Tako grill in Kuroishi, Japan 青森黒石, 蛸俱璃瑠タコグリル

I mentioned that Tako Grill in Bethesda has been and is our Izakaya substitute. Chef Kudo 工藤 had been there as long as we have known Tako Grill (over 20 years) but, to our surprise, he left and went back to Japan about 2 years ago. He went back to where he was born and grew up, a small picturesque town surrounded by rice paddies in Northern Japan, Kuroishi 黒石 in Aomori prefecture 青森県 under the shadow of the Iwaki mountain　岩木山. This year, we went back to Japan and visited Tako grill in Kuroishi. Getting there was a bit of challenge but it was also part of the fun. We ended up going there via Akita　秋田 using a well-equipped and comfortable “tourist” train equivalent to the Swiss glacier express train we took some years ago; the train ran slowly along the beautiful coastline of the Sea of Japan north of Akita. After the thoroughly enjoyable 5 hour train ride we ended up in Hirosaki 弘前; the closest large city near Kuroishi. From there to get to  Kuroishi, we took a local train. All the stations except the two at the ends of the line (Hirosaki and Kuroishi), were unmanned. The train was full of what looked like first graders in matching yellow caps and back packs almost as large as they were. They were navigating totally on their own--no adults in charge. When several of the students, too small to reach the button to open the train door, wanted to get off, one of their taller friends hopped up to do it for them. The train swayed and clickety-clacked through beautiful agricultural country covered with golden rice paddies heavy with grain ready to be harvested.

Chef Kudo opened a new Izakaya/Sushi bar and creatively named it… “Tako Grill”. The place is very spacious with light wood inside. A wide wooden counter with his working area immediately behind and the kitchen is hidden from view by a purple “Noren” のれん. He and his help were wearing the same Tako grill T-shirts and the cover of the menu is also the same as one in Bethesda (although Kudo did not offer the menu and we did not need it as he served what was the best and what we would like).

He looked the same but a bit thinner. For sake, Kudo offered the local sake from Kuroishi; Kikunoi  Honjozo Genshu “Akiagari” 菊乃井　本醸造原酒　”秋あがり”. This was a nice dry crisp unpasteurized genshu sake with lots of “umami” flavors. We liked it very much.

As we engaged in some catching up, he started serving us a series of excellent dishes. Otoshi お通し was a small local vegetable somewhat similar to small “fuki”  ふき but we were told that this was a  totally different local vegetable (I do not recall the name).

Sanma さんまor Pacific saury, sashimi was the best we ever had.

Okoze オコゼ or stonefish was the next offering. This is a rather unattractive looking fish from which he carefully removed the venomous dorsal fin (picture below) and then deep fried. we enjoyed the whole fish; bone, head and all.


Since this was “Tako” grill, we had to have “Tako” 蛸 or octopus. Kudo  first offered us slices of octopus legs with “sumiso” 酢味噌 dressing. Somehow, the quality of the octopus was different from what we usually get in the U.S.; it was succulent and soft not rubbery or chewy. Then he took out the fresh octopus leg saying this leg was still alive and prepared for us fresh “tako no sashimi” 生蛸の刺身 (below picture). As he slapped each slices down, the muscle contracted. We have had fresh octopus sashimi before in Kobe 神戸 but this one was totally different. The one we had in Kobe was slices of the leg and had a very soft consistency but this one appeared to be the suckers (skin carefully removed) and had nice firm consistency and sweet taste. We were already on the second round of sake.


Our memory was getting fuzzy around this time forward but we had grilled and straw “wara” 藁 smoked sanma. We usually do not like innards but this was an exception. The sanma was fresh to begin with and the way this was prepared was great. Nice smoky flavor and the bitter taste of the sanma innards were perfect combination between the sips of cold sake. We also had a local nice large succulent oysters. What a treat!

Then came the “Piece de resistance”. We discussed the great things Kudo served us at Tako Grill in Bethesda and mentioned “squid okizuke” イカの沖漬け he had served us one time and how much we loved it. Without a pause, he wheeled out a container with fresh “squid innards” okizuke he had prepared (below). Actually, the first serving was consumed so quickly between my wife and I that I did not have a chance to even take a picture. Kudo gave us the second serving and we managed to restrain ourselves long enough to snap the pic.

At this point we were quite full and feeling full effects of the sake. He served us a few pieces of nice nigiri. He then joined us with a glass of his own sparkling sake and we chatted. He appeared happy to be back to his furusato 故郷 (home town).

