Photos by Derek Dercep.

I am currently writing this post from Lake Muskoka in Canada. My friend OWNS a freaking island here. Apparently, this lake is ranked No. 1 in the U.S. for summer vacation destinations. Screw the Hamptons, this island is so much better!!! (Although I’ve never been to the Hamptons). Life is good, eating good, drinking good, the only noise I hear is a boat. Only access to the island is via boat. I feel so grown up.

Anyhow, I went to Ogunquit, Maine for July 4th weekend. This has become our tradition, and was our fourth year there.

Bowtie Night. From left: Adam, Michael, Ernie, Chris, Christian, Nate, Eric, me and Donald.

The owner of the B&B (we stay at the same place every year) knows us well enough that they let us cook up a 4th of July BBQ every year.

By the way, the pictures here were all taken by my friend Derek Dercep. He spent $2,000 on his camera, and the result is so obvious. These pictures look the way it should, unlike all the photos I take…

I recently had a program at work about Japanese grilling and I really wanted to try some recipes from the book. Technically, I could use my oven to mimic the recipes, but nothing is better than using and actual grill.

Here’s the menu for the big day:

Baby back ribs with homemade BBQ sauce
Cedar plank salmon glazed with wasabi sugar ginger sauce
Garlic-soy-olive oil-marinated pork loin
Grilled corn brushed with soy sauce and sugar
Seared Tuna steak with avocado scallion puree
Nuked potato with grill marks on them

Before starting, I grilled some watermelon to get the sugars concentrated, and put them in the fridge.

I always make my BBQ sauce. It’s very easy–mix ketchup, brown sugar, cider vinegar, and liquid smoke.  You can adjust the taste to your liking.  If you want, you can add some honey, or chili sauce to make it spicier.

To make the potato, nuke them as Yoko did on Japanify: wash, then microwave them for about nine minutes (these are large Russets).  Slice them pretty thick, and coat with olive oil and salt. Put on the grill for get nice grill marks.

Below is me trying to get light for my cigarette from the grill. Don’t do it.

Potatoes are nicely grilled.

Unfortunately the grill never got too hot, and I was also naturally impatient to keep the lid down, so they didn’t get enough grill marks. Oh well.

Next is the corn. First, you just throw them on the grill with the husks and keep them there for about 2o minutes. Take them off, and peel them when it’s cooled down enough. Put them back on the grill, and brush with soy sugar mixture. Again, I don’t have exact measurement for this, but you mix sugar and soy sauce and boil them to dissolve the sugars.

Cedar plank salmon was from the book, The Japanese Grill (original recipe was Arctic Char, but Maine doesn’t seem to carry any of the fancy stuff).  The book is interesting. With a little attention to detail, the boring American-style barbeque can become very fancy. For this one, soak cedar plank in water overnight. Take salmon out of the fridge and bring it back to room temp. Sprinkle salt all over, and leave them for about 30 minutes. This gets rid of water inside the meat, and will concentrate the flavor.

To make the glaze, mix 2 tbsp wasabi, 2 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp grated ginger.

Wipe salmon with paper towel then pour the glaze over.

The glaze on its own is very spicy, but don’t worry. It definitely gets milder once it’s cooked, plus the ratio of glaze and salmon meat makes it just the right balance of spicy and sweet.

Baby back baby back baby back ribs. I bought McCormick’s pork rub and rubbed (at home I make my own rub, but I didn’t want to bother bringing it on the plane), then put it in heavy duty foil, tightly sealed it, and put in 250˚F oven for about 2.5 hours until meat falls of the bones.

Oh, the pork loin. I wasn’t sure if the baby back was enough to feed nine people so I bought extra pork loins, and marinated them in soy sauce, garlic and olive oil for about two hours. I also added tuna steak in the marinade for an hour or so. What you see in the center is tuna, right is pork loins and left is of course plank salmon.

The almon cooked for about 15 minutes. As soon as the inside is pink enough, you can take it off the heat.

