TUESDAY, AUGUST 03, 2004 A beginning The story of my pure lust of authentic food started in a small Japanese place off of 3rd Ave and 9th St. My Japanese friend and partner in food crime, Hiroyuki Kurashige, suggested we eat the $3.95 special listed on the "table tent." Hiro spoke, then, little English and I thought we were having a communication breakdown... There wasn't any thing for $3.95 on the menu in English... But he showed me the Japanese side and there in Arabic numbers was $3.95! Then I had the fear that the place was charging less $$$ to those who read Japanese. A quick count of the items on the menu however quickly revealed the truth; there were 3 more dishes listed on the "Japanese" side then on the English side. They were editing.
It turned out they offered 3 dishes with various combinations of grated radish (Daikon), tiny fishes, soya and things like mushrooms or seaweed. Hiro and I loved the dish, esp. the tiny fish. Visiting there the again a month or so later I pointed out this "editing" to a couple at the next table who then excitedly order one of these dishes; they hated it.
Thus germinated my idea to get some friends and friends of friends together to delve into the authentic food that doesn't have universal appeal; I don't always like such aggressive food in fact my next restaurant will likely specialize in the authentic food that is easy to enjoy.
If you like to eat almost anything... shoot me an email and I'll keep you posted.
