usa :: new york :: general

[mizanation]

pork fat.... mmmmmmm.

[fre-co]

fuckin' katsu curry.... now you're talkin'! pork is my favorite, but hey I like any pork. I even dry cure my own bacon.

Yeah Miz, I used to live near Brick Lane and went there often. Unfortunately though now those places have gone down hill and none made it into the more recent Time Out guide.

Nowadays for authentic curries in London, all the peeps in the know head down to Tooting. Coincidently I live nearby there now. It's mainly South Indian which is a bit hotter and less familiar to the 'western palette' but it is damn nice and damn cheap.

[fre-co]

Back to ramen...

Last time I was in Tokyo I had a ramen near Ochanomizu which had a really unusual thick, rich soup. Man I wish I could remember the name of that place because it was seriously good with an authentic ramen otaku queue outside the door.

[Chicken]

^ now that's what i'm talking about. unusually thick rich ramen.

there used to be three or four of ramen shop called houpu-ken in tokyo. the soup was so thick you could only see the surface of the soup. the cold jasmine tea they had went really well after the ramen.

btw, yeah, some great indian food in london.

[Dead_Wizard]

I must be missing something because I can't find any shit that looks remotely intriguing. Theres a ton of parties yea, but nothing on the scale of the shit going down in LA or London. What the fuck NYC, is Gogol Bordello and Patti Smith really the best you could get?

[the_state]

Mr Brownstone (G-n-R cover band) are playing a NYE show in Williamsburg, I might check that out with my woman if our friends can't get their shit together.

[DaBestSpoona]

and then derailing from ramen even more, i sometimes prefer chicken katsu over ton katsu, especially when i'm in japan. but in the states, they almost always cut out the chicken fat, so they turn out dry and boring. oh, not to mention it's also sacrelig to get rid of pork fat from tonkatsu too.

i am very bummed about this.

I noticed a recent katsu trend in japan is to deep fry the katsu in either lard or sesame oil.

We'll never get lard fried katsu in the US thanks to the transfat scare

[DaBestSpoona]

spoona, i'm talking about the the Udon West on St. Marks. i think it's new.

a Udon West opened up in Flushing like a year ago in the old Dosanko space. Me and my wife thought it was kind of weird opening a Udon place with a Japanese staff, especially a kyushuu chain in the middle of flushing till we saw groups of older japanese men with the ugliest boxiest purple, green suits that would make the worst wdywt cringe.

[Chicken]

I noticed a recent katsu trend in japan is to deep fry the katsu in either lard or sesame oil.

We'll never get lard fried katsu in the US thanks to the transfat scare

mmm, lard. that's the best way to deep fry a katsu. we are missing out in this country. sesame oil ain't bad either and it's not that bad for you, i believe.

a Udon West opened up in Flushing like a year ago in the old Dosanko space. Me and my wife thought it was kind of weird opening a Udon place with a Japanese staff, especially a kyushuu chain in the middle of flushing till we saw groups of older japanese men with the ugliest boxiest purple, green suits that would make the worst wdywt cringe.

pics?

[polishmike]

I guess this is the best place to post

East Village sake shop Sakaya, opening Saturday

[Chicken]

^ great, now that i moved from ny.

hakkaisan is my go-to sake. i like dem karakuchi.

[corporategrunt]

back to curry talk:

I'm a relative noob when it comes to Japanese curry, but I'm a big fan of Katsu-Hama's Katsu curry here in midtown. It's within walking distance of my office so I sneak over there once or twice a week for my fix... anybody else eat there?

that is relatively close from where I work, I used to go there a bit more, but don't you think their katsu is getting progressively smaller (although the menu states the weight of the katsu)? I do like their cabbage alot though....

[mizanation]

i've been getting into sake recently. had some 3 year-old aged sake which was awesome.

[Chicken]

have you also tried koshu?

When awamori is aged for three years or more, it is called koshu (古酒, "old liquor"). Legally, in order to earn the designation koshu, over 50% of the awamori must be aged three years, and in practice with awamori labelled generically as koshu, the other 49% is usually six months old. If a specific age is noted, then all of the contents must be of at least that age. Awamori is aged underground in constant cool temperatures in clay pots or vases. Before the Battle of Okinawa during World War II, 200- and even 300-year-old koshu existed, but all were lost in the battle. Several attempts are being made to produce these koshu again.

