>hundred peachy tasting notes, Momofuku Ko

How do you meet such high expectations? Momofuku Ko consistently ranks in the top 10 best New York restaurant lists and rave reviews continue.

Improbably, this tiny restaurant delivers. Instead of disappointing, it gives me great hope and a glimpse of limitless future possibilities.

No photography allowed, and I obliged. The poster on the right was found in the bathroom.

I shall not decipher my notes. If you want to take a look, go ahead, but be warned, it reads like gibberish (because it is): ...spare space madai trimming disciplined chanterelle arugula yuba skin tomato marinated in ketchup anise basil mirin crispy pork rind butter bread cube spanish mackerel tataki ginger pickled shallot puffed rice yuzu radish tortellini wrapped oxtail meat oxtail consomme bean sprouts poached egg caviar fingerling potato chips parsley corn ravioli chorizo pickled tomatoes mexican cheese "high end tacos" caramelized sweet trout swiss chard potato radish dill garnish grated foie gras riesling gelee lychees pinenut brittle deep-fried beef short ribs cooked sous vide 48 hours onions animal cracker ice cream peach syrup diced peaches olive oil ice cream macerated blueberries black pepper crunch black pepper granita...

Simply put, it was a success, and I was highly impressed.

Now, onto the name. The tale of Momofuku's rise must begin with its distinct name. Momofuku Noodle Bar, Momofuku Ssam, Momofuku Ko. The first time you hear the funny name, you may find yourself repeating, Momofuku ... More more... fuk... what??

But Momofuku is hardly an unfamiliar name. Taiwanese entrepreneur named (Wu) Bai Fu (March 5, 1910 – January 5, 2007), inventor of cup noodles and instant noodles, founder of Nissin Food Products Co., was the original Momofuku. THE Ramen King himself, Andō Momofuku.

Yes, Bai Fu in Mandarin, 百福, meaning hundred fortunes, is Momofuku in Japanese. Bai is byaku or hyaku, but also momo - meaning a hundred, a great number, all, a great amount. Fu is fuku - meaning fortune, luck, wealth, blessing. It can mean "food which has been offered to gods." Why not? Of course, momo is a yummy name. Peach is also momo (桃, もも, モモ) as in Peach Boy, Momotarō (桃太郎).

Ko can mean small (小) or child, seed (子) in Japanese. "Nose" (코) in Korean. Detecting any peachy tasting notes yet?

Wishing you much peachy luck, ma pêche.

Filed under: Why agitate for culinary fission

>butter dish match-up, Le Bernardin vs. Jean Georges, top New York French restaurants

Lucky me. Got to savor back-to-back French cuisine prepared by consummate New York chefs, at Jean Georges (Jean Georges Vongerichten) and Le Bernardin (Eric Ripert.) Which of these fine French restaurant meals did I enjoy more? They were both excellent, but at the risk of you calling me thoroughly spoiled, I do have to tell you I am, at the moment, a bit tired of these same old same old swanky fare. So I won't chronicle the food in detail. Sorry! iPhone photos, Jean Georges above, Le Bernardin below. So, who "wins"? What shall I compare? Le diable est dans les détails, mais bien sûr. On one score, one of these restaurants wins by a considerable margin. Yes, I do love butter so, I never get tired of the truly fine butter they serve at these fine establishments. Le Bernardin servers would keep taking my butter dish away before the butter was even half-consumed, replacing it with a fresh one. They repeated this three times with understated flair. Alas, Jean Georges failed to notice the butter dish as it was completely consumed. Le Bernardin wins!! Yay!!!

>bento box (お弁当) craft with seaweed (のり) balls

"It might seem like silly kids’ stuff, but that sense of fun has helped make bento boxes — obentos as the Japanese call them — increasingly popular with grownups in the United States, too." -The New York Times, Bento Boxes Win Lunch Fans

Smile, makkurokurosuke.

＞odenkan (おでん缶), canned fish broth soup from a vending machine

To many many people on this planet, the oden(おでん) soup craving is not unlike chicken noodle soup craving.

