Omakase at Neta

It's funny how most menu items cost about same across the board -- a good burger is about $18, a nice roasted chicken dish is $25, a filet's about $32 -- and tasting menus are completely all over the place. We had an awesome four-course meal at Cava in Portsmouth for $35 and 11 courses at Europea in Montreal for $70 -- not including the multiple courses of desserts. It's hard to go from getting so much bang for your buck to paying high end for omakase -- $135 at Neta -- and getting so much less. Yeah, you have to factor in where you are (West Village is not New Hampshire) and the quality of food you are receiving (high-end sushi is not Spanish tapas) but when the difference of two tasting menus are over $100 apart, its hard not to wonder where all that additional money is going.

Anyway, with that rambling cost analysis aside, I have to say that Neta's sushi is great, fresh, high-quality and all that, but it's not very memorable. It was funny going through Europea and Au Pied de Cochon pictures and remembering what every bite tasted like, and then looking through Neta pics -- literally taken the day we got back from Montreal -- and only having a few items stand out.

While I waited for my dining counterparts to show, I sipped on this Rangaku, a punch made from "merlow barrel aged birds eye chili mead" from South Africa (so... red spicy honey wine?) and rooibus ginger tea and yuzu sorbet. It was kind of like a sake -- clear, sweet, balanced.

I asked the difference between the $95 and $135 omakase. Like I expected, the higher priced omakase includes higher quality ingredients, and isn't necessarily larger save for a course or two.  

We started with this. I don't remember what it was. Was it fluke and shrimp? Maybe.

Then one of the dishes for fancy omakase only: toro tuna tartar with sturgeon caviar and toast. It was pretty decadent.

Then Spanish Mackerel Tataki topped with a myoga vegetable salad with ginger and soy. Not as memorable. But then back to the kickass...

Sea urchin with raw scallops! I mean, what more can I say. It's more about the freshness and the fact that they're my favorites than anything else. The preparation is an afterthought.

 

This next tempura dish was meant to flaunt their veggies, I think. The Times review said they had respectable vegetable sushi, and most people aren't going to ask for it by name, so here it is. Shisito peppers and tofu and a little bit of soft shell shrimp. The spiciness and crispiness was a nice counterpoint to the scallop and uni from before.

My absolute favorite of the evening: rice with spicy salmon tartar and bonito flakes, served on a hot plate. It reminded me of a decadent bibimbap, hot crispy rice with cool, wet fish on top and saltiness from the dancing bonito. Sooo gooood.
 

Now onto the sushi. My favorite kinds to start: salmon with Szechuan sauce, spanish mackerel and toro. As you can see, the fish was gleamingly fresh, and had that perfect bite to it. Is umami a texture thing, too?

Then orange clam, scallop and kanpachi (amberjack).

The cooked fish. Softshell crab and seared toro.

And rolls. Tuna and eel. None of which were as good as the rounds of raw sushi.

Finally, a palate cleanser of rice in shiso.I thought it meant more fish was coming but...

... we were cleansing for dessert. Which was this grapefruit sorbet.

Okay, so when I left I was pretty pleased and all, but as I thought about it I realized that as one of the more expensive tasting menus we've splurged for, not just in that past week but ever, and thus it should be one of the more memorable. The fish was fresh -- can't argue that -- and the creativity was there -- sure, to an extent -- but I feel like we should have been eating less shrimp and a little more types of toro, maybe some crab, maybe that duck & foie I saw on the menu (though after our weekend in Montreal it was probably the last thing we needed). And definitely dessert! Ice cream, chocolate, something. Grapefruit sorbet is more of a palate cleaner in and of itself!

I also think we missed out on something by sitting at a table. They say there are two types of people in a sushi restaurant -- those at the sushi bar and tourists.

I'm going to Yasuda in a few days and when making the reservation I said the word "counter" and "bar" at least five times. I'm excited to do more... uh... comparison research.

