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Dine At This Restaurant: Kajitsu

A few months ago, I mentioned the opening of Kajitsu, a Kyoto-style vegetarian restaurant in the East Village of Manhattan. On Sunday night my wife and I pulled up seats along the lovely wood counter there for dinner. What a magnificent meal.

June 30, 2009

Announcing My New Restaurant -- GANSO!

April 25, 2012

16th Annual Japanese Restaurant & Food Show

September 26, 2009

Matsuri Restaurant

October 5, 2007

New York's Best Japanese

At least in my opinion... New York is fortunate to have a sizable Japanese expat community -- and real deal restaurants to serve them. I'm talking about Japanese cuisine beyond sushi, which is just a tiny part of the food culture there, despite its popularity here. Many friends ask me to recommend Japanese joints in the big city, so here I go: Check out the half-dozen restaurants below (listed alphabetically) to discover a world of Japanese cooking from sophisticated cuisine to tapas-like pub food to home style chow. And what about your favorite places? Any Japanese restaurants you want to add? (And not just in New York) Please share your thoughts in the comments!

April 20, 2008

Buy a Japanese Knife

While working at Matsuri, I heard of a traveling knife salesman from Japan who regularly visits restaurant kitchens across America. I asked Chef Ono if he could order a knife for me the next time this man showed up at the restaurant. That happened two months ago. The other week my blade arrived.

June 10, 2008

Dining in Kyoto

I've been in Kyoto for almost a month now, and while most of my dining has been <i>makani</i> -- restaurant staff meals -- I've had a couple of chances to squeeze in some great dinners (details on my restaurant training soon).

June 27, 2010

Onion Salad with Miso Dressing

A couple of weeks ago a Japanese government representative here in New York handed me an interesting pamphlet called "A Guide to Japanese Ingredients," listing food producers and their ingredients, as well as a few recipes. One dish in particular caught my eye, for onion salad. The restaurant Yakitori Totto (which I love and should have mentioned in my restaurant post!) features it and it's fantastic. It's a kind of aemono, "dressed things," which, according to "Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art," is Japanese-style salad of several raw or cooked and cooled ingredients tossed with a dressing. Typical aemono dressings are vinegar-based and thickened with pureed tofu, ground sesame or miso. Just like the one in the recipe below. This dish makes a tasty small plate to accompany sake at the beginning of a meal.

May 11, 2008

New York's Best Japanese, 2010

Hey, Chefs Sono-san and Abe-san are ready to cook for you -- so what are you waiting for? Whew, it's been over two years since I posted a list of my favorite Japanese restaurants in New York -- an update is way overdue.

September 12, 2010

Cooking at Hyotei: The Photos

An extraordinary invitation prompted my trip to Japan this past June: A chance to spend a month training in the kitchen of Hyotei, the hallowed 400-year-old ryotei in Kyoto. Hyotei is no ordinary restaurant.

August 9, 2010

Dinner Party: Chef Abe Cooks Staff Meal-Inspired Dishes

My friends at EN Japanese Brasserie are planning a very special dinner party on Saturday, January 16th. The theme: "fish heads, eel bones and beer" -- in other words, food (and drink) inspired by traditional Japanese restaurant staff meal cooking. The host: yours truly. I hope you can join us. Here's the blurb on the event:

January 5, 2010

Fukuoka's Yanagibashi Market

On my way to the restaurant in Fukuoka where I'm currently a shugyo, or trainee, I bumped into my chef, who motioned me to join him. His destination: the Yanagibashi market.

May 26, 2009

Cooking with Atsushi

For the past two weeks, I've had a visitor from Japan stay over at my apartment here in New York, a terrific guy named Atsushi Nakahigashi. All of 22-years-old, he's already an accomplished professional bass fisherman -- and an accomplished chef. Since the age of 14 or so, Atsushi's been working at his father's legendary restaurant in Kyoto, Sojiki Nakahigashi. His dad, Mr. Hisao Nakahigashi, is one of my absolute culinary heroes, a wonderful man who I've had the privilege to get to know and write about. Atsushi's his dad's talented protégé, and since he was here in New York... I put him to work in my kitchen! Actually, Atsushi, wise, thoughtful and mature way, way beyond his years, graciously offered to teach me a few things about Japanese cooking. It's been a seminal couple of weeks.

August 4, 2008

Tosajoyu, Katsuo Bushi-Infused Soy Sauce

Earlier this month, Gourmet.com ran my story on robata style grilling, which I put together thanks to Chef Jiro Ida of the terrific midtown Manhattan restaurant Aburiya Kinnosuke. Over the course of a few weeks, Jiro-san graciously invited me to his kitchen before service to watch him in action and teach me about robata.

August 29, 2008

Kyoto Tempura Kaiseki

A few years ago I got a glimpse at the high art of tempura cooking while visiting Kyoto at an elegant restaurant called Tenyu, and I never forgot it.

June 6, 2010

sakekasu-cured grilled fish

I became interested in sakekasu (or sake kasu) at Matsuri, the restaurant where I volunteer as a cook. Chef Ono prepares his delicious version of glazed black cod by first marinating the fish for several days in a mixture that includes sakekasu. I wondered about the effect of this ingredient. But before I get into this, let me pause for a quick definition:

December 27, 2007

Matsugen Soba

Working on a manuscript this past spring for a Japanese noodle cookbook (for Ten Speed Press, publishes in 2009) gave me a chance to do a bit of research on ramen, soba, udon and somen. Soba, buckwheat noodles, I found particularly interesting, because they're both a down-home soul food and something more rarefied. That "something more rarefied" side to soba can now be found at a terrific new restaurant in Manhattan called Matsugen, where I recently visited the chefs there to learn more about their noodles.

