Wonderful locavore restaurant in Stockholm

There's an amazing locavore restaurant in Stockholm called Mistral that is highly worth a visit. They're also happy to adjust the listed menu for vegetarians and other special dietary requirements.

The 5 course tasting meal turned into an 8 course plus crusty fresh whole wheat bread and creamy butter extravaganza. Almost everything is from a local farm, and since not much grows in Sweden these days most of their ingredients have been preserved since the summer.

We had:

bonus starter: raw and cook beets with yogurt and chocolate dust

first course: hollowed onions with potato creme and pickled chanterelles

second course: 25 different raw marinated baked or vegetables, creamy egg yolk and yogurt

third course: cabbage pickled in its own juices and cabbage picked in whey and then caramelized, with rhubarb marmalade and lingonberry dust

fourth course: caramelized celery root with pickled garlic, pear slices, and coffee bean

bonus pre-dessert: apple cream with zucchini topping

fifth course: tomato with chocolate with rhubarb marmalade, creme angles and vanilla tomato paste

bonus post-dessert: chocolate mousse with dried chocolate mousse, with lovage herb infusion
and herbal blend tea to cap it off.

Delicious!

Tsukiji fish market

Before heading home from Japan, I finally made it to the Tsukiji fish market - one of the largest wholesale fish markets in the world.

It was an amazing experience. Every kind of sea food as far as the eye can see. There was also an enormous tuna auction, where after each fish was sold, a guy with long metal hooks would get a good grip on the fish and then hoist it up onto a tram. (I arrived basically too late to see the auction, but attached myself to a group of retired Israeli tourists who pushed their way in.)






There were also lots of other kinds of fruits and veggies sold, including Japanese eggplant!

Octopus

Yes, in Japan, you can buy octopus in the convenience store. Yuck.

Best Pizza in Tokyo

After eight weeks of searching, I have finally found the best pizza in Tokyo: Partenope.

Recommended to me by both the president and the Sicily-born rabbi of the Jewish Community of Tokyo (which is nearby), Partenope serves a spectacular Margarita pizza - mozzarella cheese with a bit of tang, tomato sauce with the right amount of sweetness, a crust that is crisp but not hard and caramelized but not burnt.

In my last week here in Tokyo, I must go back at least once. Maybe twice.

Semibiyake (charcoal grill)

Last week, my colleagues and I had a team at a semibiyake (charcoal grill) restaurant. Basically, the tables had two square holes in them (maybe 1' by 1' by 2'), into which the waiter put a smoldering charcoal grill. We were then able to order a range of items, and baste and grill them our self. The fish-eating vegetarian senior manager and I had one grill, which we used for mushrooms, eggplant, and sardines (see below):


as well as deep fried garlic in sesame oil (which was amazing, though I couldn't wait and so ate many of the cloves before they were fulled caramelized).


On the other grill, my colleagues grilled many kinds of meat, as well as LIVE SEAFOOD. By this, I mean prawn-like creatures and others that were still blowing bubbles from their mouths, and whose tentacles were moving. Disgusting.

(Though, I'm not sure totally un-Jewish. Clearly Judaism forbids eating flesh torn from live mammals and birds. But what about fish? Could I have taken a live sardine, thrown it on the grill, and then eaten it?)

Vegetarian Lunch in Shaghai

Last week, I met up with a friend from college, who took me to an amazing vegetarian restaurant in the French Concession area of Shanghai.

The restaurant, Wu Guan Tang, at 349 Xinhua Rd, near Dingxi Rd (unlike Japan, China has normal street names and sequentially numbered buildings) advertised itself as "No MSG, Not Fried, No Carbonation, No Artifical Meat." I knew I was in for a treat. Everything was a bit sweeter than Chinese food I've had before, which apparently makes it more Shanghainese.


This one is curried rice with avocado.


Two different kinds of mushrooms.


This one was very spicy.


Finally, this was mock crab, which was sweet potato and carrot, stuffed into a hollowed out red pepper.

We also got two other dishes, and tea. The whole cost of the lunch, which could have easily fed 3 people? 180 yuan, which is around $14 a person. Amazing.

Sumo diet

According to this website, here are the five main things that sumo wrestlers do to gain weight (these were also mentioned in the info they gave out at the tournament):

1. Skip breakfast. By depriving their bodies of food after eight hours of sleep, their metabolic rates stay low.

2. Exercise on an empty stomach. If their bodies have no food, their metabolic thermostats are turned down even lower to conserve fuel.

