merits of whole wheat

The NY Times wrote an article last week on the improvement in whole wheat pasta. This voracious reader (eater) of the Times was not convinced. Ever the hedonist, I shun all food stuff that you can only get in stores frequented by yogis. That is, except when eating with my beautiful and “my body, my temple” friend, Joanne (and finding myself, much to my chagrin, enjoying grains I can’t pronounce – quinoa?! amaranth?!).

For Joanne’s last dinner as a New Yorker, we decided on, what else, Italian. Gnocco, with its comfortable space and amazing pizzas, was to send Joanne off in culinary style. I zoomed in on the tagliatelle with sweet sausage and roasted fennel, while Joanne, true to her form, ordered the fresh homemade whole wheat pasta with chickpeas and Italian bacon.

As the dinner progressed, I found myself reaching over to her plate more and more, stealing tastes and bites of her pasta. I couldn’t quite pinpoint the reason for my fascination with her dish. Was it the lovely rosemary infused sauce punctuated by the unexpected spiciness of jalapeños? Was it my affinity to anything bacon? But then, I realized, much to my chagrin, it was the fascinating texture and flavor of the pasta. The sauce was just a supporting player, bringing out the slight woodsy flavor of the pasta. The ingenious ring shape gave the pasta an interesting and chewy texture. Not to mention, you got maximum surface area for sopping up the sauce. Delicious. I think maybe I’ll consider the merits of whole wheat in the future – or better yet, I’ll wait for Jo to visit and eat off her plate.

groovy kind of love

My friends say that I have an addictive personality. I like to think of myself as an enthusiast. When I like something, I won't ever get over saturated... until I get distracted by something else.

When I first had the exquisitely made grasshopper at Angel's Share, I was instantly ... enthused. My love affair with anything creamy made me an easy target for this classic cocktail. Spiked melted mint ice cream in a martini glass - my kiddie cravings delivered in a decidedly adult package.

Long wait lines at Angel's Share and nasty NYC weather never deterred me when my ethusiasms hit. Grasshopper was the apple of my eye, my bee's knees. That is, until one day, I met groovy.

Groovy is an Angel's Share concoction. Think of it as a Japanese mojito, well balanced and understated. Instead of mint there is shiso. Nothing tastes quite like shiso. slightly grassy, slightly minty, and very very unique. Shaken with vodka and lime juice, it's the perfect summertime cocktail - crisp, refreshing. But then the shiso is complex enough to keep me... enthused.

sakagura

Okay, so the real reason I started this blog is to extol the yumminess that is Sakagura - an izakaya located in the basement of an office building in midtown. Sounds strange, and actually, it looks strange from the outside. But once you pass through the weird staircase/hallway and into restaurant, it’s another world – one that’s out of a vacation video of Japanese tranquility.

My friends and I called for a reservation earlier that day and were shown to our table as soon as we arrived – even with one of our friends missing – a rare phenomenon in the city. Usually you cringe under the hostess’s evil eye and start to break out in sweat because you’re about to lose the table you waited 45 minutes for. Not Sakagura, don’t think I’ve met nicer servers/hostesses anywhere else.

We ordered about 10 dishes for the four of us. Can’t remember the dish names due to my inability to recall foreign pronunciations and the unnecessary fourth bottle of Sapporo I consumed. But here are the highlights…

My favorite was a chilled soup with uni (sea urchin roe) dotted with salmon roe and topped with a poached egg. The broth was deliciously cold and fragrant with bonito and kelp. The salmon roe popped softly in my mouth, gave bursts of saltiness to the delicate uni and broth. The complementary texture of poached egg and uni was offset by the salmon roe. The soup was both light and rich at the same time.

Another outstanding dish was a thinly sliced radish salad with dressing made with Japanese mayo and flavored with seaweed and shiso. Radish tends to be spicy when eaten raw. But the pungentness cut through the heavier mayo, keeping the dish light and refreshing. Cod fish roe added that lovely crunchy texture and salty sea flavor to the dish.

Being the biggest (piggiest) supporter of anything pork and pork fat related, I had to try their stewed fatty pork – and was not disappointed. The pork, stewed in a sweet soy sauce marinade, melted in my mouth, sweet silky fat lined the tender meat... mmm…

Another notable was rice balls wrapped in mackerel and then grilled. The naturally sweet rice was enhanced by the mackerel.

You can’t go to Sakagura without trying the innovative desserts and truffles. Black sesame crème brulee. Need I say more?

green apple sorbet

I can never resist il laboratorio del gelato, even with the long line of natives and tourists clamoring for a taste of sweet sweet heaven. I’m a sucker for their smooth-as-silk gelato in unexpected flavors. Each one seems so foreign in the freezer, but becomes logical when melting in my mouth.

The other day I decided to veer from my all dairy diet and try the icy sorbets. Watermelon was sold out, so I got my next favorite fruity flavor – green apple. Wow…. Far from the sweet green apple bubblegum flavor that I expected and thought I wanted, this was all apple, and I mean ALL apple. It was as if someone grinded up a bushel of green apples and packed them in a freezer for a few hours. It was icy, slightly sweet, and refreshingly fragrant. Little pieces of sweet apple skin floated throughout the pale green sorbet – adding a welcome texture to the cool iciness. Hmmm… I thought I liked all green apple flavored food stuff… now I’m just spoiled.