Katsu, Natto and Marrow Bones

LTH,

Last week at Katsu Ellen and I had an LTHForum moment. After a round of sashimi Ellen and I decided 5° temperatures dictated something a bit sturdier, for Ellen that meant sukiyaki, me beef tongue thinly sliced and grilled. As we ordered Katsu came over to our table to chat and suggested, as I've had beef tongue many times, Mino, beef tripe grilled w/Katsu garlic sauce.

As I ordered Kastu pointed to a fellow at the sushi bar and said one evening he'd eaten 6-orders. Scott, I later learned his name, responded Katsu, 7-orders, in the manner of student to sensei at a dojo. The grilled beef tripe, served with a dipping sauce of sesame oil, scallion, sea salt and black pepper, not dissimilar to what is often served with kalbi, was delicious.

We chatted a bit with Scott and his two friends, but when I ordered Nirareba, veal liver sauteed w/fresh garlic chives, and Scott ordered natto hand roll, one of my favorites, conversation started in earnest.

Earlier in the evening I had given Katsu and Haruko an LTHForum calendar, Mike G's incredible Katsu picture is March, and as we were chatting Katsu brought over the calendar and Scott, noticing the LTHForum.com logo, said he was on LTHForum for the first time that morning. Seems he had posted on the Robert Parker wine chat about making Fergus Henderson's roasted bone marrow with parsley salad and the Wine Guy, who turned out to be Al Ehrhardt, sent him a url for pictures of Henderson's roasted bone marrow on LTHFourm. Imagine his surprise when that turned out to be me.

In another interesting turn in the evening, Haruko, whose loves natto to such a degree her eye's actually light up when she talks about it, occasionally makes, in addition to natto hand-roll, off-menu natto preparations, for example, natto stuffed in a tofu pouch then deep fried. As Haruko was waxing poetic about the joys of natto, and how the natto available here does not compare to Japan, she compared it to industrial vs artisanal cheese, it occurred to me to ask about a natto theme dinner at Katsu.

Haruko seemed quite enthused at the possibility and immediately rattled off 5-6 favorite natto preparations, including a non-traditional natto sauteed in olive oil, wrapped in butter lettuce and eaten with a sprinkle of soyu. Anyone, aside from myself, interested in a Katsu natto theme dinner? Of course, it would not only be natto, one can not go to Katsu and not have their incredible sashimi.

Thanks Al for spreading the LTHForum word and welcome Scott.

Enjoy,
Gary

Katsu
2651 W. Peterson Ave
Chicago, IL
773-784-3383
Dinner only.
Closed Monday and Tuesday.

Answering my own question.

Mike G wrote:Answering my own question.

What a coincidence. Amongst a great number of other things, I had natto temaki-zushi, at Katsu, on Monday night.



When I get a greater allocation of webspace, I'll put the rest of my pictures up.

Erik M.

G Wiv wrote:Earlier in the evening I had given Katsu and Haruko an LTHForum calendar, Mike G's incredible Katsu picture is March, and as we were chatting Katsu brought over the calendar and Scott, noticing the LTHForum.com logo, said he was on LTHForum for the first time that morning. Seems he had posted on the Robert Parker wine chat about making Fergus Henderson's roasted bone marrow with parsley salad and the Wine Guy, who turned out to be Al Ehrhardt, sent him a url for pictures of Henderson's roasted bone marrow on LTHFourm. Imagine his surprise when that turned out to be me.

Gary,

When I found out last Wednesday morning (within a two week period), that a second Chicagoan I know, made (without knowledge of one another) the same Fergus Henderson recipe for Roasted Marrow Bones with Parsley Salad, I had to let Scott know about it. Sometime Wednesday evening (probably about the time you two were meeting), I thought I should e-mail you and let you know about Scott's version.

Thursday morning I check my e-mail and find out in a metropolitan area of over 8 million people, both of you, total strangers, walk into the same fairly low-profile restaurant (on Petersen, for God's sake) restaurant and MEET one another. On the SAME damn day that I made Scott aware of you. HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN??? Gary, did you befriend any other strangers last Wednesday eveing in Katsu. I bet not. Only Scott. Man, I wish they were still filming Twilight Zone. I could have written an episode.

As I said to Gary last week, I should get Hammond to find his alien hunter that he met at Stacy's to get working on this phenomenon. BTW, Gary, I was going to link to David's terrific post on your site, but I get a Coming Soon message. What's up with that?

Nanoo, Nanoo,
Al

Al Ehrhardt wrote: BTW, Gary, I was going to link to David's terrific post on your site, but I get a Coming Soon message. What's up with that?

Terrific ...

Restaurant Roulette/My Dinner with Alien: Stacy's, Bellwood

Every summer during my teenage years I lived in Japan and never once could bring myself to eat natto.

