An offal dinner in Tokyo

No photos of the kids in this post either. Just more Tokyo dining.

Last night I asked the hotel concierge for another restaurant recommendation.  I said I preferred sushi, but he encouraged me to try a very highly rated restaurant in Shinjuku that serves grilled meat on skewers (like yakitori, but not just chicken).  I figured it was worth a try.

The restaurant is called Torishige and when I got there at 9 it was crowded with happy diners. After I was seated at the counter, I learned that their speciality is actually organ meat - mostly pig organ meat - grilled on skewers.  Not really my thing, but since it was already past 9pm and I was hungry and didn't want to seem unadventurous, I proceeded.

As with the sushi place the night before, the menu included an option to just let the chefs choose what to serve me.  Since the menu was entirely in Japanese, I didn't have much choice.  I chose the "medium" price point and ordered a beer and waited.  

Almost immediately, they began setting skewers of lovely grilled meat in front of me.  And each time they set something down they told me in Japanese what it was and when I indicated that I didn't understand they would point to part of their body (head, jaw, abdomen, shoulder, tongue, and so on).  The only one they didn't point to a part of their body for was the "rectum" which came out first and they all knew the English word for that one. Yum yum yum!

I'm not going to spend a lot of time describing each item they brought out.  The flavors were pretty uniformly delicious (except for the liver, which I don't much care for), but the textures were unfamiliar and frequently unappealing - rubbery or squishy, mostly.

So, here are some photos:

Liver.

Rectum. (Chitterlings, I suppose)

Beef steak - yum!

Temple (cabeza, in Spanish)

Pork sukiyaki with a raw egg and tofu - pretty good.

Jaw.

Raw beef sashimi.

More yummy steak.

Pork sashimi - baby back on the left, stomach on the right.

Large intestine. I pushed this one away without even trying it. I was pretty done by this point.

Fried shishito peppers. Excellent, and not meat!

They called this beef, then revised to beef heart... I think.

Beer. Essential to eating the other stuff. 

And finally, chicken bone dashi soup. 

By the end I had to ask them to stop bringing me skewers.  I could not stomach any more stomach.

I am glad I tried it, but I won't be going back to Torishige.

A little sushi

I know that our regular audience tunes in just to see photos of some cute kids and occasionally their parents and other family members. And here at OnlySmaller we try to give our audience what they (you) want. But every so often there is a development in the lives of our editors that has nothing to do with cute kids, but which we just really want to share. In those rare instances, we hijack this blog and the attention of it's captive audience with our own nonsense. This is one of those times. 

I'm in Tokyo! I was in Singapore earlier this week, but Singapore was hot and humid and largely charmless, so I am extending what was supposed to be a few days attending meetings here into a stay of as-yet uncertain duration. And thank goodness for that. 

I am not going to bore you with too many details of my two and a half days here so far. I've been mostly locked in my nice little hotel room in Shinjuku working on my laptop and taking calls on my cellphone. I only leave the room to get meals (and a hat, because it is 35 degrees cooler than muggy 85° Singapore). And that's what I want to talk about in this post: my meals. 

On Tuesday night I asked the concierge to recommend and make me a reservation at a good sushi place, and he did: Sushi Kotobuki. they have a menu, but you don't order off it, it's more like a program. A meal at Kotobuki is served "Omakase" style, which translates into "in your hands". You pick your price level for your meal (high or low - I chose high) and then the chef decides what to feed you. Here's the program of what he fed me last night:

I don't know what it says, but here's how it went: 

The restaurant is a little concrete room in the basement of an office building in Shinjuku. There is an L-shaped counter and all the patrons (approximately 16 total) sit shoulder to shoulder at the counter facing the two chefs, older Japanese men, who are preparing their meals. 

The chefs work constantly, preparing meticulous little individual pieces of sushi and sashimi for the guests, handing them across the as they are ready. 

Each item consists of a single piece of whatever it is - a one bite course. Sometimes they set it on a wooden board in front of you, sometimes it comes on a on small dish and occasionally the chef reaches across the counter between you and places a single piece of fish on rice directly into your hand, like a little jewel, which feels like an accomplished actor in mid-performance is delivering a line to you from stage and expecting you to react naturally. It was magical. 

Notably, to me at least, I have never been so thankful to have learned chopstick skills as a small child. It allowed me to participate fully and unselfconsciously in the experience. Thanks, Mom.

Anyway, it was basically perfect. I only got around 15 or 16 pieces of sushi, but each one looked and felt and tasted amazing. 

Here are some pictures (I did not photograph everything because I was trying to be discreet):

This was, without question, one of the best meals I've enjoyed in my life from a pure food and dining experience perspective - although it wasn't that much better than eating supermarket sushi at our kitchen table with Victoria. Everything is so much better shared with her and I wish I could have done so this time - I have nobody to marvel with here. 

Thanks for indulging me.

Some Recent Good Times

Here's a photo dump of some Recent fun times.

I needed clothing for my business trip to Asia, so I took Sadie into the city with me for a quick day off shopping and eating yummy stuff.

We started by sharing a Cuban steak sandwich and spicy corn with queso Blanco.

Holy cow, my baby is so big and amazing!

Then some rice pudding at Rice to Riches.

Another recent weekend day at the playground.

After the playground, Sadie picked up a swanky hat and bangles at a late season stoop sale. 

While mommy tran an errand, I took the kids shopping for craftsy stuff. I lost them in the store but found these critters.

After crafts, they waited outside the ice cream shop while I got some FDT (frozen dairy treat) to share. They were great together. 

Then, last Tuesday night, I took Sadie and Natalia to their first rock concert: Demi Lovato at the Beacon Theater in the Upper West Side.  It was Sadie's birthday present - remember, she was at camp on her birthday. 

They had a great time! As did I. 

After the show they were so jazzed.

Sometimes it's really fun being a papa!

And then this on the subway ride back to Brooklyn. These two were troopers.

A Day at the Fair!

We all drive up to Maine a couple weekends ago for a three day weekend, but mostly to go to the Fryeburg Fair.

Here are some photos from a great day at the Fair. A huge thank you to Judy for the VIP parking pass that got us past all the lines and hassles. And a whopping big thanks to Uncle Preston who came down to join us and did more than his share of Uncleing - you made the day so much better (and easier)! (Sorry you're not in more photos)

As always, Sadie was delighted to be reunited with her old goat friends. As was Frankie.

Frankie had her first experience behind the wheel. And her big brother and sister were very accommodating.

This ride was fast and scary. Good thing I had my big girl to scream with me.

This ride was AWFUL! But I was happy to go on it with this guy. 

There's Uncle Preston on the Ferris Wheel! Hooray!!!!

Who on earth could she be referring to?

Frankie rose the Merry-go-round about a dozen times, on a different steed each time.

Sadie and Sawyer were nice enough to join their little sister in this ride as well. Such nice sibs.

And we ended the day with some disgusting Fair treats. 

What a fantastic day we all had!