Takoyaki in New York

It is no secret that I love takoyaki, a kind of omelet ball that is stuffed with a tiny piece of octopus that is found all over Japan and especially in Kyoto but that is also apparently a favorite for Japanese people to cook at home for their families. I did a post on the subject in 2011, showing our friend Hitomi Kondo going through the process. I even helped in shaping the balls. Here is the almost finished product before saucing:

Nearly finished takoyaki balls

The takoyaki that Hitomi made for us, like every version that I have had until recently, was a firm ball with a firm piece of octopus inside, served with bonito flakes sprinkled on top and a special thickish sweetish sauce that resembles tonkatsu sauce. I say until recently because a couple of weeks ago I experienced a new take on takoyaki, in New York of all places. While waiting to get into Ramen Totto (see post of earlier today), I noticed Takoyaki Bar (also run by Totto) right next door, and resolved to return as soon as possible. Which I did.

Takoyaki Bar by Totto

To my surprise, the takoyaki here was very soft, almost impossible to hold with the traditional toothpicks they are served with, and had a very tender morsel of octopus inside. A wonderful new (for me) take on this iconic street dish served, as it should be, in a paper box, placed into a plastic external box.

Takoyaki Bar's takoyaki

For those squeamish about octopus (the tako in takoyaki), the restaurant makes takoyaki stuffed with bits of chicken (an oxymoron, of course). Not having any problem with octopus, I passed on this, but it does make it easier to go with a group, which might include octopodophobes.

Give it a try.

Bobby Jay

Really Good Ramen in New York

While living in Tokyo for nearly three years, I developed a love for ramen, Japanese noodle soup originally based on Chinese precedents but adapted by the Japanese and turned into a much-beloved dish that can be found all over Japan, with local variations, generally at simple restaurants or even standing counters at stations, on crowded streets and in shopping malls.

Until fairly recently, ramen was hard to find in New York, but in the last few years there has been a ramen explosion. The great Tokyo-based Ippudo, which specializes in Hakata ramen, with broth make with long-cooked pork bones, has a couple of establishments. The famous Ivan Ramen, which was created by an American ramen fanatic who spent years in Japan perfecting his craft (and has written a book on the subject), has received considerable notoriety, and less-famous ramen shops are springing up everywhere. One of the best is Jin Ramen, at 82nd and Amsterdam, and I am partial to Tabata, at Ninth Avenue and 40th Street, which is run by Malaysians who trained in Tokyo for many years and make some highly seasoned and not totally traditional versions (excellent spicy tan tan ramen).

In August I came across Totto Ramen, which has three locations (248 East 52nd, 366 West 52nd and 464 West 51st streets). I was thrilled to find that their ramen is really excellent.

Totto Ramen's extra spicy miso ramen - note big glob of sauce next to the egg

The place on West 52nd Street is unprepossessing, but always packed with eager slurpers. You wait on line, while they take your order and when you are seated, the correct noodles miraculously appear.

Totto Ramen: taking orders from waiting customers

And the noodles are worth even the considerable wait. First, the noodles are just the right texture, springy but not exactly al dente. I had extra spicy miso ramen, and the sauce was deep and rich as well as VERY spicy.

About a block away is the newest Totto Ramen, a lovely restaurant where I didn't have to wait on line, and there is room to breathe

Totto Ramen, 464 West 51st Street

The ramen is the same as at the West 52nd Street branch, and here I opted for the chicken paitan, or simple chicken ramen. Not as exciting as the spicy miso (and probably better with pork instead of chicken), but I wanted to try what is billed as the restaurant's signature dish.

Chicken paitan at Totto Ramen

If you like ramen, or don't know whether you do or not, you will be happy at Totto Ramen.

Bobby Jay

Eleven Madison Park -- Food for the Brain

I was lucky enough to be taken by my wife J to Eleven Madison Park, Daniel Humm's famed gastronomic palace, for my birthday on Friday. I don't review New York restaurants on the theory that there is ample, if not excessive, information available to those who care, and this is not a review. However, the experience was noteworthy and worth discussing, I think.

We had heard that the experience could be over the top and self-referential, but we found this not to be true at all. The staff was knowledgeable, gracious and efficient, and greatly enhanced the evening, which elapsed over more than four hours.

