Udon Madness!

Most people's relationship with udon noodles is relegated to a refrigerated instant noodle package along with a boring season packet and if it's fancy, a small sachet of sesame oil. Nick and I were excited to go to Japan and explore a world of delicious and varied ramen but had no idea we would be enamored of the seemingly humble udon noodle while we were in Kyoto.

WHY ISN'T THIS PLACE IN 'MERICA?

We had our first taste at a self-service chain called Marugame Seimen which makes a variety of slurptastic and fresh udon noodles at a very affordable price. They even have a window where a guy makes noodles so you can see that the noodles are made fresh every day, instead of those shipped in from China.

Steamy noodles and broth ready for slurping

Fatty like!

Marugame has a wealth of udon options - both hot and cold with a plethora of styles including those in broth and some made to be dipped. I opted for the hot torotama udon which is topped with an egg and a swath of thick, sticky yam topping on it. Once you order your udon, you progress down to a little buffet line with a multitude of tempura - which you pay for by the piece. Like the fatty I am, rather than adding the tempura to the top of my noodles and allowing the tempura to get soggy, I piled on the tempura on top of a separate plate. I am fairly certain the lady ringing me up thought I was a super overeater, compared to Nick whose bowl was only adorned with a couple of pieces of tempura. You can also pick additional sides and appetizers after the tempura line including inari or omosubi or other udon toppings. Once we paid for the meal, we stopped by the condiment station to heap a generous sprinkling of scallions, ginger and sauce.

The udon was fantastic; the noodles were perfectly al dente and in a richly seasoned broth. Even better was the amazing tempura which remained crunchy and warm despite having sat under some heating lamps. I had prawn, kabocha squash, fish stick tempura and this giant onion and vegetable tempura basket which is dare-I-say tastier and crisper than Outback Steakhouse's unhealthy blooming onion.

Heaps of tempura and a bowl of udon. Heavenly.

Torotama udon with scallions and ginger

Nick and I pretty much needed to be rolled out of this joint in a wheel barrel and were glad to have a long walk back through ponto-cho to the hotel because we needed to burn some extra calories after that gut bomb. Apparently Marugame has extended to Hawaii but I have no idea why these outlets aren't studded all over the 50 states. It's fresh and can be as healthy or fatty as an American would like; chewy noodles that come in three portion sizes served with a lot of vegetables or heaped with as much freshly fried tempura as one can dump on a plate. I recall that my udon and tempura combo was priced around 800 yen, or around $10 which is incredibly reasonable for a gut bomb dinner of a gazillion calories.

Tempura options - as awesome as it looks.

Fancy Kaiseki Udon

Our second udon foray was at a spot right outside of the historic ponto-cho: Omen Nippon. Nick and I opted for different set menus which ended with a bowl of dipping udon. The meal was in a comfortable setting but the food reflected a sophisticated kaiseki sensibility. We enjoyed delicate and exactingly arranged courses including crudo, delicate fried tempura, tofu in a soy milk broth, a daikon and crab soup and other dishes.

Our meal was completed with a bowl of the most delicious udon noodles sprinkled with sesame seeds, served with a dark shoyu broth to its side with little veggies and accoutrement. You only added as many noodles to the broth or dip the noodles as you go, rather than sink the noodles in the broth. This was definitely all about the noodle and the meal was memorable and delicious. Enjoy a photographic journey of some Japanese food porn!

A delicate crudo

Crispy fish topped with roe in a dashi

Vegetables in a creamy tofu dressing

Tempura

Tofu and soymilk soup

Gorgeous food!

Daikon and crab soup

Fried vegetables and mushrooms

Vegetables, pickles and udon toppings

Broth and noodles

This makes me want to slurp my laptop screen

The front door - go look for it!

Sushi Dai - Greatest Sushi, Longest Wait

I promised you sushi porn and I'm delivering. Here is our story:

Nick and I scoured the internets for the best sushi in Tsukiji market for our Tokyo adventure. We all knew that Jiro's in the Ginza subway stop (exit C6) was the best sushi in Japan, bar none and with three Michelin stars to prove it. However, Jiro's requires a reservation several months in advance and a few hundred dollars; we were looking for something a little more reasonably priced and without a reservation requirement.

