I’m a guy who likes his raw fish. And by “like” I mean, absolutely LOVE. That’s pretty much all the reason a guy needs to go an order himself up some sashimi.

But, wait there’s more: Let’s get personal.

Can I tell you something? I have Crohn’s disease, and for some reason, nothing soothes my tummy better than miso and sashimi. And if I feel the rumblings of a Crohn’s attack, sashimi and miso are, again, a good friend, and perhaps the only thing that I know of that has a chance of staving it off. (I recall doctors telling me that I should take fish oil pills. I feel this is a tastier, albeit, more expensive method of getting my Omega-3, or whatever the hell it is they say is so good about it.)

So, between the fact that I love it any old day of the week, and my Crohn’s, you can imagine how much I eat the stuff.

Now, I’ve logged in a good five years in Carroll Gardens. I won’t pretend that I’m a longtimer who can remember when Smith Street was REALLY SEEDY rather than REALLY TRENDY, but then five years is a long time for someone who’s not yet 30. (Not yet. I mean, hey 8 months is a LONG time.)

In my time here, I’ve tried a lot of sushi places. A lot. This post is really about Koto, but let me just go down the list of places I’m familiar with, and give you my quick assessment of each:

Hana Cafe, aka Hana Sushi (Smith St): Not bad. The miso soup is average, and the fish tastes OK. The price is good, though. Not a bad place if you’re in a pinch.

Faan (Smith St): Hit or miss. Faan was a real favorite of mine for awhile, and then there was a string of a few bad meals, culminating with me actually throwing up on the street on the way home from a meal there. Oddly, I made it back a few months later, and it seemed to be decent again. One more visit after that, and it was back to feeling sick. Another problem (as if throwing up on the street is not bad enough…), is that they only take cash and AMEX. Oh, and another problem is that their drinks are absurd. As in: “This mojito is ABSURDLY GOOD, but for TEN DOLLARS, IT’S ALSO ABSURDLY EXPENSIVE.”

Cube63 (Court St): Been there once and found the food to be wonderful. It was a little pricey. But judging by the decor, they’re kinda going for that. It’s a fancy place, and fancy places charge fancy amounts. That’s kind of a big problem for me. My hat’s off to them for serving terrific food, but the cost is too prohibitive for me to be returning any time soon, or with any frequency.

Osaka (Court St): I’ve wanted this place to be good, but I’ve been there twice and have had such extraordinarly bad experiences that I shall never go back: The miso soup isn’t even remotely tasty. Nor has it been the least bit warm. Oddly enough, the beer’s not been the least bit cold. And then the fish: Maybe it’s bad luck, but the both times I’ve been there, I haven’t been able to finish my fish, as it’s been warm, a little rubbery, and has just felt/tasted downright old. I’ve talked to people who swear by this place, and if it works for you, then by all means: knock yourself out. But, again, when it comes to my experience: no way.

Kotobuki (Columbia St): This place is a lot like Hana. It’s slightly above average. But not above it enough for you to feel all that motivated to go out and pay for their food. Should you find yourself in the area with the craving, I’d say it’s a good spot, but it’s not a place I seek out.

Fujiya/Fushimi (Court St): For months I was a regular here, and then my band went on tour for awhile, and the day after I got back, I found it was closed. This was so incredibly disappointing because it had become my favorite sushi place. Not only was the food incredible, the price was fair, the people were friendly, the hours were good, and it was so damn close to my house. I live real close to Hamilton Ave. Real close. So I’m way down toward the Red Hook side of Carroll Gardens, not the Cobble Hill Side. Since Fujiya, which changed its name to Fushimi, was at 4th and Court, it was really a great location. Abilene for a few beers, Fushimi for some food, and then home to sleep. All in one straight line. So imagine my disappointment as I looked at what used to be the restaurant, and saw instead permits in the window, dark interiors, tables gone…

…And then I remembered that before I left town, there was a place on Henry Street that was just about to open called Koto. I took a walk down there, and it was open. That was back in April. And ever since then, I’ve become a regular, and Koto has become my most highly recommended restaurant. I’ll get to why, but first a disclaimer:

I’m as much a food or restaurant critic as I am a jet pilot, but I do occasionally fly on jets, and I do occasionally eat food at restaurants. So while you’ll pardon my utter inexperience and lack restaurant/food vocabulary and knowledge, you might appreciate my angle: I’m just a guy whose dollars are scarce; so, when it comes to eating out, I like it to be whiz-bang stuff.