3. Take a nap after eating. The Sumo secret for gaining weight is that, after eating, they sleep for at least four hours.

4. Eat late in the day. Going to bed with full stomachs means that their bodies must respond to the huge flood of nutrients with a rush of insulin, forcing their bodies to store some of it in the cells as fat instead of in the muscles and organs as nutrients.

5. Always eat with others in a social atmosphere. According to leading researchers, a meal eaten with others can be at least 44 percent larger and with 30 percent more calories and fat.

So, the healthy practice would be to do the opposite of all of these, meaning eat three balanced meals at regular hours, eat something before you excersice, don't take long naps after you eat (except on Shabbos!), and eat some meals alone. Sounds like great advice.

Food and Health Care

Michael Pollan has an excellent piece in today's Times about the fact that making insurance companies cover a larger swath of the population at a flatter rate structure will suddenly incentivize them to make us eat better, since they'll have to pay for it out of their end if we don't. Makes sense to me.

Also, if you haven't watched the President's speech to Congress, I recommend you do so.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Client Cafeterias

Anyone who has worked on a project with me has learned that I am not a huge fan of client cafeterias. At best (in Boston or New York), they have a moderate selection of adequate food. At worst (Kingsport, TN or Pittsburgh), they have bland, overcooked food, speckled with pork, and dodgy fish.

Here in Japan, the client cafeteria reeks of fish that is past it's prime. While they are good about noting whether a dish contains beef/chicken/pork/squid (with English and pictures), that happens to be most dishes.

So, today, I decided to venture outside of the client for lunch. I happened to find a spectacular South Asian place, where I had a wonderful naan and vegetable curry. There is something about Indian food that is hot, spicy, and tasty, which I rarely find in Japanese food of the same price point that I can eat. So, it was wonderful to have my first satisfying workday lunch of the trip.

Some observations about food in Japan

1. First and foremost, the Jewish Community of Japan has put together a list of everything that I do not eat in Japan (pork, beef, chicken, shellfish), and everything that I do (salmon, tuna, mackerel, yellow tail). It is in English, transliterated Japanese, and actual Japanese, including instructions. Amazing.
2. Some guy named Jon has great a Google map of hundreds of restaurants and bars in Tokyo, color coded by cuisine type, and with his recommendations noted. Plus, each entry has a short summary, and links to a longer blog post that he wrote about the restaurant when he ate there.
3. I made myself an omelet last night (with peppers, onions, and tomatoes). The eggs in Japan (and I bought the cheapest ones they had in the store) are gorgeous. They have the most golden orange yokes that I have ever seen.
4. At summer camp, when I was growing up, the Australian counselors used to rave about some cookie called Tim Tams. Eventually, one of their friends sent them a box, but they refused to share them with any campers. I finally got to try them a few years ago when I was in Australia, but haven't had them since. Well, they sell them in Japan. They're kind of like an Orea with thicker, softer chocolate filling, and then frosted with chocolate all the way around. Yum.
   
5. The Japanese smoke a lot. Especially in restaurants. It's like being back in 1995 in the United States, when you'd have to get a table far away from a smoker. I actually had to switch tables tonight between courses. (Though, it provided me an opportunity to strike up a conversation with the American seated next to me, who said that the offender had gone through a whole pack already, and that he was going to warn me when I sat down.)
6. Every restaurant seems to have fake displays of its food for patrons to see. This is even the case when the signs are in English and Japanese, and when the food is already prepared for you to see before you order it. Still, some of this fake food looks real:

Restaurants in Japan

Today I met up with a friend of mine from college (we sang in the same group) who lives in Tokyo. (he's Japanese, but went to Middle School in the US). With him, I ventured into a more traditional Japanese restaurant for lunch, and got to experience "belt sushi" for the first time.

Basically, in the restaurant, there is moving conveyor belt with little plates of sushi (by sushi I mostly mean nigiri, meaning rice and fish, as opposed to maki, which is rolled up in seaweed, as we traditionally think of sushi in the US.)

It looked like this:
Now, here's the best part. The color and design of the plate each indicated the cost of each item (click on the picture above to enlarge and see in more detail).