According to the world wide web, and a colleague of mine named Osamu, the best sushi can be found at Sushi Dai. Finding Sushi Dai was another matter, when Lonely Planet's Tsukiji market map put it at the wrong location in the entire market. So ignore Lonely Planet's woefully incorrect map and follow the Tsukiji information station's careful instructions and see where the line is... 

Front line for Sushi Dai

Three hours - enough time to see The Hobbit

We (finally) arrived at the line at 9:48am and found what appeared to be three lines. There were two massive lines huddled around two tiny sushi shops next to each other and then a straight line around the corner; the Sushi Dai line actually had two distinct lines with one group of twenty or so people huddled out in front of the shop and then a separate line around that corner on the sidewalk facing the large, private part of the fish market. The other line in front of a shop with orange banners was for Sushi Daiwa, apparently the second best sushi joint in the area. The line was quite orderly and there was a restaurant hosted who served as line guard and kept records of people in line, their party's size and prevented people from cutting in line or jumping in the line by the door, instead of waiting at the true end of the line around the corner. We waited for three (that's right, three) hours before getting to go inside of the restaurant and sit down. We were about to give up when we spent most of the time waiting in the line on the sidewalk barely moving and needing to get snacks just to make it but were ecstatic as soon as we were promoted to the closer line. Waiting in line was painful but we had a lot of time to get to know a couple from L.A. we really liked during those three hours: Colt and Christina with whom we got to share a painful wait and a memorable meal.

Happy sushi chefs

Inside, the restaurant only serves 14 people huddled tightly at the counter in front of three jovial sushi chefs. These guys were absolutely delightful; they spoke English to us and even a little Mandarin to the girls from Taiwan seated to my left and constantly cracked jokes, thanked everyone profusely for waiting in the long line and were generally incredibly welcoming and informative. Above all, they took joy in their craft and their results were delicious. This was the most wonderful, simple and memorable sushi experience I've ever had in my life.

So fresh, it's still moving

Otoro

It was very apparent that the fish came from the market and had all been caught earlier that morning. We opted for the omakase option because what else would you freaking eat there? The fatty tuna, otoro was displayed right in front of me in the case and had tons of visible marbling. It was soft, rich, buttery and delicious with plenty of flavor and zero fishiness which was a contrast to a lot of tuna in the US which actually a lot leaner and lacks a lot of flavor. Our second piece was a simple piece of balanced tamago.

Borderline illegal-looking uni

The flounder had a swarth of lime juice over it which gave it a lovely bright taste and the yellowtail was sumptuous; our chef told us that the fish was from Hokkaido, a northern island of Japan with icy waters famous for the best fish. Then came the uni, which was unlike any uni I'd ever tasted. It was unctuous, smooth and almost bright tasting with a hint of sweet acidity instead of pungency usually found in uni. It melted in your mouth sweetly. We had a lovely, savory horse mackerel that was dotted with marinated green onions.

A row of red clam

Then, the chefs grabbed large red clams out of a bucket and we could see that the clams were still alive! As the chefs deftly cut them apart, they joked, "See? It's still alive! Be careful or it will bite your face." And they served that piece of nigiri to us on the wooden sushi board, still twitching. I've never eaten sushi that was still moving before or red clam like that before; clam is typically tougher and chewier than what we had.We had tasty red snapper that was redder and smoother than any I'd ever had and then salmon roe. Our chef said roe was usually frozen and is only fresh a few months out of the year but ours was fresh! The roe was softer than what I was used to but still burst and tickle as you bite into them - only juicier and smoother tasting. Nick's favorite was our next piece: Spanish mackerel with green onion which was a complex balance of sweet and savory. We finished the first round with a sauced piece of delicate and rich anago. We got to pick our final piece of nigiri: Nick chose to do a repeat of the Spanish mackerel while I completed my nigiri with fresh and crunchy abalone.

Everything we ate was carefully made and presented to us with a delicious mouthful of perfectly balanced rice and fish. Even the miso soup had bits of fish in it in a broth which hinted of the sea. Japanese people have a pursuit for perfection and craftsmanship that speaks volume to the food they make - part art, part architecture and completely wonderful.

We might have waited in line for an extraordinarily long time but we had a perfect meal, and a fun experience with the two new friends we had made, made better by the congenial and warm sushi chefs.

Best. Sushi. Ever. 

Excited to finally get to sit down for our sushi!

