Gotham Gal

Last day in Tokyo

There is so much to do in Tokyo but I think that four days was just the right amount for a first time visit.  I am sure that there are plenty of other places we could have seen and some of them were on our list but in the end we did what we could do.  

We started the day off at the Mitsukoshi Department store.  This is amazing piece of sculpture is on the first floor.  We came to see the food halls.  To me, there is nothing quite like a great food hall.  Harrods did it first decades ago and it appears that since then everyone has got into the game.  This particular food hall was amazing.

What is so incredible is the detail to packaging and presentation.  We just walked around.  Here are some highlights.  Tempura.

Sushi sandwiches.

Make your own sushi packages.

Black bean sweets

Green tea desserts

Dumplings

Kimchi

Lotus root

Mountain of salmon roe

Had to taste a few dumplings.

We then went to Takishamaya which has a food hall in the basement too.  The store was totally disappointing.  Takishamaya in NYC was an incredible store.  Really well curated with items that you can not get anywhere else especially their jewelry department.  I was so sad when they closed.  The Takishamaya in Tokyo is like going to Macys.  Nothing unique at all.  Alas.

We had to go to the bathroom and I just had to take a photo of the Japanese style toilet.  They are very into their toilets here.  Most of them have heated seats.  They also have an entire menu of things you can do with your toilet seat including massage on the Western toilets.  

Next stop is Tokyu Hands.  There are a few around the city.  The pen section is insane and so are their stickers.  Pens are big here.

Muji was next.  This Muji is huge and is located on the 2nd floor of a building that has the store Loft in the ground floor.  Muji is an interesting store.  They have their own label on everything.  Lots of pens, food products, furniture and clothes.  

Lunch time.  We went to Sushi Kanesaka located in the basement of a building in the Ginza area.  We sat next to three Japanese business men.  Made me think of mid-town NYC.  Our chef was Shinji Kanesaka.  We began with a small salad of seaweed, thinly sliced shiso and I believe thinly sliced radishes with a soy based sauce.  It was the perfect way to start the meal.  Simple with clean flavors.

First piece was snapper.

Amber jack.  

Check out this piece of tuna.  

Getting ready for the flight of tuna.

Tuna.

Toro.

Abalone.

Tiger shrimp.

Mackarel.

Spanish Mackarel.

Small shrimp.

Salmon roe.

Gooey clam.

Uni.

Eel.

Dried sweet roll ( not sure what was in it ) and a piece of egg that was like eating custard.  Phenomenal meal.  The size of each piece was just perfect.  Each flavor just lingered in your mouth.  Wow.

Next stop was Tobin Ohashi Gallery.  All the galleries are closed at this time of the year so we have been getting private showings.  The two men who own the gallery couldn't be nicer.  One of them is from Boston and has been living in Tokyo for 25 years.  The other grew up in the south of Japan.  They are charming.  This is a wood sculpture with nails driven into it.  The artist is Yusuke Nishi.  I really like this piece.

This Chinese artist is Zhu Wei.  This silkscreen print is of a past dictator.

These pencil drawings are by Masumi Yoshida.  A young Japanese artist drawing people that represent modern Japan.  

Last stop of the day was Dover Street Market.  DSM is one of my favorite stores in London.  The one in Tokyo is similar.  Really well curated mixture of clothes and accessories.  I am a big fan and am looking forward to them opening in NYC in 12/13 on Lexington and 30th street.

Back to the hotel before dinner.

 

Misono

Misono is all about the kobe beef.  Located at the top of a building in the Ginza section of Tokyo.  We were ushered back to a semi-circular table where one half was bar stools and the other half was a hot stainless grill.  

Once we sat down they gave us each a plate of cured ham.  Then the grilling began.

Our chef put the vegetables on the grill.

Then he put the pot over them to grill and roast at the same time.

A salad came out with a very light vinegar based dressing.

Voila our veggies are ready to eat.

Here is our kobe beef raw.  See the garlic slices next to it?  I nixed that.

Our chef seasoning the meat.

Slices of meat ready to eat.

A small dessert to end the night.  Strawberry ice cream, cheese cake and a strawberry.

Nice night.  Very rich meat.  You do not need a lot to hit the wall.  

