Eat a Little New Japanese in Boston

It's not often that I am impressed with a culinary technique. This dish I recently might not be all that exciting to some Molecular Gastronomy cooks, but to the rest of the world you kiddos might find it part of the 2010 odyssey.

I dined at Oisshi in Boston last Friday and had some epiphanies. First, I could not deny the exquisite thoughts of having nine types of salmon as sashimi. Let me repeat that for those of you that didn't pay attention, nine types of salmon. One of them was an ivory salmon with a white colored flesh that I have not had in about six years.

So I had fresh fish, big deal, yeah I had some Kobe beef dishes, that's not even exciting anymore. The dish that impressed me was a hamachi dish. The chef took a super small cast iron dish and heated a small amount of cherry wood chips in it until smoking. He then dropped it into a glass lined with red beans. On top of the little dish he placed a small bamboo cover over which he placed a small bamboo bowl containing a soy marinated array of hamachi pieces. The glass was them covered and brought to me. I was instructed to wait 30 seconds to uncover the dish to wait for the smoke to flavor the fish.

I waited, I received... perfection. I am rarely impressed and I was truly impressed by this dish. Not only this dish but the whole meal. This course will remain with me for years though. The meal was not cheap, but well worth it. The Omakase menu is about $150.00, plus drinks. That does account of r seven courses, which in NYC I wouldn't complain about, but this is Boston. To their defense 90 percent of their seafood comes fresh from Japan daily.

If you want to enjoy a night here, bring a healthy wallet and an open mind.


Website: www.oishiiboston.com

Address:
1166 Washington St
Boston, MA 02118

Phone:
(617) 482-8868

Greezo, Raw Food in Boston's North End

Current mood: good

I've been extremely busy for the last couple months teaching at my new job, covering for another instructor along with competition and judging a number of culinary competitions so I hope you will all excuse my temporary absence.

I receive a weekly e-mail post from the Zagat Guide and just came across an interesting post about a new restaurant in Boston which I wanted to share with everyone. A new RAW restaurant has opened in the North End of Boston which features everything a Raw Vegan would appreciate.

I myself have studied and followed this phenomenon a number of times and find the short term health benefits to be great, albeit it at times a tedious, expensive and at first, bland experience. However with time I found ways to add new flavors that those non-meat eaters had probably never of thought of. Also chefs like Charlie Trotter and numerous others have jumped on the band wagon and attempted some fun new items that complement the rest of their regimen.

I have personally lost over 40 lbs in the last four months and part of it comes from following a heavy vegetable based diet complemented with animal proteins once in awhile in small portions. The Raw Food regimen is a fun way to break up the monotony of everyday eating while adding some fun into your "cooking" style and it also makes a great conversation piece. For those of you that are chefs, you will be finding more and more of these people coming through your doors so it might be prudent of you to understand these techniques so that you may please a myriad of customers and maybe make some more money while you are at it.

So here is the link to the restaurant. The restaurant is named Greezo and is totted as a high-end restaurant in the North End of Boston. The menu is up online and it looks like a lot of fun and I bet there are some great flavors there as well. I will certainly be trying this place on my next trip back to Boston.


"A vegan beacon amid the pasta palaces of the North End, chef-owned Grezzo serves uncooked dishes using organic, locally sourced ingredients (the name means 'raw' in Italian) alongside biodynamic wines and sake; candlelight bounces off copper tables, lending a touch of romance to the rustically hued digs."

69 Prince St.; 857-362-7288

My Year in Boston Has Come to a Close

Alright, so the semester is just about over for me here at Boston University. I have one more class tomorrow in which I present my final paper. I'm sure it is going to be an odd feeling, as it is my last class for my master's degree. I am by no means finished, as I now go into thesis mode.

This last year here in Boston has been great. Not only did I learn quite a bit in school, I opened up my mind to a whole new look on food in general. Before BU I had a basic understanding of cuisine and culture, relegated mostly to the kitchen and business. This degree has given me the ability to analyze the social and historical aspects of cuisine.

Getting into this degree also inspired me to write even more, which this blog was born out of. When you work on research for a paper, so many other thoughts come out in the process which one doesn't always have time to put into another paper. This blog has been an outlet for some of that writing. I have also gotten the chance to try so many new restaurants and in the process many of you have been able to read about those experiences.