Below are more photographs of our memorable meal:

Tamago

Our chef hard at work

Miso soup

Flounder

Details

Red snapper

Horse mackerel art

Red clam - still moving

Yellowtail from Hokkaido

Salmon roe - little surprises

Spanish mackerel

Anago/sea eel

Extra piece of Spanish mackerel

Abalone

I hope you enjoyed our sushi adventures and here's to hoping you get to experience this sort of careful craftsmanship soon! We'll have ramen and udon blogs to follow.

Revel Dumpling Making (and eating)

Enjoying the sunshine before the class

If you read our blog, you know we are a little obsessed with Revel and have done two of their wonderful cooking classes.

Then, in a strike of good luck, two spots opening up in their most coveted dumpling making class so Nick and I got bumped up the list. Cooking class regulars. Boo yeah.

This class covered making different dumpling wrappers, fillings and different ways of preparing the dumplings. We split up into groups of four and tackled three dumplings:
an Indian-inspired chick pea and cumin ricotta dumpling that was pan-seared, a boiled shrimp dumpling with flavors or a Vietnamese summer roll and a fried pork dumpling with Korean gochujang sauce. Dumplings are surprisingly easy to make; making the homemade wrapper is just like rolling out pasta or noodle dough.

Recipes are below. Here is a photo journey of our amazing and delicious class:

Chef Rachel & the crew instructing us

Our mise, complete with recipe. BYO knife.

Our teammates portioning out little ricotta dumplings

Chef Rachel checks on our dumplings

Nick and I wrap dumplings

I mixed pork with the gochujang

Add chives and garlic

And there is some porky filling

Seared ricotta dumplings - I would have preferred more sear

We got hungry

Wrapped up pork dumplings - aren't they pretty?

Fried pork dumplings. The giant ones were ones Nick had made

Recipes! Courtesy of Revel & their cooking class awesomeness.

Note: roll out the dough into long sheets with a pasta maker. Then you can cut it up in any way you'd like - add little lumps of filling, cover it with the top of the pasta sheet or cut your own little squares and then add the filling. 

Chick Pea Ricotta Dumpling

Filling:

• 1 pt ricotta (strained, should be dry and crumbly)
• 1 pt chick peas, chopped in food processor
• 3 tbsp roasted lemon pulp
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tbsp parsley, chopped
• salt & pepper

Mix all ingredients together

Dough:

• 2 qt AP flour
• 3 cups hot water
• 1 tbsp salt
• 3 tbsp cumin, toasted and ground

Mix all dry ingredients together first, then add water.
Knead until the dough is smooth.

Spicy Pork Dumpling

Filling:

• 3 cups ground pork
• 1 cup garlic chives, chopped
• 3 tbsp Korean sweet chili paste: gochujang
• 3 tbsp mirin
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp garlic, chopped fine
• 1 tbsp ginger, chopped fine
• 1 tbsp Korean chili powder

Mix all ingredients together

Dough:

• 2 qt AP flour
• 1/2 cup garlic chive puree
• 2 1/2 cup hot water
• 1 tbsp salt

Mix all dry ingredients together first, then add water.
Knead until the dough is smooth.

Shrimp and rice noodle dumpling
Filling:

• 1 pt shrimp, chopped in food processor
• 1 pt rice noodles, soaked in water, then chopped
• 1 tbsp ginger, chopped fine
• 3 tbsp cilantro
• 3 tbsp Vietnamese fish sauce
• 1 tsp coriander, ground

Mix ingredients together

Dough:

• 2 qt AP flour
• 3 cups hot water
• 1 cup ginger
• 1 tbsp ginger powder
• 1 tbsp salt

Blend the ginger with hot water and strain. Mix all dry ingredients together, first, then add the wet ingredients. Knead dough until the dough becomes smooth.

Again, we prepared each dumpling differently - we made round pan-fried dumplings with the chickpea dumplings, pinched wonton boiled dumplings with the shrimp ones and deep-fried triangular dumplings with the pork dumplings.

Wrap-up: Seattle Restaurant Week - Fall '12

After a long Sound+Bites hiatus, I'm back to blogging! I don't have much an excuse. This is it. It's a nice diversion, but I've missed food blogging, so here we are.

Look who's back?

