Todd36

Not sure who owns Men Kui Tei There are a couple of other Japanese restuarant empires in Manhattan, and one of them may own it. More reseach required.

Very interesting. If I had to list many of my favorite places in NYC, many would have come from that list... Huh. Who knew it was all the same guy? Thanks for the tidbit, Todd. ← Getting off topic (new thread please?) Benihanna bought Haru a few years back....Haru had been part of the Arthur Cuttler empire. Most of these Japanese restaurants of the Sobya-Hasaki type are small, and have limited start-up costs, probably on the order of a few hundred thousand dollars. There may also be investors involved. It's not suprising that they expand every year, it doesn't that much capital to open Char An for example. I suspect, but don't know for a fact, that Bon Yagi owns the Japanese video store that was where Char An is now and that his business office is the top floor of that building. The interesting part is that Decibel, a bona fide dump, has the same owner as say Char An or Sobaya, both of which are refined restsuanrants on the same block.....

Had dinner there tonight, as a walk in. Almost no other dining room customers. 1. Chicken dumplings. Well overpriced at $10. They actually taste like high qualitity chicken. But for three small dumplings, steep price. 2. Soft shell crab roll for $15. Very good, the crab was meaty and fresh, the rice was very good and the roll also had fresh aparagus. The best example of a spider roll I've ever had, and worth $15. 3. American Kobe Beef salad. Good greens. Beef had good flavor, but a little tough and chewy. Cost something like 13, maybe worth the money. 4. A main dish of snapper. Very good, seared really. Crispy skin, served with a neat eggplant puree. A steal at $23. 5. Fruit salad in rhuburb soup for $8. Very good, loved the soup. They may have a heavy hand with the salt. Overall, I thought the food was quite good.

Not 5th St. I think you're thinking of the little store on the east side of 1st Av. between 7th and St. Marks' Place that used to sell pierogis, soups, and the like. I'll try to remember to check on the place because I can't remember if it's still open. ← It's a restaurant, I think its address is 110 First Avenue, its just north of the McDonald's, on the east side of First Avenue. There is a Polish deli across the street. Polonia (right spelling) makes a lima bean stew that when it is right, is fantasic. Varies a bit.

Zabar's usually has pre-pack kasha in the deli case, throw it in your microwave and you're done. I've also seen it from time to time at Fairway at the deli case. And the Polish places do it as well, Polana across from Teresa's for example, First Avenue around 5th street.

It's above average, traditional sushi at a fair price. It's part of Bon Yagi's empire, I think it may have been his first place. Other bits of his empire: Sobya, which has good soba noodles. Cha An, which is a tea house and is probably the most refined of his places (also the newest). Decibel, which has food that should be avoided and variable sake, make sure what you get is fresh, served in a not so nice basement. Those three (plus Hasaki), are within feet of each other. He also owns Rai Rai Ken, a noodle place I've never been to. Shabu-Tatsu East village, never been there either. Sakegura, a good high end sake bar. He may own Otafuku, the okonomiyaki place down the block from Hasaki, either he does or the guy who owns the Sunrise Mart empire does, I don't remember which (that empire includes two supermarkets, Angel Share (the bar), Around the Clock (scary diner like thing), Village Yochenko (mostly cooked bar food), the sushi place under Village Yochenko and last but not least, Dojo!!! That's right folks, two guys own many of the Japanese food establishments around St. Mark's. I suspect they have other places as well, or partial ownership interests. I've heard each group has 12-15 places. No master websites, so its a guessing game.

Walked by Per Se tonight. They now have a glass covered table set-up outside their main entrance, listing the menus of the day---also makes the fact that Per Se is there more obvious. Wonder if they read eGullet.... Was told that appeared about a month ago. Stopped into Bar Masa tonight for a drink, noted they have the same terrible, non-functional bathroom fixtures as Per Se....must be a building or shared design problem. People working at Bar Masa said conventional wisdom and gossip within the building is that Per Se loses several steps when Keller is not there---that may exaplain the uneven views on this thread.

The Salmon with tomato was my second least favorite. My least favorite (I've figured out what it was now, updating my prior post) was the pike eel. There's a finite number of wholesale high end fish places, I've heard as few as two or three. There can't be more than 25 or so places in town that will spend big bucks on fish wholesale, and I don't think that few places can support that many wholesalers. Some places do claim to order their fish from Japan, but I expect it gets cleared through a small number of dealers, importing raw fish via air express is expensive and requires permits. Bottom line is that most places are getting their fish from a small number of wholesalers, which means most of them start off with basically the same fish. Storage techniques, how much fish they refuse to serve and technqiue probably account for most of the variation we notice. I was told that years ago from the owner at Kurma, he said tossing fish that didn't meet his standards was the main technique, offering more cash to wholesalers didn't add much. I like Seki better than Gari for example, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn they get their fish from the same suppliers. This also explains why there can be wide variations in sushi within the same price range, what they do with the fish after they get it is important. Go on St. Marks for example is a real, real dive, with sushi at almost deli price levels yet its pretty decent, I've had worse sushi for more than double the $$$$, they seem to be able to handle the fish well.