September 1, 2008

Ikejime: The Japanese Way to Butcher Fish

At my recent workshop at Saveur, I taxied over a live fish for Chef Sono to butcher the traditional way, a method called ikejime. Why share a cab with a flopping fish? I've been fascinated by this killing process since I first witnessed it in Japan, and Sono-san was kind enough to demonstrate it and explain the technique. This week I learned even more, thanks to an outstanding presentation organized by the Gohan Society and featuring the revered chef Suzuki-san of Sushi Zen restaurant.

December 17, 2009

Chawanmushi or Savory Egg Custard

Chawan mushi is one of those Japanese dishes I've enjoyed in restaurants for years but always thought would be too hard to make at home.

October 4, 2011

Master Class: Sumo Hot Pot

Hey all, I want to share a recipe from Tadashi and my hot pot master class last week at Tadashi's restaurant Matsuri. We cooked three terrific hot pots, including this version of the classic chanko nabe -- sumo wrestler hot pot. Dee-licious.

February 22, 2011

"Love for Japan" Fundraiser: Martha Stewart, Wynton Marsalis at EN Brasserie

Please join my friends Chef Hiroki Abe and owners Reika and Jesse Alexander of EN Japanese Brasserie for a big fundraiser for Japan earthquake and tsunami relief. It takes place this Wednesday, March 23rd at 6pm at their restaurant in downtown Manhattan.

March 19, 2011

Scenes from a Japanese Cooking Workshop

Last week, a couple of dozen curious food lovers joined me at the Saveur magazine test kitchen for a Japanese vegetarian cooking workshop with the amazing Chef Masato Nishihara of Kajitsu restaurant. What an incredible night.

November 5, 2009

Layering Flavor into Vegetables

During the staff meal break the other night at Matsuri, I noticed Chef Ryuji cleaning a pile of fiddlehead ferns. Ryo is the Chef du Cuisine at the restaurant. I love watching him in action -- this man knows how to cook. During the break I can usually find Ryo by himself behind the line, working on something in the remaining quiet moments before service -- and its attendant frenzy -- begins.

March 26, 2008

Hot Pot Time! Let Us Show You The Ways...

Okay, folks, time to whet your appetite with a bunch of mouthwatering hot pot photos Harris shot while rolling through Japan with Tadashi, and cooking together at Tadashi's restaurant, Matsuri in New York.

August 27, 2009

Onsen Tamago, or poaching eggs in their shells

Recently, a TV reporter visited my restaurant Ganso and asked a typical reporter question: How many distinct ingredients do we use to make a bowl of ramen?

December 28, 2012

kyushu style fried chicken

Takako Kuratani is a prodigious chef who designs menus for Japanese restaurants around the world, styles food for Japanese movies and TV commercials, develops recipes, teaches Japanese cuisine -- and never stops cooking and experimenting. I was fortunate to meet her last year at her test kitchen in Tokyo where she and her team treated me to a fantastic dinner. (Ah, the joys of writing... :)) Besides being incredibly talented, Takako is utterly gracious and kind, and thorough emails has been teaching me about Japanese ingredients and cooking. She just visited New York and one of the things she brought with her was a slender red notebook -- her own personal cookbook, where she records her recipes and cooking inspiration. While she was here, Takako planted herself in a kitchen, cracked opened that little red book and prepared a wonderful homey dinner for a bunch of friends. Her theme: the down-home cooking of Kyushu, Japan's own Deep South.

May 5, 2008

Konbu Dashi Soup with Clams

One of the many things I love about Nakahigashi Restaurant is how Mr. Nakahigashi can bring out the sublime natural flavors of ingredients even though he does very little to them. Atsushi expressed this idea in a simple clam soup with just three ingredients: Clams, water and umami-rich konbu. Actually, when he explained what he was about to cook, I suggested he add a little yuzu citrus peel to give the soup another layer of flavor. Atsushi politely demurred -- that's not the Nakahigashi way, he explained. Clams and konbu are all you need. No accents or garnishes necessary.

August 4, 2008

Tuna Marinated in Soy Sauce and Mirin

God, this looks good, doesn't it? And it's just the leftovers! When I saw local tuna for sale at the farmers market, I remembered a technique the amazing Tadashi Ono taught me called maguro zuke, an old Tokyo style of marinating tuna, which he serves to great acclaim at Matsuri restaurant.

September 13, 2009

Register for Workshop and Tasting at Saveur Magazine!

Please join me as I moderate: "From Soba to Artichokes: Vegetarian Cooking, Japanese-style," featuring Chef Masato Nishihara of Kajitsu restaurant, at the Saveur test kitchen on Monday, October 26th from 7p to 9:30p, featuring a sake sampling from boutique importer Joto Sake.

October 1, 2009

hotpot 101, or window into japanese cuisine

"There are no rules for making nabe," said Chef Ono, as we got to talking about Japanese hotpot cooking to me the other night at Matsuri restaurant. I've been fascinated by this homey soul food, as readers of the Report know (see posts here and here), and wanted to learn more -- and understand what hotpots say about Japanese cuisine as a whole.

February 4, 2008