Camberville Cuisine

We didn’t start out 2010 in particularly great health; our recent trip to Florida left us both down for the count (yes, even the Korean who doesn’t get sick) for almost two weeks. But last Friday, Hyoun and I were both finally feeling well enough to go out and socialize. Take that, 2010! We started off the night with a small group at Oishii, where we always eat very, very well – primarily ordered family style:

- coho salmon with Japanese strawberries
- “treasure box” – came in a three-drawer box. The top drawer had maguro (lean tuna) and mackerel sashimi; the middle drawer had oysters; the bottom drawer had a truffle risotto and seared black cod. Om nom nom.
- tuna tempura maki – deep-fried on the outside, fresh on the inside
- alligator maki – shrimp tempura inside; eel, roe, avo, scallion outside
- pear maki with kobe beef and pears marinated in sweet red wine on the outside
- white tiger maki: tuna, tobiko, avo, and cucumber rolled in white seaweed with a wasabi lemon sauce
- benytate maki: unagi, avo covered with mutzu, momijioroshi, benytate (a bitter microgreen)
- sudachi and seared hamachi maki: cucumber, spicy mayo, tobiko covered with hamachi, black tobiko, sweet miso sauce and sudachi (Japanese lime)
- rock shrimp explosion maki: tempura rock shrimp and avo rolled in white seaweed with brown rice chip and wasabi lemon sauce, along with enough popcorn shrimp to overflow the plate.
- tuna and mango with baby ginger on crispy seaweed squares (my favorite “dessert” there.)

I, being the gigantic geek that I am, tweeted about this, and then Joanne Chang (of Myers and Chang fame) tweeted me back about how Chef Ting was a master, and I had a mini geekout because I get way more excited talking food with food people than any other subject with other celebrities these days; especially those embracing the same communication mediums I use. HELLO FUTURE, I AM STILL A BIT OF A FANGIRL AT AGE 32.)

So Hyoun and I went to Disney World for Christmas, and my foodie expectations were given a swift kick in the pants.

We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, which was the best choice we could possibly have made for at least two reasons. The first: I would wake up every morning and open the curtains, and there were gazelles and elands grazing on the savanna grass outside our balcony, and then a giraffe family would come along, including the requisite gawky teenager, and once an errant jackrabbit wandered in, and there were cattle with horns as thick as their head and as wide as their bodies were long, and seriously, probably 95% of the pictures I took were of the animals.

The second: We ate way better than I expected to over the course of the week.

Before this trip, my experiences with Disney “cuisine” warranted the quote marks; because of this, my expectations were set fairly low, and I’d decided going in that I’d be content if we managed to eat some food that didn’t qualify as Americanized chain food. Our meals at Boma and Jiko changed my mindset – completely blew it away.

Almost every morning, I’d go downstairs for the Boma breakfast buffet. Pap with chakalaka and sambal and a side of creamy scrambled eggs; pineapple and assorted melons; quinoa made into a porridge with toasted sweetened quinoa and raisins sprinkled on top. Om nom nom. The dinners we took at Jiko were amazing – the braised beet salad that I’m determined to make part of our dinner rotation at home; the cauliflower soup amuse bouche (MUST REPLICATE); the lamb loin and the curry shrimp and perfectly seared tuna – you guys, I didn’t know Disney knew how to cook anything below medium, and I admit it, I WAS WRONG. You just apparently have to know where to eat. (And make reservations.)

Boma and Jiko. 2901 Osceola Parkway, Bay Lake, FL. 407.938.3000.

It was my birthday yesterday! I am old! And Hyoun took me out to a place we’ve both been eyeing for a very long time now: O Ya. I never realized how close it was to where I work – if I angle my head correctly when I look out my office window, I can actually see it. This is probably very bad news for my future food budget; the only saving grace is that they don’t do lunch.

So we did the omakase, natch; as first timers, one glance at the lengthy menu assured me there was no way indecisive me would be able to narrow it all down and prioritize. And, well, who knew it would end up being 19 courses? Granted, each course was sized appropriately; with a couple of exceptions, no more than 2-3 generous mouthfuls per dish.

