of dishes, including seasonal mushrooms, Matsuba crab (only available in the winter months),

a stunning sashimi course with lobster and smoked Spanish mackerel, grilled fish with gingko nuts (in season), charcoal grilled Wagyu beef with diced crunchy vegetables.

Following a palate cleanser of pear and gari and the requisite rice garnished with yuba (my favorite form of tofu) and pickles (delicious), came several desserts with a small bowl of Matcha tea. There was tangerine candy (crack open the candy to find frozen yogurt and add some hot tangerine sauce. With the crunchy pieces of candy, this multi-faceted dessert was a sheer delight.

Before the end of this wonderful meal, came a hot sake soufflé followed with a wonderful soothing and delicious egg ice cream in soft serve.

Of course, a meal like this comes with a price, but it was so superb that I felt it was merited and I knew I would want to return. As I was leaving the restaurant, the chef came out of the kitchen to greet me and to shake my hand. I think they are always very happy to welcome foreign guests who have clearly sought them out.

At the end of my trip, my friend, Kyoko asked me to tell her my absolute favorite dish of the vacation. She was surprised to hear that it was at the Udon place that I went to with her and her husband, Toshio. It is a simple, inexpensive, regional restaurant in the Ginza which serves a type of udon that comes from Akita in the north. The owner chef is Sato Yosuke and that is also the name of the restaurant.

We started with beer and some appetizers: the seasonal mushrooms, Matsutake were served as tempura and were excellent.

Next came a dish of succulent monkfish liver which is very rich and flavorful. Grilled fish (Hata Hata) came next and it was accompanied with a large serving of the fish eggs which were extremely crunchy. All of these dishes (except for the monkfish liver) were new to me.

To accompany the main dishes, we opened a bottle of Shu (a strong sake) from Akita. The specialty of the house is udon and it is served cold or warm on a screen, accompanied with a warm sauce. Both Kyoko and I ordered a green curry sauce that was full of pieces of excellent chicken.

I loved the spicy, satiny sauce and with the cold noodle, it made for the dish that I had to say was the favorite of the whole trip! Kyoko was surprised but when it comes down to it, I find delicious simple food very appealing.

Kyoko always likes to take me to new places but I will definitely ask her to send me the map to get to this restaurant so that I can convince other friends to accompany me there.

Japan in the Fall

A review of some choice places I visited in November, 2012: Jiro and Ishigaki in Tokyo and Chihana and Giro Giro in Kyoto

The drama around Jiro

In May, I saw a wonderful documentary called, "Jiro Dreams of Sushi". I was inspired by the oldest, most famous, and Michelin 3-starred chef and said to myself that I would hightail it to Japan asap so that I could partake of his sushi masterpieces.

Jiro visits special merchants for his fish and these men were introduced in the film. And there is one rice trader (also interviewed) who sells only to Jiro. At every step of the way, care is taken to provide the freshest and highest quality ingredients for Jiro's sushi.

I contacted my friend, Kyoko in Tokyo. She is an intense foodie like myself and I put her in charge of my restaurant reservations. She got back to me and told me that I had to reserve one month to the day in advance and to please mark it on my calendar and remind her to call.

The fateful reservation day came and, as planned, I contacted Kyoko. She came back to me with bad news: it had been necessary to call the first of the month prior to the month of the day required (e.g. October 1 for every date in November), so of course, they were fully booked. In a way, the goal of my whole trip to Japan at that particular time was to be able to dine at Jiro's. He is in his late 80s and it was likely I would not get another chance to go.

Well, c'est la vie. I would have a wonderful trip anyhow. Kyoko told me that if it were she, she would be very disappointed. Of course, I was disappointed but already knew that Kyoko felt bad so I just left it at that.

The next morning I got an email from Kyoko: GOOD NEWS!!!!!!!!! She called the restaurant again and practically cried and begged and they complied with a reservation. The catch was that (since they don't trust foreigners to show up), I would have to leave a 10,000 yen ($100) deposit three days prior to the day of my meal.

When I arrived in Tokyo, I went right to the restaurant with my money. As always when I wander around Tokyo, I got lost but a street cleaner knew all about Jiro and where the restaurant was, and she directed me.

I paid and then asked if I could take a photo? Not of the restaurant or of the sushi-making process but of my personal sushis only. And then they offered to take a photo with me and Jiro! What a great honor, I thought. I was thrilled.