Hearty, sustaining, all of it attained with a few common, humble ingredients. Fish cake, radish, potato, tofu, mushroom, egg, bonito and kelp stock. And Amorphophallus konjac jelly, or konnyaku, which may not sound common, but you can find it in any Asian supermarket. Some insist the resulting fishy broth single-handedly defines the word "umami"(旨味), or savoriness.

Who are we to say such homey comfort is not likely to be found in a piping hot vending machine can? A big hit with salarymen, you can find them rushing about cradling this stuff in their hands.

If a vending machine with promises of said warmth, cheer and a sense of well-being doesn't materialize in your vicinity, here's an oden recipe.

>Peruvian tiraditos, cebiches auténticos con "leche de tigre," Limón, San Francisco

Hot hot hot Friday night. It so happens that grocery trekker was looking for a place to eat in San Francisco's Mission District, and Limón seemed to be just about the only place with air conditioning.

"At long last, the original location of Limon returns this evening. It's been a long road back for the Peruvian joint—it's been nearly 15 months since it originally shut down in the wake of a fire. Since then, the disaster insurance has been a disaster and during the interim, owner Martin Castillo even opened up a more casual offshoot a few blocks away in Limon Rotisserie. But tonight, Limon reopens to the public. The interior has gotten a noticeable facelift, and the updated menu will mostly stay the course of its prior incarnation of modern Peruvian cuisine." SF.eater.com opening alert

What a perfect night to enjoy ceviches and tiraditos at a cool primo seat. The energetic staff seemed excited, and the atmosphere was absolutamente perfecto.

I tried their yuzu infused junmai sake. A tad too sweet, but it worked with their food. Too many goodies to choose from. Pescado, conchas, mixto, camarones, clasico, mosaico, causa, atun al tausi, anticuchos, lomo saltado, ensalada verde al maracuya, pulpo a la parilla. Sushi grade ono, sea urchin, camarones, hiramasa, oyster shooter. Legendary pargo rojo, quinotto de hongos, churrasco, chuleton Don Carlitos.

And of course, tiger's milk, (leche de tigre,) the juice produced from all that ceviche. Salud!

>ice serving bowls

Summer is almost over, but you still have time to try them a couple of times. Serving bowls made of ice. The advantage is obvious. No dishes afterwards.

photos: topblogposts.com iwizkr icepark.kr ohmynews.com daum.net 세렌디피티

>burger-flavored potato chips, Frankfurter chips, bossam kimchi chips...

Filed under:
PEOPLE EAT THIS STUFF?

Well, these potato chips do sound fascinating.

メガバーガー味 (Mega Burger flavor) "American taste" potato chips

Fans of bossam ("wrap" 보쌈) kimchi (김치) may (or may not) appreciate bossam kimchi flavored potato chips. ポッサムキムチ味 ポテトチップス

No shortage of selections:
-pizza potato chips ポテトチップス ピザ味
"Topped with a nice gooey blend of two cheeses, Cheddar and Emmentaler. You can definitely taste the cheese. All flavors of the ingredients (cheese, tomatoes, salami and spices) balance nicely for an authentic pizza taste."
-seaweed and salt chips ポテトチップス のりしお
-mentaiko (fish roe) chips ポテトチップス 明太子味
-ever popular "consommé" chips ポテトチップス コンソメ
-(white) shrimp flavored chips しろえびポテトチップス
-and of course, "juicy" Frankfurter potato chips. Yes, of course. ジューシーフランクフルト味 ポテトチップス

>the rabbit who lost his fur 因幡の白うさぎ

因幡の白うさぎ

因幡 = Inaba
白 (shiro) = white
うさぎ (usagi) = rabbit

Read the full story of this white rabbit (shiro-usagi) at instantwisdom.bravepages.com.
A similar version at geocities.co.jp. He is made into a book, "Inaba no Shiro-usagi. The Rabbit who lost his Fur. A favourite story from Japan," by Ralph Friedrich.

