Todd36
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Posts posted by Todd36
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My guess is that no one source of tune is going to be consistently high or low in mercury. Tuna is a carnivorous fish, which means it eats other fish. Those fish contain mercury, which stays in the tuna because mercury tends to become embedded within any creatures body, it is not excreted with waste. The bigger and older the tuna, the more other fish it ate, which means more mercury. And usually, the bigger and older the tuna, the more expensive, which makes for more expensive tuna.
So your higher grades of tuna have more mercury. They didn't mention toro, I bet because of the fat content (I bet the tuna in mercury is fat soluble), it has more mercury. To know what its in the sushi, someone would need to test on a fish by fish basis and I bet that isn't happening. Still, cheaper sushi I bet has less. Cancer isn't the risk one worries about with mercury, brain damage is, and we know for a fact that if you eat enough mercury, you will suffer material nervous system damage.
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To update my own review. Had the tasting menu Friday night, with the wine pairing. Mixed this time. The mixed app plate was not interesting, except that the two oyster dishes were fantastic. On the fish course, lobster was tough and not what it should have been. Salmon poached in olive oil was fantastic. The pork schnitzel was OK, I've had better for 10% of the price. Baby pig was decent. Desserts were fine. Service was off. A disappointment overall.
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Its pretty amusing that in July 29 of last year, I gave my mini-review of Mesa Grill on this thread, which at the time met with some disbelief, and my mini-review seems rather consistent with Frank's.....
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Barney Greenglass is the best in NY in my opinion.
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1. My one experience with 15 East suggests that it is a fashion oriented restaurant and not a place to spend money in search of good sushi----its well overpriced for what you get.
2. I'm suspicious about anyone who says that shipping costs make live uni too expensive. For one
thing, they frequently sell live uni at Citerellia. And its not that expensive. They cost $5 a piece on Cataina Offshore's web site. And I've seen them for around $15 at restaurants in NYC.
3. There are several different species of uni that people eat---the ones from Maine are different I believe from CA and both are different from those in Japan. I know that at least some of the time,
they've been from Maine at Sugiyama.
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Well, for what that's worth, I first ate at Ushiwaka Maru shortly after they first opened - I just didn't post about it on here. I don't mind oshibori out of a rice cooker, they do that in Japan all the time - at least they arrive warm! Men's room? give me a hole in the wall. You said it yourself - "much as you liked their sushi". Hideo-san is singularly obsessed with the quality of his sushi, but his operation is on a scale where perhaps there isn't the budget for more management. I'd rather have my dollars focused on the sushi anyway; some of the best sushi I've ever had in Tokyo were at relative holes-in-the-wall under railstations in Kanda and Nishishinjuku. Ushiwaka Maru is more in that spirit which I consider more Japanese and authentic. His room was hardly a hole-in-the-wall, but indeed many Japanese dine at sushiya in NYC because they are in awe of the spacious room, decor and over-the-top service, when a lot of these places should really be focusing on the product they are putting out.
The use of the rice cooker to heat towels didn't bother me, where it was located did. You were trying to make the point that perhaps the health department was harsh on them. My point is that to the untrained eye without the benefit of establishment wide access, it was obvious there were issues. Whether or not there are dirty places in Tokyo that serve good sushi has nothing to do with your initial point, that Ushiwaka wasn't perhaps really that much of a health problem.
I first ate at Ushiwaka on the night it opened. I knew about it because of his prior place in NJ. I presume you'll now say you ate there before it opened?
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Vino - Perhaps... Ownership has changed since then -
Todd - I know I've made it a habit to disagree with your assertions, but here too
That's the aisle at Mitsuwa. The sake importers have gotten a lot better at their marketing so now the displays often have "Wine Enthusiast" type tags
The people who run Landmark have actually tasted everything they sell---try finding that at Mitsuwa. I'm also not sure that Mitsuwa has more types of Sake, I was at Mitsuwa a few months ago and they selection didn't look bigger or better than Landmark. Raji, have you actually been to Landmark recently.
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Mitsuwa is a fantastic and enormous Japanese store on the water in Edgewater. That said, be prepared to pay through the nose for pretty much anything, though the quality will be top-notch.
I'd disagree with that assertion. Everything there is Japanese, which costs more, but you get a much higher quality. for booze, it should be cheaper than anywhere in the city. they are simply the Costco of Japanese groceries. if you buy stuff on sale and in bulk, you can save really big bucks! but even small stuff is cheap. you end up buying more there because the variety is so great.
Read the 'get thee to NJ' thread for more on mitsuwa
Landmark on 23rd probably has a better sake selection than does Mitsuwa. Landmark without a doubt has better and more knowlegable staff.
