When the heat rolls in, laziness comes in the form of “I don’t want to cook.” Maybe it’s also an instinctual thing where I am unconsciously preparing for a fire or earthquake which is more likely to happen in the hot summer months by hoarding a bunch of canned booty. Whatever the reason, I am always in search of canned food. And there’s a whole world of canned food out there to discover. Living in Japan opened up a new set of possibilities for me in the canned food sector.

Wikipedia says this about canned food:

The process was first developed as a French military discovery by Nicolas Appert. The packaging prevents microorganisms from entering and proliferating inside.

Very good. So canning is French and safe to eat. It’s also very 2009, thanks to the recession, when there was an 11.5% increase in sales in the U.S.

The Japanese have perfected all types of preserving methods: freeze-drying, canning, pickling, etc. In fact, my beloved two types of food natto and miso are perfect examples of how the Japanese join deliciousness with spoil resistance.

I’d like to showcase some of my Japanese canned fish favorites. All three cans range in price from $1.69 to $2.29. I am not that creative and always eat my canned fish with fresh steamed rice, but I just can’t think of anything more perfect.

From left to right:

Kakukawa Miso Mackerel (Saba), Nissui Miso Sardines (Iwashi Misoni), Nissui Soy Sauce Pacific Saury (Sanma Ajitsuke)

Kakukawa Miso Mackerel

I love the packaging of this can. It’s so retro and the image on the front actually looks pretty gross. Once freed from the confines of its steel cylinder, the fish and sauce contents plate nicely. I topped this with some shiso. I enjoyed this with a bowl of steaming rice, like I did with all the others. I liked the heartiness of this one – it was kind of addictive and reminiscent of Rousong (pork, meat floss).

Nissui Soy Sauce Saury (Sanma Ajitsuke)

This one was probably my favorite out of all three. The sauce is described as “Soy Sauce” on the can, but it has a little tinge of sweetness – but not so much that it tastes like teriyaki sauce. This was perfect with shiso streamers and a pile of grated ginger. I will definitely be going back for more of this soon.

Nissui Miso Sardines (Iwashi Misoni)

Another type packed in miso sauce. This was also excellent. I topped this one with shiso and ginger as well. Although thinking back, the miso types might work better topped with green onions to cut the sweetness of the miso. This one was less porky and more fishy than the mackerel miso one.

Doing this taste challenge confirmed the importance of garnishing canned food. All three types look pretty unattractive straight out of the can, but with minimal TLC can look quite presentable. On top of pumping up the aesthetic quality of the dish, ginger seems to be a great addition to canned fish since it provides life and contrast, thanks to its tart spiciness.

In Japan, there are a LOT of food items you can only find in a specific to a town, city, or area. ご当地グルメ or “local gourmet food” items are something tourists must get when they visit the area. Some of the foods are too weird to ever become popular, and others get national attention, becoming available throughout Japan.

Any food fad in Japan is always very temporal. Panna Cotta, Nata de coco, Belgian waffles, tiramisu, Krispy Kreme, for example, all became very popular, and went away a year later. (I maybe wrong about Krispy Kreme, since they seem to still be doing good).

Started in a bakery in Hokkaido, Chikuwa Pan (tube shaped fish cake wrapped in bread dough) got national attention and  is apparently very hot in Japan right now. I glanced at an article recently and thought it was a great combo– a major bread company took it and started to sell it in cosmopolitan areas as well.

I love bread with savory stuff inside. Japan totally transformed the notion of bread and made it their own. The Japanese treat bread almost the same as rice, stuffing anything from potato salad, ham, curry, to even noodles (noodle with bread is such a carb overload). My grandmother used to put pickled vegetable on buttered toast, which in concept is similar to Vegemite, I think.  Even in the US, hot dogs are used to stuff bread, puff pastry, etc.

So I made chikuwa pan the other day.