***
"Winston is always expecting rabbits to come out of empty hats," he said to Chips Channon.
-from Crete by Antony Beevor
***
RAREBIT, n. A Welsh rabbit, in the speech of the humorless, who point out that it is not a rabbit. To whom it may be solemnly explained that the comestible known as toad-in-a-hole is really not a toad, and that riz-de-veau a la financiere is not the smile of a calf prepared after the recipe of a she banker.
-The Devil's Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce
***
Or you might say, this sweet-bean-paste-filled manju is kawaiiiiii!!!! oishiiiiii!!!!
***
photo on the right by うたのっこ

>gomatamago, ごまたまご, fake egg sesame cake and pudding

goma ごま, 胡麻 (sesame) + tamago たまご, 卵 (egg) = goma tamago (sesame egg)

You find "hard-boiled eggs" on a plate on my table. They may not be all they are cracked up to be. There is a chance they happen to be gomatamago cake. White chocolate shell, sponge cake white, black sesame and bean paste yolk.

If you are into this egg thing, do go after fake egg cups filled with pudding, ごまたまごプリン。(gomatamago "purin"/"puring") Yum.

***
(For sesame seed lovers)
白ごま (しろごま, shirogoma) = white sesame
黒ごま (くろごま, kurogoma) = black sesame
金ごま (きんごま, kingoma) = golden sesame
オープンセサミ! = Open Sesame!

>meatball pasta, peas and green beans, day 2 at Quarter Meals Soup Kitchen

Yesterday was Day 2 at Quarter Meals, Trinity United Methodist Church. (Day 1 report here.)

I feel like I've already become a seasoned volunteer. No one tells me what to do, but I know to take plastic flowers out of the pantry, place one on each table. I see new faces in the kitchen. Spider, the manager, is tossing the salad ingredients into a large plastic bin, also the "serving bowl." Again, my job is to greet the diners with a smile, hand over platefuls of pasta and beans, a cup of water. Well, no one tells me to smile, but I figure smiles can't hurt.

There are fewer diners compared to Tuesday. I ask Spider why that is. "Money management." "?" "Well, when they get their check, they go buy food for themselves, when they should come and get free food here. Bad money management." I nod. "When do they get their check?" "Well, some get it on the 1st of the month, some a little later." I ask about the absence of women diners here. "They cook better food at the Women's Shelter on Dwight. They have no reasons to leave."

Not surprisingly, I recognize quite a few repeat visitors. Most are dressed the same as Tuesday. A kid I haven't seen before places his plate and water on his skateboard.

People line up for second helpings. A "first timer" gets priority. Some don't eat vegetables, some only eat vegetables. Dinner is over before you know it. I step out before 5 pm.
A beautiful sunny day in Berkeley.

>turkey rice with peas and carrots, chez Quarter Meals Soup Kitchen

A tall, bright-eyed pretty woman named Maria with a young Debra Winger vibe has found time to volunteer at this Berkeley soup kitchen for years. She's a firefighter serving at Oakland station 17. She handles her slotted spoon deftly, plops onto paper plates a generous scoop of fluffy rice with bits of meat in it, plus a scoop of peas and carrots. Today is my first day of volunteering. I am assigned the job of handing the plates to the steady stream of people coming in. Two college kids (?) serve at the salad/fruit/bread table. Surprising facts:

1) Almost all of the diners are men.
2) Yes, there are creatively carved ponchos and torn ski jackets with down sticking out, but many are actually dressed well. Some are dressed like office workers.
3) This soup kitchen starts serving around 4, wraps up by 5. (In my imagination, dinner is served around 7.)
4) Berkeley Food and Housing Project, which runs this "Quarter Meals" soup kitchen program at Trinity United Methodist Church on Bancroft, is short on money. They only serve hot meals Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and bagged lunches Thursdays and Fridays.
5) They don't cook the meals in their own kitchen. Food comes prepared from another soup kitchen. They used to cook here, when their kitchen hood worked.
6) A considerable number of the diners are vegetarians. Today's menu was; turkey(?) rice, boiled peas & carrots, plain rice, salad, pears, bread. Alas, I didn't get to sample the food.
Any leftovers are used for breakfast tomorrow.

>foie gras bonbon, ice plant salad, cassis caramel at Beast, Portland

The most delicious (or off-putting?) part of dining at Beast is that it feels like being invited to a small private banquet of a distant cousin. The small dining room/kitchen, all in one room, has only two communal tables, one seating twice as many as the other, for a total of only 20+ diners. You talk to the other diners at the table, all of whom you've just met, of course. It's a somewhat casual setting, despite its reputation as a "special occasion" restaurant, and yours truly showed up in jeans and tattered, (tattering, I guess) shirt fitting a dinner at a distant cousin's. No Portlanders seemed to mind.