Now you are probably sitting there thinking, "but Christopher, you are not all that opinionated," oh wait no there is no way any of you could be thinking that. Anyone want to pull up an old post on the Food Network from the last few months on Batali, Emeril or The Next Iron Chef. It's funny though, I wouldn't write about that channel if I didn't have respect for them though. I'm sure I heard a saying somewhere, you criticize those you have the most respect for when they seem to be sliding. Here's to hoping that they have a plan to this whole change up that in the end we might enjoy.

Also while I lived here in Boston, I have been able to make so many great friends. I've made new friends while in classes at BU, but also in my wanderings around Boston. I have made some great friends and acquaintances at Cigar Masters in Boston's Back Bay, some nights are less clear than others haha. Then I have also met some great chefs and cooks that work in the restaurants here in Boston. With so much talent and skill in this city, I can certainly see this cit turning into a full-blown "foodie" destination city. Currently there are some awesome places that people should be visiting, such as Clio, No.9, The Butcher Shop, B&G Oysters, L'Espalier, Jasper White's Summer Shack, Hamersly's Bistro, Craigie Street Bistrot, Toro and others. Wow, I really go out to eat a lot.

In the last year I have also had the opportunity to meet so many influential people through the Boston University Gastronomy program and wandering through Boston restaurants and foodie events. In just this year alone I have had the opportunity to meet Warren Belasco, Jacques Pepin, Thomas Keller, Harold McGee, Shirley Corriher, Darra Goldstein, Masaharu Morimoto, Ken Oringer. I was supposed to see Judith Jones speak, but alas I had to miss meeting her as I had to be back in New York for something. I am sure I will be coming back on a regular basis to meet others while working on my thesis, or just as an excuse to come to Boston.

While here I was also able to start apprentice judging a couple of American Culinary Federation competitions. Although I am not an official apprentice judge, the opportunity was still given to me by friends and colleagues that were hosting or lead judges for shows and those were great opportunities as well. I was also able to go down to Florida to compete in an ACF competition which I took first place in for my Festive assortment of Indian Hors D'Ouervre.

So this past year at Boston has been a rewarding trip and for at least part of it many of your were able to either take part in it directly, or by reading my blog. This blog in going to continue following me while I move back to New York and beyond. In the next month I am going to be working on expanding it into a larger site for some of you to find resources for different culinary and food activities, along with some other tidbits which you should all find exciting.

For those of you who read my blog through MySpace, I will have links posted on a regular basis to get you to come over to the new site. For those of you that do not know, this blog is actually at http:www.gastronomicalinspirations.com I repost it on MySpace. Myspace is a pain however, because each time I goto put something new in there, it seems to screw up something else. So after January I'm going to promote you guys to come over to the regular website so that you can get the full effect. I will let you all in on when the site changes.

So, although the year still has a few weeks left in it, my year here at Boston comes to a close this week. As such I thought I should thank all of you who have been loyal readers of my blog. I assure you there will be many many more fun things to come in the next year, I will also keep you all apprised of my thesis, as I am hoping to have it be my first published work. So thanks again, and here's to the "next step" in the process.

Atlantic Fish Co. a Second Chance

My regular hang out is a place called Cigar Masters in Boston's Back Bay on Boylston St. There are a few of us that are regulars there and I recently met this one guy who works at Atlantic Fish Co. as a bartender. I went on my usual rant about the mediocre time I had at Atlantic Fish when I last dined there. So the guy, his name is Joe (but I don't think it is spelled that way but that's irrelevant to this) tells me I should come in a give it another try, especially because he claims to make a killer Manhattan which is my mixed drink of choice. He also informed me that they were running a skate wing special, which has turned out to be one of my favorite fish. So I decided to give the place a second shot and the results were very different from my last trip.

I sat at the bar, unlike last time where I sat at a table in the back of the dining room. Some of you may recall me commenting on the ridiculous floppy touqes that all the cooks wear in the kitchen and sitting at the bar avoided me having to look at what ends up looking like a kitchen full of culinary students, but I digress. The bar is a great place to sit at and have a meal, especially when you have great service. Both Joe and his female compatriot are the epitome of what bartenders should be, friendly, skilled knowledgeable and great sales people for the menu.