1. Sunrise Mart has the same food establishment certificate as Panya, its on the wall and Sunrise Mart's legal name is Panya (guess the bakery started first). 2. I know people who know the owner, there are something like 13 restaurants in the empire. 3. Ask the people who work there. Many of the other Japanese places in the same area are part of a different empire: Soba-Ya, Ebishu (sushi place across from Sobya-Ya), the new upstairs cafe directly across from Soba-ya, Decibel all have the same owner and he has other places as well, liek Sakegura.

The Jas Mart on St. Marks usually has the best selection of raw fish. Sunrise Mart is part of an empire that includes every food establishment in the building, including Panya Bakery, Round the Clock and Angel Share, not to mention DoJo.......

Thanks for the update, but what does a "taxpayer" structure mean? ← It's usually a "temporary" stucture on a site that generates enough income to cover the property tax on what is basically unimproved land. NYC doesn't tax basically unimproved land at a high rate. Any time you see a one or two story, cheap looking stucture on what should be an expensive site, you're probably looking at a "taxpayer." Sometimes, they stay up a long time.

In the on-going sushi "wars", went to Gari last night (East Side). This was a quick trip, spent $69 on ten pieces selected by chef. Set a $70 budget....guess that becomes $69. This was very good, but a different style than I am used to. Interesting bits were: 1. Lobster, sauced with a vingerette. This came out quite well, in fact, I liked this better than lobster with butter. 2. Seared toro, one of the best treatments I've had for toro. 3. A very nice oyster. 4. A great mini-crab leg, not sure what kind of crab it came from. 5. The regular tuna was better than average, and I actually liked it, which is something because I'm sick of regular tuna. 6. Fresh white shrimp, which was second best to what I've had at Uishi. Normal bits were: 1. Sea Eel. It was above average, but not like the fresh stuff at Yasuda or Ushi Wakamaru. 2. Salmon. A little pricey to have Salmon in this kind of assortment. Served with sauteed tomatos, which might have worked a little better if the tomatos were in season. The salmon itself was good, but not exceptional. Downside bit was: Tuna tartare with pickel. The tuna was past its prime. Mot sure what to make of it bit: Some sort of white eel like accordian thing, that I didn't like much and my friend didn't either. Might have been a good example of what it is supposed to be, don't know, just didn't like it in general. We were a walk-by, service was quick and efficient and they warned us they were close to closing. Of course, whole thing was negoiated in Japanese. Pieces are moderate in size, rice was good but not special. Overall, I'd put it in the same general league as Ushi or Sushi Seki (althogh I think I like both of those places better, matter of taste). I thought it was a little pricet for what it was. I thought it was better than Yasuda. Uishi is traditional, Gari is non-traditional and Seki is somewhere in between.

Lobster is a wild product and unlike say the fish served in sushi, where a buyer can sample the product before you buy it, lobster is a pig in a poke I think, don't know what you have until you open it. And given that it isn't cheap, I don't expect that Per Se is going to trash 75% of the lobsters they buy; the probably trash the ones they really don't like. I'm sure if you buy very fresh lobsters from the right supplier, you can generally have better lobsters. And I'm sure every restaurant is always going to be a less than stellar lobster once in a while. People seem to agree that Per Se has a generally tough lobster dish. That would seem to mean something is wrong. Maybe: 1. They are buying lobster from the wrong place. 2. Maybe they are mishandling the lobsters upon arrival. 3. Maybe they are screwing up the cooking. Options 2 and 3 would seem most likely. The better question, as other people note, is why Per Se doesn't seem to have done anything about this---perhaps they don't know? I wouldn't roast Per Se over this one little issue. When I had this dish, I was like, hmmm, its pretty good lobster and a little tough---its nice but not special---not sure how different this was from a good lobster served with butter on the side that I soaked for a few seconds. In that sense lobster in general may not be the best way to show off your cooking skills---some shack in Maine can probably turn out a better lobster served with butter than any place in NY.

Hummus Place is really good, but its heavy----I sometimes bring it home and use it as an app for the meal.

When I've had lobster sashimi, its been pretty tender. You would think something cooked in lots of fat would be tender, but I'm not a food scientist.