But wait, there's more. Each plate had a magnet on the bottom:

Such that when you were finished, a waiter could scan a stack of plates (he didn't have to do each one individually):

And then print your bill from a second small device on his belt. Amazing!

Oh, and did I mention that the sushi was excellent?

Spectacular Italian Restaurant: Pisticci

Amazing Italian restaurant in the Harlem/Morningside Heights area (near Broadway and 123rd street). Reasonably priced, and everything on the menu is tasty and excellent. Lots of vegetarian options. And, they're completely carbon neutral.

I highly recommend it if you're in the area.

Pickles

If anyone is going to the Lower East Side (say to buy a lulav and etrog this week), check out the Pickle Guys. You won't be sorry.

Blue Hill Restaurant

Blue Hill Restaurant is a local/organic/environmentally responsible paradise. Everything is fresh and spectacularly prepared. including:

• Three kinds of pickled cauliflower
• Dried kale
• Arugula and tomato salts
• Haddock, beets, and horseradish cream
• Smoked tomato and almond soup
• Poached yolk and eggplant
• Bass with cauliflower and pesto
• Honey ice cream with caramelized condensed milk cream
• Chocolate bread pudding with vanilla ice cream

Amazing.

Excellent local restaurant in Charlotte, NC

If you're in Charlotte, I recommend eating at Ratcliffe on the Green. It's a "farm to feed" restaurant, with most of its produce, fish, poultry, and meat coming from about two dozen local farms, and a menu that changes weekly.

Everything was excellent - from the buttermilk biscuits and a taste sweet pumpkin apple soup to start, to the goat cheese, pear, walnut, and greens salad to the wild rainbow trout with tomato-basil risotto. The ostrich (so I've been told) was also very good.

Ratcliffe also does lunch, if one if in the downtown Charlotte area during the day.

Seamless Web

Just wanted to mention seamlessweb.com, and excellent way to order restaurant food online. Its features include:

• Only showing restaurants that deliver to your address, so you never have to figure out whether you're in a delivery zone or not
• Ability to tip your delivery individual with your credit card
• Frequent discounts, up to 20% off
• Ability to save repeated orders

It's a great site - I highly recommend using it.

Excellent dessert bar

ChikaLicious is to dessert what Una Pizza is to pizza: a chance to enjoy the highest quality of a particular type of food (dessert in this case), and to share in the experience of its creation.

It is only open Thursday-Sunday, takes no reservations, and only serves dessert. Patrons can choose from one of seven desserts (from a daily changing menu), with each come with a first course (chamomile ice cream with blueberry paste), and a third course (petifores, chocolate truffles, and pistachio shortbread cookies). ChikaLicious also offers wine pairings for each dessert, ranging from port with the liquid chocolate tart to a fruity, fizzy wine with mint ice cream and strawberry sorbet (which comes with brown sugar cookies).

The best part, though, it that half restaurant are front-row seats to the dessert assembly process. Chika and her assistant assemble each dessert in perfect harmony, take the appropriate pieces from each oven, fridge, and freezer, and then alternating steps of the algorithm for that dessert. It was truly amazing to watch.

A final note - for those of us who do not eat animal gelatin, Chika was happy to accommodate.

Kosher Restaurants in Toronto: Gladstone's

Gladstone's is a good Kosher restaurant. The food is well prepared - try the special mushroom soup if they have it, the Sardina steak (pronounced with a long "i", as in "someone's in the kitchen with sar-DINA"), or the sweet potato fries.

However, as with many kosher restaurants, the service is something between lethargic and comically incompetent. No spilled food or massacred orders, just run of the mill largocity.

Best Restaurant in Boston: Radius

Radius is perhaps the best restaurant in Boston. Everything was absolutely spectacular, from the miniature potato gnocci with peas and chanterelle mushrooms to the cod prepared two ways (one with mustard and chanterelles, one milk breaded over greens), to the cookie sampler for dessert (double chocolate with cherries and macadamia nuts, toffee and mango).

If you're in Boston and want a very fancy dinner, Radius should be your pick.

New Belgian/French Brunch Restaurant

If anyone is in the Georgetown/Palisades area and looking for a place for brunch, check out Et Voila. All of the food is excellent, which also simple, fresh, and relatively inexpensive. The lox benedict and Belgian waffle with home made whipped cream are excellent.

It's been open for less than two weeks, and so is still relatively uncrowded, so one shouldn't have trouble getting a table.

(Hat tip to VFB.)