Anyway, I'd definitely recommend hitting Neta for a cocktail and some a la carte sushi. I think I'm getting stingy with my omakase recommendations.

Neta

61 W. 8th St.

Restaurant Week at Bondst

I'm not a very big fan of Restaurant Week. In fact, Restaurant Week really irritates me. Places that I'm used to walking right into have longer waits for a table. The separate menu is usually very limited. The portions are much smaller than they should be. And then you're left wondering, is this even sort of a deal at all? (Kefi, here's looking at you... even though I absolutely adore both the items and the prices of your normal-time menu).

That being said, every once in awhile I'll find a spot that might actually have a good deal on Restaurant Week. This year's place was Bondst. It's one of those super trendy, come-hang-out-in-the-downstairs-lounge-so-people-can-see-you, high-end Noho Japanese places. Not really my scene. So I took Restaurant Week as an excuse to go, and I was actually pretty impressed with how much you get for the $35 prix fixe.

To start, you get either a miso soup or a mixed greens salad. And then a complimentary bowl of edamame. And then I had a sweet saketini because it had been that kind of week.

For the entree, you get an entire bento box of stuff. The flavors may or may not match each other. You might have been happier receiving them as separate, fresh courses. But its Restaurant Week, and you make sacrifices.

The bento box comes with crispy shrimp, age dashi tofu and a steamed chicken dumpling. For the sushi portion, you can either get a sashimi sampler or spicy tuna/salmon avocado rolls. And then either the Chilean sea bass or New York strip. My dining companion and I ordered complete opposites so we could try everything. The sashimi was a little too cold for my liking. The bass was well-cooked but the glaze was a little too sweet.

Dessert was either a lychee panna cotta, which was sour in a poorly flavored yogurt kinda way, or a ricotta cup, which was the sweet and creamy highlight of the meal.

This place is more about beautiful people than good food, so I won't be back. But it was nice to vary it up a bit. And to spend some quality time with my first NYC friend!


Bondst
6 Bond St.

Calf Liver Sashimi: The Strangest Thing I've Ever Eaten?

Last night, I went to my favorite local haunt, Bozu, for a few mango mojitos, sake and shareable plates.

Their specials of the evening never disappoint. Last night, it was calf liver sashimi. A plateful of bite-sized pieces of slippery, tender meat. It had a nice funky aftertaste that went well with the crunchy salt, ginger and garlic sauce.

It's the type of thing I'd never want to try for the first time anywhere other than Bozu.

What's the strangest food you've ever tried?

A New Jersey Excursion: In Search of Beniotome Sesame Shochu

Last week, Rob and I took a trip across the George Washington bridge into the strange and wonderful land that is Fort Lee and Edgewater, New Jersey. We had two destinations in mind: Hudson Wine Market and Mitsuwa Marketplace.

As I've mentioned before, Rob loves Beniotome sesame shochu. He orders it at nearly every trip to Bozu, EN Japanese Brasserie or other high-end Japanese restaurants, but it seems to be impossible to find for retail sale in the city. Fortunately, he found that Hudson Wine Market carries it, and that it would only be a short drive away.

Shochu is a Japanese distilled drink, and Wikipedia says its made from barley, sweet potatoes or rice and is somewhere between wine and whisky in terms of strength (which I agree with completely). The sesame flavored shochu is a little smoky and makes it taste a little stronger than it might actually be. Let it sit in some ice, though, and you'll find that the flavors are very deep and rounded, and that the sesame flavor sings the longest. I'm sipping it now and can't think of any other way to describe it.

Anyway, we had a little bit of difficulty finding the market, as the directions didn't say we had to turn up into a driveway to access a big parking lot for a mini mall. Hudson's was a huge warehouse boasting of all kinds of drinks, from specialized Japanese shochus to obscure reds and whites. I even found a bottle of the 2004 Flowers Pinot noir that I fell in love with at Le Bernadin. And for the $50 price you can bet I bought one. Rob pretty much wiped out their entire selection of Beniotome sesame shochu. To make the trip worth it, you see.