 

Tokyo, Day 3

How could we not come to Tokyo and see the Sumo wrestlers?  We took the train out to where they are located. The trains are very civilized.  Packed with people but there is an etiquette which is followed. People actually stand in line to go up the escalator vs cramming in with hopes to get up to the top first. The stations are clean too.

There is the top tier of sumo wrestlers that get paid and then there is a second tier that lives and works at the stables but do not get paid.  The lower tier waits on the top tier sumo wrestlers with the hopes of becoming one of them over time.  The whole sport is fascinating. Six events a year. The largest sumo wrestler ever weighed in at around 600 pounds.  The sport takes place inside a small ring.  You can not step outside the ring or fall down or you lose.  They are seriously strong big men.  Once you get over the shock of seeing them you just watch.  First they bow to each other.

Then they ram into each other in order for one of them to take the other one out.  They also do a lot of shuffling around and exercising watching and waiting for their turns.  The floor is dirt.

After a few hours they all stretch together.  It was wild.

We then went over to the oldest shrine in Tokyo called the Senso-Ji located in Asakusa.  In front of the temple is a long stretch of stores filled with food and gifts.  Kind of shlocky.  

In front of the shrine is a large square box filled with incense that people take in before they walk up to the shrine.   Behind the glass is a service going on.  

This is the view from the top of the stairs.  People put money in the box in the front of this photo.  

We then went over to Kappabashi-Dori which is a long street filled with kitchen supply stores.  If I had time I would have strolled for hours.  

This store carried all the signs you might want for your restaurant.  I should have brought this home.

Napkins?

Check out these knives.

Food too.

We then went over to the Ueno area where there is a street market.  I was looking for a particular stall but instead we just bought some of these sushi sandwiches.  Rice stuffed into a wrap of nori with a little fish on top or stuffed inside. 

We got a variety.  They are really good and inexpensive.

Our next stop was the Tokyo train station to have lunch.  We picked up some of these Hi-chews which are Japanese starbursts.  

Rokurinsha is the noodle shop we went to which is located in an area of the Tokyo train station called Ramen Way.  There was a line but it moves quickly.  

Once you get to the front of the line an attendant has you put your cash in this vending machine and choose what dish you want.  Then you get a ticket.  Once they sit you down you give your ticket to another attendant and they bring you your soup.  In essence no cash changes hands with anyone who works there.

Here is the shop.

The noodles were really good and seriously filling.  Thick noodles that you dip into a bowl of broth with pieces of pork and vegetables.  I got an added bonus of a rich deep yellow soft boiled egg.  

Here is a guy making noodles in one of the other shops.

Our next stop was the Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art.  The building is fantastic.  No pictures allowed but I did get this one of Fred and Jessica sitting in these super comfy chairs.  There were a few exhibits and then of course the permanent collection.  They are pretty strict about which one you see first.  Very orderly.  The first exhibit was around the merging of music and art.  Each of the exhibits were so well curated.  You had to follow a certain path which made so much sense as the exhibit unfolds.  Really glad we went to this museum.  

Back to the hotel for a few hours of rest and relaxation which I had really yet not had.  Sorely needed.  

 

 

Birdland

Finding Birdland took some negotiations.  I thought it was one place and it wasn't.  Fred thought it was about two blocks away and it was but it wasn't.  Jessica finally figured it out.  It was down in the basement in the train station.  There is a theme going on here.  I just wonder if it only happens to tourists.  Birdland is a yakitori restaurant located next door to Jiro Sushi.  I can't decide what was more exciting finding the restaurant or finding out it was next door to Jiro Sushi.  If you have seen the movie Jiro Dreams of Sushi, you will understand that seeing Jiro was seriously a highlight.  I did not make reservations to eat there because since the movie the meal has gone up to an insanely high price for about a 30 minute meal.  This went under the heading, just because you can doesn't mean you should.  

Birdland has a square bar that wraps around the chefs in the middle who cook our dinner over a hibachi grill.  

Dinner was another omikase.  Three in one day is killing me.  We could only figure that much out by reading the menu and went with it.  The first plate was a little taste of chicken flavors.  Gizzard and a few pieces of some type of veggies.