As it is a seafood restaurant and I really wanted oysters, I had to go for a half dozen oysters. Last time I went for the fried oysters and they came in this down folded paper bag which was greasy and very informal for such a formal restaurant. I hope someone from the restaurant reads this and gets the hint, the bags are absurd in a restaurant like this. The fresh oysters I got this time were great, fresh one of them wasn't the best looking oyster I ever had, I feel they shouldn't of served it in its torn up condition but it was fine nonetheless.

I then went with the shrimp saute. About 4-5 shrimp sauteed with sun dried tomatoes, olives and topped with shaved ricotta salata. One of the best shrimp dishes I have eaten. Very simple, but properly cooked and nice clean simple flavors that went well together and the dish was seasoned well.

For an entree, I went with the skate wing which is what I had come in for. Really, really, really good. The skate wing was sauteed with a nice lemon butter sauce and topped with a thinly julienned salad of raw sugar snap peas. Evidence of someone with pretty good knife skills in the kitchen. It was served with a very tasty celeriac and potato puree which one rarely finds when dining out.

For dessert I went with the peanut butter pie, very simple ice cream with a chocolate crumb crust and some peanut butter in it. Honestly this was the only thing I wasn't excited about. Too simplistic, but this may be what the patrons go for here. The Grand Marnier at the end was much more important as was the perfect espresso, which when it come out of a machine like they have there I would hope it would be perfect The machine must've cost them a fortune.

The wine list is a bit limited, in that it features mostly American wines with some Old World wines tossed in for when guys like me show up and don't want a New World wine all the time. The list does have a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence, but for those of you that don't know, you pretty much get the first level by mailing in the processing fee and having a wine list, perhaps you need to have a restaurant as well, not sure if that is necessary (I'm kidding). There was a Guy Saget Sancerre at 8.00/glass and a Puilly Fume at 8.75/glass which is UNHEARD of in Boston. Getting a glass of wine for $8.00 in Boston is like hitting the lotto, and a good glass at that. So this is one of the hidden secrets I feel at Atlantic Fish Co., if you want to go out and have a few drinks without even having dinner, you have to go here because it is a bargain.

So after this trip obviously I am a reformed man. All of my friends at Cigar Masters were telling me I must of had a bad experience the prior visit and I am convinced that they were correct. The menu is not cheap, but the portions are worth the expense as you are getting what you pay for. I suggest going for some of the inventive dishes on the right side of the menu, I would stay away from what I had last time which was the Chilean Sea Bass with lobster ravioli. The fish was great, but the raviolis are mediocre at best, tough, little flavor and obviously purchased frozen. All in all though I would say I will be returning here again soon.

Pizza by the slice in Boston

A short little blog today, but an inspired one. I've started a campaign which will last the next 30 days in the Boston area, in an attempt to try 30 different pizzerias. My idea is to walk in each day, at about noon time, order two slices of pizza, one plain and the other with peperonni. I have created a scale which adds up to 100 points. Within that scale there are multiple ten point scales. For example there is a 10 point scale for the dough, a ten point scale for the cheese, etc.

After 30 days I will give you all a full report of how the escapade went. Once a week until then I'll also give you an update on the progress, without giving you specifics on the whole scheme of things. I'll admit that I am not a normal daily pizza eater. I actually probably normally eat pizza less than a dozen times a year, so this should be fun. If you have any pizza shops in Boston you would like to suggest, please do so.

Finding a Good Cassoulet

Well the cold weather has hit, it now gets dark at 6pm and that can only mean one thing in my book, it's time to make the first cassoulet for the cold season. Cassoulet is such a delicious dish and I relegate it to the cold months for a number of reasons. First, it is a very heavy dish of stewed beans and meats and quite honestly who wants to be bogged down with a heavy stewed dish like that in the hot summer? Second I live in a small apartment and the process of making the cassoulet is one that really heats up the apartment. (Just as a note, the picture to the left there is the cassoulet that has been in my oven all night)

In the first step I am braising either pork or lamb in a pot and then in another pot I'm simmering beans with veggies, ham hocks, etc. This gives off such an huge amount of steam and heats the place up even with the air conditioning on, "it's not so much the heat but the humidity" lol. Then it goes into a 400 degree oven for an hour and then for 3 hours at 275. That really heats the place up a lot as well, "aw but that's a dry heat." I'm not going to get into cassoulet itself too much as I made a post here which was my first Gastronomical Inspirations post that had a recipe for the dish.

