Hatsumi.com

Blue Note Brunch

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:14:00 +0000

Ok, so I haven't exactly been diligent in keeping up the blog. Oh well. We had a lot of fun in the summer splitting our time between Tokyo, New York, and Atlanta. Now that we're back in New York for the school year I'll try to post a little more.

Hatsumi's mom is in town for a week and so we (mainly they) are doing some touristy things. On Sunday we went to the Blue Note Jazz Club for a jazz brunch. The Blue Note is a famous jazz club right in the heart of Greenwich Village. I've never actually been there, so I was looking forward to checking it out. I was unsure of what to expect for the brunch crowd at such a club but it turned out to be mainly tourists! It's actually a fairly small club with split level seating around the stage. We had a great table right at the edge of the 2nd level railing, but anywhere in the club is very close the stage.

We got there around 12pm and the set started about 12:40pm. On stage was jazz old-timer Don Friedman on piano backed by a group of NYU musicians (a string quartet, jazz drummer, and upright bass), as well as an NYU professor on saxophone and harmonica who I believe organized the session. All in all a passable brunch and some excellent jazz music. The price is $25/person and includes brunch and the show.

Yokohama

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 02:43:00 +0000

Saturday we went down to Yokohama with another couple. I guess what you'd call the downtown area of Yokohama is full of shopping centers, parks, and amusement parks. This year it's the 150th anniversary of Japan opening the port of Yokohama. This was, of course, after Commodore Perry's "black ships" visited Japan and opened the doors for trade with the United States.

For the anniversary Yokohama has converted some local parks and warehouses into exhibit space. One of the more interesting exhibits is a 12m (40ft) tall mechanical spider that was brought from France. About 10 operators climb up on the spider and perform a show where the spider "walks" around the park, raises it's limbs over the crowd, and blows steam out of it's head and abdomen.

One of the world's largest Ferris Wheels also resides in Yokohama. Built in 1989 with a height of 112m (370ft) it was the tallest Ferris Wheel in the world when it was built. The ride takes approximately 15 minutes and provides excellent views of Yokohama.

The parks and exhibits were not really that crowded (by Japan standards), but there was an outdoor concert with a local pop idol being held around 5:30pm so there were throngs of people converging on the area for the concert. We were able to see the concert in full force from up on the Ferris Wheel.

Even without the anniversary exhibits I can see why Yokohama is a popular destination for the weekends. There is a lots to see and do for couples, kids, and families.

Touan

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:02:00 +0000

We went to an old favorite in the neighborhood tonight for dinner. It's called Touan and it's kind of an upscale Izakaya type restaurant. An Izakaya is a style of drinking establishment where there are a large variety of appetizer like items on the menu. Rather than ordering an entree you order lots of individual smaller dishes. Izakaya's are popular for social events as it's easy to order drinks and lots of finger foods for people to dig into.

Anyhow, Touan is an upscale izakaya with lots of smaller specialty dishes as well as a excellent selection of plum wines and sake. I have not explored the entire restaurant, but every time we've been there we've been seated in our own small private section - big enough for 4-5 people. There is a nice bar (pictured) that is usually full of customers, but besides that I think there are only private rooms throughout the place, ranging from smaller ones (like ours) to larger ones that could accomodate 8-12 people.

We had a few drinks, sampling the recommended plum wines and sake, and then ordered some of their recommended dishes including warm home-made tofu, gyoza stuffed with tofu (amazing!), and various chicken dishes. I love this place because you get great service, top quality food, and the bill isn't all that bad. After stuffing ourselves it ended up running about $100. That included several drinks and plenty of top quality dishes.

Touan will definitely be included on our list everytime we stay in the Aoyama area.

Tinun Aoyama

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:57:00 +0000

The other day I mentioned I had Thai Ramen in Omotesando. Well, the name of that place is Tinun Aoyama. Tinun is apparently a Thai chain restaurant in Tokyo and they have a branch at the Omotesando crossing intersection. I haven't actually tried any of the cuisine at this restaurant other than the Thai ramen. In case you are wondering, Thai ramen is basically your basic ramen with a spicy tom-yum thai soup base. If you like ramen, and you like thai food, then this is a perfect blend of two great styles. One day I'll have to branch out and try some of what I am sure is great Thai food here, but until that day comes I'll highly recommend the spicy Thai ramen at Tinun Aoyama.

Taxi Fare Comparison

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:16:00 +0000

Taxi cabs in Tokyo are expensive. Living in New York City I'm used to the whole taxi cab thing, but Tokyo makes the NYC cab rates look cheap by comparison. Here's the breakdown.