Finally we had to say good night. He called us a taxicab and we went back to our “hotel” called “Takara onsen” 宝温泉meaning “Treasure hot spring”. Kudo arranged our stay there. This is the first time we had a room with our own private “onsen” attached running steaming hot water 24/7. But this is a long and separate story to tell.

We are glad we visited Tako grill in Kuroishi. We wish Kudo all the best. With food that great, he should prosper and we can visit him again in the near future.

Tako Grill assorted sashimi plates タコグリルの刺身の盛り合わせ

Our Izakaya substitute Tako Grill moved to its new location some time ago. The new restaurant is somewhat smaller, without sake bar, than the old one but it is a nice brand-new space nicely decorated. The new location has its own parking lot. While parking is a bit more expensive, even after validation from Tako Grill, than parking on the street at the old place, it is so convenient. It is worth it not to have to jump up in the middle of the meal to go feed the 1 hour street parking meter so as not to get a ticket. 

Mr. Segawa 瀬川さん has now started serving authentic yakitori 焼き鳥 cooked on a real charcoal grill (I keep forgetting to take pictures). Among the yakitori items, chicken liver or "reba" レバ and chicken meat ball or tsukune つくね are two standouts. We always have a great meal at Tako grill but the sashimi dishes we have had recently have been particularly outstanding. They have included a good variety of impeccably fresh fish prepared to highlight their best qualities. Here are some pictures of the assorted sashimi plates Chef Jose Calderon prepared for us.

Beside the usual toro トロ and ma-saba 真鯖 or chub mackerel, this evening geoduck or mirugaiミルガイ, sea urchin うに and octopus タコ (which was prepared at the restaurant) were excellent. The geoduck had a crisp crunch and fresh ocean taste; one of the best we've eaten.

This was another occasion featuring a similar line up in a different arrangement.

This evening, the scallops ホタテ were wonderful as well as the octopus and pacific saury さんま. And don't ignore the uni.

This was what we had on our most recent evening. The sumi-ika スミイカ or cuttle fish was by far the standout.  As an example of how the fish is prepared to accent its best characteristics Chef Jose, did a slight shimofuri* 霜降りtreatment for the squid. As a result the squid had a nice firm texture but was not chewy and had a pleasant sweet flavor. The Japanese halfbeak or sayori サヨリ was also excellent. On the several occasions, we have had sayori fish at Tako, it has always been good. We particularly like the way they take the head and skeleton, which was used as decoration, and then deep fry it. With this preparation, we could eat everything including the head; it was like a crunchy potato chip with great flavor. After moving to the new location, the chance of getting a variety of excellent sashimi has improved and the restaurant is always seems to be crowded while we are there. We even witnessed a line forming at the entrance one evening.

*Shimofuri: Means "frosted" since the surface turns white and opaque like frost. This is done by dunking raw fish or meat into boiling water very briefly and then immediately cooling it down by soaking in ice water. This slightly cooks the surface the fish.

Disclaimer: The above sashimi assortments are not on the menu. It is a sort of "omakase" sashimi assortment and may not be always available.

Information:
Tako Grill
4915 Hampden Ln, Bethesda, MD 20824
301-652-7030

Party platters from Tako Grill タコグリルからのパーティープラター

On our last trip to Japan we, of course, visited my mother. We offered to take my mother and her two sisters (my aunts) out for lunch, but she said it was easier and more relaxing if we just stayed in and had the get-together at the house. My mother then produced a flyer she had just received from a chain sushi restaurant called "Kaisen-maru" 海鮮丸. Although she had not tried them before, she suggested that we order a sushi platter for our “aunts’ luncheon party. Just one phone call and a few hours later, a very polite and professional young man appeared at the front door with a large sushi platter and an order of chawanmushi 茶碗蒸し(still warm). (The choice of '”side” was miso soup or chawanmushi). He collected the money (a very reasonable price) and said "please leave the empty sushi-oke and bowls outside the front door when you finish". He added that he would come back later and collect them; which he did--they quietly disappeared soon after we put them out. The degree of service was just amazing (the sushi came in real "sushi-oke" 寿司桶 not a disposable plastic plate and the chawanmushi came in real porcelain bowls). My mother made miso soup using baby clams which happened to be one of my Aunt’s absolute favorite. The quality of sushi was pretty good considering it was a delivery from a chain sushi restaurant. We had a quite a feast and a very relaxing good time.

March is a busy birthday month for us with 3 to celebrate including our best friends. Using the Aunt’s party as a prototype my wife suggested we order a sushi platter from our Tako Grill for a “March Birthday” party. To “increase my enjoyment and relaxation” my wife forbade me from cooking for the occasion.  So we ordered a sushi platter from Tako Grill.