Immediately, I noticed the staff is very friendly. And accommodating. You know, I mean, I have to say: that’s key. Chefs conceive brilliant recipes and combinations of flavors and stuff, but at the same time, so many of us have food allergies and other health concerns. So not even counting personal pickiness, there are many reasons why someone might want to modify a menu item. Not only are they fine with this at Koto, they quickly remembered the way I like it, so I didn’t need to continually re-explain and feel like a prima donna. And I should mention: my modification requests had nothing to do with flavor, but only due to my restricted diet.

They’re not only accommodating, but passionate. The gentleman behind the sushi counter truly loves his fish, and is eager to tell you about the new salmon he has and why it’s slightly different than the one he had last week. They’ve got a good understanding of what I like, and will just as quickly steer me away from something as they’ll recommend another.

And then there’s the food: Hands down, this place has served the most consistently delicious and fresh food of any sushi place that I’ve been to here in Brooklyn, in Chicago where I used to live, and Austin where I lived before that. I lived other places before those places, but I wasn’t such a sushi eater back then.

Really, I can’t say this enough: Their fish is so fresh, it’s at times startling. On more than one occasion, I’ve dropped in for a bite, ordered a few pieces of sashimi, and have watched him produce an entirely whole fish, then proceed to clean it, cut it, and then trim my order straight from it. The resulting taste is somewhat of a quandary: The flavor is at once totally pure, and bright, and perfect, and at the same time it’s so clean and fresh that it almost seems non-existent – as if you’re taking a bit of a fish made of nothing but spring water.

But the foundation of any of my meals at a sushi joint is miso soup. Hmmm, how can I best express how sincerely I mean this…

…Story time: In my family (southern Italian), we have Italian bread with every dinner. We always have. Doesn’t matter what it is we’re eating for dinner: Pasta? Gotta have bread. Fish: bread. Soup? You better believe it. We could have bread stuffed with bread in a bread sauce, and we’d have a loaf of Italian bread on the side. My mother’s freezer is stuffed to the gills with emergency baguettes. If I haven’t quite illustrated this point enough, I’ll tell you this, and it’s completely true: In my family, the ends of the bread is considered to be the best part. My father traditionally always got the ends because he was the man of the house and he was bigger than us. Well, he’s still the man of his house, but we’re bigger (well… taller, at least) than him now, and my brother and I make sure to beat him at arm wrestling once a year, you know, just in case he was wondering if he could take us. Well so, anyways, whereas back then, he’d take the ends with no questions asked, he will also, at times, give the end to someone else at the table, and when this happens, it’s an honor. But then, there’s something he still fights for: The mashed potatoes. When we make mashed potatoes, we scoop them out of the pot, and then my mother, without fail will always try to quickly immerse the pot in soapy water. And so, over all these years, you’ll notice that whether my father is in his office or watching TV, or outside at the grill, when the potatoes are removed, he magically appears so he can intercept the pot, and clean it with a couple pieces of – what else – bread. And trust me, there’ve been times I’ve tried to do the same, and in those moments, I’m sure he can beat me at arm wrestling, ‘cos getting every last bit of those mashed potatoes with a hunk of Italian bread is his territory, and no one else steps foot in it… So, yeah, bread is important at our family meals.

And miso is just as important when I go to a sushi restaurant. Which is just another reason why Koto hits it out of the park. Served piping hot, their miso is savory, rich, and soothing. Most every other miso soup that I’ve had since going to Koto has come off weak and watery. Koto has truly set the bar.

