Megu

[Mark Sommelier]

I agree with Mark -- that really is a pet peeve of mine as well. You'd think Bruni would at least be aware of this seemingly simple designation, or surely his editor.

Maybe I should see how he likes that fabulous Iranian caviar from Ohio.

Thanks, sashimi. The same applies to "150 Year Old Grand Marnier". ça n'existe pas!!

[oakapple]

The glaring error Mr. Bruni makes in his descriptions of the food: "The Kobe beef, which comes from Texas.....".  This is my new pet peeve. If the beef is not imported from Kobe, it is not Kobe beef.

Megu is a restaurant operated by Japanese people, and they call it Kobe beef on the menu, as is customary nowadays even when the beef isn't really from there. Bruni could have pointed this out, but then he'd need to do so in every review he writes where "Kobe" beef is served — and these days that's pretty common, and not just in Japanese restaurants. It would be rather tiresome to see this in review after review. The more appropriate place to say so is in a feature article about where so-called "Kobe" beef on restaurant menus these days really comes from, and if I recall correctly the Times did run such a feature quite recently.

[Mark Sommelier]

The glaring error Mr. Bruni makes in his descriptions of the food: "The Kobe beef, which comes from Texas.....".  This is my new pet peeve. If the beef is not imported from Kobe, it is not Kobe beef.

Megu is a restaurant operated by Japanese people, and they call it Kobe beef on the menu, as is customary nowadays even when the beef isn't really from there. Bruni could have pointed this out, but then he'd need to do so in every review he writes where "Kobe" beef is served — and these days that's pretty common, and not just in Japanese restaurants. It would be rather tiresome to see this in review after review. The more appropriate place to say so is in a feature article about where so-called "Kobe" beef on restaurant menus these days really comes from, and if I recall correctly the Times did run such a feature quite recently.

In that case, the menu should say Kobe style beef.

[slkinsey]

In that case, the menu should say Kobe style beef.

Oh? Should it say "cheddar style cheese" unless the cheese comes from Cheddar, England?

[tommy]

strangely, i once had an argument with a chef and staff over him referring to his kobe beef, from kobe, as "kobe-style" on his menu.; i assured him that it was OK and proper to just say "kobe beef". he felt that while the beef was from kobe, there is no real designation of "kobe beef".

i suppose it comes down to the existence of a generally accepted standard and one which is defined by some sort of official-sounding beef organization. otherwise it just comes down to opinion, and who gives a crap about opinions.

[Daniel]

In that case, the menu should say Kobe style beef.

Oh? Should it say "cheddar style cheese" unless the cheese comes from Cheddar, England?

"Cheddar cheese is a type of cheese originally made in the English town of Cheddar, in Somerset. Cheddar-style cheeses are produced in the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and Australia.

Cheddar has perhaps always been the most popular cheese in England. A pipe roll of King Henry II records the purchase of 10,420 pounds at a farthing a pound.

The term Cheddar is also used to refer to a family of hard aged cheeses. Cheeses such as Gloucester, Cheshire, Leicester, Stilton, Lancashire, Derby, Wensleydale, French Cantal, and Caerphilly all belong to the Cheddar family. Cheddaring refers to an additional step in the production of cheddar-style cheese where the curd is cut into cubes, stacked, and turned"

According to www.free-definition.com you should.

I tried to see what there definition of kobe beef was but got caught up reading kobe tai's bio.

[Nathan]

technically speaking, "Kobe-style" beef would refer to Wagyu beef that has been rubbed down etc....of course, there is no evidence that those rituals do anything for the quality of the beef (or even that they do much of it in Kobe these days -- someone correct me if I'm wrong on whether they still really do it).

of course, the whole point of "Kobe Beef" is the high fat content of the Wagyu breed, and indeed those cows can be bred basically anywhere (especially Australia and Texas)...so for all practical purposes, any Wagyu beef is Kobe beef -- at least for purposes of flavor (which is the whole point isn't it)

[tommy]

technically speaking, "Kobe-style" beef would refer to Wagyu beef that has been rubbed down etc

from what source do you get this info?