Indeed, far from being self-referential, the restaurant is totally devoted to its customers, showing great flexibility in responding to food allergies or aversions. We were a party of four and aversions included fish, shellfish, anything raw, eggs, beef and lobster. They seamlessly and elegantly worked around these issues so that everyone's 14-course meal reflected the philosophy and trajectory of the experience. For example, extruded cheese noodles were substituted for squid for one of our party, keeping the dish aesthetically consistent with the "normal" one while bringing a different, but legitimate, taste and texture, and truffles were substituted for caviar in one of great early courses.

The food was not over the top either, just consistently at the top. It is extremely market driven, and shows a nearly miraculous attention to detail and ability to extract the essence of flavor from the ingredients. As an example, a tomato that was not a tomato but a reconstruction of a tomato that was pureed and artfully reassembled and served over the water extracted from the tomato (the seeds are recovered and used atop the dish to further the illusion). More intense tomato flavor than even a perfect summer tomato. Similarly, a poached apricot was the most apricot-y piece of food that I have ever eaten. This accompanied a slice of spice crusted duck breast, along with two morsels of super-concentrated fennel made by vacuum compressing vegetable overnight before cooking it the next day.

Tomato salad with basil and red onion

Duck breast roasted with lavender, honey, apricots and fennel

The restaurant tries not to take itself too seriously and introduces notes of whimsy. J arranged for us to eat a course in the kitchen, which was a palate-cleansing shaved ice made on an antique ice shaver that was found at an antiques store in the Bronx.

Peach, ginger and lemon thyme snow cone

And one of the courses -- fish boil with corn and peppers -- was thrown onto a piece of thick paper with the diners being encouraged to eat with their hands.

Fish boil with corn and peppers

The final whimsical element was the fourth dessert, called "Name That Milk," which consisted of four different chocolate bars specially made for Eleven Madison by the Mast Brothers. We were supposed to match each bar with the type of milk used in its confection: cow, buffalo, sheep or goat (we did not do well).

So, you are asking if you have gotten this far, what about the food? I found that the dishes varied greatly, from sublime (caviar Benedict with egg, corn and ham, among others) to nearly unpleasant (a sunflower heart prepared like that of an artichoke). A lot of dishes (a few too many for my taste) featured pickled items, and there was a predominance of sourness or tartness. The first dessert was a delicious but very tart homemade farmer's cheese served with honey and interesting toppings, including an amazing sorrel sauce. It was followed by a dish composed of buttermilk sorbet made from the extremely sour whey of the aforementioned cheese, very tart yogurt and a trace of sweet milk solids. Next was a deconstructed cheesecake, also on the tart side. I would have preferred more sweetness for the dessert.

Sorbet with caramelized whey and yogurt

Cheesecake with white currant sorbet and raspberry vinegar

But the point is not that I found a little too much sour and tart among the many things we ate. Rather it is that all of these items provoked discussion and disagreement among our party of four. One of us  was ecstatic about the sequence of tart desserts, but then she is not a chocolate lover (there are those!). While the everyday world does not disappear from your conscientiousness, for a few hours the world of food, and thoughts about how it is prepared and where it comes from (and when) dominate, and that is a fine thing, for which I am indebted to Mr. Humm (and to J, who arranged the whole thing).

Bobby Jay

SOS Chefs - Amazing Spices and Other Food Products for Professionals

We had a catered party a couple of weeks ago and the chef was a Tunisian named Sami. We talked a lot about food, and about great products and where to find them. He told me to go to SOS Chefs, in the East Village, and tell the lady that Sami the Tunisian chef sent me. 

So I finally made the journey to Avenue B between 6th and 7th Streets today, and it is quite a place! As Sami said, the range and quality of the spices is amazing, but please note that they charge for it. I was helped by a lovely young woman who kept bringing me spices to try, and of course I ended up buying a number of them. When I introduced myself to the owner, who it turns out is also Tunisian, I was treated to a tour of the mushroom room in the back, where a huge variety of mushrooms are stored pending orders by New York's chefs. Also nuts and other perishable items: I drooled over the Sicilian pistachios, but was able to resist them due to the $100 per pound price tag.

Timut Peppercorns

Sicilian Pistachios

Spices and Black Garlic from SOS Chefs

I did indulge in some Nepalese Timut pepper, of which I tasted a single grain and enjoyed a tingling tongue for 20 minutes, rather like a cross between Szechuan and black pepper. I'm really looking forward to using it, and it is already loaded into a grinder. The other spice I bought were ones that I needed or bought in order to upgrade my existing pantry, like incredibly fragrant Aleppo pepper that blows the stuff I had away. And I was talked into a head of pungent black garlic, which I must figure out how to use.

