Month: December 2004

Categories
Enjoyed

Chef’s Choice at Matsu

I raved about Matsu in my recently posted Restaurant Guide for the Winter. Katie and I had long ago decided we’d hit it up for her birthday (which was today – she’s 25. Be sure to wish her a happy birthday!), and go for the adventurous “Chef’s Choice” dinner for the two of us.

While I didn’t have the camera on me to continue the trend of photographing what I’m eating, I can textually describe the entire affair:

First: Seafood soup. Clear broth, with crab + shrimp + whitefish + mussel + scallop. Broth was delicious, fish was too.

Second: Baby clams (each half was about the size of a penny) in a soy garlic sauce. A little hard to eat but extremely tasty.

Third: Shark Fin salad. The delicate flavored of shark fin was matched with sesame, which helped bring down the strong flavour of the shark fin. (Anyone who’s watched Battle Yogurt on Iron Chef with me should get that.)

Fourth: Ebi sashimi with wasabi tobiko on top, and prawn tempura. The ebi was good, but I’ve never been much for prawns.

Fifth: Toro tartar, I think with a little bit of yellowtail in as well. Heaven, absolute heaven. My favorite on the night, because I’m a huge mark for toro.

Sixth: Scallops steamed in sake, and served cold. At this point we started feeling full – then were told that we had sushi coming and then the main course.

Seventh: Sex On The Beach Roll (shrimp tempura inside, rice, seaweed, grilled eel, tobiko, three kinds of sauces.), plus six giant pieces of sashimi (two salmon, two tuna, two something else).

Eighth: Tuna Teriyaki. Whole sushi-grade tuna steak, done teriyaki style, with vegetables and a bed of onions. I know I keep saying this, but man, this was good.

Ninth: The big surprise – one I had known about from Monday, but managed to hide from Katie and she was completely shocked. They had bought Katie a small birthday cake – sponge cake with white icing, and Gary had put fresh fruit on top.

Add on to that a few sodas, two free beers, and green tea – we are unbelievably stuffed. I am in a near food coma, and the bill came to $90 for the two of us (not including tax and the absurd tips we tend to leave).

I don’t think I’ll have a better Japanese meal than this one for the remainder of my life.

Categories
Enjoyed

Pizza, Skating, Good People, Good Times

Slice Club was definitely worth the trip.

Big thanks to Youngna, Laren, Nichelle, and of course Adam the Pizza Overlord, for all making the night so damn enjoyable. It was sad that the skating was slightly thwarted by The Trump Zambonis, but it wouldn’t be New York City without Donald Trump somehow screwing it up, I guess.

I look forward to the next Slice club. For now, I go to bed with a full stomach and aching feet.

Categories
Disliked

Open Letter To Starbucks

Dear Starbucks,

For the record, the combination of steamed apple juice with cinnamon flavoring, then topping said beverage with whipped cream and caramel sauce, does not constitute a “Caramel Apple Cider”. Generally, the word “cider” is used to actually refer to “cider”, and not “juice”. I realize that this may be a difficult concept for some baristas to grasp, but I think with proper corporate training, you could make great advances in selling what you’re advertising.

Sadly, this is listed as such on your beverage page, dashing my hopes that this was a one-store issue. Said web page also includes mention of your “proprietary” caramel sauce. Let me tell you, nothing gets my appetite going like the word “proprietary”.

Similarly, I had been told that your hot cocoa is not, in fact, cocoa – it’s your mocha syrup, with shots of vanilla to neutralize the coffee flavoring. Indeed, this is ALSO listed as such on your beverage page, but not so well conveyed in your stores. Is it so difficult to actually MAKE hot cocoa? Is there some shortage of cocoa powder?

If you’re going to charge $3 for these drinks, do you think you could use the actual components mentioned in the product title? Please?

xoxo,
Dan