Sushi at Shiki

I was hungering for sushi my first night, and Sydney has a reputation of great fish. Being Sunday many places were closed, but the concierge at the Westin pointed me to Shiki at The Rocks, a very cool shopping area by Sydney Cove. I'd been there already in the morning exploring the shops, so was excited to go back at night.

Shiki Japanese Restaurant

The atmosphere in The Rocks is very cool; young and trendy, but with a lot of history packed in. A fun mix of old and new, and a lively vibe even for a Sunday night. I found Shiki relatively easily, and while the restaurant was almost empty, it was beautiful inside, again combining a decór of classic Japanese with a modern edge. The sushi bar was clean and the chefs friendly, and the aquarium of snow crabs behind them was full. Almost too full actually; it was a bit depressing seeing all those crabs piled on top of eachother, barely moving, eyeing their bretherin getting masaccered in front of them. Hmm, on second thought, that's kinda wrong.

The sushi presentation was beautiful, and the fish looked great. However the Hamachi (yellowtail) didn't look or taste like Hamachi, and I even questioned the chef but he insisted it was. Hmm. I'm not convinced. Sake (salmon) was delicious, but he laid several pieces on top of a slice of lemon, and by the time I got to them, the lemon overpowered the fish. D'oh. Don't do that again please!

Beautiful presentation

The chef offered some fish that I'd never heard of (and never did quite get the name he repeated five times), which was tasty and unique, so that was a nice surprise. My closing selection, a salmon skin handroll, was nothing like what I'm used to and quite disappointing. The skin had almost no flavor, was overcooked, and there was no sweet sauce on it like I usually see. My sushi 'desert', wasn't.

When the bill came I had to send it back as it had $30 of food I didn't order; apparently he forgot to "clear the register". Um… seriously?

Shiki Japanese Restaurant
Clock Tower Square
Corner of Argyle & Harrington Streets
The Rocks 2000
www.shiki.com.au
+61 9252 2431


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rating: 3 feet
verdict: Good fish overall, but questionable Hamachi. The lemon slice under the Sake was just wrong. Great atmosphere, but overpriced. Some tasty chef selections. I'd be able to conditionally recommend it if it was half the cost. OK maybe 2/3; this is Sydney and the US dollar is weak.

Dinner at Al Contadino Sotto Le Stelle

Al Contadino Sotto Le Stelle is an amazing little Italian restaurant in old East Berlin that I went to once two years ago and have been gagging to get back to. The experience I had the first time there was something remarkable -- a table of 8 people I didn't know (one couple was a newly introduced friend of a friend who invited me along), and we never saw a menu. The food just came, and came, and came. I think we were there for six hours. Now, the food was absolutely amazing, but of course the experience was made that much better by the people and the wonderful time I had. So of course, I had to go back.

This time we were a smaller group; only three of us. And without knowing the owner, we got 'regular' service, which was just great, especially considering we had to communicate in engligermaspanitalian! The food was very good, and each dish was somehow unique. I wouldn't call this traditional Italian (although perhaps it is, from some part of Italy I don't know), but it was all very good.

Unfortunately I forgot the proper camera, so these are iPhone photos. Not the greatest so you'll have to use your imagination.

Kinda forgot to take a photo of the shared appetizer before it was nearly entirely devoured. All the menu called this was Salsiccia e formaggio alla griglia, or "grilled sausage and cheese". I suppose it's their little secret just what the sausage and cheese is, but let me tell you -- order it. It's fabulous. And it's served with this spicy sweet chutney thing that's to die for. YUM!

Salsiccia e formaggio alla griglia

My main course was Gnocchi di patate e zafferano con stufatino di coniglio, or "Potato gnocchi with saffron and… stewed rabbit? Rabbit stew?" Not sure, and I didn't really taste any rabbit, but the saffron gnocchi was delicious. Perfectly cooked, melt-in-your-mouth smooth, just lovely.

Gnocchi di patate e zafferano con stufatino di coniglio

Overall a very good meal. Not the same memory as before, but one really shouldn't expect to re-live those kinds of memories. Definitely a restaurant worth visiting if you're up for good Italian in Berlin.

Dinner at Al Contadino Sotto Le Stelle
Auguststr. 34
10119 Berlin
alcontadino.com
+49 302819023


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rating: 4 feet
verdict: I really really wanted to come back and rate this one 5 feet. If I'd only been there this one time, it'd get only 3. So I'm gonna split the difference and go with 4 here. It really is a good restaurant, I was just expecting more from it that night -- probably unfairly so.

