Eating Japan, the Finale

There are just waaaaaaaaaay too many photos of my trip to Japan to post here, so my last post will consist of what I hope will give you somewhat of an idea of what my trip was like. The above shot is a glass of cold sake, of which I drank many. For those of you still stuck on hot sake: get over it. Cold sake is better.

Takoyaki is a traditional Osaka classic dish. It's basically savory (as in not sweet) dough balls with tako (octopus) meat, ginger and other seasonings. It's topped with Japanese mayo and tonkatsu sauce. I took a ton of photos of this as I am writing a story about it for Intermezzo magazine (will let you know when it hits stands). We ate some in Juso, the district in Osaka where my grandmother lives and where my mom grew up, and where I have been many times. It was a real treat to go back to the area and see much of it still looks the same.

Ah, Doria! My sister and her friend Mika LOVE Doria, which is a creamy, baked rice dish that is relatively new (as in the last 15 years) to the Japanese food scene. You can get all different kinds, including one with bolognese sauce, which is pictured above. It was hot and gooey and excellent.

There's me with my obaachan (grandmother) in Osaka. She's 98 years old, can you believe it? She still loves her rice and salty seaweed and really enjoys her three meals a day. I guess I know where I get it from! :)

We visited a couple of temples, but the most impressive was one was the Kiyomizudera temple in Kyoto. We walked all the way up an uphill street, which is packed with tons of fun gift shops and food stops, to the temple. It's huge with beautiful manicured trees and serene prayer candles inside.

At the temple, there are several soba (noodle) cafes. We stopped and had cold soba with scallions, one of my all-time favorite Japanese foods.

Flash forward to Tokyo: I went to a lot of izakayas (drinking places) in Japan, and this one in Tokyo was a lot of fun. Shane, the one with his mouth open, drums for the B'z, one of Japan's most famous musical acts of all time. He and my friend Kayo, who works for them, met up with us, as did David, a co-worker of my sister's who just happened to be traveling in Japan solo while we were there. Since izakayas are the ideal places to meet and hang, Kayo chose a fun one in Tokyo for all of us to get together and share beer, sake and lots of great food.

Here's Kayo pulling out the bones of a grilled fish we ordered with one, smooth move. She's got skillz!!

Gwen Stefani made "Harajuku Girls" famous, but here are the original ones. Harajuku is a district in Tokyo full of funky clothing shops and funky-dressed people, and this is where Stefani drew inspiration for her clothing line and back-up dancers. These are just two of many interesting outfits I captured while there. I think these girls are doing what the Japanese call "Cos pu-ray," which is short for "Costume Play." Regular people get dressed up as their favorite animae characters and go out and about, just for fun. BTW, shortened names are very popular in Japan. Lenny Kravitz = "LennyKura." Brad Pitt = "BuraPee." You kind of have to say them with a Japanese accent to understand it, though.

After many days of eating rice and fish, my mom was craving something different so we found an Italian restaurant in Tokyo called Gustavo. It had just opened two weeks prior and is a co-op between prosciutto farmers and vinters in Tuscany. We had lots of good dishes there, and a few good bottles of Italian wine, but the Gorgonzola with honey was our favorite. Simple and delicious!

In Japan, quality is everything. And even this convenience store (7-11 in this case) egg salad sandwich is proof. The bread is light and fluffy, the egg is fresh and the mayo is creamy and light. No soggy mess here. I love convenience store sandwiches in Japan! BTW, the nickname for convenience store in Japan is "conveenie."

Last but not least: Japanese bakers are some of the world's best, and it seems every corner has a lovely little pastry shop or cake cafe. This is a super light blueberry cake with fresh whipped cream and jam filling that I enjoyed at a cake cafe in Shibuya, Tokyo.

That's all for now! I am knee-deep in my new job at FoodJiva.com, and will have more updates on that soon. If you live in the West LA/Santa Monica/Brentwood/Marina del Rey or Venice area, try it out! It's super cheap, and there's no delivery fee in most cases (and even the ones that do is a max fee of only $5!!).

A Little Engrish Lesson

There is a lot of English signage in Japan, some (or many) of which are a bit confusing. You get the gist of what the company/product is trying to promote, and the intention is clear, but the words are a little...off. I decided to snap some of my favorite "Engrish" signs while in Japan. The above is one of my favorites, even though most of you may not find it funny. I love that it's talking about relaxing, but the double exclamation sign seems to indicate an emphasis on the last word (as if it's being yelled). Relax'in with coffee and BUN!

I'm not sure what flavor this lovely looking soda is, but it sure is charming. And pink.