Here are some things to know about the experience. The meal lasts about 20-30 minutes only and it is straight sushi that Jiro prepares behind the counter. It costs 30,000 yen in cash and that's that. And Jiro prefers that you don't drink alcohol so that you can really taste the flavors of the sushis.

And so the fateful day came. I was nervous that I would not get there on time, as par for the course, I got lost again!! But I did arrive and was surprised to see that only one other man and I were the customers for that lunch!! So what was the big deal about being fully booked? Maybe they don't like to serve foreigners. But where were all the Japanese people?

And then the meal progressed. Jiro made all my sushis, which is a great honor. He seasoned each piece of fish with soy sauce and wasabi so there is no need to dip. The sushis were simple, fresh and that's that. Nothing more. Frankly, as usual, I didn't understand the hype but they do run quite a racket!! In spending that amount of money, one expects something more. I was lucky in that they invited me to sit at a table and have some honeydew melon at the end!

Ishikawa in Tokyo: Truly a gastronomic experience!

I asked Kyoko to make another reservation for me in a good place and she came back with her favorite Japanese restaurant in Tokyo: Ishikawa. This restaurant also has 3 Michelin stars.

Now that was a memorable meal. The charming wife of the chef welcomed me into the restaurant and seated me at the counter where I met her friendly and creative husband, Ishikawa-san. From start to finish, the food was delicious, delicate, beautifully prepared and well-orchestrated with seasonal ingredients for the diner's pleasure. They also printed up a personal menu for me in English.

I had a wonderful soup of Horsehead snapper with somen noodles:

A lightly deep fried tofu dish served in a light soup of Soft-shell Turtle:

and, further on in the menu, a hot pot of grouper, turnip and leeks with white ponzu-yuzu sauce.

A specialty was the delicious Japanese Duck with Seasonal Mushrooms. When they presented it to me, I was so pleased and it looked so wonderful that I forgot to take a photo!

Rice came from Niigata prefecture, from where the chef hails. (It is always sad to get the rice dish as it indicates that the meal (except for dessert) has come to a close. However, this rice dish with freshly made pickles was nothing to be sad about as it too was creatively prepared and beautiful.

Dessert was a light chestnut cream, green tea jelly and sweet red bean in coconut milk--a perfect close to this stellar meal.

Not only was the meal delicious and delightful, but also the husband and wife team and the servers were very kind and helpful. When it was time for me to leave, they came outside to send me off and when I got to the bottom of the street, I turned around. Yes they were there, ready to wave goodbye for this time. I will certainly go back to this beautiful excellent restaurant!

Chihana--Three stars in Kyoto

Chihana is a very famous and old established restaurant that has had three Michelin stars for many years. I tried to go two years ago during cherry blossom season but didn't reserve far enough in advance. This time, going back for the momiji season (stunning red maples), I asked my friend Tomoko-san to reserve a luncheon for me.

The meal was very impressive but very expensive. The first dish was very attractive and quite delicious: Ebi in a gel, pear, pear purée, diced zucchini. The sweet pear puree had a bite to it which added to the complexity of the dish.

Highlights came in a beautiful lacquered dish.

The bowl contained a flavorful broth with scallop, fishcake, shizo leaf, and seasonal mushrooms.

There was also a very complex pork dish with namafu, that reminded me of tofu, sake, sugar snap peas and scallions.

Dessert recalled what a French hostess used to signal her guests with when it was time for them to leave: a glass of orange juice!! I thought this was very strange coming from a kitchen known for its creativity. I could get orange juice in the cafe down the street!!

There were many other wonderful restaurants that I tried during my three week trip. Many had three stars and as a result, are worth a detour. I will write about them in a later post.

Giro Giro: famous to Parisians

Most people interested in Japanese food have been to Giro Giro in Montmartre, Paris. The food is wonderful: creative and diverse. But the uncomfortable setting really puts a damper on the experience. There is just one table for VIPS and the others of us sit at a high counter on hard stools. Giro Giro was born in Kyoto. The dinner is not expensive and the restaurant is very popular. I decided just a few days prior to the desired evening to try to get a reservation and I was lucky.

The Japanese know how to work with people at the counter and the chairs have comfortable backs. Giro Giro is nothing but fun. There is a long, set menu and everyone gets a chance to see all the action behind the counter in the kitchen. You watch as people who arrived before after you have the dishes that you will get in time. The ambiance is upbeat, energetic and youthful and the chefs are too.