SOS Chefs also has a great selection of grains, oils, pastas, beans and other items that I am forgetting. A long way to go from the Upper West Side, but a fun visit.

Bobby Jay

Surprise! Will You Still Feed Me . . . ?

The evening before my 64th birthday, I innocently arrived at Aldea, one of our favorite New York restaurants, to meet another couple for dinner. But J had a surprise in store for me: four couples of our dearest friends arrayed around a table adjacent to the restaurant's open kitchen. Sharing a wonderful eight-course tasting menu with really close friends -- well, it doesn't really get better than this.

Here's the menu, including the wine pairings that accompanied each course.

Special birthday menu

I am not yet able to drink alcohol so a special non-alcoholic beverage was paired with each course just for me. Some of these were quite sensational.

Non-alcoholic drinks

In addition to the excellent food, the hospitality we received was noteworthy. We were permitted to mingle with the chef and staff in the open kitchen, an opportunity too good to pass up.

Bobby Jay in the kitchen

Here are some highlights from the meal.

Soft egg with bacalhau, black olive, potato

Cucumber and wild strawberry salad, cucumber juice, smoked sardines, yogurt

Foie gras with port-poached and pickled cherries

Wild striped bass, bok choy, caperberries, smoked trout roe, corn nage

Duck breast, grilled wax beans, peaches, cherries

The food didn't just look good. It was carefully constructed with very subtle accents created by adding tiny amounts of interesting flavor "bombs," like house-smoked sardines and trout roe and lemon thyme. And the pickled cherries, which turned up twice, with the foie gras and the duck breast: sublime. The menu was well-balanced, with perfect portion sizes, and not too heavy; we were all sated but without feeling that we had overdone it.

Even on a normal night, Aldea is an excellent restaurant, with innovative Portuguese-inspired food served in a refined but unpretentious atmosphere. But on my birthday night it was truly special!

Bobby Jay

They're Stealing My New York Lunch Places

Two of my favorite New York lunch restaurants have recently disappeared without notice: Onya (very good freshly made Japanese udon) and Baoguette (bánh mì).

While there are other bánh mì places, none is very convenient for me and so far none has matched Baoguette. I'll have to keep trying. Or I can try to make them using one of the many recipes I have amassed, but it is most unlikely that my version of this great sandwich will turn out to be world class.

The udon situation seems worse. I am not aware of any substitutes. While ramen, which I love, is sweeping New York, the more subtle, healthier (no fat) udon has so far escaped notice.

Fortunately, Porchetta is still around. Although it is no substitute for the others, their roast pork sandwich is truly heavenly.

Bobby Jay

Favorite New York Restaurants

My wife J and I are often asked, typically but not always by non-New Yorkers, what are our favorite restaurants in New York. Unlike most New Yorkers, we eat home 3-4 nights a week, but of course we do eat out pretty frequently.

I don’t do reviews of New York restaurants on this blog, but here is a brief list of our favorites. I am not saying that these are the best restaurants in New York, just that they are our favorite places to go, in no particular order (reflecting where and how we live, the fact that we spend a lot of time in Paris, etc.).

American

• Telepan – solid, imaginative, well-presented; our go-to restaurant
• Dovetail – similar profile to Telepan’s; love vegetarian menu on Monday night
• Bar Américain – Bobby Flay’s regional American; noisy but a great place to bring out-of-town, especially foreign, guests

Japanese

• Sushi Yasuda for sushi – super quality and freshness
• Soba totto for yakitori and soba – like being in Japan

Greek Estiatorio (Fish)

• Milos – best fish in NY, incredibly noisy
• Molyvos – good, less expensive fun place to go

Italian

• Del Posto – great food, service and décor, an “adult” restaurant where you can be at your ease; our favorite restaurant in NY
• Caravaggio – excellent, authentic food, also not too noisy
• Elio's -- reliable and consistent for 35 years, cacaphonous

Chinese

• Shun Lee Palace – good food and excellent Peking Duck
• Evergreen Café – really good dim sum on weekends

French

• Bar Boulud -- great at any time, especially before or after Lincoln Center
• Cafe Boulud -- consistently excellent, a great buy for lunch
• Jo-Jo -- Jean George's other place; elegant food without too much fanfare and a stunning value for lunch