[fre-co]

mmm, lard. that's the best way to deep fry a katsu. we are missing out in this country. sesame oil ain't bad either and it's not that bad for you, i believe.

pics?

what do you have in LA? steamed monkfish 'katsu' with an eggwhite omlette and mung bean and lentil curry

[mizanation]

have you also tried koshu?

no, i haven't had koshu yet. although, i've drunk so much awamori, there is probably a half-pint of koshu aging in my liver.

interesting note, you can take some cheap awamori, drink some and just leave it in your kitchen for a long time. in 6 months, the flavor becomes much better.

in okinawa, many people buy a bottle of awamori everytime you pop out a kid. when the kid becomes legal drinking age, you crack it open and drink.

[Chicken]

what do you have in LA? steamed monkfish 'katsu' with an eggwhite omlette and mung bean and lentil curry

really? where do i get those? i'm especially interested in the steamed monkfish katsu.

[Chicken]

in okinawa, many people buy a bottle of awamori everytime you pop out a kid. when the kid becomes legal drinking age, you crack it open and drink.

that's a great tradition. i've got to remember that one.

[mizanation]

there's a mainland japanese guy who's nuts about awamori. he's started a campaign to start aging awamori again. like the wiki you posted said, all of the old awamori was destroyed during WWII.

anyways, his dream is drink a 100 year old awamori, but since he started in his 20's, he'd have to break the world record for longevity to drink it.

[lestat]

a Udon West opened up in Flushing like a year ago in the old Dosanko space. Me and my wife thought it was kind of weird opening a Udon place with a Japanese staff, especially a kyushuu chain in the middle of flushing till we saw groups of older japanese men with the ugliest boxiest purple, green suits that would make the worst wdywt cringe.

Flushing... on the corner of Northern Blvd and Union?

[DaBestSpoona]

Flushing... on the corner of Northern Blvd and Union?

yeah by the police station

[herpsky]

new japanese salon, apparently

a little pricey but check it out

http://www.nyshizen.com/news/index_en.html

[peteyross]

new japanese salon, apparently

a little pricey but check it out

http://www.nyshizen.com/news/index_en.html

My girlfriend is going here this weekend. She was previously getting her hair cut by Hito at MudHoney but he went back to Japan. I also had my hair cut by Hito for the past three years and I've tried two places since.

First place I tried was K2 Salon (owned by this dude named Keigo...don't know if that's his real name or if he's into honorifics). Keigo was pretty good, was willing to talk about my style, preferences, etc. He also didn't do anything dramatic because he wanted the first haircut to be a sort of warm up. He said I could come back in a week if I wanted more done (at no charge). His skills were overall above average and I was very impressed with how my hair grew out. Keigo charges $50

Second place I went was Hair Kuwayama. I made an appointment at random and got a woman named Kaori. She was very skilled but didn't communicate with me as much as Keigo. She did everything right but I was unsure until the end. Her razor skills were more on point than her scissor skills, at least it seemed that way on my relatively short style. I think she understood how to cut my hair for my own head well. $50

Next stop for me is Shizen. Hopefully then the trial will be over and I'll stick with one stylist for a little while.

[dryice]

I only have one place, takamichi on great jones street.

ignore the price. pay more for the good stuff.

110 - 150 *before tip

[herpsky]

happy ending?

[dryice]

no you pay extra moneys not to look like bill dee and zehero.

[truest]

anyone ever been to frank's chop shop? any good?

[dj nibc]

Hey!

Thanks again to the people who helped out with some great superguidance for Tokyo this summer.

(In this thread)

http://www.superfuture.com/supertalk/showthread.php?t=30383

Now I'm in NYC, haven't been here for almost two years. And I'm wondering if anyone got some similair superguidance for me..

My favourite spots in Tokyo was Reedspace, Tokishirazu, Silas and Beams (Pov and T)

Also, I'm throwing this party in Brooklyn on Saturday!

[gigsel]

Hey!

What's a good place to go on new years? I just moved to NY 6 weeks ago.. so, I'm pretty fresh to all the nightlife etc. I will have some friends visiting and I would like to show them around... whether party or bar or any other comfortable place.. Some ideas?

Thank you!

G

[AstroWolf]

treat NYE in NYC like I am legend. just hide.