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The reputation remains a mystery to me. I've had dinner there twice, and while its been OK, it wasn't worth the trouble to get there or the size of the check. It reminds me of the original version of Gilt, where I had one dinner. New cooking techniques or ingredient combinations do not necessarily lead to good food. It reminds me of modern art. I often wonder what people will say about Jackson Pollock or Ellsworth Kelly in a hundred years; my guess is not much, because few people will know who they are. With respect to higher end non-Asian restaurants in NYC, my best experiences have been at Bouley, Danube, Daniel, Jean Georges, Perry Street, the former Alain Ducasse, Blue Hill and Per Se. They all have fairly traditional menus and cooking methods---Per Se, which is probably the most "innovative" on the list, was not in my opinion as good s the hype.
I would say that Jean-George is much more innovative than Per Se, but neither are in the class of WD-50 in that area. I think people either tend to like innovative restaurants or they don't.
I'm sure there are quite a few references out there that trace innovation in food---its clearly not
a static area. But I'm not so sure that food trends advance quite as quickly as some would have us to believe. And I don't think the entire menu advances at once. Some things that people think are "new" may not be so new. It's currently popular to add Asian flavors such as tamarind and fish sauce to western dishes. Sounds new, right? Worcestershire sauce is a fermented fish sauce with tamarind and Lea & Perrins have been making it for almost 200 years. Or mashed potatoes with lots of butter, that's new right? Ever read James Beard's recipe? To me, a restaurant like the original Gilt or WD-50 is contrived. Newness for the sake of newness does not a better dining experience make.
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The reputation remains a mystery to me. I've had dinner there twice, and while its been OK, it wasn't worth the trouble to get there or the size of the check. It reminds me of the original version of Gilt, where I had one dinner. New cooking techniques or ingredient combinations do not necessarily lead to good food. It reminds me of modern art. I often wonder what people will say about Jackson Pollock or Ellsworth Kelly in a hundred years; my guess is not much, because few people will know who they are. With respect to higher end non-Asian restaurants in NYC, my best experiences have been at Bouley, Danube, Daniel, Jean Georges, Perry Street, the former Alain Ducasse, Blue Hill and Per Se. They all have fairly traditional menus and cooking methods---Per Se, which is probably the most "innovative" on the list, was not in my opinion as good s the hype.
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I haven't had one in awhile because the location isn't convenient, but when I was out trying to find the best croissant in town the best one I found was at Petrossian Cafe. Not the restaurant, but the little shop mid-block on the avenue. This dates back to when Philippe Conticini and Chris Broberg were running the Petrossian pastry program. I'm not sure if they've maintained standards or not.
My go-to place for a well-made croissant in the neighborhood is Le Pain Quotidien. By now there's probably one in everybody's neighborhood in Manhattan.
And I actually like Ceci-Cela's croissants a lot. Certainly, if you took a poll of chefs you'd hear that as the consensus number-one pick. I hear they're about to close the original store and do a big expansion. Hope that doesn't hurt.
Petrossian was very good, don't think it is as good as it was.
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Much as I liked their Sushi, that hot towel they gave you came from a jerry rigged rice cooker on the floor and over time, their mens room began to need more and more maintaince. I am quite sure they had issues that if you knew what they were, you would be upset. The clothing issues may relate to not washing those traditional outer garments. From the very first time I ever ate at Ushi Wakamaru (and I think that was before anyone else who posts on eGullet), it was clearly not well managed.
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Bouley Bakery makes a good one.
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You all might want tp read the Saucier's Apprentice by Raymond Sokolow, 1976. He was a former food editor of the New York Times. His core recipe is for Demi-Glaze, which is 50-50 beef and veal. Its a very interesting book with much historical information.
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It''s true, they were found guilty of tax evasion, mislabeling products and short weighing. In 1993, the founder was sentenced to 52 months in prison for tax evasion. Do a Google search, its in Wikipedia and I am sure the Hartford Courant has lots of archieve articles available. Needless to say, I don't shop there.
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A new ramen place opened in my neighborhood a couple of weeks ago. Yes, a ramen place on the Upper East Side. I didn't even notice it -- I got the info from a mention on Eater derived from a mention on Mouthfuls. It's called Naruto Ramen, and it's located at 1596 Third Avenue, between 89th and 90th Streets. Business hours are noon until 10:30pm, seven days a week. Phone number 212-289-7809. They also deliver.
There are actually quite a few Japanese-Americans living on the Upper East Side, as well as Asian-Americans in general. I especially see a lot of young mothers with a child in a stroller around on Third and Second Avenues. The crowd at Naruto Ramen at 6:30pm was exactly that: there were four young Asian (probably Japanese) mothers spaced along the long counter, each with one child, no connection to one another, having dinner.