A sweet chicken liver pate with slices of a baguette.

Simple grilled chicken with dots of wasabe on top.

Grilled chicken pieces with scallions in between the kabobs.

Grilled chicken livers.  

A stange thick tofu with an oil over the top with a roasted cherry tomato.  

Small grilled potatoes

Grilled teriyaki chicken pieces

Small bowl of micro greens

Chicken sausages

Pieces of a grilled chicken thigh

Grilled mushrooms

Grilled chicken pieces with scallions and leeks in between.  

Last course was a rice bowl with egg and chicken.  All and all the whole meal didn't do much for me.  I was seriously still stuffed from breakfast.  I picked.  It was a strange place.  Even the glasses of wine we ordered were so small in a regular sized big glass if was if they were holding us back.  The best part was seeing Jiro and his son bowing at their patrons on the way out the door.

 

Tokyo, Day 2

Prepare yourself, this was a seriously long day with a ridiculous amount of food.  We began the day at the fish market.  A must in Tokyo.  December is the only time you are not allowed into the tuna auction so instead of getting up to get there at 430am you can get there around 630am.  We took two cabs over to the fish market.  One dropped some of us in the right location, the other did not.  This appears to be standard fare in Tokyo.  I am not sure if the taxi drivers do not know exactly where they are supposed to go or they just don't care.  Emily and Fred ended up at the main entrance and the rest of us ended up in the back behind the wholesale fish market.  You are not supposed to go into that area until after 9am but nobody stopped us as we made our way to the other side.  

Controlled chaos is one way to describe the scene.  People are flying around on these yellow vehicles that move fast like golf carts but are like miniature crane lifters.  You could easily be taken out if one of these hit you. The first thing we saw when we walked into the wholesale building were these huge fish just hanging out on the floor.

We continued walking through the wholesale market until we got to the area we needed to be in.  I took a few pics en route. Clams.

Red Octopus.

The boxes that hold all the fish being broken down for the day.  They must come up with a better fabric for those fish.  This stuff sticks around for hundreds of years.

We finally made our way to the other side and found Daiwa Sushi.  Fred and Emily were still missing.  It is not easy to find each other because all the signs are in Japanese.  Eventually we found each other and at this point the line at Daiwa was beyond long. But we did not come all the way to Tokyo not to eat here.  We found the place looking at a Google map photo of the Japanese letters and figured it out.  

It was freezing outside and yes we waited in line for over two hours.  Suckers perhaps but a worthy experience.  We watched people come and go on their bikes getting their fish from the wholesale marketing, packing up their boxes and taking off.  

By the time we got in I am pretty sure you have never seen such happy people getting inside to get warm and just sit down.  Our chefs were charming.  There is a woman who basically runs the place and the line.  She has it down.  You have to tell her before you go inside which omikase you want, 8 pieces or 10.

First dish was a warm block of ginger scallion egg.  It was the perfect beginning for our breakfast.

Green tea to warm us up.

The chef started us off with a piece of ridiculously buttery toro.  Melted in our mouths.

Flounder.

Miso soup with a piece of fish that had been cooking for quite awhile to create the intensity of the broth. Honestly might have been the best miso soup I have ever had, hands down.

Red snapper.  Amazing.

Uni that just melted in your mouth.

Mackarel with a scallion mixture on top.

Gooey clam that is still alive.  The chef gave each clam a whack before putting it on the rice.  Strange but delicious.

Tuna that is simply divine.  

Pieces of tiny shrimp.

Tuna roll and cucumber crab roll.

Snapper.

Broiled eel.

Hamachi.  This piece of yellow tail was so damn good that I honestly did not want to swallow but just let the richness of the fish and taste linger in my mouth.  The experience is well worth it.  The pieces of fish are amazing, the chefs are characters and the whole place is unique.  

We walked around the market afterward before moving on to our next adventure.  Coffee was seriously in order.  Fred found this coffee shop in Shibuya.  The neighborhood is filled with narrow rambling streets with coffee shops and other stores.  

Omotesando Koffee is located inside a small wooden home and inside is a barista and a big machine. Really good coffee.

Besides coffee they also sold these custard squares.  Think French canelles Japanese style.  