Dinner at La Fée Verte

Somethin' tells me mom's not gonna approve of this one…

La Fée Verte translates to "the green fairy". Called so because, apparently, that's what you see when you drink Absinthe [Wiki link]. Absinthe has been illegal in the United States since 1915, but the French drink it and are still around, thank you very much, so how bad can it be. Right?

So yes, this restaurant serves absinthe -- alongside some pretty yummy food, mind you. So let's start with the starters, shall we?

OK I gotta start blogging sooner or taking notes. This was… um… onions. And, cheese? Baked, with some kind of sauce. Look this isn't the absinthe speaking OK, this is what happens when you post a week after you eat. It was good. Don't seem to recall it being remarkable, but it was good. Alrighty then.

Some kind of onion appetizer thing

Next up, the main course. This was a very tasty lamb burger, a bit dry, but chock-full of flavor. I don't think I set it down once I picked it up; it really was quite tasty. The layered roasted veggie thing looked like it could be delicious, but it was served cold, and frankly just didn't appeal. Straight from the oven it was probably lovely.

Lamb Burger and vegetable… thing

OK now to the important bit. The absinthe.

There's a routine involved in serving and consuming absinthe, and all any of us at the table knew of it was what we'd seen in movies. Which amounts to pretty much F-all. "I think the water goes in that fancy dispenser"… "I'm sure they're gonna set it on fire"… "You're not really going to drink that, are you?" and so on.

Since I was the only one at the table brave stupid brave enough to try it, we didn't get the fancy water dispenser (and yes it's for water). Instead I was served a normal glass with a bit of the green glowing drink, a special spoon with a sugar cube balanced on top, and a carafe of ice water. They poured the absinthe into the glass over the sugar cube, then let it sit for some time before bringing it to the table. We asked if it was meant to be ignited, and they said you could if you wanted to… so we tried (obviously). Unfortunately I guess the alcohol had evaporated from the sugar, or the match wasn't hot enough, but we failed where caveman succeeded millennium before. So, pitch the fire, in with the sugar and water, and mix mix mix.

Absinthe

The result is a cloudy white drink. Certain biological components of the absinthe are not soluble in water, so they come out and cloud the drink. Or something like that. It has a pungent anise smell, and equally strong flavor. I love black liquorice, so the flavor appealed to me, but I guess you'd have a hard time with this if you only eat red vines.

Overall, well worth the experience and sure I'd have it again. I didn't see any green fairies, nor did I cut off my ear, but I did fall asleep in the cab on the ride back to the hotel. Absinte-1, me-0.

La Fée Verte
108, Rue Roquette
75011 Paris, France
www.feeverte.net
+33 1 43 72 31 24


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rating: 3 feet
verdict: It really gets the rating for the absinthe. The food was OK, but the absinthe experience great. I'll probably go again just for the green fairies.

Acorn House

(catching up on posts so this is slightly out of sync and is from Saturday night in London)…

This restaurant came highly recommended (by the same friend who pointed me to flat white, so who am I to argue!), so for my last dinner in London, which was to be with friends who live there, I requested that we dine at Acorn House. It's walking distance from the King's Cross/St. Pancras train station, which happens to be the London base for the Eurostar to Paris.

Acorn House

Acorn House is unique in that the chef makes exceptional efforts to be 'green' about everything that comes in and out of his restaurant. I picked up his cookbook, and the forward is written by Jamie Oliver who goes as far as to call him the "original green chef". A big part of this is purchasing local, sustainable ingredients, and only buying what's in season. The menu is actually updated twice a day to accommodate!

My appetizer was a fantastic goat cheese on toast with a pistachio pesto (!) and a very sticky, very black, balsamic drizzle. It was absolutely divine, and so unfortunately I had to eat the whole thing. Hate it when that happens.

Goats cheese, toasted sour dough, wild garlic & pistachio pesto

Next up was a pan fried sea trout, which was good but honestly a little fishy. I didn't find the dish to be remarkable, although the presentation was very nice. My friend had the pork belly with feijoada which he really enjoyed, so perhaps I'd try that next time.

Pan fried sea trout, zucchini, lemon & ‘Cassini’ olive oil

Of course this was accompanied by a fine bottle of wine. Like the rest of the menu, they go to great lengths to find quality organic wines, but even here there was the 'next level' of organic; biodynamic [wiki link]. It's a holistic approach to growing the grapes, and since everything else about the evening was so green (yes I took the train to get there!), I decided that we had to try one of these special wines. I must say the wine was superb. I won't try to review the wine here as this meal was now several days ago and I didn't take any notes, but again it was absolutely delicious; enough so that I photographed the label so I could track it down later.

