NYC 8-day trip kick start! Dinner at ESCA

My business trip to New York just started.

Took an early morning flight from LAX as usual, but this time, I stayed awake for a while and had a power breakfast. It's going to be a long hectic 8 days, so I need to keep myself energized throughout the trip:-)

The weather in NYC was surprisingly "okay". It wasn't too hot or humid. After checking in at the hotel, I took a walk for a while.

In the evening, I met up with my business partners who flew all the way from Japan. I was so excited to see them here! Despite the long travel with 12-hour time difference, they looked rather refreshed than tired.

We had our kick-off dinner at ESCA, which is Mario Batali's seafood restaurant in Midtown West. The restaurant has such a nice ambience. It's a very busy restaurant, just like any other Mario's places. We did their Tasting Menu.

I didn't take pictures of all the food, but every dish was so well presented and excellent.

Amuse Buche...bruschetta with white beans. It was great with Summer Ale by The Blue Point Brewery from Long Island.

Crudo del Mercato...The first course was 4 different kinds of crudo including Mediterranean pink snapper and skip jack. The quality of each was exceptional!

Burrata...Soft cheese from Puglia with Spoonbill caviar. We all gasped when Burrata appetizer was presented in front of each of us. It was a huge wad of burrata (from Puglia) with a generous (really generous) scoop of caviar (domestic spoonbill caviar). And, the combination of the flavors worked out really nicely.

Linguine Fine...with Gulf shrimp, sungold cherry tomatoes and guanciale. A Japanese friend who had been to ESCA told me that this restaurant does their past right. She was right! The pasta was spotless with al dente doneness and the flavor was really nice.

Salmone Serlvatice...Wild Yukon River sockeye salmon with cucumbers, marscaponne and dill. We all got our salmon medium-rare. Very pure flavor.

Merluzzo...Roasted Casco Bay cod with Italian spigarello. I loved the simple and sophisticated preparation of this dish.

Before dolci, we also had ricotta cream (almost like ice cream) with wild flower honey. So nice.

Dolci...we shared 4 different kinds including Crostata di Mirtillo (blueberry crostata with toasted almonds, lemon curd and creme fraiche gelati). Very nice, and we were very full.

Wines complemented the nice seafood dishes well, too. We had 2010 Clelia Romano, Fiano di Avelliono "Colli di Lapio" (from Campagna. young promising producer. vinified entirely in inox. very clean and floral.), and also 2007 Sardus Pater, Vermentino "Lugore" (from Sardegna. growing co-op. rich and elegant).

Wonderful first night dinner! Portion of each dish was quite big for a tasting course, so we were really full after all the dishes and wines. We had such a nice time together. Tomorrow, hard work will begin!

Donabe steam-roasted dover sole...in microwave!

Another simple and delicious recipe...

with my new donabe steam-roaster TOCHINSAI.

Cleaned filets of dover sole were seasoned with salt & pepper (inner-side only) and rolled. They were arranged in TOCHINSAI with the grate (black-side up). Meanwhile, the lid was soaked in water for 1 minute and drained.

TOCHINSAI was covered with the lid and microwaved for 5-6 minutes. After cooking, TOCHINSAI was let sit for a couple of minutes (there is carry-over heat). Meanwhile, I made a simple sauce by mixing creme fraiche with a little amount of yuzu kosho and lime juice.

Donabe steam-roasted dover sole was ready! It looked so pure.

Fish was served with the simple yuzu-kosho & creme fraiche sauce (1/4 cup creme fraiche + 1 teaspoon yuzu-kosho + a little white pepper + a little squeeze of lime juice) and some chopped chives. It was so moist and just delicious.

I posted the recipe on toiro's website. So, please check it out.

Happy donabe life.

More lunch pics...

Since I found Chimu in Downtown a few weeks ago, I've already gone back there 3 more times! I feel like trying everything from their menu.

On one sunny sunday... we shared ceviche (seabass), I had Peruvian rotisserie chicken, and Jason and braised lamb belly. All were excellent!

Cafe Gratitude on Larchmont Blvd. is also becoming my frequent lunch spot. This is the first So. Cal outpost of a popular vegan restaurant/ small chain from Bay Area. Their menu is huge, so every time, I try something different for both drink and food. I think one of my favorites so far is their veggie burger. The patty is a course mix of different beans, vegetables, and grains, so I like the texture as well as the flavor. Quinoa & brown rice bowl dish is also nice.

Donabe dinner for one

I had such a long day, but I managed to cook 5 dishes...all with donabe!

Brown rice was made with double-lid donabe rice cooker, Kamado-san.

Daikon miso soup was made with soup & stew donabe, Miso-shiru Nabe.

And, the rest of the dishes were all made with my new donabe steam-roaster, Tochinsai in microwave!

(I was so tired that night so I didn't take any picture of the process, but...) with Tochinsai, I could make 3 delicious dishes in less than 30 minutes...seriously!

Steamed eggplant in miso-sesame sauce. Eggplant was cut in half set in Tochinsai (with the grate - white-side up) and microwaved for 5 minutes. Then, I further sliced the eggplants and just tossed in the sauce.

Cauliflower and tomato salad. Cauliflower florets were steam-roasted in Tochinsai in microwave for about 5 minutes. Then they were tossed with tomatoes in shio-koji vinaigrette I quickly made.

Steam-roasted shio-koji marinated chicken breast with chunky la-yu. A large piece of chicken breast was simply marinated in shio-koji for an hour then set in Tochinsai (with the grate - black-side up) and microwaved for about 6 minutes. It was sliced and served with my homemade chunky la-yu.

