JasonTrue

I'm fairly sure I've seen unfiltered apple juice in department stores once or twice, but it was rather extravagantly expensive. I'm not sure if it was as thick as the ideal non-alcoholic apple cider in the US, because I wasn't about to pay 1500 yen for a liter of it when the most expensive ones in Seattle are about $8/gallon.

Cafe Presse seems decidedly louder to me than Le Pichet, but perhaps I've just been lucky. Also, I've only had dinner or dessert at Presse and I've only had brunch at Pichet.

I don't know the specific place you're referring to, but the difference between average tempura served at a ryokan or at home or a non-tempura-focused restaurant, and that at a tempura specialty restaurant, was night and day in my experience. I was surprised by the quality at a little place near Ginza that a friend's parents took me to. I know the price was substantially higher than you'd find as an add-on thing, but there was no comparison. Tempura had been, until relatively recently, restricted to the wealthiest sectors of society, as traditional rapeseed oil extraction was laborious and expensive. My understanding is that the technique was introduced by way of early Portuguese traders, although it seems to have evolved a bit.

I second the blood orange kit kat... I got one a couple weeks ago and it was surprisingly decent. Not too sweet, not too fake. I'd take it over the "original" kit kat any day.

Walker Plus (or their printed equivalents) is where Hiromi often starts. I think they don't really write unflattering reviews, but it's certainly an useful resource. I think most ryokan serve regional specialties. However, the quality varies widely, and doesn't always correspond to price... I'm not sure I've seen any reviews other than from people I know which are reliable indicators of the food part of the picture at a ryokan.

My understanding is that Tokyo put a number of restrictions on newer yatai which has probably yielded negative growth as older yatai operators retire.

Because I got a surplus of free nashi about a year ago from an orchard north of Seattle, I discovered nashi-oroshi, basically grated nashi in the style of daikon. Topped with a little ginger, it works in many applications for which daikon-oroshi would work. Here, I had it for hiyayakko with some grated ginger: Nashi no hiyayakko I think mul kimchi is good with the addition of some nashi. Probably I would lean toward pickling if I had too many nashi again. Or just pureed into a sorbet. Perhaps infused into vodka.

Yay, oshiruko! It's actually easy enough to make the red bean part that I never buy it, except from the hot serve beverage vending machines on a cold winter day when I'm actually in Japan. However, I am also very fond of the version with shiratama instead of mochi.

Vessel, Zig Zag, Licorous, and Sambar are my favorite cocktail spots in Seattle. Vessel's happy hour food offerings aren't that much of a deal, as I recall, so you could probably even show up a bit late without much penalty. Since you're eating dinner later, I'd second the Vessel recommendation; they have some small plate offerings and you'd be just a block or two away from your final destination. I haven't been to Purple yet, but if you're looking for wine rather than cocktails that might be a better option.

Importing any kind of food in quantities considered reasonable for for personal consumption is relatively uncomplicated, if a bit expensive. However, the US generally requires a prior notice filing at the FDA web site. I'm not quite sure if this has since been relaxed for personal shipments. I think Hiromi sent me something a few months ago without personally filing prior notice using the post office, but it's possible that the Japanese post office has simply streamlined that process. If you want to import quantities suitable for resale, typically you'll need to fill up a 20 ft container, or use air freight. This is because, thanks to extra inspection risk involved in transporting food, almost no freight company is willing to do "less than container load" (LCL) shipments of food by ocean. Any one shipment in a consolidated container chosen for inspection will hold up the whole container. All food imports are subject to review and potential inspection by the FDA, USDA and Customs. Any one, or all, of the agencies can put a hold on your shipment until they get a chance to inspect it. If they do so, you'll typically pay your shipping vendors extra storage charges. As for tariffs and such, I think there's a duty of 1.4 cents per kilogram of rice from Japan (and most other countries). http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/import/duty_rates/