And the baby backs. Generously glaze over with BBQ sauce:

And flip them a couple of times to get nice color on them.

I was being shy, trying to hide the penis, but totally failed…

Is this pork porn or what?

Salmon looks fantastic.

Cut a couple of slabs each.

Tuna was just barely seared. Cut into bite size pieces. The avocado puree is: 3 avocados, lime juice from 4 limes, and 1 bunch of scallions. Process them until it’s all pureed. Then add salt to adjust taste. It’s similar to guacamole, but a little more Asian.  To finish, I drizzled soy sauce over it

This was good, like AWESOME good. I also made balsamic vinegar reduction and drizzled on top of watermelons.

After the dinner, we cleaned up and changed into our rhinestones for our big night out.

Japanese-style BBQ is something you should definitely try. The book The Japanese Grill is something you should give your dad/husband/boyfriend who think they know all about grilling–this will totally widen the variety of grilling you can try, using the same ingredients. Try it!

BBQs are definitely fun, and I wish I had that option in the city. Maine is wonderful. Writing this on a private island is even better.

Downtown Los Angeles is a special place–a part of town that still feels authentically gritty and big city-like. Even amongst the gentrification going strong in a few, piecemeal pockets, downtown LA is still pretty much what it was in Beverly Hills Cop 2. Sure, the crime rate and smog levels have dropped since the 80’s, but the landscape remains somewhat untainted.

On a particularly hot summer afternoon, we decided to get brunch at the Nickel Diner, home of the maple bacon donut. Though it’s not necessarily a long standing LA establishment, it is: a) In a historic building in downtown Los Angeles; and b) has become an institution for reliable, low-key food downtown.

We beat the Sunday crowd by arriving before 11 AM and as a party of two waited maybe 10 minutes for a table. It was almost too hot to eat, but I was starving and when the table next to us got their food I knew that this was going to be a gluttonous meal.

The menu was practically entirely comfort food and once I saw the maple bacon donut, I needed one. It arrived on a warm plate and the first bite was exactly what you ever wanted from a donut. The decadence is overwhelming as the sweetness of the maple overshadows the bacon. Though crispy, the bacon is cooked and dried in it’s fat which complicates the generally harmonious partnership of maple and bacon.

I wanted something heartier than just eggs so I decided on the Bacon Lettuce Tomato Avocado Egg sandwich, or the BLTAE. [Why isn’t it just called the BLAT, or the BLATE? It would be so much easier to pronounce]. The crisp bread was covered with a thin layer of aioli, which added a bit of spice to the sandwich. However it also added thin layer of fat as well, which coupled with the bacon, overpowered the avocado and tomato.

We also made a last minute decision and went with the BBQ pulled pork sandwich served with coleslaw on Hawaiian bread. Holy shitballz this was amazing. The pork was moist, tender and flavorful, having all of the integrity and flavor of a pork stewing in it’s own juices for 72 hours, but lacking the fatty, greasy flavor it often carries in some BBQ joints. I would recommend this sandwich to any meat eater and would suggest to order an additional side of coleslaw as the crisp cabbage serves as a perfect counterpoint to the soft and flavorful pig.

We were stuffed, but as soon as the waitress presented the dessert tray to our table neighbors I knew the meal was not over. A few minutes passed and she arrived at our table with an incredibly indulgent selection of homemade treats, curated to pique the interest of any glutton with a sweat tooth. The tray included a chocolate, caramel, marshmallow cake with a thin layer of mashed cornflakes to offset the soft sugar layers, a butterscotch pudding with caramel and sea salt and homemade tapioca pudding. We went with the homemade strawberry pop-tart and the homemade ding dong.

The pop tart was one of the best desserts I’ve ever had. The pastry layers were flaky buttery and light, and although the strawberry jam was made in-house with excessive amounts of sugar, there was still a strange familiarity to the usually store-bought, packaged breakfast pastry–that preservative quality. This is the same quality that I’m sure would cause you to blackout and eat two or three pop tarts in one sitting.