Domaine Granges de Mirabel Viognier, Coteaux de L'Ardeche, France

Overall a good meal and an enjoyable, learning experience. I'll likely go again, preferably in a different season just to see how the menu has changed.

Acorn House
69 Swinton Street
London WC1X 9NT

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rating: 4 feet
verdict: I love the 'green-ness' of the place. It's a great idea who's time has come, and the quality of (most of) the food shows it. I'll be back in a different season, and I did buy the cookbook so look forward to trying a few things at home.

UPDATED: Wagamama in Heathrow Terminal 5!

I loved this funny little noodle place in London. Not so little anymore!

wagamama's menu

UPDATE: Unfortunately I'm less than impressed. Growth, it would appear, has not been good. The noodles were overcooked and mushy, the same for the veggies, and horribly disappointingly, the carrot juice with ginger -- one of my all-time favorites -- appeared to be watered down.

Wagamama
London Heathrow Airport
Terminal 5
wagamama.com


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rating: 2 feet
verdict: The only reason it's getting a "2 feet" rating is that it used to be good. Perhaps it still is and I got unlucky. Otherwise, it's just a 1. Sad, sad, sad.

flat white

A short post for now. I'm in Paris, very tired after a dinner of lamb burger and absinthe, and will catch up on blogs tomorrow. However I'll post this one as I have the photos ready to go.

Back in London, a friend recommended a café called "flat white", which was quite close to my hotel. Claimed it had the best coffee in town. Boy, he wasn't kidding.

You can order the standard fare of cappuccino's, latte's and the like, but of course the top item on the menu is the flat white. There's a "definition" on the wall, which is followed by a lat/long reading (someone later told me that Flat White is also a place in New Zealand), and the definition on the wall reads an antipodean style coffee which is served as a strong shot of espresso served in a small cup with textured milk; a damn good strong coffee. Not quite sure what "textured" milk is, but the resulting drink is pure velvet. Absolutely delicious, sweet on the tongue and entirely too drinkable. It doesn't take much to put away a cup of flat white.

a flat white…

at flat white

flat white
17 Berwick Street
Soho, London
www.flat-white.co.uk
+44 20-7734-0370


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rating: 5 feet
verdict: Perfect coffee. What else can you ask for?

Dinner at Tom's Restaurant (aka Tom's Place)

Ah, another superb meal in London. This trip is turning tragic!

Tonights choice was Tom's Restaurant, as recommended by an expat friend here in London. We started upstairs at the bar for a drink and snack, then moved to the main restaurant for dinner.

Upstairs vibe was chic and modern, packed with the good looking set of Chelsea. We ordered drinks and a bowl of chips (that's French Fries to you, mate) which were fat and crisp and fluffy and lovely, as well as a small order of their Parmesan Risotto, which was tasty but uninspiring. The flavor of the parmesan and creme fraiche was very nice, however the risotto itself was chalky and undercooked. My friend who joined me for dinner that night is a huge fan of risotto, and didn't think much of it -- and it's one of those dishes I've tried cooking many times and have gotten truly right only once or twice, so I know it's not easy to get perfect. Unfortunately, they didn't quite get it right here.

Chips and Parmesan Risotto

Downstairs however was a completely different story. The food we ate there was to die for. Even though we'd already snacked, I couldn't resist the Seared Foie Gras with Duck Egg, Bacon and Balsamic Jus. While I'll be the first to admit the photo doesn't make it look terribly attractive, and my friend compared it to a Denny's Grand Slam (it's the biggest damn egg I've seen on a plate in a while), it was utterly delicious. The richness of the foie gras with the depth of flavor from the duck egg, combined with the saltiness of the thick cut bacon was, without question, heaven on a plate.

Fois Gras with Duck Egg, Bacon and Balsamic Jus

I can't talk about this dinner without telling the story I twittered on yesterday, involving dumping a glass of water in the name of art. (If you don't follow the twitter yet, subscribe!). I commonly will use a wine or water glass at a restaurant as a makeshift 'tripod'; just something to balance the camera against. As you can imagine most restaurants are quite dark, making photography difficult. So I usually use a glass as a balance point. Which of course I'd been doing throughout the evening here, as I always do. Now I can't quite say that I didn't realize my water glass had been filled, because I watched it get filled. But in the heat of the moment of seeing a photo I wanted to make, I grabbed the glass and flipped it upside down. The full glass. And naturally dumped an entire glass of fresh, cold water all over our table, the floor, and of course -- my leg.