Our next stop was the Watari Museum.  The museum is composed of four floors devoted to an exhibition. This is one of the pieces in the show.  

Before our next meal we strolled around the area.  This food truck was parked down an alleyway.

We dropped in this pen store.  What is interesting is in a country that is so futurist is also about tradition.  They still sell plenty of CD's as Tower Records is huge here and there is still an audience for a pen store.  It is interesting.

Our next stop was Tofuya Ukai Take located next to the Tokyo Tower (picture above).

This restaurant is seriously old school.  The waitstaff is women dressed as geishas.  An old rambling restaurant that is set among greenery.  Truly beautiful.  Each table is set in a tatami room.  Truth is there was something about our sushi breakfast that just made me so full that I had a hard time eating anything the rest of the day but regardless I was not a fan of the food here at all.  Just strange.  

I figure I will share the photos and menu for fun.  Boiled quail meat-balls with a pumpkin paste formed into a ball on the side.

Deep fried tofu with sweet miso sauce.

A few pieces of tuna

Simmered crab inside a fried tofu ball.

Salmon roe and pickled turnip, shrimp covered with crushed rice crackers and mushrooms with green vegetables.  

Tofu in a seasoned soy milk.

Steamed rice with pieces of sweet potato.

Sweet abzuki-beans soup.  

After lunch we drove over to Opening Ceremony which is in the neighborhood.  The store is eight stories and each floor is meant to represent a different style of American architecture.  This picture gives you an idea what the streets look like.  The lights work so that you can walk through the middle of an intersection including corner to corner.  Kind of clever.

Here is a picture from inside the store.  When we were done we went back to the hotel but Jessica and I soldiered on.  Her camera was on the fritz so we decided to go to a store in Ginza and see about buying another one.  Finding the store, like the restaurants, was not easy.  We finally located it with a little help (asking) as we were there but did not realize it was on the 8th floor of a building.  The store was filled with new and used cameras.  She got an incredible bargain on a camera but the transaction with the people there who spoke zero English was truly an out of body experience.  

 

 

 

 

 

Sushiya

We were all beyond exhausted but kept it together for dinner pushing us to get on Tokyo time.  Finding the restaurant was not easy.  Nothing is easy to find here.  Most places are located down random alleys on different floors.  You know you are there from Google maps but you are not there.  It can be very frustrating.

Sushiya is a small restaurant with only 8 seats.  We took over the entire restaurant.  There was nobody else there except for us which makes for a very unique experience.  The chef, Takao Ishiyama and his side kick served us.  

We began with a small bowl of roe.  Sweet, tasty large eggs that literally explode in your mouth.  

Marinated tuna seared on the edge that we dipped into the soy dipping sauce.

Chopped baby shrimp

Monk fish liver.  Not for the faint of heart.  Really creamy and rich.

Grilled scallops between two pieces of seaweed.  A scallop sandwich.

Seaweed that is sitting in a gingery cold broth.

Grilled swordfish which was incredibly sweet.

Toro sushi.  Rich and melts in your mouth.

Marinated tuna in soy.

Abalone.  A little tough but interesting.

Tiger shrimp lightly cooked.  The chef obviously has hot hands.  He ripped the shrimp out of its shell while it was steaming hot to make this piece of sushi.

Mackarel split open with a scallion tasting pesto on top.

Hamachi, yellow tail.

Gooey clam.

He took a bowl of rice and put 5 large pieces of uni over the top and a little bit of soy sauce.  He then mashed this up to create an uni rice.  Then put a little bit in each bowl and topped it with some more fish roe.  Pretty spectacular.

Grilled eel.

Chopped toro handroll.  You can't beat this.

A large piece of sweet egg for dessert.

We rolled home and hit the bed hard!

 

Tokyo, Day 1

I woke up just as the sun began to rise over Tokyo.  Pretty sweet view from our hotel room.

We had breakfast at the hotel.  I went with the Japanese version of breakfast.  Poached egg in a soy broth that I slid into a bowl of miso soup.  I also had a few pieces of dim sum on the side.  I could get used to this.

Our first stop was at the Meiji Jungu shrine.  It is the Daddy of all Tokyo shrines.  Before going in you are supposed to take this water (left hand first) over each of your hands and then take a sip of the water.  