Since one of the guests was a vegetarian, I asked Mr Segawa of Tako Grill to include more vegetable rolls than usual.

It was very nicely presented and even the "gari" ginger was arranged like a yellow rose. California roll in the front and "kankyou" maki かんぴょう巻き (vegetarian)  in the back (above picture).

As you can see, sushi included tuna, yellow tail, flounder, eel, mackerel, salmon roe, California roll and few interesting vegetarian rolls. In addition to the sushi platter, we also asked Mr. Segawa to prepare Japanese-style appetizers.

The above is konnyaku dengaku (vegetarian) こんにゃくの田楽; the darker one are with peanuts sauce and the lighter ones (right) is more traditional miso sauce.

In the back, these are very nice and crispy chicken kara-age 鳥の唐揚げ, the front right are  pork and onion kushiage 串揚げ and the front left are grilled marinated cubed steak サイコロステーキの串焼き. Mr Segawa also gave us asparagus dressed in tofu dressing (vegetarian) アスパラの白和え, which I forgot to take a picture.

As a desert, my wife ordered a dozen cupcakes on the internet from Georgetown Cupcake for pick-up at the Bethesda store. I am not sure why cupcakes are so popular now-a-days but Georgetown cupcake appears to have started this trend. My wife said she has even seen a pink truck labeled Curb-side cupcakes selling cupcakes in downtown DC and people line up on the side walk to buy them. When we arrived at the store for pick-up, the line extended out of the store and half-way down the block. This was despite a very heavy rain.



Everything was wonderful. The chicken, pork and steak were flavorful—the chicken especially crispy. The vegetarian rolls were creative and plentiful. Even the non-vegetarians were satisfied.  We all had a wonderful time and was indeed the best birthday party ever.

Disclaimer: Although Tako Grill has its party platters including sushi, rolls, and appetizers, the platter shown here included some personal modifications Mr. Segawa made for us that may not be available on the usual menu.  

Tako Grill Take-out タコグリルからテイクアウト

Our Izakaya substitute "Tako Grill" has been close for dining-in for some time. Mr. Terry Segawa indicated that they would operate in a take-out rather than sit-in format. He also added a Japanese grocery section. Although we will miss being able to  interact with the sushi chefs and Mr and Mrs Segawa, we have been enjoying Omakase sushi and take-out all during covid. One of the pluses of take-out is that we do not have to worry about driving home afterwards. To make the experience more enjoyable, I usually re-plate the food. An example of which is shown in the next picture. Using the garnish they provided, I rearranged the sashimi into two servings; one for me and one for my wife instead of sharing the plate (which is what we used to do at Tako Grill at the sushi counter).

Today, we got nicely marbled “toro tuna” almost looking like Wagyu beef, in the center is “hamachi” and on the right is “aji” horse mackerel. Since aji sashimi is best eaten with grated ginger and soy sauce, I used sauce bowl which had two wells and served both wasabi (using Tako Grill provided one) and added grated ginger (from tube) soysauce

 

I rearranged “uni” sea urchin and squid sashimi into a small bowl and added a garnish of nori strips and wasabi dissolved in soy sauce.

Whenever, we get “Aji” sashimi, Sushi Chef  Santos always serves us deep fried aji skeleton. Even for the take-out, this is included. We heated it up in the toaster oven on toasting  mode. It comes out hot and crispy almost like just out of hot oil. Since there is only one, we share it. We essentially eat everything including the head.

Like we are dining in, we finish with some sushi. Today, we got Japanese “tai” red snapper, toro and eel sushi and our usual California roll made of real lump crab meat and addition of  tobiko roe.

Although someday, we may be able to dine-in again, we are quite happy with this arrangement. We also get some Japanese groceries which is definitively a big plus. We are regularly getting frozen edamame (they have the best quality edamame), Japanese crackers (especially my wife likes them), Tonkotsu ramen, and green tea ice cream daifuku among others.  We hope this new format will work for Tako Grill as a business. We are certainly very happy with this format.

Take-out Sushi omakase from Tako Grill お任せテイクアウト寿司

This was Saturday and I realized I left my credit card at Tako Grill when we visited earlier in the week. I was working that Saturday and stopped by at Tako Grill on the way home to pick up the credit card. We would have gone to Tako Grill for the evening enjoyment using the credit card incident as an excuse but, since I was still working and could not drink, we decide to have take-out sushi.  We just cannot enjoy sashimi or other goodies without sake. Both Sushi Chefs, Jose and Santos, were there behind the counter. So, instead of choosing from the menu, I left it up to them. They know what we like. The below was what we got. The California rolls were made with real lump crab meat not imitation with additional tobiko as we always order. It was even garnished with an orchid flower.

