It’s July already, which means Chef Masato has already left New York for Bangkok. Here is our last meal from Chef Masato at 15 East.
Chef, we miss you already!!
Food & Pixels Posts
Manga and anime is considered a culture in Japan. They are not only for kids, but also for adult. And I grow up with them. I should say heavily educated by them. No, I’m not talking about Pokémon, Sailor Moon, Gundam or even Dragon ball Z. Although those are the better known series with Americans, they are not the best quality. Some of those content are, what I would consider, not appropriate for children. All those battles, war, fighting, whatever the original intention was, kids only absorb violence. The kind I’m referring to are more “soft-hearted”. A little more context, somewhat more meaningful, and more inspiring. One particular series I rushed home from school for was “Mister Ajikko” by Daisuke Tersawa. The story is about a young culinary prodigy- Ajiyoshi Youichi, his passion for cooking and his path to becoming a great chef. The series often feature culinary competitions between this young boy and other well established chefs. Rumor has it that this manga series is the inspiration behind the wildly popular “Iron Chef”, which itself inspired other cooking competition reality shows.
It would be a different style/ type of culinary in each episode, Italian, French, European, Chinese, and of course, traditional Japanese. I remember how Youichi travelled everywhere in search for the best bamboo stick for Yakitori. There was an episode about how to make the best dumpling. It’s ridiculous that one person can master all different kinds of culinary, but at least it portrayed a glimpse of the hard work of any chef and their dedication to their art. For example, there were several episode entails how to make a good bowl of ramen. The ingredients and time that was put in to making a good broth; the temperature of the water when cooking the noodle; most importantly the art of making ramen. Most ramen chefs, I mean “real” ramen chefs spend their lifetime refining the technique. These anime leave a distinctive impression in my mind. And I have the upmost respect for a good bowl of ramen.
The NYC ramen scene is very crowded, and still rapidly growing. And the one place that claimed all top critics’ list currently is Mu Ramen. I have to admitted, we have been putting off Mu ramen. Mu ramen does not take reservation, and I heard there’s quite a wait. With some planning, we arrived at Mu ramen at 5:15p on a weekday. Doors open at 5:30 and there’s already a line. There are 16 seats with 8 bar stools, Mu ramen is a cozy spot. Open kitchen pair with noodle bar; long commute table, with a “rock” garden dividing the two sides. Look carefully, the rocks are talking to you.
There are a couple new item on the menu. “Peel N Eat” shrimp and a cold noodle “Hiysahi Mu”, and we also ordered the very “instantiated” Tebasaki Gyoza (chicken wing with foie gras), and Tonkotsu. And of course, U & I….
Peel & Eat
No “Mu”ssels tonight, but there are shrimps. Shrimp came in a “Chinese take-out box” with head on. The spicy cocktail sauce is very good. Not too sweet and packs a kick. However, shrimps are tasty enough by themselves and no sauce is needed. May be they can think about serving yuca fries with the sauce? I’d totally order it. Shrimps were tasty and fresh enough. But I felt that it was undercooked a little bit because the shell did not come off easily. Nevertheless, it was very good.
Tebasaki Gyoza (14)-deep fried chicken wings stuffed with foie and brioche
Chicken wings however….. was only hype and no smile. Over-coated and very greasy.😒
U&I (24) – uni, spicy maguro, ikura, rice, sesame roasted nori
This is a Chirashi but not a Chirashi. It has all the ingredient of a chirashi but not with sushi rice, just regular rice…. Think Korean style. Everything was very fresh. The bowl could be a little bigger but it’s a still a deal.
TONKOTSU 2.0 (15)- “tonkotsu” pork based soup topped with chashu pork jowl, kikurage, menma, and scallions
The traditional Tonkotsu— ramen was perfectly cooked, even after the ramen have been sitting for a while. The chewiness is still there. And it should be that way. Noodle’s body should be able to maintain throughout the time to consume the whole bowl. Broth is rich, and deep. With drips of black sesame oil, it added aroma, the broth seems a bit greasy. The Pork is way too fat though. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good slab of pork belly. But the pale white fat just give me a mouth of grease.