In NYC the taxi fare starts at $2.50 and is $0.40 for every 1/4 mile thereafter.

In Tokyo the taxi fare starts at $7.10 for the first 2km and then is $1.00 for every 1/2 km thereafter.

The below chart illustrates how the Tokyo taxi rates are almost double that of NYC taxi rates. I've taken the simplest case here and don't include special fares (for rush hour or late night) and also don't take into account the rates for time spent waiting in traffic.

Miles	New York	Tokyo
0	$ 2.50	$ 7.10
1	$ 4.10	$ 7.10
2	$ 5.70	$ 9.10
3	$ 7.30	$ 11.10
4	$ 8.90	$ 15.10
5	$ 10.50	$ 19.10
6	$ 12.10	$ 21.10

* I've used 100 yen = $1 for the above calculations.

Restaurant Update

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:56:00 +0000

So as you may have guessed by now, one of our main purposes in visiting Tokyo is to eat at all the great restaurants. We've done most of the touristy stuff, so we now relegate ourselves to relaxing, hanging out with friends, and enjoying the fine cuisine Tokyo has to offer.

Last night we went to Hama Steak House in Roppongi. I've posted about this before. It's a great Teppanyaki restaurant near Nogizaka station. Whereas Keyakizaka is more nouveau type of teppan, Hama is a very traditional teppan restaurant. Still expensive, but at about 1/2 to 2/3 the price of Keyakizaka the other night we got a meal that was just as good. They also have great lunch specials if you want to minimize the cost, but the dinner is spectacular. Worth a trip.

Earlier in the week we hit a great Ramen shop in Roppongi. Ramen shop menus are some of the more cryptic ones out there as they are usually written in old-school hand brushed styles. This one was particulary cryptic and so I just ordered the niku-ramen (meat ramen). What came back must have contained every animal on earth in the bowl. Chicken, beef, pork, and some things I couldn't identify (I'm pretty sure those crispy looking thins on top are pork rinds). There were even chunks of pork fat in the bowl that were surely not meant to be eaten - more of a flavor enhancer. All in all an excellent bowl of ramen.

On Tuesday afternoon we met some old friends at a place called Gotham Grill right near Ebisu station. This place specializes in dry aged beef and for lunch we had an excellent (and very large) hamburger made from what I can only surmise is some of this top quality beef. An excellent burger and my friend highly recommended coming back for the steak one night. Perhaps another trip for us as we've definitely had some primo steak at both of the teppan restaurants.

So the restaurant tour continues. We are starting to compile our "final" list of places we have to visit before we leave next Monday. Top choices currently include Ramen, Indian, and German. Wish us luck!

Maisen

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:33:00 +0000

Hatsumi and her family got in from Hokkaido yesterday afternoon and we all headed to Maisen for dinner. Maisen is a famous tonkatsu restaurant in Omotesando housed in an old bath house. It's been a constant favorite of mine over the years and it's just a few minutes walk from our apartment.

Tonkatsu is a breaded and fried pork cutlet that can be served ala carte or on a bed of eggs and rice. If you sit at the bar you can watch the chefs at Maisen cut, bread, and fry top quality pork. On the menu you can choose from different types of pork, the top being the Kurobuta (black pig) which is Berkshire Pork. The Kurobuta is a the pork equivalent of kobe beef, marbled with fat and having a darker color and richer flavor. It melts in your mouth.

I'm actually doing pretty good this trip and not over-indulging on the fabulous cuisine. Still eating good stuff, but just keeping things under control. I had some great Thai Ramen Sunday for lunch which I'll have to post about once I get a picture of the place. Tokyo is definitely the city to dine out. A friend in the industry told me that greater Tokyo has over 100,000 restaurants. I believe it. Many streets are just lined with restaurants and bars. Definitely not a great place for a diet.

Keyakizaka

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 06:05:00 +0000

I went out with another couple to a high-end Teppanyaki restaurant in the Roppongi Hills complex on Saturday night called Keyakizaka. Teppanyaki is the style of dining where you sit at a bar like counter and the chef cooks the food in front of you on a stainless steel cooktop. In the States Benihana's in perhaps the most famous Teppanyaki style restaurant. However, at a bona-fide Teppanyaki restaurant the focus is more on the food and presentation and not so much the show of flipping knives and salt shakers in the air.

The Roppongi Hills complex contains a mall like structure with high end shops, bars, and restaurants. It's a very cool, open design and worth exploring even if you don't care for the shopping or dining.