Maine uni, sea urchin in Gunkan-maki 軍艦巻き. Not as creamy as California uni but it was fresh and tasty.

The chu-toro 中トロ (big eye tuna, メバチマグロ) was excellent. Below the chu-toro is Japanese "tai" 鯛 red snapper topped with moniji-oroshi (grated daikon with red pepper).

Sweet shrimp or ama-ebi 甘エビ is one of our favorites. This one could have come from either Maine or Canada. Below the sweet shrimp is eel.

Fresh ma-saba 真鯖, which was fileted for this sushi and we got 4 pieces.

They also gave us small salad.

I should leave my credit card more often at Tako Grill to make excuses to have extra visits. (My wife claims if I want to eat sushi take out I can just go get it; I don't have to leave my credit card as an excuse.)

Yakitori, two kinds 焼き鳥２種類、レバたれ、笹身のシソ梅肉

I started this blog with “Yakitori” posts 3 years ago. I also posted about our surrogate “Izakaya” “Tako Grill”.  Last year, to our surprise, Chef Kudo went back to Japan for good and opened up his restaurant “タコグリルTako Grill” in the small town he originally came from called “Kuroishi” 黒石 in Aomori prefecture 青森県. Now Mr. Terry Segawa 瀬川哲紀 who mostly took care of the business side of Tako Grill is more involved in the kitchen. He added quite nice Izakaya type snacks to the menu (actually, he now has a special Izakaya menu). When Terry is behind counter, he often offers something “off the menu”. These dishes are different and quite nice; one evening it was Yakitori (chicken liver and hearts). My wife really likes chicken liver Yakitori, which I have not made for some time. This prompted me to make these small yakitori skewers on weekend.
When I barbecue whole chickens, I usually discard the neck, gizzards and liver which are packaged in paper and tucked inside the cavity. (These are usually meant for making the American classic gravy-with-giblets). This time, I used the liver to make this small Yakitori while we are waiting for the whole chickens to finish cooking.

Since the Webber grill was otherwise occupied with the whole chickens and the mosquitos were still around making me reluctant to stand around outside tending the grill, I cooked these Yakitori in the toaster oven in “Hi-broil”.

Chicken liver: I removed attached fat, vessels etc and soaked them in sake for 20-30 minutes. I used a flat metal skewer. From two whole chickens, there was enough liver to make two small skewers (picture below).

Sauce: I made quick “tare” たれ or dipping sauce. It is a mixture of sake (1 tbs) mirin (1 tbs), sugar (2 tsp) and soy sauce (1 tbs). I first heated the sake and mirin mixture to boil, then dissolved sugar and added soy sauce. I then made a potato starch slurry (katakuriko 片栗粉 or potato starch plus sake). I streamed it in until the sauce was slightly thickened.

Chicken tenderloins: This is a variation of shiso and salted plum roll 梅しそ巻き which I previously posted. Instead of making it into a roll, I butterflied the chcken tenderloins, lined it with 1 or 2 leaves of perilla and smeared bainiku 梅肉 (I removed the meat of umeboshi 梅干 plum and minced it into paste with a small amount of mirin to make it a paste consistency). After closing the butterflied portions, I used a sawing motion to thread the skewer (see below).

I cooked the skewers on Hi-broil in the toaster oven (with the upper heating elements about 1 inch from the skewers) turning once or twice for 10-15 minutes. For the liver,  I coated the surface of the cooked liver with the dipping sauce and broiled it for one more minute turning once. I put on one more coat of “tare” sauce and sprinkled “sansho” 山椒 or powdered Szechwan pepper corn on the liver.

This was a perfect appetizer to eat while we waited for the chicken to cook. Sometimes the liver included in the packet found in the cavity of a whole chicken is not fresh and is all broken up, but I should check it before discarding. This was perfectly good chicken liver.

Mackerel ball soup with myoga flowers 鯖のつみれ汁と茗荷の花

We used to get whole Spanish mackerel 鯖 or サワラ at Whole Foods but recently it has not been available.  We discovered we could get mackerel as well as many other asian food items from a local Korean market called “HMart”.  Although their main focus is Korean food, they also carry Japanese food items that are not available elsewhere. In this time of Covid, we are using a delivery service (Instacart) to "shop" HMart and it has opened new horizons for us. 