The homemade ding-dong was good–delicious chocolate cake layers held together by a white, creamy frosting, which was too dense for my taste. The dense cream made the dessert one of those things that you only need a bite of to get the idea. And some might say the same thing about the restaurant itself: “A modern take on diner classics? You eat there once and you get the idea…” However for me it was so satisfying I would definitely go back.

Last month, I visited Oaxaca City for a week-long, much-needed vacation. It may sound silly, but I came back a changed person. There is something magical about Oaxaca– the food, the people, the colors, the phenomenal art and dedication to culture. The Cathedrals were magnificent (I am such a sucker for Roman Catholicism, bloody Jesus, perverts, et al.).

Within Mexico, people recognize that Oaxaca is a special place– which is why I imagine my dear friends Claire and Jaime decided to get married there. One word that comes to mind when I think back on Oaxaca is… Opulent.

And the food. THE FOOD. I was astounded by the depth of flavors in each dish– so layered and complex, yet straightforward from first bite to last. The high level of sophistication and instinct for spices really, truly, blew me away.

I hope to write on all the various foods I had during my visit (mole, Oaxacan breakfast, mezcal), and the first and dearest to my heart would be the tlayuda. A food native to Oaxaca, we had this the very first night we arrived. Then twice again thereafter throughout week. I craved it at all hours of the day, and funny enough, the nights I had a tlayuda for dinner were the only nights I actually slept well. This is no coincidence.

Jaime’s parents took us to Tlayudas Doña Martha as soon as they got into town, from Mexico City. Clearly it is a well-known spot for locals, as well as out-of-towners. They open around 10pm and don’t close until the wee hours of the morning.

The tlayuda (prounounced tlayuda) is an extremely simple food consisting of refried beans, lettuce, Oaxacan cheese, your choice of meat, and salsa, spread on a huge corn tortilla. The most important factor in the tlayuda, I will say, is a smear of asiento, which is pork lard. [UPDATED: Jaime just emailed me this correction: Asiento has some pork lard, but it is not pork lard. Asiento translates into something like "sediment", and in this context, it is what remains and falls to the bottom of the big pots where pork rind ("chicharron")].

We walked up, and fresh meat sat on a bed of coals in their makeshift kitchen out front. You could only imagine my freakish excitement.

Tlayudamama.

Beans.

Behold the tlayuda.

Tlayuda with cerdo (pork).

With chorizo.

Jaime with my favorite, the cecina (salted aged beef).

Open tlayuda and douse with salsa.

Chorizo!!!

I couldn’t get enough of this. It’s so simple, yet seriously one of the best meals. The combination of the asiento, the beans, the bits of cheese, along with the smokiness from the coals really make this complete.

The aftermath. Many people shared a tlayuda, but I finished all of mine. As I get older, “sharing” is becoming more of a foreign concept.

There’s seating in the back too. We sat here when I came back a few days later.

Next up, mezcal tasting!

I am excited to be leaving cold New York this week for my family’s annual Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncle’s beach house in Santa Barbara, CA. We always BBQ the turkey, like this one from a few years ago.

Happy Thanksgiving!

+++

*This photo will be on display at the Fashion Institute of Technology’s faculty exhibition that opens next week at FIT. If you are in New York, hope you can join the opening! FIT, 11/29, 6-8pm.

**Erin blogged this photo here on Umamimart in 2008, and it deserves a redux.

photo © erin gleeson

Regional food pride has long been a competitive discussion between residents of urban cities throughout the United States (acutely observed here by our favorite comedian Kyle Kinane).

