yakiniku

In the Japantown mall, Mifune, and for a true Japanese experience, the little place on the bridge between the two malls. They don't serve traditional Japanese food there, but my friends from Japan love it for comfort food and the Japanese periodicals on every surface.

That tree sounds really difficult! And I hadn't heard about the gingko poisoning, either! When I tried to follow the link above, it had expired. But I'll google and see what I find. We've been eating them at the local izakaya. Pan fried in the shells, so the shells turn a beautiful mottled tortoiseshell color. They open partially, revealing the shiny green nuts. Served with a dish of salt, we shell them, roll them in the salt and eat--really delicious. But I'm definitely in danger of gingko nut poisoning if you're not supposed to eat more than ten!

Meltykiss is seasonal, and goes on and off the market, but I forget which season--I think it's a winter chocolate.

I've gotten Yakiniku sauces in Mitsuwa grocery store in San Jose. I think they have other stores in other locations, like LA and New Jersey. The Yakiniku sauce is exactly the same kind my friend used to use in Tokyo. She was going to load up a suitcase with it but luckily we found it in the market here!

We've added another 15 since I last posted. Most interesting: Mrs. Chiang's Szechuan Cookbook the Mandarin Way (by Cecilia Chang) Eight Immortal Flavors (Johnny Kan) I seem to be working on an historical Chinese cookbook collection. Also picked up (but am not counting) China to Chinatown: Chinese Food in the West by JAG Roberts.

At this rate I will have to move to LA!

Yeah, their business card notes "Next to McDonald's" right under the address. They seem very new. We didn't go to Sam Woo. We really wanted to, but time was limited. And thanks for the mention of the other places to try--we were only there for a few days and want to go back, if only to eat!

Thanks for the tip about Nak's, I hadn't thought to look there for SJ Tofu! And now you're making me want to try the Nijiya house tofu...

If they take him to KFC (hugely popular there), if the Lao Beijing is still on the menu, it's fried chicken with hoisin sauce and shredded green onion, wrapped in a thin pancake (kinda like Peking Duck. sorta).

That link isn't working. ← That's odd; it didn't quote properly, either. ← Urk. That's what I get for hand coding my html... Seems to work now!

Thanks to the eGulleteers, we ate really well on our recent trip to LA. We got a great meal at Mayflower (in downtown Chinatown)--next door to MonKee which is <I>still</I> undergoing renovations (they were disassembling the awning when we were there). At Mayflower we had the lobster special, which is lobster quick fried in garlic, ginger, and green onion; yee mien; and sauteed peashoots (dou miao). We had great dim sum at Sea Harbor Seafood on Rosemead Blvd in Rosemead--and another interesting meal at New Concept on S. Atlantic Blvd in Monterey Park. We admired (but didn't actually enjoy) the sweets at New Concept--they seemed pretty different to anything we'd had anywhere else. But the baked char siu bao were fantastic, light, almost delicate. They were the lightest bao we'd ever had--but they were the first thing we ate, and set a standard the rest of the meal didn't quite reach. We had really good dimsum in a surprising place--a restaurant in Irvine that looks like it's a converted TGIFriday's. It's <A HREF="http://www.russellsseafoodpalace.com">Russell's Seafood Palace</A> 1818 Main Street in Irvine. We had an excellent dan tat (I'm not really a fan, but this was tasty) and delicious jook with preserved egg. (We also had a very entertaining meal at Soot Bull Jeep in Koreatown, but I guess that doesn't really belong in this topic--since it's a Korean restaurant!) Thanks to all who gave advice here!

Great web page! Koi Palace is definitely good!

I thought that San Jose Tofu only had the one kitchen for making tofu? Their kitchen/shop at 175 Jackson in San Jose's Japantown is the only one I'd heard about. I've only been to Ishihara once and thought their SJ Tofu was delivered and carefully doled out from the back room to make sure no regular customers miss their tofu. The Mountain View Nijiya gets San Jose tofu delivered (I think the delivery day is Wednesday but will check next time I'm in. I hear the SF Nijiya gets SJ Tofu but you have to get there early in the day. (and I echo the note about Mitsuwa--it's great!)

Is there still a food mall in the basement of the Oriental Plaza? That was a great way to grab a quick snack--especially if your Mandarin is as limited as mine.

I count 240 here. I think the most unusual is Kitchen Confidential translated into Mandarin Chinese. (PS I just read the entire 58 pages of this thread--making notes all the way. Think I have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome now, though!)

er, I read that as the "Miss Piggy Cookbook" at first and did a doubletake when the restaurant was mentioned! I'm pretty new, and haven't read through this whole topic yet, but I'm looking forward to checking out recommendations, and maybe getting around to counting our books. We have about 20 linear feet of bookshelves, if that's any indication. Our big score this week was Howard Mitcham's Provincetown Seafood Cookbook, which we'd been looking for after seeing it mentioned in Kitchen Confidential. We picked it up for $8 and found out it was listed for between $50 and $100 on Amazon!

Thanks for the photos, both here and on flickr! Things to bring back: if your sister likes Chinese tea, I'd definitely say she should get tea. I can't find tea in the US that's quite as fresh as it is even from the ordinary supermarket in Shanghai. Though there's a very expensive tea shop in Xintiandi that sells nicely packaged tea that's good for gifts. Also, she might want to try some of the flower teas, like crysanthemum. Or eight treasure tea, which a friend of mine likes. My mom really liked the flower tea balls I got her one year--they are best served in glass because when you steep the ball of tea, it opens up and you can see the dried flower inside. For things to do: it's an emblem of the New Shanghai, not the old, but getting a drink on the outside deck at New Heights at Three on the Bund is the best view of the river and the skyscrapers of PuDong. Check out the art gallery on the third floor, some really interesting contemporary art. And a block away, there's a great little shop a couple doors from the Bund that sells beautiful embroidered slippers. --- (ps. Hi everyone, this is my first post on eGullet.)