Hiysahi Mu(R)
While the Tonkotsu is a bit oily, the cold noodle is the perfect counterbalance for us. And a great ending note of the night. Cold noodle is a blessing in Summer time, and this one is awesome. Its clean and fresh with a bit of sweetness. My only wish for it is maybe add some fresh wasabi to spice it up, and slice the “ham” thinner?! Noodle is the right texture but overall very happy with this.
While the two most hyped items seem to be a miss for us, the two brand new items were a hit. Is it worth the trip? Maybe. With the waiting time, if it is 2 hours? Maybe not. But I didn’t have to wait. So get there early if you are going. (June, 2015)
PS. My apologies for the subpar quality pictures….
I haven’t been to Masa, nor have I been to any of his five restaurants. Simply for one reason… they are freaking expensive!!!
No, I am not rich. And no, I haven’t hit the lotto… yet. But here we are at the framed chef Masayoshi Takayama’s latest venue- Kappo Masa.
Located in the basement of Gagosian Gallery. Kappo Masa is co-owned by Masa and Gagosian. Two very powerful men in their respective world.
So here is the equation: $$$$ x $$$$ = $(infinity)
Yes, it is still cheaper than Masa. Still, the price is petty up there. Just take a glance at the cocktail menu. Nothing listed less than $20, and the top priced one — $28!!! @_@
The tasting menu here is $350!!! Second most expensive in NYC. (Masa is $450)
So why are we here? I meant, how could we afford it? We wouldn’t just order a Toro with scallion roll ($42) and walked out right? Can we?
Thanks to the “Summer pre-theater 3 course pre-fixed menu” ($49/p), we are sitting in this fancy gallery room, on the yellow leather booth, sipping my $20 drink.
Drinks are great. But we felt that the presentation could be dressed up a lot better.
Ringo Shoga(R) (20)
It was salty, sweet and sour. Not all at the same time but kind of peel off layer by layer. Very interesting.
Jalapeno Ja(L) (20)
Oh Jala-pe-no! Definitely packs a kick. It is spicy, but hiding behind the jalapeno, there’s a nice fresh cucumber.
This pre-fixed menu is not advertised anywhere, I originally saw it on a post on social media, searched all over the web for it’s menu, but couldn’t find it anywhere. So I called. The nice lady over the phone confirmed for me that they are offering the pre-fixe all through summer, Mon- Fri, 6p-7p only. She even said it’s good idea to post the pre-fixe menu on the web.
As our waiter set down our cocktails, I asked him about the pre-fixe, and he responded that Kappo Masa never have a pre-fixe. “We only offer a tasting menu and a la carte” he said. WHAT?!? I asked and was confirmed. We didn’t settle easily… so I asked again. This time, our conversations were overheard by another staff, and he promptly corrected the other guy, and returned with an insertion page. (Service in general was warm, except for that one guy who is clearly not up to speed).
There were a soup and a salad for appetizers, 4 choices of entree, and 3 desserts to choose from.
Russian kale swiss chard lemon grass vinaigrette(16)
It is a good salad. And it is just that.
Nameko mushroom tofu miso soup (12)
Petty standard Miso soup. Nothing special with the miso. So why $12?
Shrimp pasta with bottarga, shrimp or shiso inked surimi pasta (24)
This is listed on the menu as “MASA SURIMI PASTA 100% gluten free pasta made from seafood”. He even got it trademarked. Basically is grounded shrimp meat roll into noodles. The texture is great. But the dish overall seems blend. There is no wow, no distinctive note. Where is the seasoning? The pasta might be interesting, but to me, not all that special. There is a noodle shop in ChinaTown that makes dumplings skin out of grounded fish meat, and those were very tasty little pockets. As a matter of fact, it is a very common thing in Chinese culinary.
Beef sukiyaki(48)
Very ordinary Japanese comfort food. Beef was good, but like any other sukiyaki…. sweet.
Cold Kakiage Soba(28) with yomogi & cherry shrimp
I don’t know what to say about this. ….other than I hate myself for ordering this. I mean, could I have done worst if I order the assorted sushi rolls?
From the main menu, we also ordered the peking duck taco and uni hand roll.
Peking duck with foie gras taco (26)
The crispy skin of the duck is “detached” from the duck meat…? Foie gras is a nice idea, but non-existent. Was it meant to be as sauce? Or was it overcooked and melted away.