Food at the the top of this list, like pizza and hot dogs, are usually made with cheap ingredients infused with a local style. And of course there is BBQ, oh BBQ….”Have you ever had ribs from Stubbs in Austin?” “No, I prefer Payne’s BBQ in Memphis?”  “Wait, have you heard about that the one place, in that one city, that’s actually just a grill in some one’s backyard? No? Really it’s the be–”

Aaaaaahhh. Ok, hold your horses, I get it. I like barbecue as much next as the next person, but I don’t eat it enough to be an expert, nor do I even have any real preference when it comes to style, cut, or rub. I normally gravitate towards food that’s satisfying and spicy, and I don’t approach BBQ any differently.

But if it tastes like cardboard, fat or shit, I generally don’t like it, but that’s just me. I’m simple, and perhaps I’d understand feelings like ownership and pride about any particularly culinary delight, specific to my hometown, but Las Vegas is devoid of such a food (unless Deep Fried Jack and Cokes count?).

Maybe that’s why I enjoyed Baby Blues BBQ so much. The owners of Baby Blues are committed to making food they like with ingredients and flavors they enjoy. Their BBQ doesn’t prescribe to a hard-lined specific style, but instead, it’s an amalgam of the competing styles of BBQ, mainly from Memphis and North Carolina.

I arrived at Baby Blues with my co-worker and his girlfriend, huge fans of the restaurant. We got there at 6pm, right before the dinner rush. The interior of the restaurant is low-key, comfortable and bustling.

Awesomely, each table is stocked with a variety of condiments, including pepper infused vinegar served in old Jim Beam bottles, sweet and sour sauce, and homemade hot sauce (Radtown).

The young waitress took us to our table and gave us menus. Families were already seated, sharing racks of ribs, they looked happy and full. I was ready for that same feeling but sadly, as I looked over the menu, I realized I wasn’t as hungry as I wanted to be. While we deliberated over what to have for dinner, we ordered a pitcher of beer.

Since I wasn’t hungry enough for ribs we decided on two a la carte servings of pulled pork (I’m a sucker for pulled pork and wanted my own serving) and one order of brisket. I would definitely order the brisket again. I’ve never seen brisket prepared the way it’s served here, it’s shredded like pulled pork, soft, juicy and savory.

We also ordered the corn bread plate with 4 sides. We chose mac & cheese, mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, and collard greens. The cream spinach and mac & cheese were fucking delicious and the potatoes and collard greens were totally ok. The flavor of the hot sauce (in the Jim Beam bottle) was good, but much more mild than I anticipated.

My co-worker’s girlfriend ordered the brisket sandwich, which is essentially just the a la carte brisket served on a fluffy powdered roll, accompanied by a side of homemade cole slaw, which I don’t always like but really enjoyed here.

We were stuffed, but my co-worker insisted on ordering the banana pudding for dessert, “you have to try it’s … crazy.” HOLY SHIT, yes, it is crazy. I craved the banana pudding for the next few days (and crave it now as I write this). From what I can tell this dessert is  homemade, banana cream mush held together with Nilla wafers, scooped onto a plate like ice cream, and tastes like it’s awful for you.

We left the restaurant feeling like a stuffed gluttons and said our goodbyes. I slid into a food coma at about the same time I slid into my car and struggled to stay awake on my drive home. I was asleep before I hit the bed as the pork, mac and cheese and banana pudding worked like two valium and a glass of wine on a long flight. I slept well that night and woke up feeling shockingly good the next morning. I wouldn’t recommend Baby Blues BBQ for every meal, but if you are in LA, in the mood for pork and have no plans for the evening, then it’s definitely worth trying.

Summer is here. A very fucking uncomfortably hot summer is here. I am not young enough to go out to the beach and lay out all day any more, which pisses me off. However, staying young-looking requires me to wear a lot of sun screen. What is it to get old? It’s not fun at all. I remember when I went to Jamaica by myself for a week, and when I got back, my friends told me I over-tanned and was too dark. I miss those days.

What else do you do in the summer aside from going to the beach? BBQ! Although I don’t have a grill to do an American-style BBQ party, I have a nice rooftop, and a panini maker which can be turned into a griddle. I host yakiniku parties (Japanese version of Korean BBQ) in the summer all the time. Every time I do it, I want to make it a very authentic, fun, and delicious experience for everyone.