The first dish was served in a lovely hand-painted porcelain duck: squid, quail egg, and a sesame oil dressing.

Next came a box of appetizers such as tofu mixed with vegetables, mochi--a gluey rice concoction often found in desserts, spicy seaweed, salmon and spinach, yuba and wasabi in a soy flavored consomme. Yuba is a silky tofu skin.

Crab Flake soup--a thick soup--with tofu, shiitake mushrooms and pea pods followed.

Next came a dish of exotic sushi with bass, apricot, mango, shizo leaf, and a carrot beautifully shaped in the form of an autumn leaf.

There was a beautiful and flavorful beef dish garnished with a variety of interesting vegetables; a lovely dish of root vegetables including my favorite: lotus root; grilled white fish. And then the rice and pickles course. Next followed an excellent miso soup with mochi.

Dessert consisted of a variety of custards with other sweet cakes as garnish.

Unlike a lot of the starred restaurants, Giro (which is not even in the Guide Michelin) is known to all the taxi drivers. It is an amazing fact that this dinner without beverages was in the $30-$40 range. That is why it is packed everyday and full of fun loving gastronomes.

Momofuku Ko, or why does everyone want to go there?

This is a review of Momofuku Ko, one of the most difficult places to get into in NYC. And I ask why?

I have been trying to get into Momofuku Ko. The trick is nimble fingers. Reservations are taken on line only, 7 days in advance for dinner, 14 days in advance for the weekend lunch. Reservations open daily at 10am, NY time. No matter how prompt one is, there is invariably either nothing available or one place. I made it for a Saturday lunch at 12:10pm. I thought I was lucky, and in a sense I was, since I learned a valuable lesson...

Here are the rules: payment of $150 via credit card; reservations taken for one, two or four only; if reservation must be cancelled, the deadline is 48 hours in advance or you will be charged; if you are 15 minutes late, your place will have been forfeited and you will pay (they don't fill your place); no photos; no phone.

And for all this, you have a seat at a counter with a backless stool for a meal that takes more than three hours.

What does the meal comprise? It is a surprise and there are no choices. I counted 17 dishes. The servings are so tiny that you eat everything on the plate so, as an astute restaurant critic noticed, the chefs never know what has or has not been appreciated.

This restaurant has two Michelin stars and is very well thought of by the critics in general. New Yorkers rave about it. I thought it was a whole lot of nothing.

Here are some of the things I had: barbecued kale leaf; Kumamoto Oyster with Spicy Scallion (very spicy and well balanced); hush-puppies with spicy mayonnaise; pomme soufflée filled with a cream flavored with brioche and onion which they whimsically call French onion soup.

Following these comes a suite of crudo (raw fish): diver scallop with tomato seed in tomato water; tataki of Spanish mackerel with black sesame and watermelon; sliced fluke with fennel and soy; uni with chervil stem, grated green apple, and masago; and others.

Next came the cooked dishes: grilled octopus, pistachio, turnip, sweet potato, red wine vinegar, herb mayonnaise (a tiny one-bite portion); puffed egg in bacon broth (very interesting preparation); honeydew melon soup with hen of the woods mushroom, cucumber, steel head roe, nasturtium leaves.

Next comes Lunch Break: which is grilled romaine salad, ranch dressing, smoked pumpkin soup, chicken fingers with spicy mustard, popover with grape and jalapeno jam. This is followed with grilled rice and squid, potato chervil, smoked garlic (that I apparently liked); roasted Maine lobster with lobster mushrooms, grated chocolate (!) and orange rind; paté en croûte, burnt apple mustard, apple butter.

There is more!! A specialty that is always on the menu is Hudson Valley Foie Gras which has been frozen in a thick tube formation and then grated over lichee, pineapple, Riesling jelly and hazelnut. The foie gras makes this a rich dish.

I am starting to get indigestion as I write all this down. The dishes follow endlessly without rhyme or reason, and without balance or attention to what would go with what. Needless to say, the meal was copious despite the size of all the dishes, and I was not able to eat for an entire 24 hours after it. I had a few glasses of wine, recommended to me by one of the servers.

Of the strange desserts that were often quite unpleasant, I did enjoy the tiny donuts that had been injected with huckleberry jam, and served with maple syrup ice cream.