Really? I prefer to enjoy my crepes in a formal and difficult way. But that's just me.

I like fried rice, and I love shrimp, but flies? Not so sure about that one.

This is a sign outside of a bar. A few drinks does equal a little happiness, so this sign is quite accurate.

I like that this trash can, for sale at an IKEA-esque store called Loft, will support a comfortable life while adding versatility to my life.

My "private space?" Natural moist, needless electricity? Shouldn't this be in an adult store? Actually it's the label on a natural humidifying garden.

Good Lord. Even if you added the missing letters in this paragraph, it still woudn't make any sense.

While I like A Little Happiness bar, this bar sign is much more appropriate, doncha think?

This is a sign for German (or Wiener) coffee. But I'm willing to bet most Americans will take it the wrong way.

Japanese Depachika!!

I'm back from Japan, and promise to post all of my great food experiences in the coming days. It'll be "Rainy Days & Sundays in Japan" for the next several posts, be warned! :)

One of my favorite places to visit while in Japan is the depachika. A depachika is a basement gourmet food hall that features all kinds of incredible eats from perfect little cakes and fresh-baked bread to marinated pickles and handmade sushi rolls. It really is an experience that any visitor to Japan must have. You can find depachikas in any major city.

I went to a few while in Japan; one in Osaka and a few in Tokyo. Imagine if Neiman Marcus or Sax has a basement level filled with gourmet food vendors. You can buy gift-y type foods like packaged butter cookies and boxes of beautiful chocolates, and you can also get tons of ready-to-eat food like sandwiches, bento boxes of sushi and lots and lots of Japanese fried goodies.

As stated in previous posts, I looooooove Japanese korrokke. A korrokke, in its most basic form, is a deep-fried potato patty, much like a croquette. They come in all kinds of flavors and types; there's potato curry, cream crab, corn and potato with ground beef, among others. The guy above is operating a fry station, and flash fries korrokkes and butterflied shrimp and Japanese friend chicken and all kinds of other wonderful eats.

The outer crust on all these fried foods is typically made with panko (Japanese bread crumbs). It makes the end product light, super crispy and delicious. I guess the reason why the Japanese can still maintain their slim figures is because a) they treat themselves to this kind of stuff only once in a while, and b) when they do, they eat small portions.

If you go to a depachika, try to get there on a weekday as Saturdays and Sundays can be crazy hectic in one of these basement food halls. And go with an empty stomach; most stands have samples.

When will the U.S. embrace depachikas???

I would love to have one of these at the basement of my favorite Macy's or Sax Fifth Avenue.

Eat, Drink & Be Merry

Last night, we met up with the Kato family, who I've known since I was born - literally. Above is (from L to R) is Mika, Yuka and Naoki. My parents met their parents in the hospital, because Mika and Yuka, who are fraternal twins, were born two days before my twin sister and I were born, and our moms shared the same hospital room. We've been friends ever since. Naoki came two years later.

We all met at an izakaya (drinking/eating place where you share all kinds of little plates). The last time I saw Mika and her mom was 10 years ago, when they traveled to the U.S., and it has been 22 years since I'd seen Yuka and Naoki. Mika is now an amazing book illustrator (she has her own line of books - check them out here), Yuka works in health insurance AND is a talented carpenter/builder, and Naoki is married and also works as an illustrator/graphic designer. So much has changed but it was as if no time had passed at all; through our broken Japanese and English, we talked and caught up and laughed about old times. We drank beer and sake and cocktails and ate amazing food like the little fishies above, and I tried new things, like...

...raw horses meat, pictured above. It was delicious - kind of tasted like beef, but less fatty.

Mika ordered one of her favorites, curry udon noodles. She and Naoki dished it out for the group.

Over stories of how we used to pick on Naoki (he doesn't remember - whew!) and sang ABBA songs together, we munched on yakitori and took lots of photographs. We marveled at what a treat it was to be able to get together and still know each other after all these years.

Obviously the food was great, but it's hard to really focus on just that since last night was a great reawakening of an old friendship. We vowed to be better about keeping in touch, and have promised to not wait another 10 years to see each other again.

All in all it was one of the best nights I've had on this trip. Mika is hoping to get to Los Angeles sometime next year, and I am hoping to get back to Japan before 2009 is over.

From L-R, top to bottom: Tawny, Yuka, Naoki, me and Mika.

