This is an article from the Atlantic Monthly - about the future of mapping. I don't know how people ever survived in foreign countries without live mapping at their fingertips.
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/09/how-google-builds-its-maps-and-what-it-means-for-the-future-of-everything/261913/
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Tokyo Part 2
I am now having a lot of fun in Tokyo. My Japanese has improved only marginally, but I love it here. Part of the reason, obviously, is that I love to eat. And I've found my one bad experience to be the anomaly. Of course, there's been a lot of work this week, but that's boring, so I'll stick to the fun stuff.
Same guy that recommended Pizza Strata told me Blacows makes the best burger in the world. Apparently, Esquire magazine said the same thing. It's a good burger. Great even. Best in the world - not by Roncierge standards. First of all, the best burger in the world is served on a pretzel bun, which is the only bun strong enough to hold up to the juices of a good medium rare burger without falling apart. It gives you an equal bread to beef ratio in every bite and keeps your hands clean. The beef on the blacows burger was great, but I find wagyu beef unnecessary for burgers since you cook out much of the fat anyway. Fries, wagyu onion soup and green salad were all great, and the burger really was quite tasty (pictured below).
Lunch one day we went for some Tonkatsu in Ginza. This was truly amazing. I got one with garlic infused. Came with a salad, traditional red miso soup, some kimchee and other pickles, and shiso rice which was awesome.
That's a lot of tuna - there were tons of them....
The toro is removed and auctioned separately.....
Cod milt row - yes, it's fish sperm. Surprisingly tasty - but it would be nice to not know what it is.
Local sardine.
LOOOONG Day on Thursday. After lunch at a place that makes fantastic Singapore Roast Chicken (and a lot more work), I went to see Charlie Hunter and Scott Amendola at a place called Super-Deluxe which is more basement-hangout than jazz club. But they have about 75 seats and serve beer - so it's a great place for a show. Charlie was in a great mood and really fun and friendly, talking to people during breaks and even giving one Japanese guitarist lessons through an interpreter. They played a killer cover of "whatever lola wants" and I think I heard "Lime in the Coconut" . I was in the last row, and you can see how well I could take a pic with my iPhone.
As an aside, I only knew about this show because I follow Charlie on facebook. I'm also meeting up with a friend tonight who's in Tokyo from NY and saw my facebook post when I landed in Haneda last week. Social media is a burden to some, but it can be a really great tool used in moderation.
After the show I was starving, and really craving Yakiniku. I was in Roppongi, so I just hit some side streets until I saw a sign with beef and a grill. The Motobu beef from Osaka featured at AN Grill really hit the spot! I had some veggies too...
Amuse bouche - croquette of escargot puree, trout sashimi over taro, turnip, and kani with a savory foam.
Tuna (sushi) over daikon, tuna roll with avocado and osetra caviar.
Seared foie gras in veal consomme with yuzu, mushrooms, and broccoli.
Turbot with sauce americaine, mushrooms, broccoli, and mushroom foam.
Wild duck in chocolate framboise sauce, potato with truffle, duck hears and liver yakitori, broccoli, and some other awesome stuff.
Fromage.... mmmmmmm
Orange soup with italian marsapone, candy , and a blueberry
Petit fors - and lots of them...
Three treatments of strawberry - granita with pop rocks, mousse, mochi.
Petit fors up close.
I went back to the tonkatsu place for lunch today - it was just too good. Across the way there was an awesome looking soba place... maybe next trip :)
Same guy that recommended Pizza Strata told me Blacows makes the best burger in the world. Apparently, Esquire magazine said the same thing. It's a good burger. Great even. Best in the world - not by Roncierge standards. First of all, the best burger in the world is served on a pretzel bun, which is the only bun strong enough to hold up to the juices of a good medium rare burger without falling apart. It gives you an equal bread to beef ratio in every bite and keeps your hands clean. The beef on the blacows burger was great, but I find wagyu beef unnecessary for burgers since you cook out much of the fat anyway. Fries, wagyu onion soup and green salad were all great, and the burger really was quite tasty (pictured below).
Lunch one day we went for some Tonkatsu in Ginza. This was truly amazing. I got one with garlic infused. Came with a salad, traditional red miso soup, some kimchee and other pickles, and shiso rice which was awesome.
