Docsconz- The Blog

Urasawa Sans Bluefin

 

When I called to make my reservation at Urasawa, the tiny and ultra-exclusive Rodeo Drive Japanese kaiseki restaurant of Hiroyuki Urasawa during my recent visit to Los Angeles, I was asked if I had any allergies or if there was anything I wouldn't eat. I sighed and responded, “bluefin tuna.” Bluefin tuna is one of the most delicious foods on the planet and Urasawa has a reputation of getting some of the best and doing it extreme justice. The problem is that bluefin has been simply too delicious for its own good and by most credible accounts appears to be close to extinction due to overfishing from extreme demand and extreme value and slow reproduction. I sighed because bluefin is, or had been, one of my favorite things to eat. Because of its precarious state and a perhaps overly optimistic hope that by not eating what is left of it, the stock may rebound enough that my children and grandchildren may someday be able to enjoy it in good conscience, I choose to not eat it. Ordinarily, I would simply avoid a restaurant that serves it, but I was curious to experience Urasawa and to see whether it would still be a great experience even without this ultimate delicacy. The response on the other end of the phone showed a touch of surprise, but no condescension. I would hope not, because even though I would be forgoing the costliest items of the meal, the price I would be paying would not be any less.

Daniel Patterson Discourses on the Craft vs. Art Debate

Few chefs are more eloquent and cerebral than Daniel Patterson of San Francisco's Coi and Il Cane Rosso and Oakland's Plum. Few chefs also make more beautiful, thoughtful and delicious food. He is also not afraid to say it as he sees it. Here are his thoughts about the place of Art in cooking.

 

Coming soon: Albert Adria gets la ultima palabra.

Daniel Patterson's Coi - Culinary Poetry

Daniel Patterson of San Francisco's Coi is the chef in North America, who most reminds me of Rene Redzepi of Copenhagen's noma. It is not that Patterson is recreating Redzepi's food or vice versa. Although he sources the bulk of his ingredients locally from the cornucopia of the San Francisco Bay Area, much like Redzepi does from Scandinavia, it is not that that makes me equate the two. Sean Brock of Charleston's Husk and McCrady's, is probably closer to Redzepi in that way with his determination to find and resurrect the ancestral ingredients of the Old American South to build a new cuisine truly representative of the region, much like what Redzepi has done in Scandinavia. Nor is it the way Patterson highlights a single vegetable like Redzepi does with carrots and other vegetables. Blue Hill at Stone Barns' Dan Barber and his roasted parsnips, amongst other dishes, are more reminiscent of that. Both Patterson and Redzepi have become known for using local, wild foraged plants with a special emphasis on coastal products including seaweeds and beach plants, but it is more the sensibility with which they are used that unites the two chefs in my mind, how they make emphatic, personal culinary statements about their own terroir and about how each of them creates a very personal poetry with food. 

Finger Limes

I first noticed these wonderful little Australian citrus fruits in L.A. in early December. They appeared in dishes at a Wolvesmouth dinner, in cocktails at The Library Bar at The Roosevelt Hollywood Hotel and again at Providence, all to great effect, working like a burst of lime caviar to accent the dishes with both flavor and texture. Since then, I've noticed them n a number of menus and had them at Roberta's in Brooklyn. I bought some at the Santa Monica Farmers Market. The limes in the photo are some of the last remaining from my purchase. They held up well as I used them yesterday in a dish of piquillo peppers stuffed with turkey, chevre, saffron, peas and citrus and covered with Hollandaise. I would not be in the least surprised to see finger limes become the hot ingredient of 2011 much like hay and pine were in 2010.

My Top 25 Restaurant Meals of 2010

This is, of course, a subjective ranking. While great food is the single most important factor, the ranking is a reflection of the overall experience and the significance of that meal to me on a number of levels. The bottom line is that this was an exceptional year of dining for me with a number of meals that would have been top ten in many other years unable to be ranked so high this year. For my number one meal - noma - I am counting both the dinner and the lunch as one extended meal. I decided to not include special, guest chef or one-off dinners on this list, since they are special one-time events, not truly reflective of a specific restaurant or chef doing what he or she typically does. That is not to say, that they wouldn't have been on this list. Special mention goes to these special dinners: noma at Corton; The Alchemy of Taste & Smell Dinner; Aldea with Sam Mason, and Aldea with Pastry Chefs, each of which was simply sensational.