Japanese certainly see Japanese cuisine as strongly regional. You should see topics for several regions within Japan inside this forum. There's also a meibutsu thread . Japan's about 25% larger than Italy, though I guess that's not so obvious from just looking at a map. In general, for example, the further North you go to Akita, Iwate, and presumably Hokkaido, the more salt is used in cooking (from miso, pure salt or soy sauce). The further West you go, lighter and more mild tasting food is preferred. Additionally, even within the same geographic region, there are historical differences in the way coastal and mountain people ate, for purely logistic reasons. Those differences are now disappearing to some extent thanks to trucking, but historically you'd see more bird and rabbit consumption in the mountains, obviously more river fish like ayu, and more foraged foods like mushrooms and mountain vegetables like butterbur, fern fronds and so on. Certainly far less fresh seafood than in areas near the ocean. Sushi is essentially Tokyo food, even though it's now popular around the country. Okonomiyaki is very Osaka (and another style entirely is served in Hiroshima). Ramen styles vary a lot across the country, with the milky-cloudy Hakata ramen in the Fukuoka/Hakata area in west Japan notably different from the standard types served elsewhere. A number of things are distinct to particular areas, like godoufu in Saga prefecture (distinct enough that many Tokyo people have never heard of it), oyaki in Nagano, houtou nabe (a wide noodle hot pot seasoned with miso) in Yamanashi, houba miso in Gifu. Fresh yuba is particularly notable in Kyoto, although it's certainly eaten elsewhere. Dried, rolled yuba seemed to be a favorite in Nikko. A number of fish were not universally available before widespread refrigerated trucking. Even fish used for soup stock historically varied. Katsuo, for example, weren't typically used in Akita cooking because it wasn't caught nearby, even though katsuo-bushi are now pervasive all over Japan. Niboshi, small dried whole fish, are still preferred for making soup stock in, I think, West Japan, including Yamaguchi prefecture. Regional climate differences also make certain foods more common in each region. Hokkaido used to have a lot more lamb/sheep than today, but they were once an important food source. Dairy products from Hokkaido appear to have the most cache. Aomori is famous for apples, and Japanese-style sweets like wagashi will incorporate apples (or apple flavor) into their recipes. The mountains in Shizuoka make it a good place to grow tea. Ume seem to grow well around Wakayama, so that area is famous for umeboshi. Kochi is good for growing yuzu, though they can do reasonably well even in the Kanto area.

As you know, I'm vegetarian, but Hiromi certainly eats fish when we go out, and occasionally at home. Most of the time she prefers simple preparations. She usually eats salmon raw in the first day, perhaps with wasabi and soy sauce. Then, if any is left, as tataki, basically seared and left as close to raw inside as possible. There is a kind of miso flavored nabe with salmon too. Other than shioyaki, mackerel is sometimes salt cured then vinegar brined. Nimono (simmered) with dashi, soy sauce and mirin for certain types of fish, like "karei" (a category including flounder and halibut). (This technique is, I think, somewhat analogous to Korean "chorim" except seasoned very lightly). Some fish can be grilled with the seasoning inside, using something like miso and scallions. Buri (yellowtail or mullet?) can be glazed with mirin and soy sauce, one of very few instances where the phrase "something (no) teriyaki" is actually used in Japanese.

Depends on the shop, but it's certainly possible that they are made in the shop. Even most of the "artisanal" shops tend to make them offsite, however. They may not use less food coloring, or even be particularly, as even expensive Japanese pickles often have added artificial sweeteners, glutamates, and so on. As I've noted before about umeboshi, the less-salty umeboshi tend to be loaded with weird ingredients, even at high price points. However, many of these companies certainly make better-tasting tsukemono than most of what's available in the US. We can find good Korean tsukemono made by local Korean American shops, but for some reason, not much Japanese pickle-making goes on even in urban areas of the US. The shelf life of the better pickles in Japan tends to be much shorter than the export ones, but I think the main barrier is cost. Airfreight would cost the importer roughly $4/lb, which means you'll probably pay about $12-16/lb for just the shipping costs at retail if something goes through typical wholesale and retail markup. Ocean freight, which takes about 30 days transport, would work out to be pennies a pound, but the hurdle in that case is refrigeration, and the 20ft-40ft shipping containers. Without a known customer base that would take the whole shipment quickly, it's a pretty big risk for most importers. The food importers I have spoken with (I only do it on a small scale) generally don't have much faith in the high end of the market, except for things like seafood which are proven. It'll probably take the success of a Japanese equivalent of the fancy gourmet Italian specialty shop before the better quality items start being imported. If I were opening a fancy Japanese specialty shop in the US, I'd probably mostly make my own pickles to test the market (and for better margins, except for the few ingredients that are cheaper in Japan). That depends on the pickle. Some of the "wasabi-zuke" or "karashi-zuke" that Hiromi likes only have about a week or two of life in them once opened, but most vacuum-sealed ones can keep without refrigeration until opened, even if they are stored chilled at the supermarket to extend the shelf life. Generally, I wouldn't worry about it, unless they packaged them in front of you or sold them in deli-style containers.