One weekend, we got 2 lbs. of Spanish mackerel which consisted of one large and one small mackerel. As usual, I prepared the fish "san mai-in-orosu” 三枚におろす meaning into three layers i.e. two filets and the remaining bone. I removed the small pin bones from the filets.  I made most of the larger mackerel filets into miso-simmered mackerel 鯖の味噌煮. With the filets of the smaller mackerel, I made a salted and grilled mackerel dish 鯖の塩焼き(subject of a future post). 

The third and final part of the preparation involved the remaining bone. I removed the meat clinging to the bones by scraping it off using a small spoon. (This is a classic Japanese technique used mostly for tuna to make sure no meat of the fish is left behind). I made the scrapings into fish balls for our usual fish ball soup or 鯖のツミレ汁 which I served as lunch one day. I rounded out the soup by adding Japanese udon noodles (we happened to have noodles already cooked), silken tofu I got from Tako Grill (beside take-out, tako grill now sells some Japanese groceries), shiitake mushrooms and topped it with myoga flowers we just harvested and freeze dried “mitsu-ba” ミツバwhich was also from Tako grill.

Unfortunately, you cannot see the fish balls because they sank to the bottom.

Although the freeze dried mitsuba did not have much flavor, the myoga flowers did. They had the subtle bitter flavor characteristic of myoga. The only way it is possible to eat myoga flowers is getting them from myoga grown in your own backyard. The flowers are extremely perishable so once the myoga blooms, it immediately loses its commercial value. It has been some time since we have been able to experience the luxury and subtle taste of myoga flowers. 

Hiyaoroshi sake ひやおろし

When we traveled to Japan, we ususally chose late spring early summer to avoid the rainy 梅雨 and typhoon 台風 seasons.  We could not handle the heat and humidity of summer months.  Over the years, we made some exceptions. We visited Japan once in winter to attend New Year with my family and twice in late September and October just barly evading typhoons (in 2013 and 2017). It is nice to visit Japan in fall, since it is the harvest season with great produce especially fruits and vegetables. Seeing golden rice paddies at sunset from the Shikansen is something to remember.  In addition, we could enjoy seasonal sake only available in the fall which is the main point of  this post.

In 2013, we visted “Tako Grill” in Kuroishi 黒石, Aomori 青森. Chef Kudo 工藤 opened this Japanese Tako Grill after he left “Tako Grill” in Bethesda and went back to his home town in Japan. When we visited, he served us local Kuroishi sake  “Kikunoi Akiagari”  菊乃井　秋あがり. We really liked this sake.  We liked it so much Chef Kudo had to send a waitress out to get more from the brewery since we drank what he had at hand. 

The “Hiyaoroshi” 冷やおろし or “Akiagari” 秋あがり is a seasonal sake and is only available in the fall. My undestanding is that the sake is brewed during the winter and bottled in the spring. It is pasturized or “hi-ire” 火入 and then stored in a cold environment until fall when outside temperatures get cold.  Up until now we thought the only way we could enjoy “hiyaoroshi” was to go back to  Japan in the fall. Now, we discovered we can get “hiyaoroshi” sake in the U.S. from  Tippsy sake.  Recently we got two hiyaoroshi from them; one is “Otokoyama” from Asahikawa, Hokkaido 男山、旭川 (right) and Koshi-no-homare from Niigata 越の誉, 新潟 (left). Both are junmai class sake.

We first tasted "otokoyama" (meaning "manly mountain") . The label shows what looks like baby seals drinking sake. (We momentarily contemplated whether this image suggested under-age drinking…by seals)? This is a very nice sake. Although it is "tokubetsu junmai",  it does not have any yeasty smell/taste but is rather dry with rich complex flavor and some fruitiness up-front. We had this with imitation negitoro and it went very well.

The next evening, we had "Koshi-no-homare" (meaning "pride of Echigo 越後" - old name for Niigata). Reportedly, this sake was buried under snow for 250 days. A snow crystal is the only image on the label. This sake tasted a bit lighter up-front than the "otokoyama". It has nice after-taste flavors. We had this with an assortment of drinking snacks.

Although we tend to favor "Otokoyama" (and that is not just because I am from Hokkaido), we are very happy with either one. It is so nice that Tippsy sake brought "hiyaoroshi" sake to U.S.

