[This made me laugh]

4 hours ago, voyager said:

Reminds me of the dozens of Japanese films I've watched on United and Air France.

A Japanese friend once told me that he was very worried while he was in Mexico for his honeymoon until he saw a yakult lady in Mexico City and felt like everything will be okay.

[This made me laugh]

Swallows! Of course. 

[This made me laugh]

5 hours ago, MitchW said:

There are some excellent team names in Japanese Baseball High/Pro Level...

https://npb.jp/eng/teams/

Of all of them the yakult sparrows are the most culturally significant. Look up yakult lady.

[Passover]

On 4/17/2024 at 10:08 PM, bloviatrix said:

They don't even bother to try the matzoh brand that my cousin's started (Aviv - made in Israel)

How old is your cousin? Iirc Aviv is 19th century.

It should be no surprise that my one surviving memory from Pre-K is they made us make matzoh and eat it and I refused to eat the burnt tasting yucky cracker. Generically predisposed to feinschmeckerism for sure.

[very early (and tentative) tokyo planning]

Airbnb is very difficult due to almost impossible government requirements. If you see a good listing you'll need to book it way in advance. 

There are serviced apartments (monthly mansions) that are overall excellent. They are legally for stays of over a month but you sign a secondary contract to leave sooner. I think this is a better option than a hotel but ymmv.

In terms of areas, the transportation network is so good that it's more about how many metro lines you're near than where specifically you're staying - doesn't really matter if you're 15 minutes from Meiji shrine and yoyogi and an hour from asakusa or the other way around.

[the pete wells thread]

The path of maximum confusion - open a vaguely korean burger tasting menu joint

[hoodline]

Could just be a script taking news stories from other sources and asking the regurgitation engine to "paraphrase this in the style of that"

[Passover]

I just finished curing cod roe as if it's karasumi (as the actual karasumi is running out) 

And the best and most ridiculously sized thing ever is fugu milt. It's like the fish version of quail testicles. 

eta: like -  1 pound fish vs cod

[Greenmarket]

Grandpa's Farm too.

[Will it kill or poison me?]

22 hours ago, voyager said:

Absolutely toss.   On account of the crab, not the mayo.   Today's commercial mayo has so much acid in it, as well as sterilized eggs, that it is no longer considered a cause of spoilage.   It's the other ingredients that become toxic.

That is true of mayo on its own (and yes nothing is going to happen if you leave it out, as evidenced by all of Mexico) but once you mix mayo with high moisture items (even just water) it's going to be a real microbial party. 

[momofuku ko]

As much a tautology as mobius udon.

[The New Yorker]

The noodles are so wide that even if they are orientable, trying to eat them will leave you disorientated. 

I recommend the author's wikipedia page. 

[Worth every cent?]

That moment when the byo DRC turns out to be dead... priceless

[Where We Live]

Local Holiday: Santacon

Indigenous People: Crusties

Thought Leader:

 

[NYC Earthquake]

It was pretty long, although I have to say we were the only ones at the coffee shop primed to think it's a quake and not road work nearby. 

Nice to get emergency alerts a long while after the fact.

[Eater]

What's amazing about him is the deli case is staring him right in the face saying Boar's Head and he still doesn't realize these are all the same meats in the various delis including what must be the world's least flavorful liverwurst. 

[momofuku ko]

Quote

Tew described receiving the letter as “a punch in the gut”. Momfuku’s Chang, who is of Korean descent, has helped to push Asian food forward into the mainstream, she said. “If Kraft Heinz hit me up [with a cease-and-desist] it would have been so distressing,” says Tew, “but the fact that it was Momofuku makes me feel really, really sad.”

Err...
 

Quote

Momofuku partnered with Springboard, a new platform from Kraft Heinz dedicated to accelerating the growth of disruptive brands within the food and beverage space, to bring Ssäm Sauce to retail nationwide. Momofuku’s Culinary Lab collaborated closely with Springboard to scale up the original Ssäm Sauce recipe for national distribution and to develop the new Smoky and Spicy flavors. 

 

[the pete wells thread]

Urbane Cafe in LA, seems like a fast-casual place. This is a highly technical publication aimed at chefs and restaurant owners (think pages upon pages of comparative analysis of sales data, portion sizes, trends, etc.) but their NY correspondent is the very lovely Akiko Katayama and it was a pleasure to host her. 

Anyway, the Pete Wells list - I can tell you it has a far broader reach than individual reviews. Like, my parents heard about it. 

[the pete wells thread]

I hope to get everything back later this month, but no promises yet. 
 

[the pete wells thread]

On 4/3/2024 at 9:39 AM, mongo said:

semma at #7, foxface at #81: this does not match our experience of the two restaurants on back-to-back nights last october, but let's face it, all rankings are silly*.

 

 

 

*except mine.

More importantly, we are featured in a two page, small font, black and white article in the April edition of 月刊食堂 as one of two trendsetters in America 2024. 

[the pete wells thread]

Bitcoin only!

[the pete wells thread]

I think regardless of the order it's a good list to have as it somewhat offsets the static nature of nyt stars. We did beat out Kafana, which as I told Vladimir makes me feel like a made man.

And btw we finally ate at Mắm yesterday and it was really good. 

[San Francisco]

The way they manage crab season is surprisingly rational, especially given it's California.

[San Francisco]

Of course. I saw there's a push to reopen Market to cars, which some theorize might help. I think it most likely would have helped Nordstrom and WF stay in business, but it's unclear how much of an impact it would have on foot traffic.

[San Francisco]

17 hours ago, Wilfrid said:

I was chatting with someone about my SF trip last night and they asked me if all the stories about a closed and deserted downtown were true.

I didn’t see that. Maybe there were closed storefronts but it was just like 2019 for me. Busy downtown on workdays, sad in the Tenderloin. And my phone says I walked 20 miles; it was just normal SF for me.

 

The numbers are clear - Market Street is at 65% of pre 2020 foot traffic, Financial District offices at most at 60% capacity (likely far lower as many defaults haven't been processed yet). Condos that were at 96% capacity are at under 90% with deep incentives and negative outlook. 

It's easy to forget how busy things used to be.