Ann and I finished up another Seattle Restaurant Week bonanza last Tuesday; our 5th together (slow-clap). We make five reservations at restaurants that we haven't been to yet (or haven't been to in a long time) and then invite our friends to join us, binge-eat, and meet new people.

This season, we hit up new restaurants Belle Clementine (Ballard) and Rione XIII (Cap Hill), the not-as-new Cicchetti (Eastlake) and Art of the Table (Fremont), and perennial standby Poppy (Cap Hill). 

And a programming note: I'm over doing the full-on review of each dish at each restaurant. It's nit-picky and meandering, and isn't fun to write. So we're going to change things up. 

The Out of the Gate Award (best starter course): Tie! Art of the Table and Poppy.

Poppy's Thali

This one was pretty close, so we'll cheat a bit and award it to both restaurants. Art of the Table (AotT) served up a really smoky and savory salad featuring treviso. Treviso was the de rigueur ingredient this fall: a winter radicchio named after a town in Northern Italy. It's a more mellow salad base, especially when grilled, and you should definitely look for it this winter. 

Poppy featured a delicate salad of oil-poached albacore with avocado and fennel that didn't overwhelm the palate while being totally satisfying, which can be difficult with starter salads.

False Start Award (worst starter course): Rione XIII 

Rione XIII's starter

A pretty uninspired charcuterie plate for two? Olives, some tuna, carrots, romanesco, a rabbit & pork terrine and prosciutto. I understand that they're going for Roman street food, but I have an Ethan Stowell cookbook, and there's plenty of starter recipes that would have been superior for a restaurant that just opened two months ago and is looking to establish some new regulars. 

My Main Man Award (best main course): Art of the Table

I seriously enjoyed the grilled pork loin with smoked bok choy, pepper jam, and pickled ramp vinagrette. AotT really impressed, going from a northern Italian starter to an Asian-inspired main without it being awkward or ham-handed. 

Why You Do Me Like That Award (worst main course): Cicchetti

That sauce tastes familiar..

A potato ravioli in tomato cinnamon ragu. It tasted like SpaghettiO's sauce. I'm not one for hyperbole, but it seriously was like SpaghettiOs. Just really underwhelming.

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Award (best ending course): Poppy

Really great desserts for both Ann and myself. Chocolate truffle torte with jasmine sauce and sesame brittle for me. Hot date cake with banana ice cream and butterscotch. Poppy never fails, so if you visit, save room for dessert. I will say Belle Clementine's buttermilk cake with homemade preserves was also very good, but didn't beat out Jerry Traunfeld's genius. 

Belle Clementine's cake

That'll Do Pig Award (worst ending course): Cicchetti
Marcona almond brownies were pretty much standard fare for a church bake sale. They can, and should, do better than that.

Sotally Tober Award (best drink): Art of the Table
The "Winter is Coming" -Woodinvile rye, fernet, Cocchi di Torino, lemon and chili bitters, with lemon twist. Holy crap, I would have ordered seven of these if I didn't have to drive. Make this drink, now.

Is the Chicken Local? Award (best service): Belle Clementine

Belle Clementine's uber local salad

Really accommodating service that was willing to work with dietary restrictions while doing a family-style serving. The chef even came out and talked to all of us about the meal, describing how he walked 1 block to the Ballard market to purchase most of the ingredients we'd be eating that night.

Best Dished (overall best restaurant): Art of the Table over Poppy in a close one!
Besides an awkward seating arrangement at their large table, not one problem with the meal. Friendly staff, delicious food and drink, and intimate setting. We highly recommend AotT to anyone looking for a cozy late evening date night. In a close second, Poppy still delivers a premium dining experience that I'd rate in the top 10 in all of Seattle. We also think Belle Clementine made a nice rookie appearance, if you enjoy family-style, communal table dining experiences.

Worst Dished (overall worst restaurant): Cicchetti narrowly over (or under) Rione XIII

GIANT BOWL OF PASTA!

Surprising failures, considering their pedigree. It's even more disappointing considering we had wonderful company at both restaurants. Cicchetti's starter of Moroccan-spiced chicken wings and Rione's dessert of maple panna cotta with hazelnut brittle were the only saving graces for each. Rione's cacio e peppe, a simple Roman street dish, was way too heavy and over-portioned. But the potato ravioli at Cicchetti was arguable the worst pasta I've had this side of the Spaghetti Factory. The dessert was boring too. Complete faceplant by Cicchetti.