Wednesday dinner was pork shabu shabu. It was fantastic, but doesn't really photograph well. There was a sashimi course, some soba noodles for dessert, and some great appetizers. Good sake and good company as well.
Thursday, I got up at the butt-crack of dawn to go to the tuna auction at Tsukiji Market, followed by some sushi at Daiwa Zushi
That's a lot of tuna - there were tons of them....
The toro is removed and auctioned separately.....
Here's some video of the auction
Delicious Toro......
Best. Uni. Ever......
Abalone - great taste, but a lot of work to chew - I think I prefer it cooked.
Cod milt row - yes, it's fish sperm. Surprisingly tasty - but it would be nice to not know what it is.
Local sardine.
LOOOONG Day on Thursday. After lunch at a place that makes fantastic Singapore Roast Chicken (and a lot more work), I went to see Charlie Hunter and Scott Amendola at a place called Super-Deluxe which is more basement-hangout than jazz club. But they have about 75 seats and serve beer - so it's a great place for a show. Charlie was in a great mood and really fun and friendly, talking to people during breaks and even giving one Japanese guitarist lessons through an interpreter. They played a killer cover of "whatever lola wants" and I think I heard "Lime in the Coconut" . I was in the last row, and you can see how well I could take a pic with my iPhone.
As an aside, I only knew about this show because I follow Charlie on facebook. I'm also meeting up with a friend tonight who's in Tokyo from NY and saw my facebook post when I landed in Haneda last week. Social media is a burden to some, but it can be a really great tool used in moderation.
After the show I was starving, and really craving Yakiniku. I was in Roppongi, so I just hit some side streets until I saw a sign with beef and a grill. The Motobu beef from Osaka featured at AN Grill really hit the spot! I had some veggies too...
Friday dinner was at La Rochelle. Home of Iron Chef French, Hiroyuki Sakai.
Tuna (sushi) over daikon, tuna roll with avocado and osetra caviar.
Seared foie gras in veal consomme with yuzu, mushrooms, and broccoli.
Fromage.... mmmmmmm
Orange soup with italian marsapone, candy , and a blueberry
Three treatments of strawberry - granita with pop rocks, mousse, mochi.
After lunch I took a walk around the Imperial Palace on the circuit track - one of the 10 best jogs in the world. The views are amazing and the juxtaposition of the Tokugawan palace, its moat, and it's classical Japanese architecture with the modern city of Tokyo is breathtaking. These photos don't do it justice. I walked through the east gardens (the only part open to the public) on my way to the National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Tokyo So Far
Today is my third evening in Tokyo. I'm starting to get the hang of things, but it's a tough place to be western and alone. I have a new appreciation for the effort foreigners make to speak broken English when they visit the US. It's very difficult to try and speak a language you don't understand, and it's even more difficult in a world where you can't read the signs - can't even sound them out like I could in a place like Germany, France, Spain, etc. As far as I can tell, 90% of the restaurants here have the same name. This is also the first time in my life I've been refused service for being a foreigner (at a very small/nondescript yakitori place near Ueno).
I've gotten the hang of the metro system, but that was not an easy learning experience. First, I bought some tickets, but did not understand you need to put it through the machine on the way in and then again on the way out. So - first trip I went in without scanning the ticket, then I could not leave. 10 minutes of difficult conversation later, I gave the station agent cash and he opened the gate to let me out. He showed me what to do next time, despite our language barrier. Today, I tried to transfer from a Tokyo Metro train to a Tokyo Subway train. They look very similar on the map, but they have two completely different ticketing systems, so I had to buy a different ticket.
First night - checked in late and headed to Roppongi (Kind of the Division Street / Adams Morgan / Times Square of Japan). Some people will say don't bother going, but I thought it was fine. The African touts trying to get you into the hostess bars are a little aggressive (and have a reputation for spiking drinks with ruhypnol to steal your cash) - but if you can say no to them, there is fun to be had. I stumbled into a dive bar with English speaking staff and a great set of classic rock CD's that they let you use like a juke box - queuing up requests as they come. There's only space for about 15 customers at a time as it's physically an old train car (http://www.trainbar.com/trainbar/home.html)
Dining has been great, both in small street / quick service places, and then in some nicer places. Yesterday, I had tonkatsu in a place I can't name and probably couldn't find again if I tried near Ueno. You order the food from a machine and it prints a ticket, which you give to the server and she brings back the food you paid for. No pix from that one.
