Take another little piece of my heart (on a skewer)

Yakitori Taisho
5 St. Mark's Place, NYC


Skewers of bacon-wrapped scallops, chicken, octopus, heart, and gizzard (left to right)

I've always been a lover of strange meats and Japanese yakitori places offer a world of offerings in that regard. Yakitori means "grilled chicken" but is used to refer to the practice of grilling other stuff on a skewer as well. Down in New York's East Village, there is a block that has cramped Japanese places sprinkled in among the other basement-level offerings. Taisho is supposedly the best, and I always thought the place three doors down, Oh Taisho, was a blatant ripofff meant to fool tourists w/ its identical font. Turns out they're owned by the same company. They offer some actual dishes (you can sort of see my friend's yakisoba in the background) but a variety of skewers (generously brushed w/ terriyaki sauce and/or pepper) and a bowl of rice does it for me.

Taste what the fuss is soba about

Soba noodles with grated radish and mushrooms
Soba Nippon- New York City

We start on the road, as the launch of this blog happened to coincide with a trip to the Orient (of the United States).
(that's a joke of sorts. expect a lot of dry humor)
I'll be back in the heartland soon enough writing hard-hitting expose's re: the taco trucks of Des Moines, so my friends among the coastal /"lamestream media" elites may soon lose interest; but in the meantime I have some food to share.
We start in midtown, at one of NYC's premiere soba spots. My original hope had been to write about one of the many high-end ramen shops in NYC but my friend Kleo(whose name has been changed for her protection) couldn't get away for lunch long enough to trek downtown. But soba is still plenty interesting.
Soba are thin hand-pulled buckwheat noodles that can be served cold w/ dipping sauce or hot w/ broth. I chose cold to get the full soba experience. From what I'd seen on "Anthony Bourdain:No Reservations," soba noodles are a big deal b/c of the meticulous, painstaking way in which they're prepared. And you have to respect the fact that they're the centerpiece of the dish and not just an accompaniment to some protein. I tried a few bites plain (no dipping sauce) to get the full experience and . . . I'd have to say something was "lost in translation" (though eating them didn't cause me to exchange longing glances w/ anyone across tiny alleyways). They were good but not transcendent and certainly not worth what this place was charging for them. I fully admit that it might be a cultural thing and that my tastebuds, overstimulated from a Western diet, may not be able to appreciate the subtle grace of the soba. Things got a little awkward when the dipping sauce came into play, as it wasn't immediately apparent how the sauce/garnishes should all be eaten. Still, I improvised the best I could and enjoyed the noodles more with the salt/spice of the dipping sauce (with some radish dissolved in it for even more kick) and mushroom.