Uni Temaki (36)
This was listed as hand rolls. Well, hand rolls they are not. They are miniature seaweed tacos. A nest of thinly cut/shaved cucumber on top of Santa Barbara uni on top of rice. Honesty I think the work is sloppy and lazy. They made a special thing to hold the “rolls” in, so they don’t have to roll it!?!. Like an open-face sandwich, it’s just one thing on top the other. Sushi rice is far from perfect. Seaweed is not even crisp, and size varies. I mean… Masa… if this is a painting, would you put your name on it?
Grapefruit granite
crème brulee
Peter Wells said “The cost of eating at Kappo Masa is so brutally, illogically, relentlessly high, and so out of proportion to any pleasure you may get, that large numbers start to seem like uninvited and poorly behaved guests at the table.”
We didn’t shell out. Our bill wasn’t crazy expensive, but it’s still cost way more than it is worth. If all these basic dishes are not perfect, it’s hard to believe the more costly/complicated dishes will live up to the name or the price.
Also this not a “sushi bar” type of place. There is a raw fish counter, but no seating in front of it. Of course Masa is not here…… why would he, right? So if we order omakase, are they going to serve us piece by piece, from raw counter walk all the way to the table?? guess we will never find out. (June, 2015)
side-note: As we were heading out, we spotted chef Nakasawa walked in, along with Mr Borgognone whom is wearing a t shirt and shorts. Field trip?
I hate the word fusion. It’s Been so overused. And everything seems to be fusion anyway. Take Chinese food for example. Do we want to call crab Rangoon a fusion dish? Seriously, there’s no such thing as crab Rangoon in all of China. It’s clearly something Chinese Americans dream up and put it on the menu, and Americans order it. So is it fusion?
Having said that, I have no choice but to declare that Toume is a fusion restaurant. Partly French, partly american, partly Chinese. I hope that chef Thomas Chen won’t find it insulting that we call his food fusion. After-all, he is Chinese, with influence of Jean Georges, Eleven Madison Park and Commerce. Toume is a small cozy place in alphabet city. Brick walls, wood furniture, dim industrial lighting. Its a comfortable spot that feels like home.
There were 4 cocktails on the menu, and we had them all and love them. Each one has distinctive different taste. And I love the Jade Ginger the most. May be it is because of the hot weather.
THE JADE GINGER(left)—vermouth, cucumber, celery bitters
So refreshing!!! Very cucumber. There is a hint of ginger’s spicy in the aftertaste, that keeps me wanting more. The roasted sesames around the edge were very good too.
EAST VILLAGE BLOSSOM(right)—brut rose, hibiscus and blood orange
FIRE IN THE SKY
taro clip and cream cheese with spice and sesame sprinkle. But just one taro chip?!? 🙁
EGG— deviled, crispy, chili
Really like the devil egg. So simple but has so many different texture. Its like a very good scotch egg wrap with panko, deep fried and sichuan spicy sauce on top.
OCTOPUS — pork xo, brown butter, fingerling potato
House-made XO sauce (caramelized pork, Chinese sausage, dried shrimp, garlic chives, fish sauce and pine nuts) is crunchy, but a bit dry, and totally separated from the octopus. A bit disconnected. The octopus is crispy on the outside and tender insider, but the juice had been lost.
VEAL— asparagus, lapsang sochong, shishito
DUCK— pea shoot, grapefruit, chinkiang
We didn’t order the PIG OUT, just because we wanted to try more things. And also because, we believe that it would be no match to the traditional “Chinese crispy pork”. Both main courses we have were very “modernly” plated. But other than the ginger/ scallion garnish on the duck, I don’t see how these two are “fusion”. To me they are very “American”. Honestly I was disappointed. Asian, particular Chinese are known to marinate the meat. The veal and duck obviously did not get that treatment. Yes, it was cooked to the perfect temperature, but even with juice, they were blend if without the sauce.
PEA SHOOT— fermented shallot, sichuan chili
Pea shoot which is in season, is very fresh and nicely cooked. Could have use a little more sichuan chili sauce though.
Dessert is Chinese beignets with vanilla ice-cream, red bean and goat milk caramel. Doesn’t matter how you dress it up. It is still deep fried bun, and we have no interest in that… at the end of the dinner, chef Thomas came out and greet every diner. A very nice touch. so… I didn’t have the heart to tell him the truth. (May, 2015)