Dinner last night was at a Yakitori place called Tori - Suke in Shibuya. English friendly this time. The first dish was a freebee on the way in... some tiny dried fish with a mashed root vegetable. Light and fresh, then some Oshinko (pickles) and various parts of the chicken skewered and grilled (yakitori). The stuffed pepper was particularly great. Note some of the dishes came with wasabi, while others came with a very strong Chinese style mustard which was great on the liver and gizzards.
Lunch, I took a recommendation from Styleforum.net user impolyt_one and ate at Pizza Strada in Azabujuban.
Tonight was Chinese New Year, so I went for some Sichuan cuisine at Iron Chef Chen Kenichi's "Szechwan Restaurant" - I'm not sure if that's the exact translation of the Japanese characters, but it was nothing short of amazing. I had the Mapodofu (even better than Tony Hu's, but if Chen is one of the best Sichuan chefs in the world, so is Tony - as if the people of Chicago didn't already know this). Also had hot and sour soup and sichuan tan tan noodles. Both great.
This wonderful couple sat next to me. They spoke very good English and were happy to converse. This was their first introduction to the concept of "MA LA" (numbing spicy produced by combining sichuan peppercorns with chili pepper). We had a good laugh over that, and I told her how beautiful her Kimono is. Apparently it was from a very famous maker, but I cannot remember the name.
I've gotten the hang of the metro system, but that was not an easy learning experience. First, I bought some tickets, but did not understand you need to put it through the machine on the way in and then again on the way out. So - first trip I went in without scanning the ticket, then I could not leave. 10 minutes of difficult conversation later, I gave the station agent cash and he opened the gate to let me out. He showed me what to do next time, despite our language barrier. Today, I tried to transfer from a Tokyo Metro train to a Tokyo Subway train. They look very similar on the map, but they have two completely different ticketing systems, so I had to buy a different ticket.
First night - checked in late and headed to Roppongi (Kind of the Division Street / Adams Morgan / Times Square of Japan). Some people will say don't bother going, but I thought it was fine. The African touts trying to get you into the hostess bars are a little aggressive (and have a reputation for spiking drinks with ruhypnol to steal your cash) - but if you can say no to them, there is fun to be had. I stumbled into a dive bar with English speaking staff and a great set of classic rock CD's that they let you use like a juke box - queuing up requests as they come. There's only space for about 15 customers at a time as it's physically an old train car (http://www.trainbar.com/trainbar/home.html)
Dining has been great, both in small street / quick service places, and then in some nicer places. Yesterday, I had tonkatsu in a place I can't name and probably couldn't find again if I tried near Ueno. You order the food from a machine and it prints a ticket, which you give to the server and she brings back the food you paid for. No pix from that one.
Dinner last night was at a Yakitori place called Tori - Suke in Shibuya. English friendly this time. The first dish was a freebee on the way in... some tiny dried fish with a mashed root vegetable. Light and fresh, then some Oshinko (pickles) and various parts of the chicken skewered and grilled (yakitori). The stuffed pepper was particularly great. Note some of the dishes came with wasabi, while others came with a very strong Chinese style mustard which was great on the liver and gizzards.
Tonight was Chinese New Year, so I went for some Sichuan cuisine at Iron Chef Chen Kenichi's "Szechwan Restaurant" - I'm not sure if that's the exact translation of the Japanese characters, but it was nothing short of amazing. I had the Mapodofu (even better than Tony Hu's, but if Chen is one of the best Sichuan chefs in the world, so is Tony - as if the people of Chicago didn't already know this). Also had hot and sour soup and sichuan tan tan noodles. Both great.
This wonderful couple sat next to me. They spoke very good English and were happy to converse. This was their first introduction to the concept of "MA LA" (numbing spicy produced by combining sichuan peppercorns with chili pepper). We had a good laugh over that, and I told her how beautiful her Kimono is. Apparently it was from a very famous maker, but I cannot remember the name.
Stay tuned for Tokyo part 2!
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