It is a misconception that it is universally Japanese. Yes, it is Japanese, but it is a regional dish. And, like many "difficult foods", it is preferred by adults of slightly older vintage. I never saw it southwest Japan, but almost every day when I lived outside of Tokyo, my host father would start his morning with raw egg and natto, whipped with his chopsticks, next to his bowl of rice. There was nothing more repulsive to me than the sight of the saliva-like strings of egg/natto making its way from the bowl to his mouth.

I have had natto a few times since, but I will never willingly purchase it or prepare it. It is not a prerequisite for Japanese culinary stardom, much as Horse Sashimi, monkey brains, endless jellyfish, and assorted other small critters, are also not required 'must-eats' in Japan. You can be a food otaku without venturing into that territory.

There is a great deal that is misunderstood about Japanese cooking based on the ubiquity of certain dishes here in Japanese and Japanese-style restaurants. Only once during my teens (even when I lived at the ocean) did my host family take us for sushi. In later years, we would have gorgeous, pristine sashimi as a treat at home, never at restaurants. More common were simply grilled fish, pickles, miso, the ever-present gohan (rice, in its cooked state - raw rice is known as o-kome) and an endless array of boiled dishes.

I have only found a few Japanese restaurants in the US that excel at preparing home-style Japanese cuisine, or regional cuisine. It is far easier to find food that calls itself Kaiseki, or follows the Japanese restaurant canon (Sukiyaki, Udon, Tempura, Katsu, Ramen, Teriyaki) than it is to find food that really tastes the way it does in Japan.

On one of my last trips in Japan, in which I traveled the entire length of the country, including the wilds of western Japan, Kyushu, and Hokkaido, I focused much of my eating on dessert and soba -- both of which vary from prefecture to prefecture, city to city. I'd wake up with some anko or shiro an sweet, ask around for a great sobaya, and tuck in to noodles (preferably of the just made by hand variety) for lunch. Repeat.

The most sublime bowl of tempura soba I ate was in the city of Matsue, located on an inland lake an hour from the Sea of Japan and six hours from Osaka by slow train. The noodles were handmade, the broth lighter than the soy-infused sauces of Tokyo, and each vegetable was perfect in its shape, texture, and variety. The contrast in texture, color, dry heat and wet heat made for a perfect meal. And next door, there was a sweet shop that was even more remarkable. (As an aside -- when Toraya in New York closed, the US lost its last great wagashi shop. Minamoto Kitchoan is okay, but has that distinctly commercial flare that marks it as a chain)

In Chicago, I do prefer Katsu to other restaurants, but it still leaves me missing the food I enjoyed throughout my teen years in Japan. The food is faithful to the cannon, has some wonderful surprises, and is almost always delicious. It isn't mama no ryori (mom's cooking), but I guess that's okay.

>I have only found a few Japanese restaurants in the US that excel at preparing home-style Japanese cuisine, or regional cuisine.

Don't hold out on us! What restaurants come to mind for mama no ryori? Though, clearly, Chicago would be the prefered venue, I'll take suggestions for elsewhere, if you provide them...

Well...it ain't mama's, but it sure is good:

New York City is current ground zero for authentic Japanese, thanks to the influx of wacky Japanese kids to the east village. Village Yokocho, at 9th and 3rd Ave has more nomiya and street-style of cuisine (various forms of skewered dishes, from quail egg to shrimp to viscera, etc), along with grill tables for the Japanese version of Korean-style fun. Down the street is a shop that has takoyaki and okonomiyaki. Sobaya is just around the corner. There's a Japanese bakery downstairs that does decent cream-an buns. (Alas, they don't compare to Brookline, MA's Japonais' baked goods).

Atlanta, shockingly, also has an array of specialty Japanese restaurants -- something about the large number of corporate headquarters in the area make it a stop on the Japanese expat train. Joli Kobe has a Japanese Bakery (fluffy breads, cream-an buns, less sweet pastries), and there is a Yakitori-focused restaurant called Yakitori Jinbei. I used to eat in a restaurant there called Yokohama - the sushi chefs really were from Yokohama. We would chat in Japanese and they'd always bring me a little homey dish or two. They made excellent home-style food there, but I can't vouch for it now as that was over 10 years ago.

My longtime favorite mama-style restaurant (with the usual sushi, sukiyaki, etc. thrown in) was a place in Boston that no longer exists. Tatsukichi, when it first opened in the 80s, was an authentic Japanese experience. They specialized in kushi katsu (friend skewered foods) and had marvelous niimono (steamed/boiled dishes). It changed pretty rapidly, and eventually just died a sad, lonely death.

In Cambridge, MA there is the Porter Exchange, a rag-tag lineup of street food shops that include a ramenya, a sobaya, a sushiya, a kissaten (a 'Western Style' restaurant where you can get coffee, doria - a mac n cheese type rice dish, and white bread sandwiches), a tempuraya, and another space that seems to change every few years. The food is average, but fun -- not too different from the food court at Mitsuwa except in quality (better).