Luckily, I live in NYC where I have an easy access to kalbi (sliced bone in rib), or harami (skirt steak, which I recently learned are considered to be “intestines”. To make it even better, intestines have lower calories than regular meat, so skirt steak is one of the healthiest cuts of beef!!). These are two signature meats for any  Japanese BBQ party.

As Yoko has said, dipping sauces are very expensive in the US, and I always make my own sauce for the occasion.

This sauce is very similar to Soy Vay marinating sauce (which is pretty interesting, since the brand was started by a Jew who was in love with Asian BBQ sauce and started the company with a Chinese girl. I haven’t read the label, but I bet it’s kosher, too).

It’s easy, and a lot cheaper than buying store bought kind. Plus no MSG!  Although I do not mind MSG whatsoever since I grew up wit it.

INGREDIENTS

200ml Cooking sake
200ml Mirin
800ml Soy Sauce
80 grams Miso
2tbsp Sesame seeds
2tsp To-ban jan (or Sriracha or any kind of Asian hot sauce)– if you like spicy, add more
About 1cup Sugar
1 onion
1 carrot
1 apple
1 lemon
3-4 cloves of garlic

Do you like penis shaped arrangement of the vegetables?  It’s a bit too skinny, though.

First you boil the cooking sake and mirin. Once it boils, fire it up (flambe) to cut the alcohol.

Meanwhile, cut vegetable, and put them in a blender.

Add 600 ml of soy sauce, as well as sugar into the sake/mirin mixture. In the blender, add the rest of soy sauce, miso, sesame seeds, and hot sauce. Blend all  of them until smooth.

Add vegetable mixture to the liquid. Cook for about 30 minutes over very low heat. Add lemon juice during this process.

From this point on, you may want to adjust taste by adding more sugar, or hot sauce. Important factor is that this is a dipping sauce, so it should be quite a strong flavor– very salty, as well as sweet and spicy. I added a bit of peanut butter for mildness, in this batch. You can get creative with it.

Final product.

I bought kalbi from a new meat shop in Chelsea market. It tasted good, but kind of tough. I think the cut was a bit too thick.

With this view, grilled beef and booze, what more can you expect from summer?!

It’s happening. Ippuku, the East Bay’s premiere yakitori and shochu bar is opening on Monday 7/5! HOLLA!

I was lucky enough to get a tour of the restaurant before it opens and talk with the owner/chef, Christian Geideman. Located in the heart of Berkeley, the restaurant space is quite breathtaking (read: epitome of cool) and the menu boasts nearly 50 kinds of shochu! INSANITY!

Christian himself is not new to the world of Japanese cooking, or running restaurants. He opened Kasasoba, an izakaya in Santa Fe, before becoming chef de cuisine at Ozumo in Oakland. He has dedicated himself full time to building Ippuku from the ground up since the beginning of 2009, which is about to become a full-blown reality on Monday, as the doors will officially open on Center Street.

Christian, who once worked as a sake distributor, began exploring the world of shochu on a trip to Japan years ago. I guess you could say he was smitten, considering he decided to make it his personal mission to open a bar/restaurant devoted to this stuff (which is surprisingly little known here in the States).

Right when you walk in, you’re greeted by a long row of 24 shochu bottles– ON TAP. The bottles are gigantic, but somehow defy gravity and hang upside down. Christian said he was inspired by an izakaya in Osaka that had this, and just had to have the genius contraption. Each one dispenses an exact shot! I would say it’s the main centerpiece of the entire restaurant– it is just AWESOME.

Ippuku is an expansive, sparse space with light wood accents to compliment the cement walls and hanging pipes, painted blue. It’s as though a hip izakaya in Tokyo just landed in Berkeley. Local master builder, and ordained Zen Buddhist priest, Paul Discoe designed the 600 sq. ft space– not an easy task considering how long and narrow the space is. Bravo Mr. Discoe!