[slkinsey]

Some interesting points made, and worth making. I will suggest, however, that Megu's and Bruni's use of "kobe beef" to describe waygu beef from America is not particularly relevant to a discussiuon of Megu as a restaurant or of this review as it relates to Megu as a restaurant. So, if there is significant sentiment to continue this fork of the discussion, please start a new thread in General Food Topics.

[Jason Perlow]

Lobel's of NYC takes pride on calling their Wagyu just plain Australian Wagyu.

[alacarte]

Had a most interesting, if overpriced, dinner at Megu last night. Since the menu was (predictably) overwhelming, we ordered the chef's omakase, priced at $80 per person. That's the least expensive of three versions of omakase. They don't tell you what the difference is between each version, you just pick a price point and go.

We gave the chef some restrictions: no meat, no shellfish, just fish and vegetables. The waitress was very accommodating about this, asking also about any allergies to nuts and tolerance to spicy foods. (We were OK with both).

--First course: A "caesar salad" with a light citrus dressing and fresh shaved parmesan, including croutons made of half-bread and half-tofu. I couldn't taste the difference in the croutons.

--Second course: An edamame "tree," with the pods still on the branch. The waitress pointed out that the pods are flown in from Japan and are never frozen. To be honest, I couldn't detect any difference in taste and texture between Megu's edamame and the frozen specimens served in most Japanese restaurants. The presentation was striking: the branches are propped up in a mound of shaved ice, which glows green from a battery-operated light bulb beneath the ice. At this point, I was wondering -- when's the fish going to get here??

--Third course: The fish arrives! An appetizer-sized portion of hamachi (yellowtail) sushi, fanned out beautifully, each with a fresh peppercorn in the middle and a thin stream of ponzu sauce poured across each piece of fish at the table. This was a wonderful dish, fresh, flavorful, and attractive.

--Fourth course: Fat asparagus spears rolled in a spicy breadcrumb crust. It was far too spicy, after eating one I had to give up.

--Fifth course: Seared fluke served with a salad of julienned carrots, daikon, and radish sprouts. A server came to our table with a small bowl of hot oil, which was spooned over each piece of fish to sear it at the table. The waitress mixes the salad with a soy-based dressing, and the fish is served on top of the salad along with cashew nuts and Chinese berries (they look like small dried cranberries.)

--Sixth course: Sushi! Eight pieces (for two people) of tuna, sea urchin, a white fish, and yellowtail. The waitress grated a piece of fresh wasabi root at the table -- apparently what we usually get is a horseradish paste that is not real wasabi. Although she assured is that the grated wasabi is milder than the usual paste, I think Mr. alacarte would beg to differ.

(We inserted our own "extra" here -- a single piece of o-toro sashimi. The presentation was hilarious -- on top of a wooden board, the sushi chef carefully placed two scrubbed white rocks and a red leaf, plus the one piece of fish. Artful, but a little silly.)

--Last course: a green tea "layer cake" and cups of hot green tea, which was a fine, light finish to the meal.

If I go back to Megu, I will order a la carte for sure. Overall, my assessment is that I would have liked more fish and less fanfare with my meal.

[nikkib]

Admin: threads merged.

Any comments?

[gagit]

any comments on the Megu experience will be appreciated.

[raji]

I highly doubt that they are serving the same ingredient quality at the same level of execution as when they first opened. Some friends have told me about their visits and they're over it -

I don't know why but certain Japanese restauranteurs feel like they need to offer a spectacle along with the food because Americans will simply not be excited by good Japanese food alone. i.e. Benihana, Ninja, Megu, Morimoto - that, and NY offers a venue for their flagship where they will really display the cajones

That said, an initial visit to Megu will be marvelous. A 2nd visit will be decent if you order nothing you ordered the first time. After that, there's a severe dropoff when you start to actually get actively pissed that you're paying for an ice sculpture bhudda and over $10 for asparagus.

Here's the perfect situation for Megu: you have clients in from out of town, say, the midwest, and you really want to score a good impression. They might be back in a year at which point again you'll be forced to shell out the exorbitant sum for a visit there.

First few times I went there I always saw members of the NY Knicks there. Nuff said.