Elegant

• The Modern – great food at the restaurant and imaginative small plates at the Bar
• Gramercy Tavern – excellent food and service in this other Danny Meyer mainstay

Sandwich

• Baoguette -- the classic bánh mì sandwich

Portuguese

• Aldea -- excellent, imaginative food, unfortunately difficult to get a reservation

Mexican

• Rosa Mexicano -- Reliable upscale Mexican; not Tex- or Cal-Mex
• Toloache -- Very interesting modern Mexican in theater district

Indian

• Dawat -- Consistently excellent renditions of Indian cuisine from many regions

Oysters and Fish

• Oyster Bar at Grand Central -- that's what they do; always perfectly fresh (and the only Manhattan clam chowder worth eating)
• Ocean Grill, Atlantic Grill -- siblings that serve consistent fresh seafood in simple or interesting preparations at reasonable prices

Category of its Own

• Rouge Tomate – imaginative, tasty and amazingly healthful fare, with a fascinating wine list

This list speaks as of today. It is subject to change at any time, by virtue of new discoveries or bad experiences, and I'm afraid I can't undertake to keep it updated.

Bobby Jay

Momofuku and Daniel Join in Hurricane Relief Benefit

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, which left downtown Manhattan without power and wreaked major havoc on the entire area, the team at David Chang's Momofuku and Daniel Boulud decided to help in the way they know best: by preparing a spectacular meal, charging a lot for it and donating the proceeds to the Rec Cross's relief effort.

J and I went, and had a great time while providing much-needed funds to the relief effort. Here is the menu, including the wines expertly paired with each dish.

Menu for Momofuku/Daniel Benefit

I have had only limited experience with the Momofuku empire (an excellent lunch at Momofuku Milk Bar), much more with Daniel's. As expected, the food that was provided by the Momofuku team was extremely imaginative, that provided by Daniel a bit more classic but perfectly prepared. A highlight of creativity was the foie gras - lychee, pine nut, pictured below.

Foie gras with lychees and pine nuts

Where's the foie gras? You're looking at it, flakes of frozen foie gras that melt in your mouth, covering fresh lychees and pine nuts. In all honesty, my favorite dishes were more straightforward: the duck with wild rice, apple and brussels sprouts, prepared by the Daniel team, and the veal sweetbreads with yuzu kosho, labne and Asian pear.

The meal was not the only great aspect of the evening. The 42 diners were arrayed along a single enormous table, and judging by the 10 or so people we were able to interact with, it was a lovely group of accomplished and articulate but unpretentious food lovers. There was a great chemistry in the room, and a good (and useful) time was had by all. Thanks to David Chang and Daniel Boulud!

Bobby Jay

Adventure in Little Egypt

My friend John and I shared a food adventure in Queens this week, going to the famed Kabab Café in the tiny Egyptian enclave on Steinway Street (it's at number 25-12).

Kabab Cafe

Things are pretty relaxed at the Kabab cafe. Upon arriving at the restaurant at 1:00 PM, the purported opening time, the owner, Ali Rahman, was cleaning his oven and informed us that he would not open until that task was completed, estimated to be 20-25 minutes. So we went next door to the Nile Deli to see what an Egyptian market was like. Apart from the many hookas on display, the Nile contains a wealth of Middle Eastern products, chickpeas and favas in every possible form, tahinis, etc. A fascinating side trip.

Nile Deli

By the end of our little detour, the Café was ready to open, so we went in. After a Paris-length interval, Ali approached us and we began to chat about what we might eat. Ali, a warm and humble man, sizes up the customers during this preliminary interview and makes appropriate suggestions. We ended up with a plate of assorted mezze with fava bean falafel, a vegetable salad, and small plates of lamb parts: we had brains (looked and tasted like a very tender schnitzel) and sweetbreads (perfectly browned outside and tender in the middle). We passed on the liver and the testicles. All was well-prepared and we enjoyed the mild but pungent spice profile. (A spicy homemade seven-pepper sauce is available to kick up the flavors to those – me included – who so desire.) Abundant mint tea and pita accompanied and enhanced the meal.

Laziza Pastries

Leaving, we passed by the nearby Lebanese pastry shop, Laziza, where John bought a mixed batch of miniature pastries in the baklava mode: various configurations of nuts and honey in filo. All very tasty and a perfect counterpoint to the Egyptian seasoning still occupying our mouths.