1. Kumamoto oyster: watermelon pearls, cucumber mignonette (sashimi).
2. Hamachi: banana pepper mousse (nigiri)
3. Salmon tataki: torched tomato, smoked salt, onion aioli (nigiri)
4. Warm eel: Thai basil, kabayaki, fresh Kyoto sansho (nigiri)
5. Homemade La Ratte potato chip: summer truffle (nigiri)
6. Spot prawn: garlic butter, white soy, preserved yuzu (nigiri)
7. Fried Kumamoto oyster: yushu kosho aioli, squid ink bubbles (nigiri)
8. Kyoto-style enoki mushrooms: garlic, soy (nigiri)
9. Bluefin maguro: soy-braised garlic, micro greens (nigiri)
10. Shima aji and sea urchin: ceviche vinaigrette, cilantro (sashimi)
11. Scottish salmon: spicy sesame ponzu, yuzu kosho, scallion oil (sashimi)
12. Onsen egg: dashi sauce, truffle salt, homemade pickled garlic (Hyoun hates eggs, so this one was all me :D )
13. Hamachi: viet mignonette, Thai basil, shallot (sashimi)
14. Bluefin tuna tataki: smoky pickled onion, truffle oil (sashimi)
15. Shiso tempura with grilled lobster: charred tomato, ponzu aioli
16. Grilled sashimi of chanterelle and shiitake mushrooms: rosemary garlic oil, sesame froth, homemade soy
17. Seared petit strip loin Wagyu beef: potato confit, sea salt, white truffle oil
18. Foie gras: Balsamic chocolate kabayaki, raisin cocoa pulp, sip of aged sake (nigiri)
19. I had the raw chocolate gelato with a sesame-caramel coating; Hyoun had the “afumagato” – raw coconut almond gelato with an espresso foam.

Everything was insanely delicious, but there were some standouts.

Probably the most surprising revelation was the Thai basil atop the eel. I’ve had eel many, many times now, some better than others, but almost always in the expected preparation with the kabayaki sauce. Adding the tang of the Thai basil made an old favorite new again.

I’m also not a big mushroom person, but the mushroom sashimi tasted amazing. It didn’t have that stomp-all-over-your-mouth flavor I associate with most cooked mushrooms; it was light, yet still identifiable as “mushroom.”

Wagyu beef? “Prepare it simply, then get out of its way” is the best philosophy for meat this good, and O Ya’s version is spectacular; moist and tender and flavorful.

And I’ve had foie gras in other sweet preparations before, primarily with fruits, so the raisins didn’t surprise me, but the addition of the chocolate gave it this extra savory dimension that I wasn’t expecting. As for the sake accompaniment, I didn’t know sake could be that sweet and taste that good – it was almost like icewine.

So, yeah; when’s our next special occasion excuse to come back? :)

O Ya. 9 East St, Boston. 617.654.9900.

So Hyoun’s back in San Francisco right now on a business trip, less than three weeks after we were last there. He forgot to bring me along, though! ;)

Thus, I treated myself to Myers + Chang for dinner tonight. Sat at the bar and devoured an oyster omelette, braised pork belly buns, and a bittersweet chocolate cake with coffee sauce. Hyoun hates eggs; can’t even stand the smell of them, so eating an omelette is a rare treat these days, and this was a delectably flavorful variation. I love their weekend dim sum, and I work close by enough that I can generally beat the crowd for weeknight dinner, which is well worth it. :)

So I took myself out for food Hyoun finds repulsive. In turn, he took himself out for food I generally avoid: a hot dog. (But at least it was from Taylor’s!) This amuses me.

Myers + Chang. 1145 Washington St, Boston. Taylor’s Automatic Refresher. 1 Ferry Bldg, Marketplace Shop #6, San Francisco. 866.328.3663.

“So, what’s with this crazy construct? Well, it’s all about evenness. We want each chip to have the exact same amount of each ingredient. But we don’t want the chips to be stuck together into a big, gummy mess on the platter.” He covers the rack with chips, sprinkles the onions and cheese mixture over the chips, and places one slice of jalapeño pepper on each.

– Alton Brown, Tortillas Again (hat tip: Good Eats Fan Page)

So my friends and I went to go see Alton Brown speak at the Coolidge Corner Theatre tonight. Snarky, smartass, nerdy, pretty much exactly as expected.

Afterwards, we waited in line at the Booksmith to get autographs for our books, and a certain one of my friends voiced the question: “Mr. Brown, the episode where you make nachos. Do you really make them like that? Placing them individually on a sheet, giving each of them the precisely correct amount of ingredients, and making sure the jalapeno topper is in the right spot?”

Alton’s response: “Yes … I’m not well.”