Matcha green tea tasting 抹茶の飲み比べ

Two years ago I made green tea and black bean cake  using the left-over "kuromame" 黒豆 black beans in syrup that came in the Sushi Taro osechi box. The recipe I used is in English in our blog. This year I commissioned my wife to take over making the green tea cake. Then, she pointed out that we were out of "matcha" 抹茶 green tea powder. I kept it in the freezer and mostly used it for cooking such as making "green tea salt" for tempura and apparently didn’t replace it after using it up. Since we are not physically going to our Japanese grocery store because of covid, I decided to get the green tea on line. Hibiki-an 響庵 is a company we have used in the past to get green tea and we could have gotten matcha from them but it is shipped directly from Japan and would have taken too long to get here. I then found "Matcha Kari" which imports its matcha stock from Japan but is located here so delivery time was much shorter.  I bought a mid-priced tea from them called "First harvest sipping matcha". (According to Mach-kari’s, Hibiki-an’s, and other websites which sell matcha, they offer several grades of matcha which appear to range from lowest quality/lowest price to highest quality/highest price, identified as “culinary”, “sipping”, “ceremonial” and “competition”.) (Disclaimer: I am not sure if there is official grading of matcha and if so what the grades would be). While we were waiting for this to arrive, I happened to see, while picking up a take-out at Tako Grill, that they had the matcha tea brand we used to get from our Japanese grocery store. This was very reasonably priced ($0.28 per gram, while the one from Matcha Kari was ＄1.17 per gram or over 4 times more expensive). I assume that the one from Tako Grill  was not as low-grade as “culinary” matcha  according to the lexicon I outlined but would be at the lower end of  “sipping“ grade. It also came from “Uji” 宇治 near Kyoto 京都. We have gotten regular Uji green tea (sencha 煎茶) from Hibiki-an in the past and it was pretty good. So as far as I was concerned this matcha (left in the picture below) was certainly good enough to make green tea cake. Then, a few days later we received the matcha from "matcha kari".

I have not made or tasted matcha for a long time but since we had two different kinds, we decided to have a tea tasting to see if we could taste a difference. I knew I had matcha bowls and a "chasen" 茶筅 (matcha frothing bamboo whisk) and a bamboo scoop or "chashaku" 茶杓.  The chasen and chashaku were easy to find but it took some search to find the matcha bowls. We have two; one that I brought with me for some reason when I first came to the U.S., and one that was given to us as a gift. Both are rather utilitarian  bowls but will do the job.

I made the two kinds of matcha, (the one from Tako Grill shown on the left and the one from Macha kari shown on the right) and taste tested.

For the sweet “chagashi” 茶菓子 accompanying the matcha I served the last of  the “kurt-kenton” 栗きんとん the mashed sweet potato with chestnuts from the Sushitaro osechi box and green plum I made simmered in syrup 小梅の甘露煮. It is customary to serve such a sweet with matcha to enhance the flavor of the tea. 

First of all, as a disclaimer, we have to acknowledge that we are not connoisseurs of matcha. Nonetheless after carefully sniffing and tasting both matcha we could state, with confidence, that despite quite a difference in price, we could not identify any difference in taste; none. The first thing that came to mind was the Japanese expression “Giving gold coins to a cat” or “neko ni koban 猫に小判” i.e. giving something of value where it can’t be appreciated. Well we did say we weren’t connoisseurs and this may just prove it. In the future, however, we will stick to the more reasonably priced macha.

Monk fish liver "ankimo" 鮟肝

Monk fish liver "ankimo" with orange marmalade sauce 鮟肝のオレンジママレイドソース

Monkfish liver "ankimo" あんきも鮟肝 is one of our top favorite delicacies. We think the best we had was at "Tako Grill". Chef Kudo prepares a monkfish liver in house (he said it was steamed) without making it to a regular cylinder shape. It is so delicate and tasty, when they offer "ankimo" at Tako Grill, we order it without fail. Ankimo is often equated to foie gras. Actually, we like ankimo better than foie gras. The one shown here is a commercial cylindrical-shaped frozen one which came from Catalina Offshore Products (originated in Japan). It is not as delicate in texture as Chef Kudo's but it is quite good.

Ankimo is usually served with "ponzu" (more accurately "ponzu-shoyu" sauce) and grated daikon with red pepper (momiji oroshi) もみじおろし. For a change, we made our version of the Chef Kudo's sauce which he serves with ankimo at Tako Grill. We like this sauce because it has a lovely orange flavor that goes well with the ankimo. Although we did not ask for the recipe, my wife figured that it was made of orange marmalade and soy sauce (She has a very discriminating palate, for sure, better than mine). I experimented with the ratio and found that close to 4:1 ratio of marmalade to soy sauce appears to work best and closely emulates the sauce we had at the restaurant (it was a surprise that we had to use that much marmalade, I started with 1:1 and soy sauce and the taste was too strong, salty with no orange flavor). Initially I heated up the mixture but marmalade dissolves nicely without heat and appears to retain the orange flavor better. I suggest to just keep adding the marmalade to soy sauce until the desired sweetness and orange flavor is reached. One disclaimer; we do not know how Chef Kudo really makes this sauce. So this recipe may be totally different from his, although it tastes similar to us. This may go well with a red wine such as Rhone or Shiraz from Australia since it does not have strong acidity but we had this with cold sake.