Queens is the ultimate melting pot today. Nearly every nationality is represented there, and enjoying their foods is the best way to partake of other people’s cultures. Well worth the trip.

Bobby Jay

New York - Great Dinners at Del Posto and Gramercy Tavern

While I don't do reviews of New York restaurants (there is so much, perhaps too much, information to be had already), I do from time to time mention noteworthy experiences of sheer excellence at New York establishments.

This week my wife and I dined at Del Posto and Gramercy Tavern. Two great meals in two great restaurants. The two meals both featured imaginative, excellent dishes but in totally different idioms, and both restaurants featured attentive, capable service, quite formal at Del Posto and more casual at Gramercy Tavern. Perhaps my best compliment is to say that they both made it look easy, while we know that running a great restaurant is among the most challenging of endeavors.

At Del Posto, we had the menu tradizionale, pictured below, with a couple of perfect substitutions for my wife, who can't eat beef and doesn't like eggs.


At Gramercy Tavern, I had a sublime corn custard, followed by a grilled and slow-roasted lamb duo and a peanut butter semi-freddo. Others had creative preparations of shrimp, duck and pork.

Neither experience comes cheap. The "menu tradizionale" at Del Posto is $145 without wine, and the three-course prix fixe at Gramercy Tavern is a relative bargain at $88, with tasting menus in triple digits. But they are both worth the price, for they provide not just great food but wonderful, total dining experiences.

Del Posto, 85 Tenth Avenue; Gramercy Tavern, 42 East 20th Street.

Bobby Jay

New York: Mid-Summer Abundance

In preparation for an all-local dinner - well, almost; you really can't find local mozzarella di bufalo, anchovies, baking powder and soda or tapioca - I made a trip to the Union Square Greenmarket today. The Saturday market is always best, but we are now in high summer and it was the best ever: sweet corn (my favorite food), heirloom tomatoes, sugar plums (my wife's favorite food), apricots, greens and herbs, and even a leg of lamb. Truly overwhelming.

Here are just a few images.

Carrots and more carrots


Radishes and onions



Eggplant and fancy radishes



Basil plants and flowers

Bobby Jay

New York: Barbecue Capital for the Weekend

How have we missed the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party for the first eight years of its existence? Running both days this weekend, it is a great event for barbecue lovers, and I am nothing if not that.

Run as always by the Union Square Hospitality Group (Union Square Cafe, Eleven Madison, Gramercy Tavern, Shake Shack, etc.), the 2011 edition boasts barbecue from 16 of the nation's finest pitmasters, hailing from 12 states, arrayed around the outside of Madison Square Park. Related activities, including live music, take place inside the park.

My wife and I sampled the pulled pork from Big Bob Gibson Barbecue, Decatur, Alabama (said, by an authority, to be the best in the world, and we believe it); ribs from Memphis Championship Barbecue, Las Vegas, Nevada; beef brisket and sausage from The Salt Lick BBQ, Driftwood, Texas and (yes, another) pulled pork from Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint, Nashville, Tennessee, and their various accompanying sides - beans and cole slaw, mainly. A big lunch, I admit, but worth every calorie.

Some pictures below:

Pit Master from Ed Mitchell's straight out of central casting

Brisket and sausage at Salt Lick BBQ and lady with big hair at Big Bob's

And of course I just had to get a shirt from my namesake, Big Bob(by).

Big Bobby Jay

Yakitori Lovers of New York . . .

. . . rejoice!

About two years ago, I wrote a post on the Totto family of restaurants. Soon after, Yakitori Torys, their great East Side yakitori restaurant, closed, giving way to a ramen restaurant, Hide-chan, owned by the same group. Their sister yakitori place, Yakitori Totto, doesn't take reservations after 7:00, making it quite impractical for my wife and me. We were despondent.


Until now. It turns out that the yakitori team and menu from Torys have been moved to Soba Totto, the same group's excellent soba restaurant at 211 East 43rd Street. Of course, you can also get authentic soba, which is great by itself or paired with yakitori (although this would never be done in Japan). A great sake and shochu selection is available to accompany your meal.

Eggplant Miso Yakitori (L); Chicken Stuffed Shishito and Beef Yakitori (R)

I have never tried Hide-chan in silent protest of its usurpation of Torys. Now that I have reconnected with my favorite yakitori, I will give it a try. Given the high level of quality and authenticity of the Totto restaurants, I am sure that the noodles, broth and the toppings will be excellent.

Bobby Jay