Kickin' It Old Skool

For the last two days, we've been living it up old-school at two different ryokans. A ryokan is a traditional Japanese hotel with an onsen, an onsen being a natural hot spring bath. The rooms are traditional tatami-style, so during the day the set-up is for hanging around and eating, then at night the ladies of the hotel come in and lay out your bedding for you. Your meals are served in your room (breakfast and dinner are included in your room price), and are made up of all kinds of traditional Japanese foods. Basically you soak in the hot springs, eat and drink all while laying about in yukatas the whole time - it's all about relaxation at a ryokan. The following are photos from both ryokans; one was near the ocean (Sea of Japan) while the other was more up in the mountain regions. Both were unique in their own ways and had amazing food. Now we're off to Tokyo!

The rock garden in our tatami room.

The beds are laid out by the hotel workers right before bedtime. The bedding is a traditional futon mattress with a down comforter.

Local crab, cooked with the claws cut for easy eating.

A sashimi platter, including two local favorites that I've never had before.

Fish and head cooked in mild sauce. Nice teeth!

Cooking more fish at our table.

This is a meal at the first ryokan, the one in the mountains. We each got a whole crab, plus a ton of other fish and other local favorites.

Fish with a root vegetable and seaweed salad.

Five different grains covering steamed shrimp balls.

Though we always start with beer, sake is the main drink of a ryokan dinner.

Soft shell crab with crunchy noodles and caviar.

Sushi rice with salmon, pickled ginger, egg and mushrooms.

Osaka: Window Shopping for Dinner

Last night, we couldn't decide what we wanted for dinner - a typical and common issue when dining out with two or more people. Lucky for us, we are in the land of plastic food displays, so all we have to do is take a short walk and window shop for what we want.

Nearly every restaurant in Japan has a display case out front with all of their menu offerings in plastic form. Every detail is the same as the real deal, so there's no risk-taking involved. Yesterday we walked around a gourmet "arcade" (an indoor shopping/restaurant mall, but much less grandiose as the ones in the U.S. and much better in my opinion) and saw our options. There were several Italian places showcasing all kinds of pasta and pizza dishes...

...dessert-only restaurants displaying beautiful ice cream and cake concoctions, as well as sandwich shops, Indian restaurants, coffee cafes and sushi places all showing off their appetizing dishes. We finally settled on a katsu restaurant, which specializes in breaded, deep-fried pork and shrimp dishes.

As we have with most of our meals in Japan so far, we started off with an ice-cold beer. Beer is hugely popular here, with Japanese beer being some of the best in the world (again, in my opinion!). It's common for groups to always start with a round of beers before moving on to sake or cocktails.

My katsu "set" ("set" meals means they usually come with the main course, salad, rice and some other little dishes) came with a little vegetable appetizer (above)...

...plus some pickled vegetables like cucumber and daikon (Japanese radish), as well as a plate for dipping sauce for the katsu.

The katsu was crispy, juicy and not greasy at all. This is a very traditional Japanese dish that I haven't had in a very long time, and it was well worth the wait.

A Thing of Beauty

I'm in Japan, and I know what you are thinking: Where's the sushi? It's coming, I promise, but realize that the Japanese make many other foods besides raw fish, and they do them damn well. The above is my breakfast from the other morning, a puffed pastry shell filled with cheesy pasta from Mr. Donut. Weird? Not even. Perfection? Absolutely. The puffed pastry is flaky, buttery and melts in your mouth. The pasta is mild, with a lovely creamy cheese sauce. And the whole thing is actually really light, not heavy in the least. How do they do this??? I have no idea, but it is a thing of beauty, this.

Sneak Peek: Osaka

The view from the hotel in Osaka - we arrived in the late afternoon (click photos for larger image)....

...then took showers, got ready and headed out for drinks/dinner at an izakaya, a typical Japanese watering hole that serves dozens of tiny plates of different foods....

...the view from our hotel room before we finally hit the hay, after being up for over 26 hours!!! More to come!

FoodJiva.com

I have an annoucement to make, though it probably won't come as a huge surprise to those of you who read my blog. Yes, there is a reason why I've mentioned FoodJiva here a few times in the last couple of weeks, and that reason is I've taken on the position of Vice President of Sales & Marketing for this start-up venture. And I am really excited about it!

FoodJiva.com is a simple solution to ordering food. You go to http://www.foodjiva.com/, type in your address (home, office, wherever), and it brings up all the restaurants that deliver to that location. The menus are interactive; click on a dish and a description, and sometimes even a photo, comes up. You can even personalize the experience through "JivaMenu," a program that allows you to set preferences (for example, I love Japanese food, so my JivaMenu will organize the listings to show my faves first). You then place your order using a credit card (secure transcation, of course); you can even designate a tip so no cash is necessary. Next, you get a confirmation email, along with another email with the estimated delivery time. Most of our restaurants do not charge a delivery fee, and those that do are in the $2-$4 range. And our minimum order amount is as low as $10.00.