At this point, I’d think that’s all you need to know about their food. But, I’d be neglectful if I didn’t mention another item on their menu that is so good, the first time I tried it (on a random, what the heck kind of lark), I think I said out loud “Oh my good, you have got to be kidding me.” I’m talking about their chicken yakitori. It’s a simple dish: Skewered broiled chicken. I’ve ordered it a few times, and every time, I have been served the most tender, juicy chicken I’ve ever tasted. Really, like, so tender and juicy, I was honestly surprised and wondered just how in the world did they do this?

When it comes down to it, sushi simply isn’t a cheap food. Even the all you can eat specials involve shelling out some decent cash, and then gorging yourself far beyond the limit of you’d normally eat, just so you can add it up, then do some division and walk away feeling like you just experienced the bargain of a lifetime. The tour before the most recent tour my band was on, we were playing in Chapel Hill – a nice college town. We found a sushi place, and they had a deal: 6 pieces of salmon sashimi for $2. I was shocked and excited. Of course, I ordered that, and at the same time tried to figure out how to tell my bandmates that we’ll be moving to Chapel Hill permanently. But when they brought my order of 6 pieces, I saw what they REALLY meant to say was “1 piece of salmon sashimi cut up into 6 tiny fragments for $2.” Point is: There’s no getting around it – it’s not a cheap way to eat.

So I’m not going to tell you that going to Koto will hit your wallet like a brick of Ramen noodles, but at the same time, it’s priced fair. And if you’re not as particular as me when it comes to exactly what fish you want, you can get some pretty great deals on the Sushi and Sashimi specials. I order the most expensive way possible usually: sashimi a la carte (plus miso and a beer or two, and the occasional chicken yakitori). And I’ve never come out of Koto feeling guilty – an emotion that, for me, tends to pop up the minute my hand touches my wallet. So that’s got to mean something.

And lastly, I ought to mention: It’s a really comfortable space. It’s not cramped. But it’s also not too big (one of my complaints with Faan). It’s clean, but not too fancy. And it’s casual enough to fit in the neighborhood.

Right now, from what I can tell, Koto is technically the only sushi place in Carroll Gardens. Kotobuki is technically in Red Hook, and Osaka is in Cobble Hill. Correct me in the comments if I’m wrong about that. But even if all the places I’ve listed above were located within a block of my house, I’d still go to Koto.

In other words, it’s easy to be the best sushi restaurant if you’re the ONLY sushi restaurant. But Koto is the best I’ve been to for all the other reasons: food, staff, price, and atmosphere.

KOTO IS LOCATED AT 552 HENRY STREET AT THE CORNER OF CARROLL. THEIR NUMBER IS 718-222-8055. IF YOU’VE DECIDED TO JUST SKIP DOWN TO THE ALL-CAPS BOLDED TEXT, I CAN SUM THIS NOVEL OF A POST UP FOR YOU RIGHT NOW: EAT AT KOTO.

Well…slow is more like it.

I’ve got the next package of bacon ready to be cooked, I just need to decide whose kitchen to use. As promised ages ago, here’s some photos that AlCantHang (Congrats Al on your new job with FullTilt Poker!) took of the packages I left with him. Gotta love the bacon porn.

Bacon of the Month club packages left in the skilled hands of AlCantHang.

Cooked bacon waiting to be dipped in chocolate.

And for all you poker players out there, Wicked Chops Poker (the wonderful site that has my fav posts, “WSOP 2008 Ginger of the Day”) posted an exclusive and amusing list of “Top 10 Fashion Mistakes Men Make at the Poker Table” by Erica Schoenberg. Without their permission (I apologize in advance), I’ve copied her list here:

10. When a man wears Birkenstocks or other “mandals” it’s generally a fashion don’t. The reason being most men don’t get regular pedicures or take good care of their feet; therefore they are just exposing gnarly, hairy and often crusty heels and toes. Ewwwwww.

9. Spandex. Unless you are in the Tour de France there is never a reason for this material to ever touch a man’s body.

8. Jeans that are either way too big or painfully too tight. Can’t you guys find a happy medium between wanna be rapper and “I got these jeans really tight so you could see my package”???

