May 28th 2010

Baby Yellowtail from Fukuoka

Rudder Fish from Nagasaki

Shaver Snapper from Nagasaki


Bartailed Flathead fish from Fukuoka

May 25th 2010

Blue Snapper from Niijima Island

Ruby Snapper from Ogasawara Island

Crimson Snapper from Hachijyo Island

Golden Eye Snapper from Niijima Island

May 21st 2010

Black Snapper from Nagasaki.

Parrot Fish from Nagasaki.

Horse King from Nagasaki.

It does not look like mackerel,

but this is one of the best from the mackerel family.

Even if you do not like mackerel, you should definitely try this one.

Cooked egg and liver of black snapper. we will served with sushi.

before/after

May 19th 2010

This is which we got today, I think we do not need any word to discribe for this tuna

May 18th 2010

Gnome Fish from Hachijo Island

Threeline Grunt Fish from Izu-Oshima Island

Golden Eye Snapper from Miyake Island

May 15th 2010

Parrot Fish from Nagasaki

Baby Yellowtail from Fukuoka

Kelp Grouper/Kue from Nagasaki

Sauteed Sweetbread

served with sauteed smoked bacon and baby onion

May 14th 2010

Black Snapper from Nagasaki

Golden Thread from Saga

Young Stripe Bass from Fukuoka

Today's Dessert

blood orange mousse and coconut sorbet served with pumpkin soup

May 13th 2010

Which drink would you pick for a grilled lobster?

You can match the color of the lobster with Chateau de Roquefort Rose (and of course they taste great together), or go classic with Domaine Pierre Muscadet. You can also be more adventurous and seek for a new experience with Yuho, a Junmai Ginjo sake made to go with western food (The brewer loves western food and made this sake for herself and all others like her). It is especially good with butter/cream sauce.

Yoshinogawa Pairing Dinner report

Yoshinogawa brewery is in NY and they participated in the pairing dinner we had around their sake on Tuesday May 11th. People from SakeOne, the sake company representing the brewery here in the US were also at the dinner, all strategically seated among the diners, so that they are there not only to answer questions about the sake, but also to enjoy the pairing and make friends with the diners, in the true spirit of 1 or 8!!!


Yoshinogawa brewery is located in Niigata prefecture, which is a region with deep snow in the winter, well known for its exquisite rice and of course, sake. This particular brewery has a history of over 460 years, a family tradition of 19 generations.


Some photos from the dinner -
Amuse-bouche: Homemade smoked salmon with fennel puree,
paired with Yoshinogawa Daiginjyo.

We basically took the sake's flavor components, deconstructed it and transformed it into a bite.

The sake has a slight nuttiness, so we slightly smoked the salmon. The scent of fennel in the sake is translated in the dish as the purreed fennel, and the green herb flavor as the chive oil. The thickness of the sake is also reflected in the fat of salmon. Then the pink pepper pulls everything together.



Bonito salad paired with Echigo Junmai.

The Junmai's mushroomy and rustic flavor is is here paired with the iron rich taste of bonito.




Grilled rack of lamb with miso crust with soy ratatouille, paired with Yoshinogawa Gensen Karakuchi.


We tried here to bring up the aroma of lamb with the sharpness of this dry sake. The miso crust is also here to accompany the strong depth of the body of this sake.




Gazpacho - This was served as a little rest between the two main courses - no sake was paired with it. The soup itself was tomato, shiso, bonito broth and a sprinkle of garlic oil. Simple goodness.








Then there was the assorted sushi nigiri paired with Yoshinogawa Gokujo Ginjo. I unfortunately forgot to take a picture of the plate, so I have to leave this one to your imagination. The nigiris were 3 pieces, a pacific salmon, stripe bass and sea eel.




Dessert was green tea and white chocolate mousse with preserved yuzu skin, paired with Yoshinogawa Ginjo.

The citrus flavor in the Ginjo sake is here enhanced by the preserved yuzu skin, and the green tea's slight bitterness is counter balancing the sweetness of the sake.




There was an extra pour by the brewery - a very special sake that was awarded gold at the National New Sake Tasting Competition in 2007. They kept this award winning sake for 3 years refrigerated at -3 celsius (which is 26.6 fahrenheit) to make it a Koshu = aged sake. This is not in the market, so we will never see this one again. It was an amazingly generous gesture from the brewery to share this bottle with us.

The aging made its aroma and taste round and soft, with still a very good balance of the Daiginjo aroma and the umami of the rice. There was a slight chocolate like aroma at the end. The finishing was extremely long and enjoyable.



So this was the pairing dinner of the month of May -
It is hard to describe the experience of a pairing dinner without being there with the food, sake, encounters with fellow diners... We hope more of you can join us on the next one, which will be anounced sometime soon.

May 11th 2010

Red-Blue Fish/Throat Seaperch from Ogasawara Island

Golden Eye Snapper from Kotsushima Island

Gnome Fish from Kotsushima Island

May 8th 2010

Black Snapper from Nagasaki

Stripe Bass/Suzuki from Nagasaki

Dish from late night menu

Katsu-Sandwitch

deep fried skirt steak

Nibitashi

Tomato

Kabocha

Daikon Radish

Eggplant

Artichoke

May 7th 2010

Gnome Fish from Fukuoka

Island Butter Fish/Shima Katsuo from Nagasaki
Beautiful pale pink color meat, good amount of acidity and fattiness

Spring Snapper from Fukuoka

Baby Japanese Red-Snapper. With its concentrated big flavor, you feel the ocean when you put it in your mouth.

May 5th 2010

Threeline Grunt from Niijima Island

Blue Fusiler (Blue Snapper) from Miyake Island

Spring Snapper (Japanese Red Snapper) from Niijima Island

Golden Eye Snapper from Niijima Island

Kushi yaki / Grilled skewer

Salmon and asparagus with tartar sauce

Chicken and scallion with teriyaki sauce

Tofu and quail egg with ginger soy sauce