Keyakizaka was awarded a Michelin Star in 2009. The decor is spectacular and when you sit at the counter top you marvel at all the food on display in cases and shelves around the restaurant. There are 3 different sets for a teppanyaki dinner. The set we chose included items such as foie gras fried on the cook top and topped with a raspberry sauce, abalone, giant prawns, and the best steak you've ever tasted.

All the food is incredibly fresh. The items like the abalone and prawns are very much alive when they start the cooking and meet their demise right on the cook top. A little disconcerting actually as they twich and spasm, but the chef usually steams them under a cover so you're spared much of the agony. The abalone seemed particularly annoyed when the chef liberally seasoned them.

Once you finish the courses you "retire" to a lounge where they serve you tea/coffee and dessert. Our set included an amazing banana, caramel, and ice-cream concoction for dessert. A perfect end to a wonderful dinner. The bill? Don't expect to eat cheaply as this boutique spot. The set is 23,000JPY (~$240 USD) plus drinks, tax, and an included gratuity.

Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:25:00 +0000

A friend and I went down to the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum in Shin-Yokohama Saturday afternoon. My buddy has a nice BMW M-Roadster that he brought from the States, so we were able to drive down to Yokohama in style with the top down.

The Ramen Museum is a recreation of a small section of Tokyo circa 1958, complete with little shops selling nostaglic goods to, of course, ramen shops. Not that I was around in Tokyo in 1958 (or at all for that matter), but they did a great job recreating the look and feel of old Japan. There is a winding alleyway that circles the top floor and then there is a central courtyard downstairs that houses most of the ramen shops - I believe there are about 10 shops in the museum.

All the ramen restaurants are the top shops from around Japan representing all the major styles of ramen. Like old times you buy a meal ticket in a vending machine outside your restaurant of choice before proceeding in and presenting the ticket to the wait staff (Presently you'll still find these vending machines in the cheap shops, but the good places now take your order at the counter or table). I had an excellent bowl of Tonkotsu ramen, but was dissappointed that there was no gyoza on the menu. I guess the museum is too purist to serve much outside the ramen itself.

I definitely wouldn't mind going back and trying one of the other restaurants. We got there about 2pm on Saturday and it wasn't exactly crowded, but there were short lines outside most of the restaurants. One in particular had a huge line. It was a miso ramen shop and there was indeed an incredibly delicious smell coming from behind the counter. If we go mid-week likely we'll be able to get right in, so maybe we'll go back there next week for lunch one day. By train it's not too bad as the museum is just around the corner from the main Shin-Yokohama train station.

Stone Street

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:39:00 +0000

I went out last night with a friend of mine to an area in lower Manhattan called Stone Street. Turns out that Stone Street is an actual street downtown that is lined with bars and restaurants. It's called Stone Street because it was one of the first paved streets in Manhattan dating back to the 1600's and today is paved with cobble stones. In the summer tables are put out in the middle of the street and patrons can sit outside and partake of the local food and drink. The restaurants closest to the tables you are sitting at will come out and take your order and serve up the fun. I'd never even heard of this place. We sat outside of Adrienne's Pizza Bar and enjoyed an excellent pan pizza and some drinks. The oversized (and delicious) pizza was cooked in and served in a large rectangular cooking pan. This is an excellent area for not only the after work crowd, but I also saw families with young children enjoying themselves as well. There are many different types of cuisine/restaurants so you can probably find just what the mood demands.

Tokyo Bound

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:59:00 +0000

I am headed over to Tokyo for some R&R in early July. If you are going to be in Tokyo during that time drop me a line.

The old website had pictures of many of our previous Tokyo trips. Many of the pictures had captions and one of those pictures was of a great restaurant in Nogizaka called Hama Steakhouse. A friend of mine recently pointed out that when he did a google search for this particular restaurant that hatsumi.com was the 6th link in the search. Not bad, except for the fact that the page no longer exists.

I did a little more research and found that there were a couple of other interesting keywords linked to the food industry in Japan that were highly correlated with my old website. They are:

hama steakhouse (#6)
macha parfait (#10)
hawaiin burger (#10)

Why is hawaiin [sic] burger on the list? Well, there is a Hawaiian burger joint fairly close to our usual apartment in Tokyo that I visited a few times over the years. I think the misspelling must have helped to catapult that listing to the top.

The other two listings are quite legitimate. And to prove the point I'm going to repost the pictures for those three keywords that made it all happen. Enjoy!

Here is an action shot of the chef slicing and dicing at Hama Steakhouse, an excellent Teppanyaki style restaurant close to Roppongi.