Bonito “Tataki” カツオのたたき

Our Izakaya substitute "Tako Grill" is in the process of moving to a new location. It will be reopening sometime in April, so we have to get our sushi and sashimi fixes somewhere else. One such source is "Kanpai Shushi" (Tako grill's sister take-out and catering sushi place). We have had a few take-outs as well as party sushi platters from there. Nonetheless we are anxiously awaiting the opening of the new Tako. Another source of sashimi is our local Japanese grocery store. One weekend we found frozen Katsuo tataki カツオのたたき at the Japanese grocery store and we had to try it.



Although this was frozen, it appears to have been seared using straw, which is very traditional, as some soot still clung to one side. I served it with finely chopped scallion including the green parts, thinly sliced garlic and grated ginger root, as you see above. For sauce, either soy sauce or ponzu sauce would be the standard but I made a hybrid sauce by mixing ponzu sauce (from a bottle) and soy sauce (about 1:1) which I served in a small glass on the slide.



This was more than enough fish for two as a staring dish. One thin slice of garlic on a slice of the bonito with the scallion and ginger dipped in the sauce really makes this so tasty. My wife was a bit skeptical about the raw garlic at the beginning (despite the fact she had eaten this many times before-although on those occasions the garlic is grated) but she had to agree with me that this was the best way to enjoy this.



The above is how this bonito tataki came vacuum packed. I simply let it thaw in the refrigerator for several hours and sliced it into half inch thick pieces at a slightly slanted angle.

We had this dish outside on the patio  under the heater and an alpaca throw blanket. It was one of the, recently rare, relatively warm days--although it was a bit windy. After a relatively harsh cold winter we are finally seeing signs that spring is just around the corner. Our plum tree, which has been know to bloom in late January or February braving passing snowstorms has just now started blooming (the 1st week of April).


Cold sake went very well with the bonito tataki (and stayed perfectly chilled through out the evening just sitting on the table). We actually opened the American brewed  Yamada-nishiki Daiginjou "Shouchikubai" (this is new sake for this year).  It is indeed the real daiginjou made from California Yamada Nishiki brew in California which rivals any decent daigin from Japan.

We braved the descending cold and dark by also grilling Hamachi collar and other items over the hibachi grill. It was just so nice to spend the evening outside (We suspected that there were not many people in our neighborhood enjoying the evening and early taste of spring the way we were). Also the first Japanese hibachi grilling session of the season is always a “red-letter” celebration.

Evening at Tako Grill 今夜は鮹グリルで一杯

First of all, this is not meant to be a restaurant review. Unlike many food bloggers, I have never taken pictures at any restaurants or drinking place but I decided to try it with Tako Grill so that we could share our evening at our Izakaya substitute.

Tako has a large sake bar as you enter and the sake menu is extensive. Early on, we tried some of these sakes but we settled on Yaegaki "Mu" 八重垣『無』as our "usual". It is also our house sake. It became  "the usual" since it is reasonably priced especially for "junmai daiginjou" 純米大吟醸 and is nicely fruity with a clean crispy finish, although it may not be as complex as more expensive sakes.

Here is today's otoshi お通し; avocado, akami 赤身 in sweet vinegar which contains what appears to be finely chopped transparent (red?) onion (below left). This night, we noticed one of the Niigata 新潟 breweries, "Ichishima" 市島酒造, was featured in the sake menu and as a part of the special, all classes of their sake was available for tasting by the bottle or glass. We decided to try "Jun-Gin" 純米吟醸 in addition to our usual bottle of "Mu". It came in the proper Izakaya way (which did our heart good) with a generous amount of overflow in the "masu" 升 cup underneath (below right).

This Ichishima Jun-Gin is rather nice. Very subtle but had a nice clean taste with a slightly assertive finish. Then our waitress suggested we should taste other Ichishima and brought out small cups of "Junmai" 純米 and "Junmai genshu" 純米原酒. We both felt that the junmai lacked character. The genshu definitely has a higher alcohol content, which we could feel, and has more edge to it. Among the three Ichishimas we tried, we liked "Jun-Gin" the best but we still like "Mu" better and, for cost performance, our usual "Mu" definitely wins out. Now, we were fairly sloshed and moving into the sashimis.