Hudson Wine Market
1638 Schlosser St
Fort Lee, NJ 07024
(201) 346-0101

After the Hudson Wine Market excursion, we headed south to Mitsuwa Marketplace, using the little battery power I had left on my phone for Google maps to guide us. Luckily it was a pretty easy drive. Mitsuwa is a huge Japanese grocery store & specialty shop with an attached food court. They have everything from fresh produce and pickled vegetables to sashimi grade sushi and pre-sliced sukiyaki. I was starving, so we tried a few pre-made sushi rolls, which were okay. We left with a couple of very nicely priced bags of frozen edamame beans, a few packages of red bean moochi and some daikon radish. It's a pretty fun and unique place to just browse around; definitely recommended if you're planning on hosting a sushi party in the near future.

Mitsuwa Marketplace

595 River Road
Edgewater, NJ 07020
(201) 941-9113

Itchin' for Ichiran to Open

It has been speculated since at least 2007 that the empty spot at 1013 Manhattan Ave will someday become an outpost for Tokyo's well-known ramen chain, Ichiran. When will it happen?

Last time Rob and I walked by, we saw a few signs in the window displaying pictures of steaming bowls of ramen promising an upcoming opening. Unfortunately, the inside seems to tell another story. It looks like a dusty old abandoned classroom. The following (very charming and slightly vague) sign is penned in both English and Japanese:

Right now "Ichiran" is tried to prepare for regular opening. In order to realize the same quality as delicacy of Japan, we have spent sufficient time for supply and research of raw material. All our foods will be manufactured at our own factory as well as Japan, without depending on external order. Since the taste will change delicately if raw material changes, sensitive adjustment of the taste which is needed with a process and technique is not easy.

As the "Restaurant Specializing in TONKOTSU RAMEN" where we represent Hakata in Japan, in order to pursue ultimate "TONKOTSU RAMEN" also in USA, we never compromise and never give up, and we are making thoroughgoing preparations so we can offer the genuine taste. We appreciate you are waiting so long time, but we need more time for that reason. Although formal opening is undecided, please wait a little more time. Before we open completely, we will make this shop provisionally open as "Limited Membership Shop" in the sense of the place which receives customer's severe opinion and frank comment.

This open is indeterminate date and only specific day, and we will tell you (registered member) available serving date. Only those living in the distance that walks from this shop can be registered. If you are interested in registration, please fill out the form and put it in the mailbox.

We are looking forward to serving you.
Thank you very much!

We signed up. Can't wait!!

Deja Vu at Bozu

Since there are at least two more editions of Asian adventures to come (I know, I'm sorry I'm slow, it's a lot to re-live!), I'll break it up with more recent food happenings. First, our celebration of Adib and Kelly's engagement at our favorite Japanese tapas place, Bozu.

There was some weird sort of magic in the air that day. The experience was made up of three odd coincidences, hence the deja vu reference in the title. 1) The night before I dreamt Bozu didn't have the sizzling hamburger platter, and then they didn't (yeah I dream about food, shut up). 2) I said at some point during the day, boy wouldn't it be great if Bozu served ankimo, and guess what showed up on the specials list. 3) As we got to know our amazing waiter named Phillip, he told Rob that since he felt they were "food soul mates" he knew a drink he might like to try -- the sesame shochu cocktail. Rob was about to order that exact same one.

Strange coincidental visions of hamburgers and ankimo aside, this place has always treated us right. It seemed like the stars were aligned that night and Bam! Everything was better than normal.

Before we ordered our usual dishes, Phil told us there were two specials for the evening. "Do you guys like weird kinda out there food?" he asks and when Kelly, Rob and I all chorus "YES!" (where were you on that one, Adib?) he tells us one is $5 and the other is $8, should he bring them to us? Another "YES!" I love surprises. Especially when they are brought on by very knowledgable and enthusiastic waiters.