And the photo didn't even turn out that great. :( All in the name of the blog!

But back to the food. Main courses came, and they thrilled nearly as much as the starter. I had the Duck Confit, and my friend dined on Filet of Beef. The duck was superb, with gorgeous crispy skin and delicate fat, the meat perfectly moist with the chewy edges I adore so much to accompany the fatty skin. It was served with potatoes and artichoke hearts, and the artichokes themselves were nearly as good as the duck. Eat your heart out, vegetarians -- nothing makes a perfectly good vegetable even better than coating it in duck fat!! The steak was apparently superb, a point worth noting because my friend doesn't eat rare meat. It's been a point of contention between us where I'm always chiding him for taking a perfectly good steak and murdering it on the grill. He admitted that he had been slowly going more and more red on his meat, and that while this particular steak -- ordered medium (and served French medium, not American medium) -- was the rarest steak he'd ever eaten. And he loved it. Good on you man!

Duck Confit

Fillet of Beef

Tom's Restaurant (aka Tom's Place. Seems to depend on where you look. And Tom's Café is a different restaurant)
27 Cale Street
Chelsea, SW3 3QP
Tom's Kitchen
+44 207 349 0202


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rating: 4 feet
verdict: Absolutely superb. Great ambiance, friendly service (both in the bar and the restaurant), and of course great food. The only reason it's not getting a 5 feet rating is the risotto. But definitely, without question, go.

Vasco & Piero's Pavilion Restaurant. Just change the name to "Incredible Italian" already!

It's not often you get to eat somewhere so good you wonder if you can get back for another meal before leaving the country. This is just one of those places.

Vasco & Piero's is a completely unassuming Italian eatery (specifically Umbrian, from central Italy) on Poland Street, just a few blocks from the shopping mayhem of Regent and Oxford Streets. We had a group dinner there, table for 10, and the menu is prix fix. Two or three courses, choose from a relatively small selection, and off you go.

My first course was a Beef Carpaccio, which is one of those dishes I truly adore and tend to judge Italian restaurants by. I believe I missed on the menu the detail that it was a roast beef carpaccio, which someone pointed out afterwards, so it was actually a bit thicker cut and basically rare beef, not raw beef, on the plate. But it was very tasty, served with fresh arugula and generous portion of parmigiano reggiano.

Roast Beef Carpaccio

When I joined the table, I was told immediately that "pasta was a must-have" at this restaurant. It's all homemade, fresh and apparently quite good. A quick scan of the menu revealed a few choice dishes, but one stood above the rest -- the Hand Made Wild Mushroom Tortelloni -- so I ordered that.

Ohhh, what a good choice. This may well have been some of the best I've ever had. The pasta was so delicate that it nearly melted in your mouth. It was firm under the fork but like warm butter on the tongue. The wild mushrooms inside were apparently very finely chopped, and once cooked was nearly a paste in the pasta that just contributed to the melted butter experience. I savored every last bite, and my only regret was that there wasn't more on the plate. I could have continued to eat until they rolled me out of there. It was truly that good.

Hand Made Wild Mushroom Tortelloni

Clearly you can't enjoy a dinner this good and not partake in desert. Pana Cotta with Strawberries jumped off the list, and I'm sure my friends who left the table early will see this and be kicking themselves for leaving. It was superb, and even the strawberries which were a bit on the pale side of red, were delicious.

Panna Cotta with Strawberries

Vasco & Piero's Pavilion Restaurant
15 Poland Street
London W1F 8QE
www.vascosfood.com
+44 20-7437-8774


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rating: 5 feet
verdict: A superb meal, with some of the best pasta I've ever had. Definitely worth a reservation your next trip to London. And yes I upgraded this to 5 feet… after some pondering, everyone there enjoyed their meal as much as I did, and I think it's worth the rating.

Belgo Centraal

My first meal in London did not disappoint! A good friend took me to a Belgian eatery tonight, called "Belgo". They specialize in mussels, and it's one of those things where if you'd asked me what I was hungry for, I wouldn't have come up with this in a thousand years. But as soon as he mentioned their specialty, I was suddenly salivating for those plump, delicious orange jewels, with some perfectly crisp Belgian frites and a cold beer to wash it all down. He even tried to tell me other things they served. Why bother? I mean really. YUM.

He warned me on our way there that we may have to wait for a table. He'd checked online and no reservation was available until after 9pm. But he insisted it was worth the wait, so off we went. We were told it'd be a 10-20 minutes wait by the hostess, and saddled up to the bar.