Sekisaba 関サバ (above left) is served already seasoned with (rock?) salt and sesame oil (mist?) and served with plenty of sliced scallion and threads of ginger which go very well with this oily fish. Big eye Tuna toro めばちのとろ was very nice. By the way, daikon tsuma 大根のつま was skillfully hand cut. Even in Japan, many Izakayas serve daikon tsuma prepared by a special cutter such as Benriner turning "head" slicer (actually we have one of these devices which I have not used for some time). Although this does not make any difference in the quality of the food they serve, I like the fact they pay attention to the details and take pride in these minor items. From robatayaki 炉端焼き menu, we ordered grilled shiitake mushroom (barely visible behind the toro sashimi picture above. I forgot to take a picture), Ginko nuts 焼き銀杏 (below left), and shishi-tougarashi ししとう (below right). As usually happens, with shishito produced in the United States, two of the peppers were atomic hot, each of us got one. Part of the fun of the dish is the Russian Roulette aspect of whether the one going  into your mouth is a "hot" one.

We were winding down here and had a very meaty "Hamachi kama" はまちのかま grilled, served with a large mound of grated daikon 大根おろし, which I like. My wife is usually in charge of taking off all the available meat from the bone and, as usual, she did an excellent job. As a shime 締め, we had few nigiri and two US style rolls (A California roll was made of real lump crab meat, avocado and tobiko roe. A Philly roll was made of smoked salmon, cucumber and cream cheese).

We were stuffed and had more than enough sake at this point. Chef Kudo sent us an ice cream daifuku (Ice cream encased in a mochi skin) for dessert. We do not have thousands of Izakayas to visit but we were doing well here for sure tonight.

Tender simmered octopus たこの柔らか煮

I have to admit that I really like octopus (tako) and am on a constant prowl to find places to get decent tako. I have gotten octopus from a few different places with varying success and I’ve cooked it several different ways over the years. Among the seafood vendors, recently, we have been getting fairly good frozen  seafood from  Great Alaska Seafood . This time, they were selling frozen Spanish octopus legs and we tried them. (At another time, they were also selling Alaskan octopus -uncooked and frozen- but we did not try it.) The legs were from Spanish octopus, boiled and frozen (see the picture 2nd from the last below). It came as 4 pounds of octopus in 8 half pound vacuumed sealed packages. After thawing a package in the refrigerator, I thinly sliced it and tasted it. It was fresh tasting but compared to Japanese products, it was much softer. So I decided the first dish I would make would be simmered octopus  or “Tako-no-yawaraka-ni” 蛸の柔らか煮 literally meaning “tender simmered octopus”.  I tried this before with tako from other sources and despite long simmering, the octopus never got really tender. This time I have two elements which would make this dish successful; 1. This particular octopus had been pre-cooked before we received it and it was much more tender than the boiled and frozen octopus I tried before and 2. I now have a Instant pot which allows me to make this dish using pressure cooking. The combination of these factors resulted in a dish that was quite a success. The octopus was very tender and flavorful. 

I served this with fried shrimp heads (they were from Tako Grill takeout). Whenever we have shrimp (“bonanebi“ 牡丹海老) sashimi, we get fried heads which we heat up in the toaster oven and serve with wedges of lemon and salt broth soaked sugar snaps. On the right in the picture below is squid shiokara イカの塩辛 (frozen which comes in a plastic pouch). This is certainly a good line-up for starting the evening.

Here is the close up of the octopus.

The picture below shows how the octopus legs came. Two good sized legs in one package.

Since this was a trial, I used only one leg for this dish.

Ingredients:
Boiled octopus leg, thawed
200ml Japanese dashi (I made this from dashi pack).
1tbs soy sauce
2tbs mirin
2tbs sake
several think ginger slices

Directions:
I used an Instant pot with a small metal container insert with a silicon lid (you could use the inner pot of the instant pot).
I added the octopus and the seasoning liquid into the insert and put on the lid.
I added 1/2 cup water to the pot and using the metal holder that came with the insert, lowered it into the instant pot.
I cooked it on high pressure for 30 minutes with natural depressurization.
The picture below is after cooking.
One of the problems with the Instant Pot cooking is that the simmering liquid does not reduce at all.
So I decided to put the leg and the simmering liquid in a frying pan and cook it on medium flame for 15-20 minutes until the liquid reduced by half.

I cut the leg into bite sized pieces and served it at  room temperature. This is a most tender and flavorful octopus leg. Next time I will make a larger amount since the entire leg was just enough for two small servings.