Chikuwa is available at any Japanese grocery store here in NYC, but they are not the best kind. They are also kept in the frozen food isle, which is unfortunate.  Fresh chikuwa is something you gotta try when you go to Japan. The recipe is quite simple. I am not even going to write about the bread part since you can basically use any soft bread recipe (a dinner rolls one works fine).

What else do you need?

12 chikuwa
1 can of tuna fish (in water)
Kewpie mayo
Egg wash

While the bread rises, cut chikuwa lengthwise. Mix tuna fish and mayo, and stuff it inside of chikuwa’s hole. Don’t over stuff it.

Divide bread dough into 12, and roll it out into a thin and long rope, then wrap it around the chikuwa.

Once you wrap the chikuwa, rest for about 30-45 minutes, then egg wash it. If you want, you can pipe a thin line of mayo on the center.  Bake it in 350˚ until golden.

Tuna in the center, chikuwa, then bread outside. Just the way it should be.

I need to tweek this next time. First of all, bread was a bit too tough. I need to use softer bread recipe, such as a hamburger bun recipe or something– it may be too sticky to stretch into rope, but that texture is more suitable for this recipe. The chikuwa was mediocre and the tuna was a bit too fishy to my taste.

I don’t think I will use tuna next time.  Maybe corn and mayo? Cheese?

On New Year’s Eve in Japan, my mama came home with this box. This looks exactly like an Asian cake box, right? I thought, from the shape, this was probably a log cake or something.

Very celebratory color and pattern on the box. Must be something for the new year, I thought. But something shiny is peeking through the plastic window. WTF is that???

Yep, it was fish. A WHOLE broiled snapper for the new year, with head and scales intact.

In my area, we eat snapper on new year’s day. I think eating whole broiled fish is a traditional ritual, just like eating black beans or herring roe. Growing up I ate snapper for birthdays and special occasions.

I remember getting these things as is, or simply wrapped in plastic. But nowadays the packaging is very advanced, and a cake box is used to present this. Even so, it’s a bit gross to see a whole fish in a pretty cake box, don’t you think?

Usaya, located in Shimokitazawa, is a small country-style izakaya that serves dishes compiled with organic ingredients in fabulous Japanese dishware purchased from fleamarkets. It opened two years ago under Shimokitazawa station.

Exterior:

Interior:

My husband and I decided to throw our wedding after-party celebration at Usaya. We asked the owner beforehand if he could serve a large crowd of 17 people at ¥5,000 a head (with unlimited drinks). The result was a bunch of dishes that were perfect for a mid-December Saturday.

Anko nabe:

Soumen and Mozuku:

Tai:

Dried fish jerky:

Fried shrimp:

Persimmon, figs, blueberries, yogurt, spinach salad:

Oden:

Party members:

The food at Usaya is quite impressive because no matter how much you eat, you never feel sick at the end of the night. It’s not overly salty or oily. The attention to ingredients is also noticeable in all their menu items, as they serve dishes that bring out the texture and color of each food.

But what really makes Usaya stand out is the service. The staff are naturally helpful and friendly, something so rare in the white-gloved, robotic world of service in Tokyo.

USAYA
2-24-14 Kitazawa
Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
T: 080-3158-4613

It was a warm and sunny Sunday afternoon (everyday in San Diego is like a warm Sunday afternoon, isn’t it?). Besides our morning coffee, we were on an empty stomach, fully prepared for what would be a four-stop fish taco extravaganza all over town.

Let’s do this.

First stop: South Beach Bar & Grille, in Ocean Beach. Well regarded as one of the best fish tacos in town, and their website claims to be the best in the WORLD. Although their site also chirps horrible Coldplay muzak that irks my soundsensitive bones, obviously I couldn’t skip this.

Plus, @fauxbrizio pointed out that they had FRIED OYSTER TACOS. Holy cannoli.

We showed up around 1pm and the place was packed– the Chargers were playing and everyone was in high spirits. It has a sports bar vibe so I would’ve never guessed that this was the Home of the World’s Best Fish Taco. We’ll see about that.