What I believe is the oldest Japanese grocery store in NYC, Katagari, has been operating at 224 East 59th since 1907. Its been a Japanese area for a while. In addition, Kondo used to be at Kondo Grocery - 212-794-7065 - 314 E 78th Street New York, NY 10075 (2nd & 1st), but its been gone for at least 5 years.
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The "jewish" olives at Fairway and most other places are bad and not the right type according to my relatives, they prefer them from Zabar's and a number of places in Brooklyn. We're talking about a fairly soft olive, Greek, highly variable in color (which makes me suspect that its not so processed), usually various shades of brown in the same pail.
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I haven't eaten there in several years. The Met now has a mini-sushi bar and while its rather expensive, its actually decent. I'll consider the Grand Tier one of these days, I have season tickets.
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I've eatern dinner there half a dozen times. Its fine, not worth a trip. Its also fairly cheap by location standards.
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The key element in a NYC hot dog whether its from a cart (boiled) or grilled is that its beef. Outside of NYC, a hot dog is beef only when specified as such, inside NYC, a hot dog is assumed to be beef.
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I am interested in finding sushi quality Turbot (Hirame). Any leads?
I don't know. You can get some sushi grade fish if you go over to Mitsuwa in NJ, but based on my last visit, they only have a few kinds.
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Eater.com is reporting that Ushi Wakamaru will be closed for two months. It's more than just gloves I suspect.....
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The thing is, they don't wear gloves. I've never been in a serious sushi restaurant -- or indeed in any restaurant with a sushi bar -- where the chefs wore gloves. The best they can hope for is to pull some gloves on if they get enough warning that an inspection is about to occur. Otherwise, they just get charged with the violation.
I'm not completely sure of the relevant temperature regulations, but I'm pretty sure New York requires lower display-case holding temperatures than Japan. Also, the federal Food & Drug Administration requires that all fin fish to be served raw be at least flash frozen to kill parasites. This is not enforced in every state in every instance, however most sushi fish served here has at some point been frozen at least for a brief time.
I see gloves once in a while...the late Sushi Rose comes to mind and it was a semi-serious place. I've seen Ushi Wakamaru serve fresh killed flat fish, I've seen him fish it right out of the tank....
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-maru is a suffix formerly used for a child. Thus, either Ushiwakamaru or Ushiwaka Maru (or Ushiwaka-maru) should be correct.
Even today, many Japanese ship names end with -maru.
Right - many people may remember the Ehime Maru, the Japanese training fishing-boat that was hit by a US submarine practicing a surfacing maneouver, and many more, the Kobayashi Maru, the no-win-hypothetical-situation in Starfleet Academy, that only William T. Kirk has won, by cheating on it.
Because Todd36 started the thread, I place all blame on him for popularizing the misnomer.
I just read the horror story over at Eater -
http://eater.com/archives/2007/09/the_doh_chronic_10.php
I really wish I had been there, I would have torn this DOH dickhead a new asshole. The sad reality is, he can run rampant over the place like Godzilla and those who work there just have to stand there and take it, lacking enough confidence in their English to at least slow him down.
Besides NYC DOH inspectors being notoriously guilty of bribe-taking, what else would explain why this kind of thing hasn't happened to any of the big-box, big-name Japanese/Asian restaurants which all have sushi bars and/or serve tons of sushi?
The net result is that one poorly-defended, easy-target/example, meticulously cleaned authentic sushi bar's business is jeopardized, while there are literally hundreds more rip-off joints making diners sick on a daily basis. Why are the cases colder in the US? Because that's how your average, inauthentic sushi bar keeps more lesser-quality fish edible longer.
This is completely ass-backwards and I hope there's something we can do about it... and they're not the first in the Japanese business community to get terrorized by these mothers... the Japanese are easy targets as I explain above and also because they tend to have the money to, and are more likely to, pay the fines...
Much as I like Ushi Wakarmuru, your standard sushi place does keep its fish colder and doesn't depend upon ice alone---they use refridgeration units. That means cold air in the case. And I don't believe they are designed for the US, check out http://www.hoshizakiamerica.com/display.asp They probably keep the thermostat higher in Japan than they do in the US. Warmer fish may make for tastier fish, not sure its as safe as fish. And much as I like Ushi Wakmaru, its not as clean as say Sugiyama, the way they keep the hot towel warmer on the floor (they use a rice cooker as one) and the occasional state of the mens room prevents me from saying its perfectly clean.
And thAnd I wouldn't describe
THE BEST: Chopped Liver
in New York: Cooking & Baking
Posted
I had lunch there last week, a table away from Ed Koch. It was OK,not great. Same as the old place. My grandfather first took me there about 1980.....