What I do want to talk about is restaurants in Boston that sell cassoulet. I've actually been to a few that offer the dish and I thought I'd offer my recollections in case you may want to check out the locations yourself with this cold weather hitting us here in the northeastern part of the United States.

One of the first restaurants I dined at in Boston was Petit Robert Bistro, located in Kenmore Square. Their cassoulet takes the win for the least expensive at $14.00. The sausage was a traditional Toulousian, garlic sausage with good flavor, the confit on the dish was a bit flavorless, but the real disappointment was the beans, they were extremely tough and undercooked. Beans in a cassoulet should be cooked to the point that they just barely hold their shape. This is a product of haute cuisine which removed the long cooking process which you'll find in my recipe. The flavors were good though, just not something I would go out of the way for. The top was sprinkled with JAPANESE panko crumbs (not even browned), I think Escoffier just rolled over in his grave...

Another cassoulet I have had, was at The Butcher Shop. I loved the presentation here. It was served in a small earthenware pot, which honestly was probably a flower pot, but it had the appearance of a casoul which is the dish a cassoulet is traditionally cooked in. The beans were also Tarbais beans, which are an AOC product designated for the proper traditional production of cassoulet in France. The major flaw is the same that hindered the Petit Robert dish. The beans were tough, undercooked and honestly the flavors of everything in the dish were not melded together. It was almost as if all of the ingredients were simmered together and then tossed in the pot. Sad to say, I think this was my least favorite, and was not indicative of the restaurant because otherwise the restaurant is one of my favorites in Boston. However, the cassoulet had none of the traditional flavors of a true cassoulet.

On another night I had the advantage of trying the cassoulet of Brassarie Jo which is near the Prudential Center. I've been telling myself I don't like this restaurant for awhile, but for some odd reason I have returned a number of times. The service is mediocre, the food in general is so-so and the cavernous room reminds me of a large banquet hall, not a French brasserie dining room. At any rate, the one good thing this place does put out is the weekly special on Thursdays. It is a traditional Toulousian with sausage, duck confit and pork. The flavors are spot on, again the only issue is the toughness of the beans and slightly undercooked, but not to bad. This just again comes from not cooking the cassoulet the traditional peasant way.

The most recent one was a couple months ago at Gaslight Brasserie du Coin, which is the newest brasserie addition to Boston. Loud, semi-raucous, yet subdued atmosphere which seems to me to be very traditional French. Cassoulet for them is a Sunday event. Curious how the menu for both Brassarie Jo and this place look the same, and they both feature cassoulet on their menus as weekly specials. Jo has been around a lot longer though, Gaslight just opened. This cassoulet was served in an individual cast iron pan. The smells were incredible, the flavors were spot on, but it shared the same fate of the Brassarie Jo cassoulet with the undercooked tough beans.

So of the four I just mentioned, I would have to say the Gaslight Brasserie du Coin and Brasserie Jo were my favorites. If I had to choose one, I would have to go with Gaslight, because it had a bit more flavor and honestly the atmosphere and much better service are much more appealing. I keep wondering however, why do these restaurants serve this dish with the beans improperly cooked and the flavors not completely melded together by the long cooking process. If one were to tell me, it is because they can not take up the oven for such a lengthy process, then I say "why serve the dish at all?"

I think the answer lays more in the fact that people just don't know. Not only the consumer who assumes that this is the way it should be, but the chefs as well. When the constant is to make the dish this way, it becomes the norm, and that is a shame, until then, if you want the most traditional cassoulet you can come to my house, or try out my recipe, lucky for the people in my classes the next two nights they get to imbibe in my cassoulet.

Upcoming Food Festivals

I thought I'd pass along an update of the food festivals coming up in the Northeast portion of the country. This list is almost certainly not exhaustive, so if you know of any others please fell free to share them here. I'd love to be able to post all of the events everywhere in the country, but this list would be quite large then. I will be at the Wellfleet Oyster fest as-well-as the Boston Vegetarian Festival, CiderDay and the NYC Chocolate show. I hope to see some of you at these events as well.