One little bit of "false advertising"… at the bar upstairs, they have an impressive display of bottled beers. However they only actually server from a limited selection in that bar. For the real menu, you have to go downstairs. Owell, two Leffe Blonde's please. The Palm (a beer I've only ever seen in Holland) would have to wait until later. It's a furnace upstairs as the kitchen is right below you with an open ceiling, so all the heat gets trapped in this little waiting bar. But hey, that just makes the beer taste that much sweeter!

Leffe

The beer menu. Impressive.

Our table was ready in under 10 minutes, and we were pointed downstairs by host#1 where hostess#2 took over and guided us to our table. It's a packed place, picnic bench style seating, loud and pungent of cooked mussels and spilled beer. It couldn't be more perfect if they tried.

I ordered a starter "Salad de Poire et Stilton" and the mussel pot "Mariniere Traditionnelle". Both were delicious. The salad was refreshing and just enough to get the belly started, and the mussels were cooked to simple perfection. The fries were deliciously crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, served with a bit of Belgian mayonnaise. To be completely honest my bowl seemed to be from the bottom of the basket; all the small bits. But they were still delightful and nothing to complain about.

Mussel Pot. Fabulous.

On the way in and out, you pass the kitchen. We took a little walk over the catwalk to peer down to the inner workings; busy place.

Kitchen

And from above

Belgo Centraal
50 Earlham Street
Convent Garden, London, WC2H 9LT
www.belgo-restaurants.co.uk
+44 207-209-3212


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rating: 4 feet
verdict: Delicious. Absolutely would go again. If you like mussels, this is the place to go. Their beer selection is mightily impressive, just head downstairs to drink it!

Welcome to Morocco's. Really?

There used to be a cute Mexican restaurant with a nice little margarita bar at 86 N. Market Street in San Jose, but maybe two months ago it gave way to a new Moroccan restaurant called, creatively, "Morocco's". I suppose there will never be a question of what they serve there.


Last night I tried it for the first time. After a late night at the office, I was pleasantly surprised to see it still open -- apparently they serve until 11pm -- bonus! The place was completely dead inside. Literally we were the only guests. The host was quite cute about it, pointing out that we'd have their staff's undivided attention. This was a Tuesday night around 9:30pm, and it's a new restaurant in the tough upscale dining market of downtown San Jose, so what the heck.

It was "ladies night", so my guest was promptly presented with a complimentary and wholly unique cocktail of merlot, cabernet, vanilla vodka, cinnamon, cranberries (?), and perhaps something fizzy. Bizarre? You bet. Good? Surprisingly so! We were both surprised. My guest insisted it was terrible as she turned away from me hiding the drink from my grasp and sipping furiously at it -- a good sign indeed!

Unfortunately after that, the evening started to break down a bit. Upon questioning the waitress about the size of the tagine's (should we order one or two), we were informed that while the tagine's are usually served with basmati rice, couscous and bread, they were fresh out of rice and bread. OK then. How do you run out of bread in a Moroccan restaurant on a dead-quiet night? Strike 1. Well no bother, we ordered a lamb tagine with olives and potatoes, and a beef with apricots and prunes.

Meanwhile we had ordered a bottle of wine. They won't be serving Moroccan wine for another month, but they had a small selection of California and Argentine wines and the waitress recommended "her favorite on the menu", a Terrazas Malbec Reserva '05. On the menu it was listed as $15; quite cheap for a bottle of wine but hey, if it's a staff favorite, I'm all for good cheap wine. It was OK, really nothing great, but for $15, OK.

As a side-note, the waitress left the foil protruding over the bottle opening so the wine flowed over dirty foil, poured both of us a taster, and then re-corked the bottle after attempting to pour me a FULL glass of wine. Fortunately I was able to stop her from dumping 1/3 of the bottle into my oversized goblet of a glass, which I was already paying close attention to as I'd had to request a clean glass to replace the one with more spots than an aquaphobic adolescent boy that I originally had. Just a little request to all the burgeoning waitstaff of the world; if you're going to serve wine in a restaurant, please learn how to open and pour a bottle? Thanks.

So the food came, and it was actually quite delicious, even without the bread. But there was one, minor, problem. They ran out of prunes. And didn't tell me. The waitress presented my dish and apologized that they were "out of prunes, but they added more apricots to make up for it -- and apricots are better, anyway". Now hold on a second. If "apricots are better", then why are the prunes even in the dish in the first place. And if you're out of them, whey didn't you tell me when I ordered? Or when the chef went to make the dish? I can just hear the internal dialog…

Let's see, one order of beef with apricots and prunes, ah yes. Lovely. OK here's the beef, yes. And the apricots, delicious. Prunes… hm, no prunes. Shit. Well, we've already admitted that we're out of rice and bread. We'll look like complete muppets if we tell him we're out of dried plums as well. I know! More apricots, who will notice! Gosh I'm clever.