The bar is located right as you walk in. But there will be no stools– standing room only. Racer 5 on tap!!

Despite the super high ceilings, intimate and cozy booths align one wall– just like Tokyo. This is gonna be the hottest date spot in the East Bay. Hell yah!

There is an enclosed area on the other side, with several tables that will seat about 4-5 people each. NOMIKAI! (Please excuse the construction).

Walking towards the back, the open kitchen with bar seating is just delightful.

Getting all the fire codes squared away here must have been a nightmare. With all the grilling and the smoke, this couldn’t have been an simple process with the DOH. But they did it! Skewered meats will be grilled, before your very eyes, on coal, just as they are meant to. Whew.

A little bit about shochu, which is a Japanese liquor– a close cousin to the Korean soju. It is absolutely NOT to be mistaken as sake (nihonshu), and is more like vodka in profile and taste, as it is distilled with barley, rice or potato. The end product tastes clean and often earthy. The potato version can be a bit pungent, and takes some getting used to– but when sipped on the rocks, as is recommended, one begins to appreciate the different dimensions of flavor.

Also to be enjoyed with oolong tea, or with some freshly squeezed grapefruit juice!

Ippuku’s shochu menu is out of this world. With nearly 50 bottles, 12 of them will be making their West Coast debut. As in, they aren’t available anywhere around here. They also have Awamori on the menu, which is a liquor from Okinawa. Yoko wrote about it last year.

I believe Ippuku will increase shochu knowledge in the Bay Area tremendously. This is REALLY EXCITING!

Their food menu will predominantly be yakitori, crunchy parts and all, with a sprinkling of usual izakaya fare. I have an insider source telling me they make their own mayo and ponzu. Ohhhh Yahhhh.

Great story: Christian grew up in Berkeley, and told me that the actual Ippuku space used to be an art house theater (hence all the awesome vintage Japanese movie posters). He said that the very last time he was there, he had accidentally left his wallet behind. The wallet contained $650. GASP! Of course, it was never found. He told me that he’s determined to make back that money here. It’s as though he was destined to open his dream restaurant, right in this exact location. It’s fucking fate.

Ippuku, in Japanese, means to “take a break.” In slang terms, it’s more like, “take a smoke break.” Love it.

Here’s to a fantastic opening, Ippuku! Wishing you many years of success in the Bay Area, that will surely bring a community together over grilled chicken gizzards and sweet potato shochu. We look forward to many drunk nights here, and watching you grow!

Full disclosure: Washi, Yoko’s husband is one of the bartenders at Ippuku. Make sure to stop by and say hello to him when you’re there! He is lots of fun and extremely knowledgeable about shochu, and drinking in general. We’re all drunks here, at Umamimart, what can I say.

*Updated (February 28, 2011): I started working as a server at Ippuku in August 2010, after I originally wrote this post. As of February 2011, I am no longer working there.

More photos of Ippuku here.

PREQUEL

Umamiventure #22: St. George Spirits & Hangar One Vodka (SF Bay Area)

What’s the best accompaniment to whiskey? BBQ all the way! As I’ve already told you, the very first time I tasted St. George whiskey was at Fette Sau, a barbecue joint in Brooklyn. So it was only appropriate that we complet the Umamiventure with some ribs, brisket and corn bread. YAH!

After St. George, we all went over to Everett & Jones, an East Bay institution for barbeque. It was the perfect way to end the day, as we were all pretty starving after the tour, and it was only a five minute drive from the distillery.

The place wasn’t so packed when we walked in at 3pm. I had reserved a big table, so they were ready for us– the vibe was super casual, with the carving station right in the middle of the restaurant.

THE BEER

KAYOKO
We started off with a couple pitchers of their house beer, the Saucy Sistah Ale. With a name like that, you’ve gotta drink it by the pitcher-full. Here’s a shot of the beer poster in the window, by kipbot. EPIC.