7. Denim shorts. NEVER. EVER.

6. This seems fairly obvious, but I do tend to see this amazingly bad look on older gentlemen – black socks and white tennis shoes. I usually just assume that the offender’s wife has just given up by this point.

5. #5 is also a look favored mostly by the Euro crowd, and again, they should lose it – capris. If the name alone doesn’t deter any normal hetero male from wearing what is essentially just a pair of short pants, well, we probably can’t help them.

4. #4 on the list is most commonly made by European men – the white belt/white dress shoe combo. This double-punch fashion-don’t just screams “I am either Norwegian or Scandinavian and I also wear a Speedo at the beach”. Nuff’ said.

3. Another common mistake in the shirt department is wearing a size medium tee shirt when you’re clearly a double XL. Listen, I’ve done it before (bought and worn those size two jeans when I’m really a size four), however, not only is it uncomfortable, but very, very unsightly.

2. I love to see men wearing something nice, like a button down dress shirt. What I don’t love, however, is when said shirt is unbuttoned to the navel. That is, unless you look like David Beckham and, well…you don’t.

1. Wearing a tank top or a white Hanes style undershirt (also known as a “wifebeater”) to play poker. I guarantee you not one person at the table wants to look at your nipples or your armpits.

“After reading my list you’ve probably realized that you, a poker playing male, have committed one or more of these fashion crimes, however…don’t be too discouraged!” says Erica. “I’m not hatin’ – I’m datin’- David Benyamine, that is, a repeat offender of the aforementioned list! So use this list as guideline and nothing more. Remember, your girlfriend or wife probably didn’t choose you because of your keen sense of style!”

I took the May Bacon of the Month package down to Maryland to cook in my mom’s kitchen.

I was there to help her move into her new apartment. The old house, three storys and four bedrooms, was getting a bit too much for her to maintain. I thought the bacon would be nice as the last thing I cooked in the kitchen where I learned to bake and cook.

mom’s old kitchen

horrible self-portrait

I decided to keep half of the package to be the first thing cooked in mom’s new kitchen. I felt it was an appropriate food to break in the new place.

another horrible self-portrait

May’s bacon had an intense smoked flavor and aroma. In fact, my mom’s old house smelled smoky for several days. The stove in the new kitchen had a very strong fan which quickly removed the smoky scent from her apartment. This bacon, like all of the Bacon of the Month club selections so far, was rather salty but not unpleasantly so.

You may have noticed that I haven’t cooked up February or April’s bacon selections. Those packages were given to the wonderful AlCantHang and I’m waiting on word (and photos) of their consumption.

June’s selection will be arriving soon so if you want to volunteer your kitchen for my “cooking the Bacon of the Month Club bacon in someone’s kitchen other than my own” project let me know.

Over the weekend I stopped by the inaugural Brooklyn Flea. My visit was two-fold. First, I love flea markets and the prospect of strolling (as cold as it was) and browsing all morning was too good to miss. Secondly, I have been working with my friends at Three Birds Bakery on the branding and packaging of their Granola and wanted to see how it all came together. And I must say, it came together nicely and the ladies even SOLD OUT! Which, I might add, is not a surprise because their granola is absolutely delicious and freshly made. They have two kinds – one with fruit and one without – both are excellent.

Anyway as far as the flea market itself, there has been a lot of blogging and commenting on how “non-flea markety” it is (sometimes I get so sick of blogs and people complaining on them — like I am doing right now- um- anyway…) . For the record, I thought that the flea was perfectly lovely. It was spacious with a good number of vendors selling a nice variety of things. I thought there were plenty of vintage/antiques to satisfy my traditional flea market cravings and while I’m personally more into the “old” stuff, I really did enjoy seeing what people were crafting and making. I’ve got my eye on a bag from the Etsy table (different fabric than this link) and may just have to go back next week to pick it up. And to all the “haters,” don’t fret, I am sure the laws of supply and demand will, over time, adjust the offerings at the flea market to suit the shoppers. But isn’t it just sort of nice to see an event organized by a small community business/entity (brownstoner) bringing together other individuals and small business of the community.