Before you can say, "JIVA!" 100 times, your food is delivered to your doorstep. OK, maybe I exaggerate, but it's pretty fast. Nothing to sign, just take your food and eat. Yesterday, after a long FoodJiva meeting, we logged onto the website, not knowing what we felt like eating (that's the back of my head; Gene, our CTO is next to me). We eventually decided on pizza from Pitfire Pizza, placed the order online through FoodJiva.com and got our food within 20 minutes. That's my pizza margherita below (the little red drops are Sriracha, something I MUST have on pizza). Gene opted for the Pitfire Sausage pie. Ted and Cindy (co-CEOs) got the folded Garlic Chicken pizza, but we forgot to take photos of it - we were too hungry!

Oh, the coolest thing about FoodJiva is that we donate 5% of our net proceeds to food banks, like Westside Food Bank. It kinda makes you feel like you're feeding your stomach AND your soul.

Right now, we cover the west side and beach cities, but will be expanding very soon to cover all of Southern California and, in the future, beyond! I'll keep you all posted. In the meantime, check it out, and if you live in our coverage areas, try it out and let me know what you think. It's great for office lunches or those nights where you just don't want to cook!

More soon. Now back to our regularly-scheduled programming!

Lot 1 in Echo Park

Certain things bring me great comfort. The sound of Ira Glass’ voice on a Sunday morning, typing the last word on an especially-trying article minutes before deadline, and a favorite neighborhood restaurant I can count on time and time again. The latter is hard to come by; there are very few restaurants that I go to on a regular basis, because a large majority of eateries just don’t deliver on the first or even fifth try.

One of my favorite regulars was Opus, until Chef Josef Centeno left several months ago. So it was with great expectation and hope that I walked into Lot 1 last night, his brand-new (5-days-old to be exact) restaurant in the heart of Echo Park. About one-sixth the size and grandeur of Opus, the space is cheerful and inviting – the definition of “cozy.” Dark earth tones warm the walls and low-hanging burnt orange lights omit a soft glow on the molasses-colored tables and chairs.

The menu had changed slightly since I saw it a couple of weeks ago in the window of the yet-unopened restaurant. But from what I remember of Centeno’s tenure at Opus, he changes the menu frequently depending on what’s fresh, and I’ve always appreciated the sense of adventure it brings to the diner. We started off with a selection of cheeses from Cowgirl Creamery, which included an utterly indulgent truffle cheese; it was smooth, woody and just slightly salty. We also had the charcuterie plate, and though I can’t recall the names of everything on the plate, the spicy chorizo and the pickled green beans were a pleasant discovery for me. The heat of the spices in the chorizo paired perfectly with the tang of the pickles. The plate also came with candied kumquats, olives, almonds and toasted baguette slices.

The Chef then sent out a plate of popovers (everyone in the restaurant received this). My friend Rachel, who has never tried popovers before, declared them to be her new favorite food. They came out hot, fluffy and with melted butter and a side of a chimichurri-like dipping sauce. It was everything you'd want a carb to be, and more. Excellent.

Next up we had the sashimi of yellowtail with charred leek oil, pickled serrano chili and a radish salad. This was beautifully presented and the crisp radish accompaniment really complimented the fattiness of the fish. I especially enjoyed the bite from the chili.

Along with the hamachi, we tried a bowl of the confit beet gazpacho with creme fraiche and chicharronnes. I am normally not a fan of gazpacho, as so many places make it chunky and to me, a chunky cold soup is as appealing as room tempreature ice cream. This, on the other hand, was smooth and rich in flavor, and the cool cream and salty bits of fried pork belly balanced out the natural sweetness of the beet soup. And the color! Just be careful not to splash while slurping this soup.

As I perused the menu trying to pick my main course, I mentioned to the waitress that I'd love to order the steak because it comes with bone marrow toast, a favorite, but decided out loud that I had already ordered too much so I'd opt for the fish. She must have mentioned this to the chef, as he sent out a plate of toasted bread with bone marrow butter. Just the idea of bone marrow butter fills me with a ridiculous and overwhelming sense of joy; eating it slathered on warm, toasted bread was, well, Heaven.

Rachel opted for the hand-torn pasta with brown butter, pecorino and herbs topped with a soft fried egg. It was delicate and really showcased the fresh herbs - I tasted parsley and tarragon. She enjoyed every bite and proclaimed it to be a great success.