1. noma
2. Town House
3. Stella!
4. Restaurant AOC
5. The Oval Room
6. Providence
7. Roberta's
8. McCrady''s
9. Kiin Kiin
10. Elements
11. Blue Hill at Stone Barns
12. Wolves' Den
13. Coi
14. Urasawa
15. Ubuntu
16. Mathias Dahlgren Matsalen
17. Oaxen Krog
18. minibar
19. Herman
20. Hawk's
21. The Red Hen
22. Sorella
23. Recette
24. Jean-Georges
25. Pizzeria Mozza

The lack of reports on some of these restaurants is an indication of how backed up I am. I will post them as I can. 

Ooh La La - Los Angeles Food Now

 

It had been thirty years since I had lived in Los Angeles. I had been back a couple of times, but never spent any considerable time there and when I was there, food wasn't a major reason for being there. In recent years, though, the city had become more prominent on my food radar.

 

Even back when I lived there, L.A. Was a great city for ethnic cuisines, especially those from Asia and Mexico. With Hollywood and all it's wealth and fame, a ritzy fine dining scene had always been present, but the restaurants had always struck me as too expensive, too boring and too much about the scene. While there had always been a few restaurants that sounded interesting like Spago, Matsuhisa, and a few others, there were not enough of them to draw me back – until now. I spent four nights in Los Angeles packing in as many interesting and different culinary experiences as I could and I just touched the surface of what is available. While it may not have happened over night, I can affirm that Los Angeles has arrived as a major, world-class food city with a culinary life as exciting as anywhere in the United States right now.

Red Medicine

One of my main inspirations for coming to Los Angeles was the hope of being able to try Jordan Kahn's exciting new restaurant, Red Medicine, a personal cuisine inspired by Vietnamese flavors. Alas, for me, restaurant openings can be very difficult to time. Having to deal with both Los Angeles County and Beverly Hills (it is located just inside the Beverly Hills border on Wilshire Blvd) beauracracies proved to much to get it open while I was there. The good news, though, for fans of Jordan Kahn and fans of good food in Los Angeles, is that with all but a few final inspections passed and under their belts, opening is within panting distance. With a little bit of luck, they just might be open by next weekend. Long a fan of Jordan's pastries, I'll just have to try to return to L.A. soon!

December Tomatoes

These tasty beauties were at The Santa Monica Farmers Market at the beginning of December along with many other varieties, a bounty not generally seen at this time of the year in the Northeast. The quality and variety of the produce at the market was wonderful. I especially drooled over all the juicy citrus and the fresh nuts, items we don't have in our markets back east. I was surprised to find only limited meat, cheese and fish, though, all items generally more readily available at the better northeastern markets. It was good to see a number of L.A. Chefs and restaurateurs out shopping the market, too. Mixologist Matt Biancaniello from the Library Bar at the Roosevelt Hollywood Hotel goes every week to buy fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables to use in the bar. I had the opportunity to visit him at the bar later that evening. His creativity and work are very impressive and absolutely worth a visit for all fans of the cocktail. His candy cap mushroom infused bourbon was amazing! More photos from the market below.

 

Oakland - A Bit of Brooklyn Out West

James Syhabout's newish restaurant, Commis, already has a Michelin star. It is a small, minimalist space with a central open kitchen, reasonable prices and intense, creative cooking. With the loss of Chez Panisse's star, Commis currently boasts the only Michelin star in the entire East Bay Area. That, however, doesn't mean that there isn't plenty of good cooking going on there.

With a noon arrival at the Oakland airport I was met by my host, one of my very best friends who goes all the way back to Xaverian High School in Brooklyn, N.Y. and who was also the best man at my wedding. Now an Oakland resident for over twenty years, he is well versed in all aspects of that city. After loading my bags in his car, we made a beeline for Pho 84, located in downtown Oakland and named for the year it opened. I started with the Goi Cuon or shrimp rolls - shrimp with iceberg lettuce, bean sprouts and cilantro rolled in rice paper and served with peanut sauce, a refreshing and tasty welcome back to the Bay Area. With a name like Pho 84, the pho better be good and what I had was quite good and quite satisfying. The Pho 84 House Special was replete with rare done steak, well done flank, tendons and meatballs in a rich beef broth topped with cilantro and onions. My visit was off to a great start.

Early Pomegranates

Early pomegranates at the Montclair (Oakland, CA) Farmers Market 11/28/10