Of course, this was the first stop, so I had to pace myself, right? Yes, yes.

Our cute server came and asked what we were getting. I panicked. I want everything. “I’ll take a fried fish taco. OMG and a fried oyster taco!!!! How are your grilled tacos? Yah, ok, I’ll take that too.”

Cue Kristi’s incessant eye-rolling.

Real quick- What I was looking for in this tour was the best Baja-style fish taco, which I prefer. It’s a simple marriage of tortilla, fish that is battered and FRIED (not grilled), chopped cabbage, pico de gallo (of some sort), and crema (white sauce). Limes and cilantro, yes.

@mmmyoso had suggested I get the crema on the side here, so I followed suit. Apparently, they over sauce– although come on, could you really oversauce anything??

OMG these are HUGE! Left is the oyster, middle is fried fish, right is the marinated grilled mahi-mahi. Ohhhyahh.

Fried fish: lightly battered, huge fish portion. Crispy, hot. Maybe too much salsa? But the tortilla was fluffy and the fish very fresh.

Grilled mahi-mahi. I didn’t think I would like this since I’m not a huge grilled fish taco fan. But it was awesomely marinated and super flavorful. Thumbs up.

Holy shit the OYSTER TACO. Perfectly battered, lightly fried, it was utter heaven in my mouth. Total FLAVORIMPLOSION. Seriously genius.

Kristi’s shrimp taco. Isn’t she gorgeous?

KRISTI
South Beach offers corn tortillas for all tacos and that makes me happy. French fries felt fresh like In-N-Out style but thicker.

NATE
You missed the lobster taco, which could be my favorite fish taco of all time.

I had never seen this before, but this Just Chili California hot sauce was the bomb.

Hey dude.

Oyster Tacos FTW!

Ahhh…

Next stop: Tin Fish. Stay tuned!

South Beach Bar & Grille
5059 Newport Ave # 104
San Diego, CA
T: 619.226.4577

UPDATE:

Hi everyone! I hope you all are ready for the Fish Taco Crawl in San Diego THIS SUNDAY! It’s gonna be a blast.

So a few new details for you:

- I’ll be staying in North Park– please feel free to meet us at our place and we can just carpool together from one taco stop to another. We’ll leave promptly at NOON.
The address is: 3035 Quince St., SD, CA, 92104

- We NEED to make a taco truck stop. DUH! So we’ll be stopping at the Mariscos German truck in Normal Heights on University & 35th, which will be Stop #4 out of 5. I hear they have octopus tacos- YES!

- If you wanna meet up at any point during our crawl, please of course jump in whenever you can. My number is 408-300-2053. Text or call me to see where we are!

- I mapped the entire crawl on Google Maps. You so do not want to miss this.

Bring friends! Lovers! Fighters! Can’t wait to get fat together.

xxk

+++

I’m coming to sunny SAN DIAAAAAGO! Haven’t been in a few years, so I’m very excited to stuff my face with breakfast burritos, lunch burritos, and… dinner burritos.

And to top it off, I figured a blowout taco crawl is in order for our next Umamiventure. And not just any taco. The FISH TACO. When in Rome, folks, when in Rome. Sorry Nemo!

The fatassery will begin at noon on Sunday 11/15. That’s next Sunday, so pencil it in, stat!

After much consultation with a few trustworthy SD natives, here are the FOUR stops we’ll be making, in order:

1.) South Beach Bar (Ocean Beach- beware the horrible website muzak)
2.) Brigantine (Point Loma)
3.) Tin Fish (Downtown)
4.) El Zarape (University Heights)

I hear these are mostly all bastardized versions of the fish taco, but whatever, let’s try ‘em all. We taste, we compare, we contrast. The South Beach Bar has FRIED OYSTER TACOS!! SO EXCITED!

We’ll end the crawl on a high note at a bar right next to El Zarape called Small Bar, which has one hellava beer menu. Holler.