October 12-14, 2007 Martha's Vineyard Annual Harvest Festival
Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts
The Martha's Vineyard Annual Harvest Festival will celebrate a cornucopia of food and wine, promoting local farms and seafood as well as wineries from all over the world and chefs from both on-island and off, extending Martha’s Vineyard’s vibrant fall season. The Martha’s Vineyard Museum will be the primary charitable affiliation of this non-profit festival. Ihsan from Formaggio Kitchen in Boston will be giving a cheese course, a class on the terroir of olive oil will also be given along with some oyster classes and many wine classes and a cocktail class taught by Jackson of Eastern Standard in Boston

October 13, 2007 Fitchburg Autumn Festival Fitchburg, Massachusetts
The Annual Fitchburg Autumn Festival is the premier fall festival in central New England featuring the Annual Forge-In Blacksmith Competition, the Riverfront Antiques Show & Sale, and The Great Pumpkin Carve. The Great Pumpkin Carve will be a wonder to behold after dark as all entered pumpkins are lit and displayed along the Nashua River wall for judging.

October 13, 2007 Finals for Pudding Hollow Pudding Contest
Charlemont, Massachusetts
This small-town homage to pudding features lunch, entertainment, sales of sponsors' wares, and tastings. Savor rural New England at its best! See also information about entering this unique Pudding Contest.

October 13-14, 2007 Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival
Atlantic City, New Jersey
At the show you can see Celebrity Chefs on stage preparing creative dishes, visit the Restaurant Pavilion and sample the finest foods restaurant chefs have to offer. Listen to live music while sipping a glass of wine. Browse a large selection of specialty gifts.Take advantage of the best price on everything you need for your gourmet life!


October 13-14, 2007 7th Annual Wellfleet Oysterfest
Wellfleet, Massachusetts
Wellfleet comes alive for a two-day celebration of the town’s famous oysters, clams and shellfishing traditions in this street party that brings together locals and visitors alike for a weekend full of food, frolic, and fun.

October 20, 2007 Boston Vegetarian Food Festival
Boston, Massachusetts
Brings together an amazing array of vegetarian natural food providers, top national speakers and chefs, and educational exhibitors in a fun and welcoming environment. It is a chance to talk directly to food producers, learn the newest items in the marketplace, taste free food samples, shop at show special discounts, or simply learn what vegetarian foods are available and where you can find them!

November 3-4, 2007 CiderDay Festival
Franklin County, Massachusetts
A community event celebrating all things apple in Franklin County, Massachusetts. 2007 marks the 13th year of this event and there will be two days of orchard tours, cider making and tastings, workshops and much more. This is for all who love apples, fresh or hard cider, apple cuisine, apple orchards or just being in New England in the fall. There is a small charge for some of the activities but there is no admission for the self-guided tour of orchards.


November 9-11, 2007 Chocolate Show NYC,
in conjunction with Chocolate week Nov. 4-11
NYC, New York
* Demonstrations by top pastry chefs and chocolate makers
* Chocolate Tastings
* Over 65 top chocolate brands & booths
* Holiday gifts of all sizes for everyone on your list
* Chocolate activities for children and adults
* Barnes & Noble cookbook store with author signings
* Haute Couture dresses and accessories made with chocolate

November 18, 2007 Rosendale International Pickle Festival
Rosendale, New York
An array of pickle dishes served by local restaurateurs as-well-as specialty made products and plenty of contests. They will also have live music, traditional Japanese and German dancing displayed and a pickle judging event.

Addendum (Thanks Judy)

October 21, 2007 Bolton Band and Brews Festival
Sunday, - noon to 5 p.m. Bolton, Massachusetts
Bring your blankets and lawn chairs for a relaxing fall day of music in the orchard featuring some of Bolton's finest in local performers. Great views, great foliage, great food, great brews and great wine make this a day not to be missed. Enjoy some of Nashoba Valley Winery's best beers while you listen to live music cascading from our picturesque gazebo. And of course, apple picking, apple pie eating contests and tasty caramel apples are all part of the fun!