ENRIC
Awesome Saucey Sistah. Where can I get that? I want to see the bottled beer!

KAYOKO
I’m reading that it is brewed by the founder of the now defunct Brothers Brewing Co., Ralston Brown. More here.

THE FEAST

We ordered two platters of ribs, and two combo platters of the brisket, links, chicken and more ribs. Did I mention we got ribs?

THE RIBS

KAYOKO
I didn’t take a lot of pics, but did capture the best part of the meal– the ribs! The meat fell right off the bone, and tasted of smokey tender FLESH. Not stinky at all, then way bad ribs can be.

LIZ
I am thinking about those ribs right now. The sauce is delish. Mmmmmmmm ribs!

JAMES
The ribs were firm, meaty and saucy.

THE LINKS

KAYOKO
Sorry that pic doesn’t do the links justice. They were excellent– they sort of fell apart in your mouth but were very flavorful.

LIZ
The hot links were especially good. Normally I wouldn’t choose that off the menu but since we got a little of everything I am glad I did try them.

THE SAUCE

ENRIC
The hot Master Q sauce was quite spicy but not so much in your nose as it is in the back of the tongue. It was the key component, 100% enhanced with Wonderbread. Thought I might have liked some toasted wonder bread for more enhanced flavors– in Spain we have the torrades which are used to soak the meat juices after cooked.

JAMES
My favorite was the spicy barbecue sauce, sweet and hot. A good kind of hurt.

KAYOKO
They didn’t skimp on the sauce, which I appreciated. It was tart, smokey and sweet going in, with a touch of piquant at the end. It was a rollercoaster in my mouth.

THE MENUS

ENRIC
MC Hammer, Snoop Dogg with Bigga Figga, whoa!

KAYOKO
If I recall correctly, my menu had a pic of Bill Clinton on it. Or maybe it was Hillary. Pretty awesome either way.

FINAL THOUGHTS

ENRIC
This is a place with character.

JAMES
Everett & Jones was a big surprise.

LIZ
Everett & Jones ROCKED.

IDO
Perfect choice on the follow-up BBQ after St. George. Meat meat and more meat. All washed down with a nice couple of pitchers of Saucy Sistah Ale.

KAYOKO
Excellent food, great beer, accomodates big parties, and all affordable (we spent $25 each I think). By far the best barbecue I’ve had in the Bay Area thus far. All around, it was the perfect Umamiventure. Again, thanks everyone for coming out!

EVERETT & JONES
126 Broadway (at 2nd Street)
Oakland, CA
T: 510.663.2350

*Umamiventures are organized monthly, traveling far and wide to find good, cheap grub off the beaten path. Umamiventure #23 will be at Sammy’s in NYC on Sat. 2/20. Please come out!

**Become a Facebook Fan of UM to stay updated on all future trips!

Past Umamiventures include:
1.) Ocean Jewel Restaurant – Flushing, NYC; June 2007
2.) Red Hook Ball Fields - NYC; June 2007
3.) Taste of Jackson Heights – NYC; October, 2007
4.) Sripraphai Restaurant – Woodside, NYC; November 2007
5.) WINTERMARKET – South St. Seaport; December 2007
6.) Jackson Diner- Jackson Heights, NYC; January 2008
7.) Pacificana – Sunset Park, NYC; February 2008
8.) Puerto Alegre – The Mission, SF; March 2008
9.) Dinosaur BBQ – Harlem, NYC; April 2008
10.) Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden – Astoria, NYC; May 2008
11.) Brooklyn Banh Mi Crawl – Sunset Park, NYC; August 2008
12.) Sheapshead Bay Lobster Crawl – NYC; September 2008
13.) Flushing Food Circuit – NYC; October 2008
14.) Strong Beer Month – SF; March 2009
15.) Loisaida Throwback Crawl – NYC; April 2009
16.) Harley Farms Goat Dairy – Pescadero, CA; June 2009
17.) Tomales Bay Oyster Farm – Marshall, CA; August 2009
18.) Din Tai Fung – LA; September 2009
19.) Din Tai Fung – Tokyo; September 2009
20.) Schroeder’s Oktoberfest – SF; October 2009
21.) Fish Taco Crawl – San Diego; November 2009
22.) St. George Spirits & Hangar One Vodka -  Alameda; January 2010