(I wasn't going to take photos. These are taken with my phone.)

"Menu substitutions are politely declined." Everyone is served identical courses at the same time. This assembly line approach is smart indeed. Good food is prepared more efficiently at a more reasonable price compared to most higher end prix fixe tasting menus.

Their menu changes every day, so... here's the entire meal presented to me on July 8th, 2009.

curried carrot veloute
nasturtium and summer herb salsa verde
fried shallots
syncline underwood mountain vineyard gruner veltliner-2008

charcuterie plate:
foie-gras bonbon, sauternes gelée
steak tartare & quail egg toast
pork, pork liver, sour cherry & pistachio pâte
chicken liver mousse, pickled shallot
cor cellars columbia view sauvignon blanc-2008

baguette, fennel and sweet onion stuffed carlton farm's pork loin
local sour cherry demi glace
romano beans
syncline celilo vineyard pinot noir-2007

strawberry, arugula & ice plant salad
banyuls vinaigrette, marcona almonds & shaved sheep's cheese
strohmeier schilchersekt-nv

-selection of steve's cheese-
anise & fleur de sel shortbread
local honey, figs & candied hazelnuts
cor cellars celilo veneyard alba-2008

currant brown butter tarts
vanilla bean ice cream
cassis caramel
texier o pale viognier-2007

Go with low expectations. Don't expect first class techniques. Expect first class ingredients. Be prepared to be charmed. I was.

>マグロの目玉, or guess what the heck this delicacy is, series #1

>colossal rice noodles

Is chewy the next crunchy?
The texture of tapioca bubble tea boba pearls?

What's the maximum diameter allowed for rice dough products to be classified under "noodles"?

"New year cake," Shanghai nian gao, 年糕, and Korean garaetuck, 가래떡, are chewed year-round. They certainly look like noodles. Just really, really, fat.

Roasted, stewed, sauteed, steamed.
Cut into coins and fried, made into soup.

What would you do with them?

>"cow yuck," thrice-cooked pork belly pot roast, 扣肉/釦肉

Memorial weekend. Are you BBQing?
If the weather doesn't cooperate, how about a little fatty pork belly pot roast?
Perhaps try a popular Hakka (客家) version on a bed of mustard greens?

Here's a simple 2-step recipe, which omits the first step some recipes recommend (hence "thrice-cooked");
1) boil the pork belly first,
2) then fry it,
3) then steam or braise it.
... then lay the slices on a plate atop prepared veggies.

Or, if you are like me who's not that ambitious, culinarily speaking, you should look for it in Chinese restaurants. The name of this dish is 梅菜釦肉 or 梅菜扣肉.

梅 (plum) 菜 (vegetable) 釦 (ring) 肉 (meat)

Mandarin: méi cài kòu ròu (mei2 cai4 kou4 rou4) (this pretty lady cooks with perfectly manicured nails)
Cantonese: muy choy kau yuk (mui4 choi3 kau3 yuk6) (noisy fun)
Hakka: (tk Hakka 梅菜) kiu nyuk

English translation? Good luck! It ranges anywhere from "Chinese bacon hotpot simmered with reconstituted salted plum leaves" to "pulled pork fat claypot stew with preserved vegetables." Pulled, because the character 釦 meaning "button" or "gold rim" is substituted by 扣 which originally means to "knock" or "pull." Alternatively, since this is a pork dish and you happen to hate beef, try uttering this appropriate sentiment, "cow yuck," which does seem to get understood most of the time.

And knock away.








First thumbnail image courtesy of Beifan.com

>Singapore Sling, motley guises

Feeling a bit nostalgic about a cornball tropical island. It was my island once, and I wonder if it was actually cool back then when I lived there in the late 70's and 80's. I can't actually remember drinking anything called Singapore Sling (being a good kid, yes I was allowed a taste of any alcoholic beverage of my own choosing,) but sure, I think the cocktail does capture the island's spirit, in a cool retro way. I did revisit the revamped metropolis in the 90's (pictured right at Raffles Hotel where the famous cocktail was actually invented) but I'm afraid things were changing rather fast, even then. In any case, Imagine yourself on a sultry evening, sitting on a period stool, dressed in thin floral batik, watching the palm trees sway in the monsoon wind. What's the "correct" recipe? (Pictured top left, courtesy of Christ tell, is a proper Raffles serving.) Well, who cares which version of this drink you are holding in your hand? The true Singapore Sling is an elusive idea anyway...

