A Full Belly

Where to Shop for Japanese Food

Just Hungry's Maki Itoh has started a guide to where to shop for Japanese food around the world and is soliciting readers' help. Go and add your favorite Japanese grocery store if it's not already there. I'll be referring to the Japanese grocery stores in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut and California lists.

2 related lists worth checking out, also by Maki:

• Food related shopping places in Japan you should visit
• Mail order merchants that ship worldwide

Thanks, Maki!

Pigs' Feet and more at Hakata Tonton

"Leaving the restaurant after my first visit, a waitress followed my friends and me outside and presented me with a sealed envelope that contained the restaurant’s card and a quarter to pay me back for calling to make a reservation (which I had found necessary). Then she pulled out a Mr. Incredible PEZ dispenser and offered each of us a candy to freshen our breath before sending us off into the night."

* Hakata Tonton website

Sakaya: A Sake Shop

Sakaya, a shop specializing in sake, will be a welcome addition to the East Village. From their blog: "...Sakaya, will focus on acquainting, educating, and familiarizing patrons with the pleasures of drinking sake, and pairing them with food. We hope to offer a learning experience that not only creates an appreciation for sake but also for the Japanese culture from which it originates."

Essentials of a Japanese pantry

Bookmark this: Maki's excellent essentials of a Japanese pantry organized by must haves, good to haves, and not essential at all.

judging a good sushi restaurant

How to judge a good sushi restaurant. "While it's possible to have inexpensive Japanese food, sushi is by nature expensive because the fish is expensive, and it's also very labor-intensive. So, in my opinion there is really no such thing as a cheap sushi restaurant. You can have acceptable sushi at a reasonable price in a city with a lot of sushi places, but you can't have good and cheap sushi."

fugu

My friend Selva had some fugu in Seattle and lived to blog about it. I didn't even know fugu was legal in the US but apparently there are 17 restaurants with fugu licenses, 11 of which are in NYC! My birthday is coming up later this month, maybe I'll have some then.

sushi video primer

The Japanese Tradition: Sushi. Great video primer on sushi and sushi customs and etiquette. [via FP]

omakase at nobu 57

kiplog reviews Nobu 57's Omakase, with photos. The good: "Every dish was perfection." The bad: " But if I'm going to pay a hundred dollars for a meal, a dish should NEVER arrive before I'm done with the one I'm eating. And it happened with every course, a staff member either holding my next plate in full, impatient view, feet away, or rushing in to get me to move my current dish aside." Poor service will leave a bad taste in your mouth after the best of meals.

strawberry milk sausages

Strawberry Milk Sausages. "The texture and flavor of the sausages are reportedly close to those of regular fish-meat sausages, with the exception that the aftertaste of strawberries remains. "It's an unexpected combination, but a taste that children will like," a Nissui official said. "Strawberries go well with minced fish." I'm highly skeptical but hey, then again I think green mangos and fermented shrimp paste are an unbeatable combination, so. Anyone in the NYC area find these at a Japanese grocery, please let me know!

skot does blobonko

SF His humor and language are not for the easily offended, to be sure, but Skot's totally gonzo account of his recent meal at a particular Japanese restaurant in the Mission cracked me up. It's an incredible intimate jewel of a restaurant, responsible for the best meal I've ever had in the Bay Area (thank you to J.Z. for bringing me there!), but yeah, the service is slow. Food is well worth the wait though, as attested by the number of their long-time regulars.