And after a meal like that, I had no energy to do anything more for the rest of the day.

The lunch is the largest meal they serve and, as a result, is the most expensive. It came to $175 whereas dinner costs $125. With wine and tip, one pays a pretty penny.

For me, it was well worth it. This is the price I paid to be totally over the molecular food movement and any restaurant with a set menu without choices, stringent rules required for reserving and appearing, and the HYPE!! In all the years I have been following the movement, I have had two good experiences. One was at the first restaurant where everything started: El Bulli in Rosas, Spain, and the other was at Franzen-Lindberg in Stockholm (which I recently wrote about). I would go back to the latter with my camera and the former has since closed.

But in the end, give me delicious food that is comprehensible, well balanced and which marries well with what came before and after. A hodge podge of everything but the kitchen sink just doesn't make it in my book!

Two New and Spectacular Restaurants in NYC

This is a review of NoMad, a brain child of the three-star 11 Madison Park people, and Neta--an off-shoot of the mythical expensive Japanese sushi palace, Masa.

We scrambled to get reservations to NoMad, the brand new restaurant that has taken NYC by storm. With two of us calling at 9am, we snagged seats for 28 days later. And after all the reviews we had read, we were happy to have "gotten in" and excited to go.

This is a wonderful restaurant which lived up to our expectations. Very important, seated in the library--a far distance from the noisy bar and its diningroom--we could hear each other talk throughout the meal.

NoMad means "north of Madison Avenue" and that is the name of the hotel in which is it located.

The meal started with a bang. Pat and I both chose the Tagliatelle with King Crab, Meyer Lemon and black pepper, served in an appetizer portion. It was delicious.

I begged one of my friends to join me in the already iconic roast chicken for two and Pat agreed, whereas Tim chose the roast suckling pig. The chicken is roasted with crumbled brioche under the skin (resulting in a crispy golden exterior) and accompanied with a foie gras-black truffle fricassee of the dark meat which is splendid and rich.

The suckling pig is accompanied with a confit of dried plums, onions and wild greens.

The dessert list looked very promising but each of us made the mistake of ordering the same thing--the dessert that the critics waxed eloquent about: Milk and Honey.

It consisted of shortbread, brittle and vanilla ice cream and was cloyingly sweet. There were so many other appealing desserts on the menu that I don't know what I was thinking. Anyway, I know I'll go back.

The wine list is broad, diverse, full of surprises and Tim ordered very well: A Cabernet Franc from Catherine et Pierre Breton 2010 Bourgveil 2010.

Neta

When I read that a chef from Masa (with its famous sushi menu starting at $450) left to start his own, more affordable restaurant, I was thrilled. Calling right away (one month in advance), I asked for a seat at the sushi bar.

From the minute I entered the restaurant (in the heart of the Village), I was surprised. It was noisy with upbeat music (Michael Jackson, James Brown, Rihanna) playing and about ten chefs scurrying around the open kitchen. Usually, Japanese restaurants are extremely quiet and dignified. This place looked like nothing but fun.

It took awhile to seat me but once I was at my place, I was glad to have such a fine view of the activity behind the counter: chefs rolling beautiful maki; creating dishes with glistening fresh fish; and, in the background, steam emanating from pots; ovens working overtime to roast some of the dishes.

Although many people who work here are Japanese, my server told me that he didn't want to speak Japanese with me as he preferred to be professional throughout the evening. That was fine with me. He helped me choose a sake that I would find appealing (and that was on the house as I had to wait 30 minutes for my seat), and I was ready to roll.

I chose the most expensive omakase (chef's choice) at $135: expensive but a far cry from the $450 that a similar menu costs at Masa.

The menu included a number of appetizers from the beautiful crab in Tosaju sauce

to the sublime toro tartare with caviar:

After about five small seafood dishes including a mackerel sashimi, came a parade of wonderful sushi:

Sushi is expensive because a truly fine sushi chef has had years of training: learning the technique for making the vinegared rice and cutting the sushi as it has been traditionally cut over the years. These sushi were perfect: beautiful cuts of cold fish on slightly warm, flavorful rice. In fact, neta means the best topping for a sushi.

After such a copious albeit light menu, one wants to finish with the perfect dessert and they had it here:

a granité of grapefruit with tiny pieces of the pearls of the grapefruit in the ices. The meal was pure perfection, the staff courteous and helpful, and the experience unforgettable.