Now maybe that's a bit harsh, but come on! I've had moroccan dishes with prunes before, and I like it! Don't substitute a major ingredient by simply adding more of another! Grrrr… strike 2.

As another curious side-note, my tagine was served on a trendy square plate. Our complementary nibbles of camembert and goat cheese and mixed nuts was on a neat rectangular pate. My guests dinner came on a round plate. She suggested perhaps they ran out of corners.

So missing ingredients and side-dishes aside, the food was actually quite good. The beef was tender and delicious, and the lamb flavorful if a bit dry (although my guest insisted it was just fine). The couscous was average, but not sticky enough to eat by hand. Which brings us to the ambiance…

One of the thrills of Moroccan dining is the ambiance. The multi-colored hanging lamps of glass and metal, the rich colors on the walls, the music, the low light, the sitting on low cushions on the floor eating off a low table with your hands, all seating pushed around the edges of the restaurant to leave room for belly dancing in the middle. Theatrical? Yes. But this is part of what makes Moroccan dining so much fun. This restaurant, however, served all food with knives and forks, seated at traditional western tables and chairs. There is no space for dancing, and while they occasionally have live music, belly dancing is only available for private parties. The music selection was being mixed by a guy permanently on the phone and a Sony Vaio who actually unplugged the audio cable from one computer mid-song and jammed it into his laptop to play something else. The waitress said they were doing the restaurant in this way as "most people don't like to eat with their hands, and this is better". Right.

We were offered a complementary desert to make up for the missing ingredients (my date wanted to order it to see if we got a desert of mixed prunes), but we passed and asked for the bill.

Remember that $15 bottle of Malbec? Try $50. Apparently the menu that the waitress pointed out the wine on was a "per glass" price. $15 for a glass of this wine? Sorry but this isn't Santana Row. It's downtown San Jose. And it's dead. Half of what you pay at the 'row is for the ambience. Strike 3. Now to be fair I bevmo'd it when I got home, and it is a $17 retail bottle. So $50 on a menu is, while on the high-end of acceptable, acceptable. But only at a top-end restaurant. This should have been $35 on the menu, no more. And while it may have earned 89 points from Wine Spectator, I was less than impressed. Maybe give it a few years to mellow. The waitress did insist it was the best wine on the menu. Also the most expensive. Hmm. Anyway, with a $50 bottle, two dishes at $17 each, tax and tip, the total bill was just north of $100. A hundred bucks for an inappropriately recommended wine and three missing ingredient dinner does not a good first impression make.

On the way out, the host asked if we enjoyed the wine. He said it was "his favorite on the menu".

Morocco's
86 N. Market Street
San Jose, CA 95113
http://www.moroccosrestaurant.com/
(408) 998-1509


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rating: 3 feet
verdict: I'm having a hard time rating this. Two isn't enough, but three seems generous. I might go again, if someone asks me. I do want to see San Jose grow culturally, and restaurants like this can help that happen. Lower the prices, train the staff, and stop running out of ingredients, and perhaps it'll still be here in a year. All missteps aside, the food was actually quite good.

Saltgrass Steak House, Texas

Since I was stuck in Dallas overnight, I made the best of it and found me sum good eat's!

I posted a few of these photo from the restaurant last night; now posting them together properly.

So this is the place. Real Texas. I guess. I wouldn't know Texas if I was there. I mean, it's SNOWING after all!

So. This is a jalapeño. Stuffed with a whole shrimp (see the tail?). And Jack cheese. And fried. I mean… seriously?!
(yeah… it was good)

OK this is what I came for… meat! T-bone steak, served rare. Really, really good beef. Marbled beautifully. Delicious.

Saltgrass Steak House, North Arlington (it's a chain)
2200 East Lamar Blvd.
Arlington, TX 76006
(817) 640-3880
http://www.saltgrass.com


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rating: 4 feet
verdict: That was a damn fine steak. I'd definitely hit that again!

Kumako Ramen, San Jose

This is one of my locals; I figured I should start singing some of their praises, too!

In the heart of Japan Town, Kumako Ramen is a great location for a hot bowl of ramen on a cold evening. Like tonight. A nippy 54ºF is wonderful cold-walk to hot-noodles weather!