In summary – go check out the flea this weekend and keep an eye out for that granola!

As mentioned in a previous post, I’ve had a bit of a bacon backlog. I had received the Bacon of the Month packages for February and March but hadn’t had any opportunities to cook them in someone else’s kitchen. This weekend I was able to cook up the March package at the Wall Street Poker Second Chance Tournament at Jamie’s place. I was hoping to cook both month’s bacon but the Saturday event fell through for me. So I still have another package waiting to be cooked up – any volunteers?

March’s bacon was a peppered country bacon from Missouri. This bacon was sweet and chewy and not as peppery as I expected. I was hoping the bacon would be a bit more spicy.

Cooking the bacon in Jamie’s Kitchen

Figure with Meat by Francis Bacon

I just received March’s Bacon of the Month package so I now have two packages of bacon in search of a kitchen. Any volunteers?

I cooked the second package of bacon from the Bacon of the Month Club this weekend at Alceste’s Superbowl gathering. Unfortunately there was no poker but there was Rockband – I played groupie.

January’s selection was hickory smoked bacon from Jim Oliver’s Smokehouse:

This meaty, salty country bacon was a good companion with some of the sweets:

Cooking and cooked:

Cooking it up in Alceste’s kitchen:

Thanks Al!

I cooked the inaugural package of bacon from the Bacon of the Month Club (thanks Al!) this weekend at the I Had Outs tourney. Because Dawn’s cash games are known as the Crackhouse games, I thought I’d call the games with bacon the Smokehouse games.

The first package was an applewood smoked bacon from Vande Rose Farms. This thick, meaty bacon was a good combination of sweet and salty. More chewy than I like it (due to these hearty slabs) but very tasty nonetheless.

Photo courtesy of Dawn Summers

Cooking it up in Dawn’s kitchen:

Photo courtesy of Dawn Summers

Several months ago I entered AlCanthang’s essay contest to win a subscription to the Bacon of the Month club. Knowing that the competitors were talented writers, I thought I’d do a photo essay.

Although the competition was stiff (no double entendre intended) I won the grand prize.

So now I’m known in the poker blogger community as Bacon Bacini Mary. And for the big winter gathering of poker bloggers in Vegas I’ve been added to the list of prop bets for the event:

* Live re-enactment of the infamous Bacon Bikini
46. Yes +300
47. No -400

Hmmm…something tells me I might end up on next year’s list of surviving Vegas tips.

The old seltzer home delivery truck was on our block again this morning. I don’t know which of my neighbors gets seltzer home delivery but it seems like a very cool 1950s dinner party type of thing to have at home. They must have great happy hours. Anyway a few pictures below. The truck is pretty amazing. How it carries all these bottles without having them tied down, and without breaking is beyond me. Oh, and check out the “antique bottles” that have been riding on the bottom shelf for some time.

And secondly, my friends Justin and Hiro, who know of my love of cute Japanese food and product graphics, gave me this box of panda cookies. Look, one has a frowny face. awhhhh…. (translation anyone?)

Went to the Neon Lights show this past friday. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay the entire night as I had an important karaoke appointment in Red Hook . But, I did catch a few dj sets by Matt from Earfarm (nice!) and a special acoustic set by Mancino. So, being as this was my first ever Mancino set I couldn’t tell you how it differs from the electrified version – but they were great. They were down their drummer, but with just the guitar and keyboards (and a little help from some tamborinists in the audience) they pulled off a number of lovely, catchy numbers. They often bust out these very Beatles-y moments too which are a total treat. Ok, so I am not much of a music critic – but these guys are good ‘ol indie-rock. No forced quirkiness, no preciousness, no weird outfits or hair-dos, just solid, sometimes rocking, sometimes sweet music.