 

Great company, so-so nosh joint

Rione's tasty Maple Panna Cotta

Vietnamese Soup for the Soul

We were on a warm weather streak in Seattle and it's been one of the sunniest and loveliest autumns in recent memory. However, there is a little chill in the brisk autumn air and the rain has started as the leaves slowly change to a vibrant hue - and what better to warm you up than some soup?

I had blogged about the mystery behind phở, the most well-known Vietnamese soup. But wait - there's more! Vietnam is renowned for a vast variety of tasty and tummy-warming soups that are perfect for crisp fall days.

Bún bò Huế

Home cooked bún bò Huế

Variety is the spice of life and this earthy soup is spicy, tangy and all-around amazing. This is probably the second most well-known Vietnamese soup for good reason. This dish originates from Vietnam's former imperial capital in the centrally located Huế where finicky kings used to demand elaborate multiple course meals where they could demonstrate their wealth, power and sophistication through tons of fancy food. This central region is also known for using more chili paste and featuring spicier foods than the north or the south. A lot of the most well-known Huế food is complicated imperial court food and are gastronomical works of art that are difficult for most cooks to replicate - except perhaps bún bò Huế.

This soup contains a thicker, rounder rice noodle that's about the girth of spaghetti and prepared with beef broth. The spice from the soup comes from lots of lemongrass, spicy chili paste or oils. It may traditionally be prepared with shrimp paste, oxtail, beef shank, pig knuckles and pig blood although not many people prepare it with pig blood anymore. Some people swear by adding pineapple to the broth to tenderize the beef and all a little sweetness and acid to the stock. As is common with Vietnamese soups, it's served with lime wedges and plenty of herbs and veggies like cilantro, green onions, raw sliced white onions, red cabbage, sprouts, etc.

The depth and complexity of this broth gives it an amazing earthy and well-rounded flavor and Vietnamese people tend to closely guard their recipes for this soup but if you'd like to make it at home, try this recipe out. This soup won't be available at your neighborhood phở joint, but is popular enough to be featured at most Vietnamese restaurants with large menus including Tamarind Tree in Seattle. Here's a recipe & video.

Bún riêu

This soup is one of my favorite soups but made for those who like a little bit of sour in their soup since it features a tomato broth. While there are a few different varieties of this soup depending on the protein that is featured, the most popular is bún riêu cua or the crab version. This dish would normally use a whole ground up crab - shell and all- but most people and restaurants don't do this anymore. The soup features sort of a loose crab cake with pork and ground shrimp, tomatoes, tofu in a tart broth with rice vermicelli noodles and plenty of fresh herbs and veggies. I've seen this on restaurant menus infrequently so here is a recipe to check out if your local Vietnamese joint doesn't have this delicious dish hailing from Northern Vietnam.

Bún thang

I have never seen this on a menu in a restaurant and have no idea why since this is a lovely delicate noodle soup that phở lovers would enjoy. Some recipes online call it "Hanoi Chicken Soup" which seems a bit like a misnomer but it's awesome regardless. This northern dish is a milder, lighter chicken and ham/pork soup with shredded egg crepe and is really easy to make. Recipe here.

Canh chua

This is a Vietnamese style hot and sour soup which is tangier than the Chinese version, with a clear, tamarind broth and most often served with rice. It's similar to a Thai tom yum soup and is from the Mekong River Delta region of Southern Vietnam where sweeter flavors are more abundant as well as swampier vegetables (like okra). This is a refreshing soup that is really easy to make and has a lot of variations depending on what protein you'd like included but it most commonly has tomatoes, pineapple, sprouts and okra. Here is a recipe. 

Cháo

Feeling a little sick? Vietnamese people don't serve you chicken soup; we serve you a congee or rice porridge since it's simple to make and easy to eat when it's hard keeping anything down. This doesn't need to be completely flavorless or boring however; it can be a comforting and flavorful dish when paired with a good protein or veggies as our fave spot Revel often does. When my mom senses that my brother and I are getting sick, she whips up a batch with tons of ginger.

If you're staying in on a Sunday to watch some football and curl up in a blanket on the couch, consider making a pot of Vietnamese soup instead of the usual pot of chili or chowder. Enjoy autumn snuggling weather!