I had the market fresh fish of the day, which happened to be halibut. It was topped with a mixture of herbs and toasted pine nuts, and sat atop a bed of sauteed cherry tomatoes and an infused oil of some sort. Though it could have used a slight bit of salt, the fish was light and fresh, and picked up the flavors of the herbs quite nicely.

For dessert, we shared the chocolate mousse with vanilla fleur de sel and olive oil. Yes, olive oil. The mousse was incredibly rich and chocolatey, with the salt adding a great balance to the flavor. The olive oil added a nice richness to the dish, though the mousse didn't really need it.

The consensus? That Lot 1 will no doubt become a regular hangout for me, a place to try new and inventive dishes all created with a great deal of thought, care and passion. The service was outstanding; quite a feat for a restaurant so young. I wish they had alcohol (they will be acquiring a wine/beer license soon), but I very much enjoyed the house-made aqua fresca of watermelon, pineapple and cucumber. I look forward to many more meals here.

Lot 1, 1533 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles

Open Tuesday - Sunday.

Lunch 11:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Dinner - 6:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. (walk in only, no reservations)

Sunday brunch - 11:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. starts in a couple of weeks.

Tasting menu on Tuesdays, by reservations only, starts in a few weeks.

Phone: 213.481.8400

Scenes From a Dinner Party

Kai and Monty hosted a dinner party last night, and everyone contributed to the meal. The food was fabulous, the company was wonderful as always and we all had a blast.

Here is my contribution to the meal: wonton shells filled with a mixture of shrimp, avocado, Persian cucumber, scallions and sesame seeds in an Asian-style dressing.

Kai and Monty have the most amazing taste. Their house is filled with all kinds of antique and modern decorations - all of which works together to create a warm and inviting environment.

Kai set up his "station" to prepare the main course, a Chinese noodle dish with pulled chicken, scallions and peanut oil. He boiled the chicken beforehand and shredded it right before serving.

Here's Kai pouring the hot peanut oil over the chicken and scallion mix. You could hear the sizzle of the hot oil against the crisp scallions - YUM.

Monty made an amazing Japanese eggplant dish with bacon (yes, bacon) and seasonings. It was fabulous!

Monty dished out the noodles while Kai served the hot chicken and scallions. The combination of the juicy, moist chicken flavored with the mild peanut oil and scallions against the noodles was perfection. I am definitely getting this recipe from Kai!

Here's Monty's eggplant dish. Another recipe I have to get!!

Giselle made a wonderfully rich coconut flan for dessert. She served this with dulce de leche and whipped cream. I looooooooooooove me a good flan, and this was fantastic.

Sharing good food, good conversation and a good joke (or ten) is my idea of a perfect evening with friends. Thanks so much to Kai and Monty for a wonderful dinner!

Revisiting an Old Favorite: Toi

My first experience at Toi on Sunset was pretty much up there as one of the greatest of my life. It was about 11 years ago, and I went to Toi to interview one of my all-time favorite bands. The record label had flown me down from San Francisco, had a town car waiting for me at the airport and had booked a room for me at the Sofitel on Beverly (yes, I was pinching myself the entire time!). The band was Radiohead and they were in Los Angeles to promote their new album, "O.K. Computer."

After meeting the guys at the Capitol Records offices, we piled into a car and drove to Toi for lunch. We sat near the window, and ordered an array of vegetarian dishes. Over spicy veggie curry, steaming bowls of rice and piles of thick, saucy noodles, the nerves that had plagued us all during the first few minutes of our meeting melted into laughter and easy conversation. I remember Ed making fun of our waiter, who was clearly stoned out of his mind. I guess they don't describe Toi as "Rockin' Thai Food!" for nothin'.

Today I went to Toi to meet up with Gene from FoodJiva.com. Yes, yes, there's been a lot of FoodJiva talk lately and I promise I will fill you all in soon. We got the veggie curry (with Radiohead tickets selling out in 2 seconds these days, my precious veggie curry memory is as close as I am going to get to them now - bah!!!), and pad ke mao noodles. And of course I had to order Toi's famous brown rice. Where do they get this stuff? It's nutty, chewy and sticky in the most perfect way. If only Radiohead or I would have known about the brown rice way back when; we ate white rice at that meeting years ago, which was just fine. In any case, it was nice to revisit an old favorite and have the flavors be exactly as they were all those years ago. I guess that's why Toi has stood the test of time and will continue to rock out for many years to come.