Here is the infamous Macha Parfait. This was in at a restaurant called Tsujiri in the relatively new Shiodome shopping complex in Tokyo. Tsujiri is a small chain from Kyoto and specializes in macha (green tea) desserts and sweets.

I couldn't find the picture of the Hawaiian burger joint. But here is the lin k to the place.

Epilogue - In order to find the link to the actual Hama Steakhouse homepage I googled it and found out that hatsumi.com is now #3 in the ranking. Booyah! Perhaps it will pick up on the new website soon. I also found that if you google "Tokyo Hawaiian Burger" the old website pops up at #3 in the ranks.

Okuribito

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 02:33:00 +0000

Hatsumi and I went to go see a great Japanese film last weekend. It was playing at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas - an art house type theater near Columbus Circle. The film is called "Departures" in the U.S. ("Okuribito" in Japan) and has won numerous awards in Japan and around the world, including an 2009 Oscar for best foreign language film.

Celebrity Sightings

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 02:15:00 +0000

I don't see very many celebrities in New York City. It probably has to do with the fact that I'm not walking around Soho in the afternoons and I don't hang out at the "in" nightclubs (or any nightclubs for that matter). However, I do spot the occasional celebrity every so often. Yesterday evening around 6pm as I was walking up Central Park West in the 80's I spotted a guy walking towards me that looked like Jeff Daniels. As I passed him I took a good look and it actually was Jeff Daniels. He was looking sharp and walking down CPW by himself. I believe he is in an off-Broadway play so perhaps he's got a place on the Upper West Side.

Eat The Pig

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:18:00 +0000

A friend of ours had their son's fourth birthday party last weekend at their lake house in Pennsylvania - about an hour and forty-five minutes out of New York City. The boy's father is an amazing cook and he decided to BBQ a whole pig for the party. They bought the pig from a local butcher who actually provided the grill/smoker and dropped the whole contraption off at the house early in the morning. Just set it and forget it!

The pig was amazing. Just check out the pictures. Once the pig had been slow cooked to about 185 degrees you start carving the beast by splitting it down the back. The skin just peels off and then it's just pulled pork heaven. Being from the South I love a good BBQ and this pork was the real deal. Just add a litte sauce (Jack Daniels in this case), perhaps put it on a bun or some bread, and you are in business! In addition to the pig we had a whole a whole buffet of great eats, including homemade guacamole and sangria.

You might think that the parents were the only ones that had a good time, but the family organized a bunch of activities for the kids as well. They organized a treasure hunt as well as a bunch of other great games. After that the kids also got to wade and play in the lake a bit. All in all a fantastic day for kids and adults!

Coney Island and New York Aquarium

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Tue, 26 May 2009 23:59:00 +0000

Did you even know there was an Aquarium in Brooklyn? Be honest. Well, there is. And it's right down on the south shore of Brooklyn, right next to Coney Island. We went down there last weekend to check things out. The Aquarium is actually rather small. They have nice exhibits, but just not many of them. They do have a cool shark tank, and the walrus's can belt out a nice tune. The exhibits are spread out between several separate buildings and there are outdoor exhibits between the buildings. All in all, though, it only took us about an hour to make the rounds. I'd feel bad about a quick visit if I'd paid a bundle, but the perks of annual membership include free admission (and parking) to the Aquarium (and three other zoos). This is definitely a deal, because a side benefit is that I get to park in the Aquarium's prime parking lot (for free) that is right next to Coney Island. And after the visit to the Aquarium we just walked out onto the boardwalk to grab a bite to eat and checkout the action.

Many people think Coney Island shutdown because of all the talk about things closing. Well, actually only the "Astroland" amusement park was closed. It was a small theme park with kiddie rides and famous Cyclone Roller Coaster. Everything else, however, is still open. That includes all the boardwalk restaurants and Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park, which is also a theme park with kiddie rides and the famous Wonder Wheel ferris wheel. Plus Coney Island is essentially a large beach, so you can stroll the boardwalk, take the tots for some rides in the carnival, and then hit the surf. The temperature was about 80 degrees the day we went, but since it's the beginning of summer the ocean water is still pretty cold. It was a breezy day there was a very chilly wind come off the ocean. We didn't specifically go to enjoy the beach, but we let Aiko dig around in the sand for a while. Funny how kids don't seem to care about the cold while the adults are huddling in the sand.

The Bronx Zoo

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Thu, 21 May 2009 01:54:00 +0000

Aiko had a hankering to see some elephants so we visited the Bronx Zoo last Sunday. The weather was a bit patchy and cooler, which was actually quite nice for walking around as long as you had on some warm clothes. Usually the zoo is packed on the weekends, but the cooler weather was enough to keep the crowds away. We arrived about 10:30am and by the time we left at around 3pm there were still not many people.