When sold at retail, I've mostly seen Japanese matsutake in department store basement shops, rather than ordinary supermarkets. Of course, the same department stores offer Korean matsutake at about 1/2-2/3 the price, and Chinese ones at about 1/10 the price. North American white matsutake were sold at roughly the Korean matsutake price or cheaper. Japan grown matsutake rarely show up in Japan! Most of the ones sold in the supermarkets are from Korea, Canada and China. I have a feeling the Japanese ones end up mostly in high end restaurants. A couple years ago we were driving the the mountainous area of Shizuoka and in the middle of absolutely nowhere there was this little stand selling matsutake. I was so excited I made my husband pull the car over and I rushed out only to notice the fine print on the bottom of the sign: Grown in China. ←

I think I had that impression too, for a few minutes, probably because it was so strangely quiet (not to mention not very full) when we went. However, we settled in quickly. The formality is somewhat incongruous for Seattle. And yet I can't fault them for service in the least, even the initial (gentle) olive oil sales pitch. The interior does seem a bit sterile, perhaps, but I suppose you'd expect it to be immaculate considering the cost, even if it is a bit bland. I've felt more uncomfortable when confronted with the judgmental waitstaff of the average hipper-than-thou Capitol Hill establishment, who seem so impressed by their restaurant's mediocre offerings (and themselves, perhaps) that they just didn't understand why they deserve to be bothered by inadequately reverent riffraff/customers.

No, not really. Perhaps in some truly obsessive circles, with FedEx overnighted packages sent to the personal chefs of billionaires. However, it's possible that a species similar to the Japanese one coming from China or Korea might find its way to the US at some point. In rural areas of Japan where there are local foragers with good barter relationships, matsutake aren't always extravagant. The ones I had at Del Cook were foraged by an 80 year old woman who still dives for abalone and runs a Japanese restaurant, who apparently traded them for beer. In urban areas, though, close-gilled matsutake can fetch a hefty premium; it's not unusual to see five or six small, good Japan-foraged matsutake at 30,000 yen or so, roughly 400-500g (1 lb).

Dobin mushi is probably the best use of American matsutake. I've found most grilled dishes with them disappointing. Grilled matsutake in Japan, or even a risotto, with the Japanese species was pleasant, but I feel like most of the American matsutake are quite tough and way too intense. I think a risotto might work with with American matsutake, but the one I had at Del Cook in the Nose valley near Osaka was made with large pieces of matsutake, and I think American matsutake would need to be cut much smaller to be pleasant. I really liked matsutake-soba, soba with a matsutake-infused kakejiru. However, it turned a 800 yen lunch into a 1980 yen one The chawan-mushi idea sounds good too, but again, that would basically mean simmering the matsutake into a stock to extract the aroma and flavor. I suggest making the matsutake foil-yaki with some maitake in the mix, at least with American matsutake, due to the texture of American matsutake.

Slice, simmer them with water and dried kelp for a fairly long time, seasoned gently with a little salt and soy sauce, a little mirin. Upon serving, garnish with mitsuba. I believe this sometimes involves small pieces of chicken, probably thighs. Serve in a clay teapot if you can, or very small bowls, and consume mostly for the broth. Or slice, grill (gently though), and serve with roasted ginnan. This doesn't work as well with North American matsutake because the flavor is too strong; Japanese matsutake have a strong aroma and mild flavor, whereas North American ones have a strong flavor and a mild aroma. If you have open-gilled matsutake you might be better off making matsutake-gohan, rice with matsutake, which someone else can possibly explain better than I. The two times I've had that at home it involved a matsutake-gohan kit (pre-blanched, seasoned matsutake and other wild mushrooms) and a rice cooker.

I agree with tsquare on this: that's actually how we ordered at Lampreia; we skipped the mains. Though part of that has to do with my vegetarian habits--it was easier to accommodate me that way, and Hiromi still got her crab in apple thing.

Hiromi and I haven't generally gone out for truly extravagant meals very often, but Lampreia made both of us very happy. I love Lark, and highly recommend it, but the two restaurants are in a different category. Lark is about elegant simplicity. Every one of their dishes you could make at home without much struggle, but probably won't. Lampreia has some of that, but also things that you'd never really imagine, or at least are unlikely to take the time to produce at home. Also the service at Lampreia is in a completely different league... I think we were slightly intimidated at first, but were made as comfortable as possible and the staff was incredibly adept at anticipating small needs. The only problem for me is that my (reasonably flexible) vegetarian habits aren't really given much consideration at Lampreia, but we did ok.

You should also check that fish shop in Interbay at the Fisherman's terminal... (forgetting the name); as I recall from friends who were gift-shopping, their prices were lower than average and quality fairly decent.

Really? Sourdough is not traditional? Isn't cake yeast only about a 140-year old ingredient? I believe naan is considerably older than that. I would think that the yogurt that is sometimes added to the dough in yeasted recipes is designed to simulate the complexity of sourdough.

I've talked to a farmer in Hawaii growing tea, but they cannot produce enough to sell much further than their estate. Cost isn't a huge factor for tea production; Japan still produces a huge amount of tea, both low-end and high-end. I think the climate is a bigger factor, and the mountain climates required for high quality tea are often excluded from cultivation because most are national parks in the US.

You might try adding lemon juice. If it's not sweet enough you can add a little sugar.

Jilsiru Cafe in Seoul used the broad category "ddeok", but I think the different varieties all had more specific names. Photos of some of their sweets here