My father has one sister and four brothers- all of who are in the restaurant business. The Akaboris are destined to work with food, what can I say?? My brother just spent some time in a hoity-toity restaurant in Barcelona, and I just started a job at a Spanish restaurant in Menlo Park. As LOST’s John Locke would say: This is our destiny.

When I was in Japan in November, I went to visit my father’s oldest brother, who lives in their newly renovated childhood home on a busy street in Shinkoiwa (considered “Shitamachi”, a historically seedier part of Tokyo). It’s so trippy to think that my dad grew up here. But that’s besides the point- the coolest thing about coming here was that they put a yakitori shop in their front yard!!!!

The name on the sign says “Kokekokko~” which is the equivalent to “Cock-a-doodle-doo” in English. Yakitori = Chicken = Chicken noises = Get it??? Isn’t it so silly? I love it.

The red awning says “Motsu yakitori”, which must be the official name. Motsu means tripe in Japanese, but that doesn’t make any sense since tripe is beef. Hmmm… there must be another meaning behind this, I’ll need to ask my dad.

My dad taught my uncle how to make the special yakitori sauce and also how to completely deconstruct a whole chicken so no part goes unused. My uncle wakes up every morning, gets a new batch of chickens, and spends the day cutting them up.

Here’s the fridge, with all the different chicken parts neatly packed away. There’s liver, breast meat, stomach meat, tongue, wings, cartilage of the joints (my favorite!), skin, it’s all there. Plus they do garlic and green onion.

They open up for business every day around 4pm, so they get a lot of people walking home from work or housewives that are trying to figure out what to do for dinner. The sticks are only 90yen a piece (about 90 cents)- super cheap, so they sell out every night by 8pm or 9pm. Isn’t that amazing???

Making all the yakitori the same price, no matter what it is, keeps the finances easy peasy.

The yakitori grill- where all the magic unfolds.

Interior shot- as you can see, it’s a super busy street.

My uncle and aunt.

The shack is literally just three steps from their front door. Here are my cousins in the walkway between the two.

It’s truly a brilliant operation- their children are still young so they get to eat breakfast altogether, then my uncle and aunt prep all morning and afternoon while the kids are at school, the kids help out when they get home, and everything is done by dinner time.

They put out a few folding tables and chairs out front and sell beers for people who want a quick snack before heading home.

Cock-a-doodle-doo!!!

The place was on the 2nd floor, and was small, but packed. Lots of big groups of vibrant, young women, old businessmen getting drunk, people on dates- the variety was great.

You sit on these trash can like seats- you can open up the lid to drop in your coat. Great idea for those of us who don’t want to end up wreaking of garlic and smoke out in the real world.

Assorted banchan.

Slabs of fatty pork. Look at that! Unreal!!!

The guy came around and cut all the pork up into little pieces. Grilling kimchee was great too. The actual grill is on a peg, so it tilts forward, draining all the fat. Ingenius.

Wrap with unlimited lettuce and spicy slivers of scallions.

They also had a big leaf, kkaenip, which is sort of the Korean shiso, often dubbed “sesame leaf.”

We also ordered the cold buckwheat noodles- a personal favorite.

Tubs of kimchee.

We didn’t get this, but the fried rice the guy across from us was eating looked damn good. They just loaded the grill up with white rice, and it soaked up all the pork fat. YUM!!!

MAHO!

Ton-chan
Fukutomi Bldg., 2nd & 3rd fls.
2-13-14 Akasaka Minato-ku
Tokyo, Japan 107-0052
T: 03-5573-9272