In LA I've had a few tasty meals, too. Mishima had a great selection of street food -- curry, cold noodles, desserts. Curry is one of my favorite Japanese home meals, and thank goodness there are now special 'artisan' curries on the market so I no longer have to use the strange hydrogenated blocks of House curry anymore. If you haven't had Japanese curry before, it really is the comfort food of all comfort foods and is as common there as mac n cheese is here. They serve it at Tokyo Disneyland, in cafeterias, at the airport, at train stations. There is nothing like eki-ben, short for eki-bento, or the very commercial but very satisfying bento breakfast, lunches, and dinners you can buy at a train station. If I could find eki ben at a rest stop in the US I'd be a very happy traveler.

In general, Japanese restaurants in Japan are very focused. You won't be able to get sukiyaki at a sobaya, or soba at a ramenya. Nomiya have booze-centric snacks (grilled fish, cold dishes, finger food etc). Sushi shows up in sushi restaurants, and tofu gets its own treatment in special tofu restaurants.

When I want homestyle, I cook it myself. For years I cooked nothing but. I have this fantastic cookbook I purchased in 1997 that is the ultimate home-style beginner's guide. It is called "A guide to Popular Japanese-Style Meals" or washoku no teiban, written by the Chief Steward of the Mitsui OSK ship line. It is bilingual and contains the basics of home cooking. There is no sushi in it, but it is food that you could eat everyday, morning noon and night. I'd recommend a homestyle illustrated cookbook for those wanting to dig into something outside the Japanese restaurant cannon.

One thing I miss the most is Japanese variants on French Pastry. The Japanese do magnificent work with pastry and their product is both smaller and less sweet than US and European counterparts. They have performed extremely well in the Pastry Olympics - deservedly so. Japonaise in Brookline used to be quite good in the '80s but isn't so impressive nowadays. There are chain bakeries in New York, but they lack the subtlety of the small artisan bakeries in Japan.

So I guess my final recommendation is that if you really want to learn about great Japanese homestyle cooking, take yourself to Mitsuwa, get yourself a homestyle cookbook, and teach yourself. It really is different. And not difficult.

On a somewhat related note...

Los Angeles Chowhound, Perceptor, shares his Photo Report of a recent visit to Urasawa.

Erik M.

I've looked through this thread a couple of times and never seen a description of what natto is and I figure I'm not the only ignorant person at this table so I googled it, of course. This was the most fun of the choices available

Welcome to Natto Land

Oops! Ed just pointed out to me that Mike G asked and answered this same question--and cleverly pointed to the same website--in the second post in this thread. Need to read more carefully but I'll leave this one up in case others are as dense as I.

One thing I miss the most is Japanese variants on French Pastry. The Japanese do magnificent work with pastry and their product is both smaller and less sweet than US and European counterparts.

Have you tried Montblanc, which is just up the road from Mitsuwa? Despite eating in the perfectly okay restaurant in the same mall (Nikko) a couple of times, I've never been, but it sounds like it's the closest thing in our area to the kind of high end Japanese French bakery you're talking about.

MONTBLANC PATISSERIE/?????
274 E.Algonquin Rd.
Arlington Heights, IL 60005
TEL : (847) 228-5306

Hi,

Next door to Montblanc is:

Bakery Crescent
270 East Algonquin Road
Arlington Heights, IL 60005
Tel: 847/956-6470

This place has a lot of interesting Japanese snack rolls. It's been sometime since I was there, only one really stands out: an octopus roll.

Both Montblanc and Bakery Crescent are at the adjoining strip mall just east of the Mitsuwa parking lot. You can cross over the parking lots to get there, no need to go out to the street to cut back in.

Erik M. wrote:What a coincidence. Amongst a great number of other things, I had natto temaki-zushi, at Katsu, on Monday night.

I was at Katsu on Wednesday night, not because of this thread, as the visit was planned a week ago and also had a natto hand roll. That choice was certainly influenced by this thread, because natto has never been high on my list of favorites. I have to say it was awfully good but not the highlight of the meal. That would have been the special toro and yellowtail sashimi. Or maybe the Kobe beef. Those small Seattle clams in an exquisite broth were awfully good too. But no better than the soft shell crab in tofu skin pockets. And the yellowtail jaw lived up to expectations. It was really a meal without highlights as everything was just so damn fine.

LTHForum,

Katsu was in fine form last evening, fish so fresh it asked us to dance, Katsu and Haruko ever genial and a natto maki roll whose healthful properties have me feeling in peak form this morning after a never ending head-cold.

One piece of information Katsu fans will find relevant, Katsu from November on will be closed both Monday and Tuesday.

Enjoy,
Gary

Katsu
2651 W. Peterson Ave
Chicago, IL
773-784-3383
Dinner only.
Closed Monday and Tuesday.