While trying to keep this on topic (and while reminding myself to learn how to spell), a sizable portion of the diners at a place like ADNY or Per Se or Jean Georges either are special occasion diners, who have a limited frame of reference or are people who just don't have taste buds. Some of my classmates in college actually thought the dorm food was good.... That sort of thing impacts people's ability to provide meaningful views on the food of said restaurants. For an example of how this can impact a restaurant's reputation, look at Yama with sushi. Very few (perhaps no) sushi nuts think Yama is even good. Yet many. many people who don't know real sushi at all give Yama a very high rating. Tomoe sushi often tops Zagat's, and I have no idea why. I don't like the place, and neither do the Japanese people I know. At best, Tomoe is probably a somewhat above average sushi place, no where near the best in NY. This is going to really impact a place like Per Se, where much of the food is unusual. Many of their customers will never have tasted food like that before, and given the price, will be loath to think it is anything but good. Same thing applies to Jean Georges, ADNY etc. This lack of "expertise" is exactly what people accuse Bruni of: "he can't do good reviews because he doesn't know food." I don't want to argue Bruni here, but its interesting that people will claim the NYT food reviewer doesn't now food but are quite happy to assume that the general public does. Remember the Folger coffee commercials "we've replaced the coffee with Folgers...." I have a very strong hunch that if Per Se served Mighty Dog liver in aspic dog food, many people would think it was a very rustic country pate and they would eat it. I'm not joking. Half of their customers have probably never had rustic country pate before and lack a frame of reference, and others have no taste buds. Per Se wasn't bad. It's not deserving of a roasting like English is Italian got in today's NYT. But Per Se cannot make a reasonable claim on being the top restaurant in NYC, too many people, including a number of published reviews, have said too many bad things about Per Se. I have read enough restaurant reviews, eaten in enough restaurants, and have enough friends with good taste buds to conclude that conventional wisdom about any given restaurant may not be right. I think that is true about Per Se, although now other people seem to reaching a similar conclusion. In terms of French Laundry, it may be better than Per Se, it may not be, and its quite possible its good for reasons other than Keller. I learned very long ago in my line of work that the remote is sometimes true, that the facts are often not what they seem to be, and that one should be careful about one's assumptions. I'm not sure why people are unwilling to make accept the same possibilities with any given restaurant. Few people seem willing to defend V Steak House, even though its across the street from a 4 star run by the same man. Why can people accept that V is not as good as Jean Georges while assumung that Per Se must be as good as French Laundry?

Prepared eel is the pre-pack stuff, its about half the price of what is described as "fresh" on Yasuda's menu. I don't know what he told you, but its plain and clear on the menu: he offers pre-pack eel. So does Ushi Washwakmaru. We thought about ordering the combo at Yasuda, and looked very carefully at the combo pricing. It's generally the cheaper stuff from the ala carte menu and isn't that much of a bargain. In that sense, it isn't his best fish and its not comprable to Ushi's 15 for $49 special. Sure, its fun to argue about sushi and I do have a long term plan to solve this problem. Bar Masa is not getting its fish from a good place, or they mishandle it, based on my experiences there. I have not eaten at Masa itself. Masa has overhead costs per consumer that are probably several times that of Ushi or Kuruma or most other sushi places in town. I wouldn't conclude that Masa's high prices are all going to towards better fish. At a certain point, there is also a question of diminishing returns. As the owner of a three star sushi place told me, he's not sure how many people, including sushi chefs, can distinguish between the most expensive fish on the market and the close to the most expensive fish on the market.

That's a shame, Bond Girl. Wild Edibles is right near me too. I only had a couple of pieces of fish there though. They seemed good. What type of sushi ingredients do you buy at Sunrise for sushi prep at home? ← Without going into gory details, Sunrise Mart once posted a failed health inspection report. JAS mart seems to be better run.

I was under the impression, having just read 'Soul of a Chef' (which, of course, could contain some bias in it) that Keller didn't exactly "fail" with Rakel, but was just a victim of the economy at the time. Also, the idea of the FL being good "but not because of Keller" seem a bit odd. Who else would it be down to? Maybe there could be a argument made that it is the network of local purveyors who help make the FL what it is? Maybe Keller just works better outside of the city? I dunno. ← Could be lots of reasons. Some examples: 1. There are people on the Kitchen and/or front of the house staff in CA that are better than what he has in NY. This may not be directly connected to Keller. For example, I bet Montrachet's opening with Bouley was more dumb luck than a well conceived plan. Who knows? Maybe in 10 years Keller's been lucky in who he's hired and/or trained in CA. 2. Maybe the ingredents are better in CA. 3. Maybe the overall standards are lower in CA, so French Laundry seems very good compared to its local competition. 4. Maybe the atmosphere in the CA location is better and puts people in a better mood. Who knows. I'm serious though. There may be factors not directly connected to Keller that make French Laundry good, or not. Again, this goes back to Keller can't be wrong and the French Laundry must be as good as everyone says, and Per Se must be as good as French Laundry. None of that may be true, or perhaps all of it is true. I'm also somwhat distrustful of the masses. My guess is that if you served mightly dog aspic style dog food to customers at your average 4 star and told them it was french contry pate, quite a few of them would believe you. At least from a distance, they don't smell so different..... When you go through all of the hassle of reserving at a 3 star, and paying the bill, many people do not want to admit that the experience was anyhting but the best.