But an even sweeter find on Friday night were the cookies baked up by The Cookie Revolution! Andrew and I split a three cookie sampler, and they were all so good I actually couldn’t even say which one was my favorite. I took a bite of the first and was like “oh this is my favorite,” and then I did the same thing for the second and the third. They were perfectly flat-ish and chewy (how I like my cookies) and chock full of whatever bits and flavors were promised. The sampler included Oatmeal Blueberry, Chocolate Peanut butter, and I believe a Chocolate Chocolate Chip. This was nearly the last sweet sugar morsel I had this weekend before starting the raw diet (more to come on that later). In any event, I think they are just getting started and have a website in the works but I’m sure we’ll be hearing more on Cookie Revolution in the future! Go order some cookies from them! Yum.

You may think I am a little biased about this site (as OYG helped to design it) but really, Cookthink is an amazing new recipe site that can not only help you search for the perfect dish by ingredient but also by mood, dish type or cuisine. The great thing is that instead of giving you 100s of random unproven recipes you get a single recipe that sounds absolutely delicious (and you can always browse for more if you want more options). The site is currently in beta but look for an ever growing database of recipes (the recipe mapping project) and some fun new features.

Tonight I’m going to take a stab at the Tomato, Corn, Cucumber And Feta Salad. The site even has nicely integrated tips such as “What makes a mustard “Dijon” and “How to seed a cucumber“. This is especially helpful for those of us who haven’t made it past boiling.

yes there is a hot dog under there!

Went to Chicago for the weekend, ordered room service, walked on the edge of a very big lake, hung out with some good friends from college and their babies, surprised the Goes Cube and saw them play an excellent show, and most importantly we also surveyed both the famous deep dish pizza and the Chicago hot dog.

I am sorry fans of the deep dish pizza, but it just can’t compete with New York pizza. We went to Gino’s East and had a sausage and cheese. It was, well, bland. The crust was so thick and corn-bready we didn’t even get half way through it. Sorry, just not our cup of pizza. New York (and in particular Spumoni Gardens and the new joint in Carroll Gardens on Henry Street) have won the pizza battle, hands down.

But alas, the Chicago hot dog is without compare. We give credit where credit is due, and the Chicago dog, loaded with fresh chopped goodies from onions to relish to pickles and all other items in between along with a serious smear of mustard (ketchup is a serious no-no) it is absolutely delicious.

I do believe earfarm agrees with us.

I need help! I’m having a small dinner party for Halloween (didn’t you get your invite?) and I was thinking of doing an evil tapas type thing. But the only technique I’ve really mastered in the kitchen is boiling. I thought I’d once again turn to the fine readers of 423smith for some easy, tasty (and possibly spooky) recommendations. So far I’ve got “stake through the heart chicken sate.” Any other good Halloween food suggestions much appreciated. (like a dry ice smokey bowl of punch?)

Join the folks at the 2nd Place Transit Garden
this Saturday October 14th for,
Bococa Wine and Food Tasting Event Benefiting
South Brooklyn LDC and The Transit Garden,

where: corner of Smith Street & Second Place
when: Saturday 10/14/06 2PM-6PM

featuring samplings from:

Wine Tastings, Cheeses, and Crudities in the garden. Food Tasting booths will be on Subway Entry Plaza, (Smith/2nd Place) Second Place will be closed to traffic while we allow for music from our local talents and mingling. Seating will be around the entertainment and in the
garden.

There we will be a Ribbon Cutting to celebrate Carroll Garden’s newest garden, The Transit Garden at the corner of Smith Street and Second Place. Five years in the planning and creating, this garden occupies 2,280 sq. ft. at the corner of Smith Street & Second Place.

We will celebrate having secured the finalpiece of funding needed to upgrade the Culinary Arts Facility at the School For International Studies Court & Baltic Streets) to house a State of the art fully NYS accredited three year High School Course of Study in the Culinary Arts for the youth of our Brooklyn neighborhoods, a campaign SBLDC has worked on for many years along with the growth of Smith Street as a Food venue.

Coupon Books with Values of $20 (12 Tastings) and $10 (5 Tastings) (Mix & Match Food and/or Wine) will be sold in advance and on that day. Of course there will also be some child-friendly items to drink & taste, plus bottled water.

Rain date Sunday 10/15 , 2-6PM