The first special was raw shrimp. "I'll be back to tell you about these guys in a minute," Phil tells us. It tasted very much like one of the courses we had at Sushi Azabu, with the wet liquidy exterior that moistens your mouth. When Phil comes back he explains that the shrimp had been marinated for five days with its own brains. I start to dislike surprises a little bit. I wonder if Sushi Azabu prepares them the same way and think about how I was happier not knowing these little epicurian tidbits. The second special was the ankimo -- monkfish liver. This was served the more traditional way, not tempura style like at Sushi Azabu, but as small cold slices that melt on your tongue with a fishy aftertaste. Phil explains that the liver always tastes so good because monkfish eat a lot of shrimp and lobster. Wait, whole lobster? This is when I make the mistake of wondering aloud what a monkfish actually looks like. Adib google images it on his phone and there goes one other thing I was happier not knowing. Oh well, the mango mojitos were perfect as always and I started to forget these unappetizing mental images as I slurped them down.
Now back to our regularly scheduled (and highly anticipated) Bozu plates:

First the pork betty (cute name for pork belly), our go-to favorite. Served in bubbling and fatty sweet soy sauce and sake, how can you go wrong? You want to drink the stuff when you're done. Well, at least I always do. Phil said that this time it will have a surprise that will make it even better than normal, "as if you thought that were possible!" Oh no, I think, not another surprise. But it's perfect. They placed a soft boiled egg in the middle of the thinly sliced pieces of pork belly heaven. The heaviness of the egg went with the fattiness of the pork -- two delicious vices. It lands heavily in your stomach, but so worth it.

We also got the fried tako balls, which has a sweet glaze on the outside and warm octopus on the inside. It sounds weird, and it took me a few times of coming here and tasting it to get used to it, but its really devine. Then the rice croquettes with hot cheese, sage, walnuts and butter squash as a less adventurous comfort food treat. As always we got the sushi bombs -- little discs of rice with the fish piled on top, like a new take on sushi rolls. We got the party bomb (a combo of four types) plus the oo-toro bomb because, who doesn't love toro. Below (from left to right): tako balls, croquettes, one last brain-shrimp, oo-toro bomb and monkfish liver.

And the party bomb: pink bomb (salmon and scallion), McLowe bomb (tuna, avocado, wasabi cream), spicy McLowe bomb (my personal favorite: tuna, cucumber, spicy mayo and kataifi, that crispy fried stuff on top), and una bomb (eel, shiso mint leaf, and wasabi cream).

Then the tuna tar tar, served with avocado wasabi sauce, lemon infused shochu sorbet on top (!!) and edamame.

They were having another special -- Japanese curry -- so we tried that. It's a honkin' plate of rice with beef curry on top, Phil said it was different from Indian curry but I thought it tasted pretty similar. Nothing too special there.

At one point Phil came and brought us a special treat. Tiny pieces of red pepper that, he said, you can't get anywhere in the U.S. He explains that the red pepper comes from Japan, it fell off the plant and basically rotted in the ground after being buried in the snow for about six months. Then it's harvested. It doesn't taste rotten and it doesn't taste overly strong either. It had a very unique, hot taste that settles in the back of your throat. These are the types of surprises I like!

We ended the night on a light note with the tofu salad. Phil said it was his favorite dish, so we didn't ask questions. I'm not a big fan of tofu but this stuff was incredible! The texture was like mozzerella cheese. Phil explains that we can make it like this, if we want! All we have to do is get regular tofu, cover it with a cheese cloth, and put something on top of it so it adds light pressure -- not so hard that it squishes it, but hard enough that it impacts it. Flip it over the next day and repeat for five days. By the end you have these tight little tofu squares that don't jiggle and don't resemble weird meat and don't make you want to puke. Tofu, who knew?

All in all, an amazing food evening. We also got to sit in the back garden, which was heated and pretty cozy. It's nicer in the summertime though. Go now!! And ask for Phil.

Congrats again to my best pals Adib and Kelly!

Bozu

296 Grand Street
Williamsburg, Brooklyn

718-384-7770