To say that Thomas Keller is strictly about hype is simply ridiculous. For years he has won almost unanimous praise from critics, chefs, and average diners alike. You're calling into question the integrity, honesty, and qualification of thousands of people who certainly know better than you. ← Hmmm. Yama tends to come pretty close to topping the Zagat sushi poll. As does Haru. Guess thousands of Zagat poll people must be right, two of the best sushi places in NYC. My 1999 Zagat has the Four Seasons outranking Bouley. Think that was really true? Thousands of people can't be wrong. I won't mention things like Budweiser and McD's. Once a restaurant gets labeled as good, its often viewed as good by people, no matter what their own experience is. "they must have had a bad day....my taste buds are not good rnough...etc." Enough people, both on eGullet and in print, have said enough bad things about Per Se for any reasonable person to conclude that Per Se may not be what its cracked up to be. If you assume that is true, that Per Se really isn't a four star place of the highest calibre, then either French Laundry is a better restaurant and you are left with the question of why it is better than Per Se, or you have the possibility that French Laundry may not be as good as its reputation suggests.

My close dining friend is from Tokyo, but she is so food oriented that she knows Japanese regional food pretty well. Some of my other friends are from Kumomoto. I think mackerel is traditionally vingered or pickeled becuase of health concerns with parasites..... Curious to see what your firend says.

It would be sad indeed if corner-cutting is the reason, given that the price of the 9-course has gone up by 1/6th ($150 to $175), and the price of the 5-course by 1/3rd ($125 to $175), since the NYT review came out. In percentage terms that's a pretty hefty increase, although anyone prepared to pay $125-150 at Per Se was probably not deterred by a price $25-50 higher. As far as I can tell, reservations haven't gotten any easier to snag. The question is whether Per Se has gone down, or whether flaws it always had are just finally catching up with it. ← They must have very high, fixed costs. The lease alone should be in excess of $1 million a year, although there was some unusual structure where at least initially, the landlord was absorbing some costs. I don't think they can generate revenues high enough to cover their costs and make any kind of profit. Perhaps under the terms of their lease, their expenses are now going up. Quite possible. Compare them to say ADNY, which I bet has lease costs alone that are half or less than those of Per Se. I dodn't notice any obvious cost cutting moves at Per Se, althought I though $6 for a glass of club soda was pure gouging. I wasn't fond of the staff. It reminded me of Bergdorf at its worst and most old-fashioned "you're lucky we let you in here." There are other, perhaps more cynicial, reasons why Per Se doesn't seem to be as good as people think it should be. Perhaps Keller failed in NY the first time for the right reasons, meaning he wasn't that good. Perhaps French Laundry isn't quite as good as people think, maybe its the air over there, or perhaps its as good as people think, but not because of Keller.

Try Amy's bread on Bleecker or perhaps other branches for some good cupcakes. Better than Magnola's at least.

Curious if people have Gyu-Kaku reports---early word from my Japanses friends is that it's not as good as their Japanese locations---none of my clise friends have eaten there yet.

The mackerel was vingered, not sure it was fully pickeled. Mackerel in sushi is often vingered, in fact its got a name, "Shimesaba" means vingered mackerel. I wouldn't swear what kind of mackerel this was----Japanese dining friend was told it was Spanish Mackerel, from Japan. Given that there are probably one hundred mackerel species that can be made into sushi, some of which are pretty similar, who knows if the chef knows exactly what kind it is, much less is there a special Japanese name for it, much less can anyone translate it into English. It was probably something similar to Spanish Mackerel, but could have been different fish. Even in Japan, they are not always so exact..... people in Japan will order "white fish" and depending upon the season and who knows what else, you'll get some kind of white, non-fatty fish. Ushi Wakemaru also sometimes serves something fresh killed, won't go into details, and the Japanese translation into English is the very unhelpful "flat fish." I can tell that by looking at it, looks like a flounder---but there are hundreds of species of fish that look like that----at least in Sushi, it appears they do not distinguish among flat fish species---and yes, my friend is a native speaker. The Yasuda combo deal is not directly comprable. I noticed it when I was there. For example, the eel in Yasuda's combo is pre-pack eel (the key word is "prepared" on the menu). It's not the best stuff Yasuda has to offer. Uwash Karmaru (gotta learn how to spell that) included more exotic and expensive stuff in that $49 combo. This is what I mean by at least based on what's on the menu, Yasuda's selection while large, wasn't exotic. Possible Yasuda has off menu stuff. Time to learn Japanese. Like the time I ordered sharku at Sushi Seki---not something I'll do again....that's mantis shrimp by the way.