Tochinsai is a fantastic time savor donabe. And, the best of all, it cooks each ingredient very nicely. The chicken was so juicy and tender.

Happy donabe life.

Donabe Steam-roasted Oregano Chicken...microwave cooking!

I had never imagined myself enjoying cooking with microwave...until I met this brilliant microwavable donabe steam-roaster, TOCHINSAI.

With the effect of the heating grate (which can heat up to 600F in microwave) and porous Iga clay (great heat-retention and moisture absorbency which creates steam when the lid is pre-soaked in water), this donabe can cook ingredients to the best potential in microwave.

The other night, I made super-eacy oregano chicken with avocado dip.

I seasoned chicken drummettes with salt, pepper, and dry oregano. The drumettes were set in the pre-heated TOCHINSAI (so the heating grate is already extremely hot) and cooked in microwave for about 6 minutes.

After taking TOCHINSAI out of the microwave, I let it set (there is a lot of carry-over heat because of remarkable heat-retention of donabe) for a few minutes. While the chicken was cooking, I made quick avocado dip in 3 minutes.

That's it! The aroma was so nice and chicken was cooked perfectly juicy.

You can find the recipe at toiro's website.

Happy donabe life.

Japanese Green Tea IPA...very nice brew!

I was lucky enough to find Japanese Green Tea IPA, made in collaboration with Stone Brewing (San Diego), Ishii Brewing (Guam), and Baird Brewing (Shizuoka, Japan). This India Pale Ale is brewed with sencha green tea leaves. (You can find more details in the artcile here.)

All proceeds from the sales of this beer will go to Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief by Red Cross.

This beer is 9.2% alcohol. The color is beautiful orange/ honey. The aroma is citrus/ spice, and the flavor had a hint of sweet bitterness, which reminded me of Sencha green tea.

I loved it so much! I ordered last 4 bottles from K&L Wines (since their Hollywood location didn''t carry it, the order was shipped from their Redwood City location up north). Now, I can't find it anywhere...I wonder if Stone Brewing will make extra production of this special collaboration beer. I hope!

Playa's bluecorn muffins

I was so blown away by the Bluecorn Muffins (available during weekend brunch) at restaurant Playa in Mid-City the other weekend. Made from Anson Farms organic blue cornmeal, and served with almond butter, these freshly-baked muffins are crusty outside and very moist (and walm) inside. They are not too sweet and just so tasty. How lovely!

Not just for dinner, I thought Playa is such a nice brunch spot. It's so relaxing and the food is very good. May tamal was made of cracked corn masa with pulled pork filling and topped with sunny-side up eggs (perfectly runny yolk). Jason had Huevos Polenta.

I also liked their original cocktail, The Grail (12-year apple brandy, malbec, pressed lady apple, etc.)

Maybe panqueques next time?

Kelp wrapped onigiri with donabe brown rice

We've been enjoying going to Hollywood Bowl shows this summer again. We've already gone to 5 shows so far and there are still few more to go.

For every picnic dinner we bring to Hollywood Bowl, I make onigiri (rice balls). My onigiri is simple but special, because I make brown rice with double-lid donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san". The rice comes out fluffy and even a few hours after the rice balls are made, the rice still tastes fluffy and tasty. That's the magic of this donabe rice cooker, made of Iga clay.

This is usual style (the ingredients for the day was hijiki seaweed, sesame seeeds, and sea salt) wrapped with nori (roasted seaweed).

This version is wrapped with thinly-shaved kombu (kelp) sheet. Kombu adds extra umami to onigiri and it also melts in your month. So yummy.

Happy donabe life.

Microwavable donabe steam-roaster TOCHINSAI...now available!

Finally, I can announce this...

The new shipment from Iga, Japan, just arrived last week, and now we have a new product, Donabe steam-roaster, TOCHINSAI! It's an innovative and impressive microwavable donabe.

With the specially-designed inner grate, you can steam-roast ingredients in microwave. This grate is reversible. If you use the white-side up, you can do simple steaming. If you use the black-side up, the glaze of this side can heat up to about 600F (300C) degrees, and gives roasting effect to ingredients on top.

One night, I seasoned salmon steaks simply with salt and pepper. Then, set them in TOCHINSAI. Covered and cooked in microwave for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, I turned them over once so that I can give a little "grill" color both sides, but it's totally optional.

In such a short time, nice steam-roasted salmon was ready. The fish was finished with just a little squeeze of lemon. That's it. It came out so juicy and flavorful. It tasted nothing like microwave dish. The fish was cooked evenly with no dry or over heated part. That's the magic of Iga-yaki donabe with the special heating grate.

Wonderful stuff.

Wonderful meal...what else would I need?

Happy donabe life.

Best Hainanese Chicken in America?!

I can't get enough of this...Hainanese chicken from The Spice Table in Little Tokyo. The chicken falls apart by a soft push with fork, and the rice is so fluffy and savory.

Their fuzzy squash dish is very nice, too.

Also, earlier in the day, I had another nice lunch at Chimu Peruvian Soul Food at the outside patio of Grand Central Market. It's a little take-out place serving serious food. It was almost 2 pm when we got there. I really wanted to try their fish of the day but I was told it was already sold out. I think the chef could hear my big gasp from the kitchen.

So, I ordered one of their chicken dishes instead. It was chicken with curry-like sauce, with rice, and it was so delicious!

Then, a waiter came to our table and brought a little dish. He said the chef put together a "sample" black cod dish with the leftover pieces of the fish for us. How sweet of him to do that, and how beautiful it was! And, the taste was seriously good. We had such a nice lunch.