They bill themselves as "New York Style Japanese noodles", whatever that means… guess I'll have to have ramen next time I'm in NYC to compare! The noodles are good here, and consistent. I wouldn't call them amazing, but since I keep going back they must be doing something right. The menu offers traditional ramen bowls as well as some 'fusion' types, like Curry Ramen I enjoyed tonight. A bit of an Indian-Japanese marriage of flavors, with a touch of spice. Nice!

Kumako Ramen
211 Jackson St.
Japantown, San Jose, CA 95112
+1 408-286-2111
http://www.japantownsanjose.org/kumako_ramen.htm


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rating: 4 feet
verdict: saddle up to the bar, say hi to Art, pick something spicy and order a cold beer to go with it!

Yakitori [update] (was: Teppanyaki)

One night in Harajuku we got a recommendation for a teppanyaki place (hey I can't keep all these names right… so sue me!). The map was scribbled by a guy in a store for us, and it wasn't much to go on, but we found it!

the "map"

Verdict? It was good -- real good. The fried chicken was to die for. The chicken and onion, delicious. A kind of korean beef/rice/kimchi bowl was amazing. And the fried squid balls… well… ok maybe not so much. But we tried whatever we could figure out from the menu! Delicious.

As you can see in the pictures, the place had a great atmosphere. The walls were wallpapered with menu items and descriptions, the tables low and the rickety stools even lower. It was packed with mostly young people, but also a few suits. Our waitress was very helpful and knew a few words in English; enough to help us figure out a few things to order. There was one very excitable server with enough metal in her face to trigger a TSA security alert, and she kept coming by yelling at us in Japanese. We never did figure out what she wanted.

Name: Unkown name… see the sign below and translate it for me!
Address: some side street in Harajuku


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rating: 4 feet
verdict: great food, fun ambiance, if you can find it and figure out what to order, do it!

UPDATE!

I went back to Harajuku this morning and found the restaurant. I still have no idea where it is on the map, but here are some photos. It's still called "squiggle squiggle line" until I can get someone to translate for me.

yeah that's right… I had the picture upside-down before. Get over it.

Japan Land

Flight was fine, easy enough (or as easy as 12 hours in the air can be). Met up with a colleague at the airport and we rode the JR line train into Tokyo station. Nearly missed our stop… oops… guess we both figured EVERYONE would be getting off there! Good thing we asked.

From the Tokyo station we were both too hungry to wait until after check-in to eat, so we wandered until we found a row of restaurants. Nothing in English, no pictures, all Japanese in the joint's… perfect!

We ended up in a sushi place (honestly didn't even know what kind of restaurant we were in until they handed us a picture menu). A huge pile of sushi and several beers later and we rolled on out and off to our respective hotels.

We had some great sushi, including hamache, amaebi, some unidentified white fish, maguro, whale (!! -- although we were assured it's imitation, and it some other guest called it 'bacon'. OK we have no idea what it was, but it was tasty), and the winner of the night -- horse! Yes, horse. At least that's what he said. Red meat, served raw, very fatty, and unbelievably tasty. We ordered seconds.

Washed down with a beer or three, and we were two happy boys in Tokyo-land.

I couldn't tell you the address of this place, but there is a name on the first photo. If you find it, go!

Kassen Ichiba (ok for all I know that could say "eat here, gringo!")

rating: 4 feet
verdict: Try something you've never seen before, it'll be good! Honest!

A Slice of New York (in San Jose) [updated]

This place offers a serious NY slice o' pie (that's pepperoni, not blueberry), and what is this "Manhattan Special"? An amazing coffee soda, imported from NY and reputedly impossible to find in CA. Except here.

Name: A Slice of New York
Address: 3443 Stevens Creek Blvd, San Jose CA 95117
Tel: +1 (408) 247-5423
URL: http://www.asliceofnewyork.com/


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rating: 4 feet
verdict: Real good, real authentic. The boys at the oven are from Brooklyn. Tributes to heroes of 9/11 on the wall. Feels like the real thing.

A nice surprise at SFO; Yankee Pier, T3

Due to a changed flight I had a long wait at SFO last night, and so ventured out for a proper sit-down meal. The receptionist at the Admirals Club advised either a sushi place that was "excellent", or just past that a place that did fresh fish that was also "very, very good". Since I knew I'd be dining at Le Bernardin the next night, reputed to have some of the best fish in the world (and certainly in NYC), I figured I'd skip the cooked fish and have it raw instead.

