jkonick

I've been repeatedly disappointed by U-District banh mi. I'll have to check this out, but three bucks for banh mi seems a little steep

Has anyone been to Kaname, the new Japanese place that is now occupying the former Takohachi space? I'm not sure how long it's been there, but I just walked by today. The menu looks pretty similar to Takohachi's; they've still got the saba shioyaki, but no bacon fried rice Looks like they also have a good selection of shochu/sake.

Looks like the new Samurai is going in on 43rd and the Ave.

I would suggest Tea Garden, on Rainier, just south of Jackson. It has a parking lot, and at least last time I went there the dim sum was good, comparable to Jade Garden. Unfortunately I haven't had any dim sum in four months - I've been out of the country. Anything new on the dim sum front in Seattle? I need to get back into action!

Having now been in Nantes for three and a half months, I have a few things to add... Nantes has a great market every week I believe from Tue-Sun, although Sunday is the best day to go. It's called Marche Talensac, and it's at Place Talensac. Great seafood selection including some Bretagne-only specialties. The Christmas market just started up here yesterday - it runs from late November to late December. There are lots of booths with seasonal Christmas foods, as well as craft/gift type things. Unfortunately I can't recommend any restaurants since on my student budget I haven't eaten out much, but if you want something cheap I would suggest going to any of the many kebab places around the city. Ok, so it's not really French at all, BUT it's cheap and the only thing open at 2 a.m. when you're stumbling out of a bar and really hungry. It's pretty much like your average gyro/shawarma/etc, only they come in a sort of hybrid pita/baguette thing and come with a fried egg. Order it with sauce blanche or sauce samourai if they have it.

Merci beaucoup! I will be sure to check those places out and report back.

I will be leaving soon for Nantes, where I'll be spending four months studying at the University of Nantes. In those four months I plan on doing a lot of eating, so, what's good around there? Does anyone live in or near Nantes? If so, I'd love to get together to eat and get a local's perspective. Thanks!

George's Deli on Madison (907 Madison) has a great selection of mostly Polish meats, plus a lot of other great Polish stuff if that's your thing. My Polish roommate swears by this place.

Jeniac42: I found this on amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/506XG4015-Takoyaki-P...79107709&sr=8-1 It's an actual takoyaki pan, and not much more expensive than the one you found. I actually got mine at Uwajimaya, a Japanese grocery store in Seattle, I think for around the same price. The only problem with using an aebelskiver/other non-takoyaki specific pan, is that the indentations might be too big. But I mean, it's not like really big takoyaki would be all that much of a tragedy!

Hiroyuki, I'm so excited to see you blogging. Your posts on the Japan forum are always great, so I'm looking forward to this week! What kinds of local foods do you have in your area? Rice obviously... I'm also interested in the close attention paid to food in season in Japan, so I hope to see some examples of that in your blog.

MSG on everything. Or plain, by the spoonful. Not that great on ice cream though... I posted about this in the 3 am food thread, but a few weeks ago I made deep fried pizza. The batter was made from fettucini alfredo with shrimp, pancake batter, milk, and mashed potatoes. It was then wrapped with ham and nori, and dipped in barbecue sauce. The thought makes me want to vomit now, but at the time it was amazing.

Racheld: I don't even know how to thank you for that honor. I will wear it with pride. Jende: unfortunately there are no photographs. I actually felt pretty good the next day, although I woke up a few times in the middle of the night with sharp pains in my stomach...

If anything, I'd say that serving bottled water is more pretentious than refusing to serve it. Personally I think the idea of paying for something I can get for free is just absurd, and I've never really seen the purpose of bottled water, aside from foreign countries maybe. The environmental impact on top of that just makes it a stronger argument.

I've never worked in a restaurant with a closed kitchen, so I can't really compare, but I've been working in a restuarant with an open kitchen for the last year or so, and it has been a sometimes great and sometimes not-so-great experience. Some of the things I love about it are that you have a direct connection with the people for whom you're making food. It's very rewarding to see whatever you've been working on being enjoyed by someone rather than just having it go off to a mysterious invisible table. It's also nice (or torture, depending on how long my shift is..) to, in my case anyway, be able to see outside and have lots of natural light. There are also lots of downsides. Customers sitting around the kitchen asking lots of questions while you're totally swamped is annoying, as are incessant little kids and drunk people (there's really not much of a difference), or people wearing so much perfume you can hardly smell the food you're preparing. You also have to be constantly aware of how you're presenting yourself, what you say, how you act. Once a customer complained because I pulled my pants up (they were sagging a little, and I only touched the waist line) and didn't change my gloves. What are your experiences working (or on the other side of things, eating) in open kitchens? How do they compare to closed kitchens?

Had to resurrect this thread to add: olive, green pepper, mushroom and sausage pizza, dipped in a batter made from fettucini alfredo with shrimp, mashed potatoes, pancake batter and milk, deep fried, then wrapped with ham and seaweed, sprinkled with furikake and dipped in barbecue sauce. I wouldn't have believed it myself if one of my friends hadn't mentioned it again this morning. Edited to add, as my memory becomes less hazy: The night started off with three pounds of shrimp, which went into the aformentioned pizza, as well as: Shrimp chowder/bisque made with shrimp stock (made with the heads, some red onion, and just about every spice and herb in the kitchen, simmered for a few hours), salmon cream cheese, butter, milk, mashed potatoes, and more shrimp. Deep fried shrimp shells sprinkled with salt, deep fried shrimp shells filled with salmon cream cheese and pureed shrimp. Deep fried shrimp dipped in hot sauce/barbecue sauce/cream cheese. Also, everything was deep fried in olive oil, which is the only oil my friends had.