>sake (酒) bars in Korea, makkoli (막걸리) bars in Japan

So sweet.

We are used to seeing these rival countries bicker with each other. Nowadays, something is definitely up. Young Japanese and Koreans are, gingerly, discovering each other. They are, for one, discovering each other's drinks.

Sake bars (사케바) are becoming increasingly popular in South Korea, and makkoli bars (マッコリバー) are becoming increasingly popular in Japan.

Never mind that these are mostly apples and oranges. Well, apples and one crab apple? Okay, rice and rice, but makkoli refers to just one kind of liquor, unfiltered, cloudy, sweet, sour, mild, comparable to nigorizake (濁り酒) but with a lot less alcohol and almost too many flavors. "Sake" pretty much refers to all Japanese....um, sake, well beyond the scope of this single entry.

>green soup with roots and flowers, Ubuntu Napa

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.

-William Blake

Microcosmic. Alchemic.

When I beheld this plate (pictured right) mom ordered at Ubuntu, I searched for the right words. You must surely remember your childhood days when you thought, fleetingly, you could live on air, water, and flowers. You mean you never did?

Cool pureed soup of escarole & roscoe's asparagus
-spring roots & flowers, black garlic coulis, nettle ice
(Here's the "before" picture which shows a big mound of nettle ice)

Flowers don't last, and they are not meant to last. Forget the philistine concept of fashioning them onto a dinner plate. It seems a sacrilege to try to preserve the moment by snapping a picture of them. With modern technology at our (a novice's, in my case) hands, that's exactly what we are doing. Constant, futile attempts to root infinity in the palm of our hands. And what else, really, can we be doing?

Some prefer nettles, and so do I.

>tree ring cake, Baumkuchen

Running out of good birthday or anniversary cake ideas? Not approving theme cakes' current trend toward way too much colored frosting?

Baumkuchen, "tree cake", is a non-seasonal cake that does not drown in too much icing and food coloring, that could also be a more elegant alternative to bûche de Noël, come the winter holiday season. (Kransekake, resembling a tree, sounds interesting, too, but it doesn't come with fine baked-in growth rings.)

Secure a Baumkuchen, then admire its resemblance to a large log's cross-section. Count from the "bark," label your significant years with small flags attached to toothpicks. Alternatively, place a row of candles along the circle that represents the year you want to celebrate.

What could be a more delicious intro to a discussion on dendrochronology?

Can't find a Baumkuchen baker who does the old-fashioned labor-intensive spit-baking? You may be able to find a company that makes it with specialized automated equipment. A business idea for you talented bakers out there?

I could definitely use a slice with my tea here.

>nurunuru/nuranura-textured yam paste, tororo とろろ

When little baby birds thrust their open beaks straight up in the air, eyes closed and mouths fully open, they are expecting some regurgitated goo to drop from their parents' beaks.

Not sure how this relates to slippery, viscous goo meant for adult human consumption. The strange fact is, slimy texture (likened to... puke ... and various body fluids...) is precisely what some people crave and relish. How can I possibly put a positive spin on it after that observation? Explore slime advocates' Jungian psyche? Oooh... primordial goo...

Better known examples of this texture are stringy natto with mucus threads (糸ひき納豆) and raw eggs with rice (卵かけご飯).

The featured dish today is tororogohan,とろろご飯, yam paste-topped rice. The glutinous paste is made from certain kinds of yam (山芋, 自然薯, 長芋) roots, grated into tororo (とろろ). This dish is surprisingly common in home cooking, but it flies under the radar. Grated yam is also used on udon (とろろうどん) and soba (とろろそば).

Gross? Too gluey? Go for "crunchy" then, (paripari ぱりぱり, sakusaku さくさく, zakuzaku ざくざく), and stay away from anything nurunuru ぬるぬる or nuranura ぬらぬら.