Then you come into the area where the shrine is.  

You are supposed to get one of these wooden signs and write your wish on it and leave in the area obviously hoping your wise will come true.

These sake barrels are enshrined by the sake brewers around Japan to show their deep respect for Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken.

We walked over to the Harajuku area.  It was actually great to be there in the morning right before everything opened up.  Come 4pm the place is packed.  There are literally vending machines on every block.

This particular area is the teen culture mecca.  Reminds me a little bit what 8th street used to be years ago in NYC.  We also walked up and down Cat Street where there are more funky boutiques

Inside the Gyre building are a few high end stores but what we really came for is to check out the 3rd floor where there is a 3D camera store.  Unfortunately we did not make reservations for a photo shoot because I had just found out about it but the concept is awesome.  I'd love to get a family photograph.

This is one side of Cat Street.  

For lunch we went to Harajuku Gyoza.  No reservations and the line can be insane.  We got there early.  The menu is short and sweet.  Fried dumplings, steamed dumplings, cabbage, bean sprouts with meat sauce and cucumbers.  The other items are drinks.  

Steamed dumplings.  

Fried dumplings.  They are just perfect.  Not greasy like you tend to get just crisp.

Pickled cabbage.  This was awesome.  I could have eaten bowls of this stuff.  Sliced cucumbers in a sesame paste.

Boiled bean sprouts with a meat sauce.  Think Italian meat sauce over bean sprouts.  

I am making sure I find a big jar of this chili sauce to take home.

Up the street is the Louis Vuitton Building and on the 7th floor there is a rotating art installation. The room is beautiful and overlooks the city.  This particular installation is from Ernesto Neto.  You talk off your shoes and walk through this hanging structure.  

Down the street is a food installation called 246 Common.  It is only open until March.  Reminds me a little bit of Brooklyn Smorgrasbourg.  This is a cool stall for the Octopus Balls.

Roasted sweet potatoes cooked on hot rocks.

A green vegetable garden in the middle of the stalls.

We continued on to Franc Franc which is a furniture store.  We thought there was a Monocle Shop inside but it wasn't there.  The light fixture in the middle of the store is very cool.

I loved the architecture of the Prada Building.  It looks like a big building of quilted glass.  It was built by Herzog and de Meuron, a Swiss design team.  

We had a private showing at Art Front Gallery.  This particular artist was actually there when we went.  Gold embellished on to old style Japanese paintings.

Upstairs (their back room) was this glass scultpure.

This is a Brazilian Japanese artist.  

These were cool.  Pieces of rock from all over the world split in half with plexiglas inserted in the middle.  You could then see the reflection of the innards of the rocks.  

Around the corner is Tsutaya Books.  This area we are in is called Daikanyama.  The store is called the T store because the exterior is made with woven T's.  There are 3 buildings.  There is a cafe, a book store, a camera store, a bike store and more.  

One store had these round cakes to buy and inside these cakes is freeze dried soup.  You drop these in warm water and soup is on.

There was even a dog salon.

Onward down to Bombay Bazaar.

This is what the back streets look like behind the main shopping streets.

Had quite a field day in this sock shop.

This store is called Loveless which was right across the way from Eataly.

We were in need of some serious caffeine and stopped in to the Corner Shop for an amazing cup of coffee.  

Our last stop was Map Camera.   We drove over to that area.  Jessica had to get her camera looked at. There are stores and stores of cameras.

Back to the hotel to relax a bit before dinner.  

 

 

Osaka Restaurant, Tokyo

You get on a plane in NYC, get yourself settled and 14 hours later you are in Tokyo.  That alone takes a bit to grasp.  You have just left your home and before you know it you are half way around the world.  Just for beginners the time zone piece wacks you out.  

I began planning this trip sometime last spring.  I used the service Trip-Bod, hand crafted trips by locals.  Jessica worked for Sally Broom last summer who is the entrepreneur behind this company.  She connected me with a guy in Japan who has been incredible.  He has listened to everythng I have said and what we are looking for.  He had restaurants and stores on his list that I had on mine.  That is always a good sign.  Not only that but the attention to detail and coordination of cars, maps etc is impressive.  I am really excited for the next 10 days.