Normally they have a few elephants at this pavilion on the north side of the zoo, but there were no elephants to be seen. After sheepishly asking a worker where we "might find some elephants" we luckily found that they were hanging over by the south side on the monorail safari. We got a really great view as one big boy was right up against the fence as our monorail slowly moved past.

The Bronx Zoo also has a pretty cool Children's Zoo where there are more hand's on exhibits for the kids to enjoy as well as a petting zoo where you can feed the animals. We'll probably be back a few more times over the summer as it's just a nice place to get out and walk around. Plus with our annual membership just about everything but the food is free (and that's discounted as well!).

Levain Bakery

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Sun, 17 May 2009 00:51:00 +0000

Today I checked out a local spot recommended by several of our friends. It's called the Levain Bakery on 74th and Amsterdam and I had heard that they make the world's best cookies. The place is so small that I almost missed it, and when I waked in the door I wasn't sure I was in the right place. The shop is about the size of my bedroom and the counter is tiny. There were about only about a dozen items on the counter (most of the inventory is on racks behind the counter) and I didn't see any cookies - Until I realized that the large, thick scone looking creations were actually cookies! Their size is matched by their price and they aren't cheap at $3.75 apiece. They only had four kinds so I picked a chocolate chip walnut and a oatmeal raisin. Let me just say that they were worth every penny!

Chicago

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Sun, 10 May 2009 02:21:00 +0000

I had some business to take care of in Chicago on Thursday, so we made a family trip of the weekend. My wife and daughter came up with me on Thursday and then we hung out on the city all weekend. I've stayed in downtown Chicago a few times over the years and it's a pretty cool area to spend some time. With my daughter along we pretty much did kid friendly things all weekend. Navy Pier is a super kid-friendly area. They have a ferris-wheel, mini-golf, and a giant kids museum that you could spend all day exploring. We also went to the aquarium, millennium park, the hancock building, and of course walked up and down Michigan Ave.

We were foiled in our attempt to eat some real Chicago deep-dish pizza as our planned pizza restaurant had quite literally been demolished. But we did get to enjoy some of the finer dining in Chicago. Quite notablely Stetson's Chop House which was an excellent steak house next door to our hotel in the Hyatt Regency. We stayed at the Swissotel which had excellent views of the river/lake and was quite the deal through amex/travelocity. Plus the lounge bar had Blue Moon on tap. Could I ask for more? The picture, by the way, is the view from our hotel room.

Check out some more pictures on our gallery here.

Lumix LX3

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Thu, 07 May 2009 03:11:00 +0000

So I came across this amazing compact camera that is supposed to take DSLR quality pictures. It's so popular that it's increasingly difficult to find. Of course the photographer has something to do with quality photos, but you can definitely see the difference between the richness of DSLR photos vs. even nice compact digital cameras. There are just some amazing shots out there that people have taken with this camera and the reviews are pretty glowing. It can't compete with the top end DSLR cameras (not much can), but it definitely is a notch above the nicest compacts. I think I know what I want for my birthday!

Big Nicks Too

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Mon, 04 May 2009 01:17:00 +0000

We checked out Big Nick's Too over on Columbus and 71st for a quick bite to eat. I'd read that it was a pretty good burger joint and we were not disappointed. The place has a diner style menu, but we stuck with the burgers (and a hot dog for Aiko). I have to say that my medium rare burger was cooked to perfection (or rather undercooked to perfection) and very tasty. The server was also very friendly and helpful and the food came out fast.
I think it's usually pretty crowded as it's a small place, but a rainy afternoon kept many people indoors this weekend.

Disclaimer : The picture is actually of the parent restaurant over on Broadway. And it's Christmas. Next time I'm around (and it's not raining) I'll snap a pic.

Buy This House!

noreply@blogger.com (Atomic) — Sun, 03 May 2009 19:09:00 +0000

As my first post on the new site I'm going to plug my house in Atanta. Anyone interested in a beautiful 5 bedroom house on the golf course just let me know. Just don't buy it until the fall because we'll likely be spending the summer back there. :)

After giving up blogging a while back because it was a pain in the ass, I decided to take a look around at the latest tools and sites out there. Yes, I probably spend about a whole 5 minutes scouring the internet. Anyhow, I figured there would be a service that would make it easy for me to manage the blog and indeed there was. So I signed up for a blogspot account and will soon redirect the hatsumi.com domain to the new site. Perhaps I'll start blogging more often with news from New York. I'll keep you posted!