The Rake: Chef's Table

Sake That's Still Alive!

Henry Chan — Giapponese Sushi — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:54:03 -0500

As with seasonal fish, seasonal sake is something often overlooked, or unfamiliar. Most Midwesterners are used to sake served warm, and cold sake is still new and unfamiliar.

Namazake is still fairly rare in the United States, especially here in the Midwest. Namazake is unpasteurized sake, fresh off the press and not aged.

I have been fortunate to taste a vast variety of great sakes, but this Taiheikai Shiboritate namazake genshu nigori is just amazing!

Thoughts of Ceviche and Peru!

Chef Rachel Rubin — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:03:17 -0500

I just got off the phone with Doug, the tour guy in Cuzco, and I'm super excited. I asked, "Is it nice out there?" I imagined him looking out his window over the Plaza de Armas squinting a little from the sun.

"Yeah, I guess," he answered. I informed him that our spring welcome has been thick snow, and he just laughed... for a while.

I feel lucky to be working with Southern Crossings because of all the adventure tour experience they have, leaving all of the culinary details to me!

The Fish Fry Report: Part II

Anthony Kaczor and Sid Korpi — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 09:37:23 -0500

Our faithful correspondents Anthony Kaczor and Sid Korpi report on their latest Lenten dining discoveries:

Stars Matter

Stewart Woodman — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:14:59 -0500

It was mid afternoon on a Wednesday. I was putting my station together on the line, as my sous chef and I were going over plans for the evening. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Michael bounce into the dining room. “CHEF, CHEFFFIE”, he shouted. “We got it! Four stars! Two for me, and two for you!”

Tsukiji fish market, Kinmedai

Henry Chan — Giapponese Sushi — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:21:03 -0500

With the end of winter around the corner this is a great time for some of the best tasting fish. Smaller fish, such as seabream, Akoudai, and Kinmedai, are at their best, as these fish pack on the fat for the cold winter months. Now, at the end of winter, they are plump and tasty!

The kinmedai I recived today is an amazing fish. Wild, caught from a hook and pole in Japan, it is amazing that it ended up in Woodbury, Minnesota with the hook still in its mouth!

Sushi: The Naked Truth — Edamame

Henry Chan — Giapponese Sushi — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:24:31 -0500

Anyone who has tried to make sushi knows it is harder than it looks. But when you are plopped at the sushi bar watching the chef make rolls, nigiri, or sashimi it looks easy. I, too, thought it was easy when I first watched my master show me how to make a roll — until I rolled my fist roll. When I was done I didn't know if he was pissed or if he was going to burst out laughing.

Sushi: The Naked Truth, part three

Henry Chan — Giapponese Sushi — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 17:08:23 -0500

Before we opened in January, I had my whole core team working with me, training at the restaurant in Eau Claire. I knew with all of the bad habits and the lack of outside chefs in the twin cities area it would be best not to hire locally and have to correct bad habits. I'm not saying there are not good chefs in the area, but the top chefs are already employed at good establishments — such as Nami's, Origami's, and Fujiya — and out of respect of the owners I would not try to steal their chefs.

Sushi: The Naked Truth, part two.

Henry Chan — Giapponese Sushi — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:08:58 -0600

Bandwagons and gold diggers. Once something's hot and mainstream it will most likely get exploited. As we all know, sushi is hot, and now it's come to that stage.

How can we make it faster, cheaper, and offer more?! This is the general direction for most new sushi bars.

Cuban Cooking - not as spicy as the culture!

Niki Stavrou — 1959 Cafe — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 11:13:11 -0600

Common myth: Cuban food is spicy. Wrong! Savory and flavorful? Right! The Cuban culture is certainly spicy; the people, the music, the politics, you name it. But when it comes to cooking we leave the hot peppers for other cultures. We stick to the sweet peppers, fried plantains, meat dishes with salsita, and plates of rich frijoles negros con arroz (black beans and rice). Savory and flavorful, but not spicy hot. We spice it up with other flavors...

Tuna Tuna

Henry Chan — Giapponese Sushi — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:24:05 -0600

Ahi tuna: many people know tuna as ahi tuna. However, there isn't a species named ahi. Ahi means ''tuna'' in the Hawaiian language, so if you ask for Ahi tuna, all you are asking for is "tuna" tuna! Sometimes I like to just mess with people when they ask if I have ahi tuna: I ask what kind of tuna? "Ahi," they reply. "Yellow fin, big eye, or blue fin?" I ask. "No, Ahi!"

Sushi Bar Etiquette

Henry Chan — Giapponese Sushi — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 16:42:57 -0600

Good thing we are not in old school Japan and that most elder Japanese/Japanese-trained chefs in the U.S. have adopted our ways.

I could care less how you eat your sushi at the bar or at a table, but with some chefs it could get you kicked out!

Basic sushi bar etiquette:

Local FOOD and Fun

Chef Rachel Rubin — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 19:04:59 -0600

Come and check out some of the things we are having fun putting together with what we have that is local! We will be at the Food and Wine show with Heartland check out the Minnesota Pavillion with so many local producers, farmers and wineries!!

No More Tears on the Cutting Board

Henry Chan — Giapponese Sushi — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:06:14 -0600

As a chef I always find myself slicing, dicing, chopping onions more than I would care to. It's not that I hate doing it or that I'm lazy. I just get very teary eyed, just like the millions of other people who get onion emo!

Sake 101

Henry Chan — Giapponese Sushi — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:23:31 -0600

Saturday, March 1st at 6:30 p.m. we will be hosting a sake educational tasting, a Sake 101 of sorts. We will have three sakes and possibly a namazaki. The three sakes that will be available have a deep and long history, along with taste. Shichihon yari is Japan's oldest brewery, founded in 1540 — before Tokyo was even a city! To date, it is still run by the same family members and with only a staff of four producing the sake in small batches.

Am I the First?

Scott — Corner Table — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:01:20 -0600

Scott from Corner Table here. Well, you might have guessed what I will be talking about. LOCAL STUFF! I would hope that this is a blog that will be a place for us to comment on the people that comment on us all the time. I am sure that from "back of the house" to "front of house" there are plenty of people that would love to tell AB, AZ, KJ, RN, DM-G, JI, AP, PL, NN, what we feel is important to talk about. So, here goes.

Sushi: The Naked Truth, part one!

Henry Chan — Giapponese Sushi — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:07:05 -0600

It seems that not even ten years ago sushi was hardly known, or worse in smaller communities it was known as "bait." And if you asked someone if they liked sushi or if they had eaten sushi, the typical response was, "What suesheee??? Nahhh, we don't eat our bait!"

Now if you look around today sushi is everywhere! Spreading like a wildfire, sushi restaurants are popping up in every community. Grocery stores are jumping on the band wagon, and even American restaurants are being influenced with a bit of sashimi or tuna tar tar, etc.

IKI STYLE

Henry Chan — Giapponese Sushi — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:09:18 -0600

Ninety-nine percent of the Mahi Mahi sold in the U.S. mainland comes from South America, and it is transported on trucks in very slow 3rd world process, so by the time the Mahi reaches the U.S. mainland it has a lot of shelf life on it already and the quality is very poor. Many people do not get a very good impression of Mahi because of this, and they would not think that Mahi Mahi could be a Sashimi fish. However, in Hawaii it is highly prized as a sashimi fish.