A little birdie told me about Kobey’s Swap Meet in Point Loma, “The Largest Swap Meet in San Diego County.” Maybe we can walk off our fish tacos in between pitstops and peruse useless rusting antiques.

Dude, how dreamy does this day sound to you??

So come out! SDers/ LAers/ OCers/ TJers. All are welcome, you don’t want to miss this. Ya’ll know I’m such a sucker for these crawls, they’re so much fun. Make sure to COME HUNGRY!

As usual, RSVP on the FB invite, and check in periodically for updates. YAY!

Above photo taken at BEST FISH TACO IN ENSANADA in Los Feliz, LA. Can SD top this?

**Umamiventures are organized monthly, traveling far and wide to find good, cheap grub off the beaten path.

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

I went to a kabuki show in Asakusa (in Tokyo) and afterwards, my family took me to feast on dojo, a small eel-like fish prepared in various ways. The whole experience was right out of a David Lynch film- these little fish are so slimy and grotesque it boggles my mind as to what went through people’s mind when they decided to start eating them.

But they did, and the tradition has continued for hundreds of years now. My dad says that people started eating these fish because they swam in abundance in rice fields and were caught all over Japan.

There are a few restaurants in Asakusa particularly, that specialize in dojo, and they spell it in the old school way どぜう (dozeu). The most well-known restaurant is Komagata Dozeu, but we went to one called Dozeu Iidaya, which my family thinks is better. The people of Tokyo have seriously strong views of their restaurant choices and stand by them until they die. You never argue, just follow.

Iidaya has been around since around 1903, in the middle of the Meiji period, and is today run by the fourth generation Iida family. I am not sure that it’s been in the same location the entire time, but the entire experience felt very OLD- it was as though I was sitting on a movie set from a hundred years ago.

My family themselves have been coming here since they were young, for something like thirty, forty years. The entire experience was quite surreal, and I enjoyed all of it very much.

Outside there’s a lightbox featuring their dojo specialties, and other dishes. We basically ordered all of it, and more.

Let’s start with the most traditional prepration of dojo, the dojo nabe (stew). Not for the easily urked- it’s pretty crazy looking. They are bottom dwellers so they actually look like miniature cat fish. The fish are all layed out while still alive in this very shallow pan in a sweet soy broth, then simmered at the table. It’s about one order per person, although we kept ordering more.

Couldn’t get a good macro shot, but you pick up the fish this way. This is it- head, teeth and all.

They taste just as they look: slimy and slippery, more gelatinous than eel. As you can see, they break quite easily. The bones were the most surprising- quite sharp and you really have to chew on it for a while to be able to swallow it. I’m sure people die from misswallowing (is that a word??) these bones every year- it was actually kinda dangerous, I thought.

Add a heap of finely chopped green onions. Everyone joked that people just come here and feast on the green onions cause it’s free and unlimited. We must have gotton like twenty refills.

We ordered a side of egg and poured it over the pan. Some people at the table thought this was bizarre, so it must not be a normal thing. But it was actually quite good.

You can also add gobo (burdock root) and tofu.

Here’s my little plate.

Alright, what else did we eat?

Dojo kabayaki: like eel they are cut lenth-wise, grilled and sauced. This definitely tasted like eel, for obvious reasons. Most places that serve dojo will also have eel on the menu as well.

Fried dojo: lightly battered and deep fried.

They shrink exponentially!

Dojo cooked with egg. This was excellent.

Dojo miso soup. This is so fucking creepy looking, with the little dojo peaking out onto the surface!!! It’s like they’re gonna jump out and bite you in the face.

Do I sit in bed at night and crave dojo?? No. But it was definitely an awesome experience for food explorers- I think this is definitely needs to be a stop on No Reservations.

Here I am in front of the kabuki theater.

The Asahi building down the street, with a large piece of pointy golden shit on it.

DOZEU IIDAYA
3-3-2 Nishi-Asakusa, Taito-ku
Tokyo 111-0035
T: 03-3843-0881