Last night we got in around dinner time.  The restaurant is a 10 minute walk from our hotel but the concierge recommended we cab it.  Two separate cabs.  They gave us a map and a google map photo of the building so we knew what we were looking for when we got there.  Not so easy.  Our cab went to the wrong place first and I pushed him that it was not the right location because the photogaph did not look like the building.  Fred and Jessica were not so lucky.  They got out, they got lost, Josh and Emily had to send them the location of where we were through Google Maps.  Kind of harrowing but they eventually found it about 30 minutes after we got there.  Supposedly this is typical of cab drivers in Tokyo.  

The restaurant, Osaka, is only about 24 seats. tops.  6 of them are at the bar.  The menu is in Japanese so I had discussed earlier with our guide what we would eat.  We began with sake.  I love these small bottles that the sakes comes in.  It is like getting your own soda can.

We began with crunchy marinated cucumber sticks in a sesame spicy sauce.  Really good.

Stir fry mushrooms in a light soy based sauce.

Asparagus with a mayonaisse dipping sauce.

Grilled scallops with spinach.  Super simple and delicious.

Steak that was light, flavorful and had the consistency of butter that we dipped into a ponzu sauce mixture and salt.  

A mixture of stir fry vegetables and seafood in an egg mix allowing the mixture to set.  Then a Japanese bbq sauce and shaved benito over the top.  

They obviously knew we just got in.  

We walked home since we had our bearings straight.  What a day or two.  It is just a blur right now but I am sure in a day or so I will be on the program.  

Happy Holidays

Here is our holiday card this year.  I thought the caption was just perfect.  It has been a crazy year. Living out of our place for over two months has not been the height of 2012.  I am hoping 2013 will be a year with out any floods.  

More lazy days on my couch, more time in my kitchen, more time with the family and more time taking out the time to smell the coffee.

Question of the week #14

This past week I spent some time with the team at Curbed Media.  We had a really positive board meeting during the day and that night I went to their holiday party.  I was speaking with the President of the company about how far we have all come.  We all probably just knew enough to be dangerous when the company raised the first round of capital.  As a board member for the past five years, I feel like I have learned and grown right alongside the company.  So this particular question was a great one to answer this week.  

What was your 1st board seat? What did you do?

Funny enough my first board seat was when I chaired MOUSE. Nothing like starting at the top. I took a few seats at that time but MOUSE was the first.  Being a chairperson of a non-profit organization was an experience in itself.  At that point I was more apt to rule like a dictator but I quickly learned that nothing gets done that way.  I spent time speaking with each board member prior to a meeting, getting everyone on board to get something passed before the meeting, focusing on a few things at once that we could accomplish at a board level by not spending too much time in the weeds.  The weeds are meant for the Executive Director not the Board Chair.  It was a good lesson to learn.

My first board seat on a start-up was with a company called UPOC.  Universal Point of Contact.  The founder was a partner at Silicon Alley Reporter and one of my best friends.  I invested in the company and took the board seat.  I spent a lot of time making sure the board did not screw him which is not a good seat to be in.  The lead investor was terrible.  He had no idea how to really help a company grow.  He just showed up at every meeting expecting that everything we discussed doing at the prior board meeting must have been accomplished without him getting involved.  They hired a new CEO to replace my friend and I felt they had chose the wrong one.  In the end, I was right, the company eventually closed shop and there most definitely could have been an exit that would have been good for everyone involved.  

What I learned from each of those experiences have been invaluable as I have taken what I have learned and applied it to every board I am involved with now.  The two things that really stand out are make sure that everyone is on the same page before a board meeting.  It makes for a much more productive meeting when everything is flushed out before hand.  That way everyone is given a chance to chime in on the process before a decision is made.  The second thing is probably the most important.  Don't take money just to take money.  You want investors who understand you and your product.  You want investors who really want to work for you and with you.  You can not get rid of your investors but they can get rid of you.  Hiring a new CEO made sense at UPOC but the one they chose made me realize that the people running the deal had really no sense of what the company could do.

I continue to learn at every turn.  Each board is different.  Each company has a different set of issues. It is really experience that has made me a better board member and you never stop learning.