The sushi restaurant was unfortunately just a counter, with only pre-packaged arrangements and not a-la-carte. Not looking appealing, I moved on towards Yankee Pier to see what the fresh fish looked like.

What a brilliant plan that was. Yankee Pier is very, very good – being in an airport not withstanding. The waiter informed me of what was fresh that night, including one not on the menu – rainbow trout. I opted for that and a glass of wine (no half-bottles), and a small green salad.

Unfortunately, and this is the only area where the restaurant fell down, after probably at least minutes and my first glass of wine, the salad still hadn't arrived, so I flagged the waiter to ensure they arrived separately (I really find it irritating when a restaurant delivers the starter and the main together). He ran off to check it and came back apologizing that my order had fallen off the board. Oops. Had I been rushing to a flight, this would have been the end of diner, but fortunately I had time to spare.

The salad came quickly after, a simple green salad with oil and vinegar. No dressing options, which I can appreciate as I wouldn't want my dinner guests palettes tainted by an erroneous choice of Blue Cheese or 1,000 Island dressing before presenting a perfectly cooked and delicate fish.

Shortly after (but not too quick; the timing was good) the fish came. And I have to say, it was superb. Not just airport-food superb, but truly superb. The trout was butterflied and grilled, simple and pure. Served over a bed of sautéd squash and red potatoes, with a wedge of lemon, and a dish of tartar sauce (which I ignored). It was cooked perfectly. I relish in the slightly tougher 'jerky' edges you get when you grill a fat fish and the edges are inevitably overdone; to me these are almost a delicacy in themselves.

Yankee Pier
San Francisco International Airport (SFO), Terminal 3
+1 650-821-8938
http://www.yankeepier.com/

rating: 4 feet
verdict: If you have time to kill in SFO, I can't think of a better place to do it.

Royal buildings, royal food

Cafe con leche. Zumo de naranja. Cereal.

I extracted the badly mangled, waterlogged, photocopied map from my back pocket and looked for something in the area to walk or metro to. The Palacio Real (Royal Palace) was not too far away, and seemed a good place to spend my morning. The metro was an exchange away, or I could walk to the another station La Latina for a direct line, which really was completely unnecessary as it was only one stop from there, but since I'd paid for the 5-day tourist metro pass, I felt I should give it a go at least once or twice!

The Opera station lets out in front of the Royal concert hall, which oddly enough completely obscures the palace. It isn't until you walk around the other side of this building that the magnificent structure emerges.

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As I wandered past the empty cafes facing the grand structure, I approached the fountain that sits front and center to the palace. At least three tourist groups surrounded it, but what caught my eye (or rather, ear) was the guitarist playing Spanish flamenco music sitting in the small courtyard surrounding the fountain. I found a shady spot, within ear of the guitarist, and sat to write.

Palacio Real de Madrid

Mmm, Roman soldier (?) for lunch!

Laying about for 250 years

Right, don't piss off Fernando 1!

Yep, me

Once the grumbles in my belly overpowered the strums of Spanish guitar, I made my way from the Palace to find something to eat. As I wandered away from this regal venue, playing Frogger with Spanish traffic, I spotted a little tapas bar with promise, called La Mi Venta. As I ducked my head in, my heart lept… this was finally the type of place I'd been looking for! Large drying legs of Jamón Ibérico hanging from the ceiling, a small asador in the corner, and a few grumpy old Spanish men running the place. Perfect!

Hanging Jamón Ibérico

Gorgeous food counters

The food here did not disappoint. The food counter illuminated a trip down memory lane, with tortilla, boquerones, caracoles, and even… yes there they were… pimientos de padrón! [link - because they are so good yet so few people outside of Spain know them]

Boquerones en vinagre

Jamón Ibérico

Pimientos de Padrón

This place was so good, I vowed to return.

La Mi Venta
Plaza de la Marina Española, 7
28013 Madrid
+34 91 559-50-91


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rating: 5 feet
verdict: superbly authentic and delicious. Maybe a little pricey, but what the hell… you're on vacation!

After this belly filling lunch, I wandered many of the smaller streets rising above the palace until I stumbled back into Puerta del Sol. The streets of Madrid are a veritable maze, but I was finding that I knew my way around quite quickly. Perhaps the Spanish street names were proving easier to remember as they tickled a part of my brain barely used for nearly 25 years, or maybe I was simply so enthralled with Madrid that committing it to memory was to be expected, but I found that I could very quickly find anywhere I'd been on the map, or find my way back to the hostel from any random street I found myself on. Simply put, the meanderings of the day always comfortably led me back to Calle de la Cabeza.