White Smoke Texas smokehouse - anyone been?

>If you think, "the price of food in the USA should be the same as the prices in Tokyo" then you shouldn't go out anywhere in Japan.

Thanks for the advice. I don't think this way, though.

I generally liked the quality of the Dinosaur Rib when I tried it. I just wasn't thrilled with the cost/performance. While they advertise the size as being 500g, the bones are substantial and seemed to account for about half of the weight. One portion was not nearly enough for me, though granted I am a large eater.

I don't begrudge Craig for charging the prices that he does. The Azabu Juban location is certainly not cheap, he created a nice space, and his concept is unique in Tokyo. In particular, the Dinosaur Rib is a dish you can probably find only at White Smoke in all of Japan. He does good business, so he obviously knows what he's doing.

>"where can you go and get ~500g of meat of the same quality in Tokyo for a cheaper or even equal price?"

Have you tried Wakanui, on the other side of Azabu Juban (Higashi Azabu, actually) as White Smoke? For 8,800 yen they offer a 1kg bone-in ribeye Angus steak that is excellent. It's grilled over binchotan charcoal, not BBQed, however. For me, that steak passed the cost/performance test. After presenting the just-grilled steak to us, the waiter sliced it into a few more manageable pieces. It was plenty for the two of us. The wine list is unexciting and a touch pricey, however.

wakanui.jp

Full and half portion photos of Wakanui's 1kg ribeye are attached.

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Is food in Japan safe after Tsunami? Is traveling Recommended? Also please give restaurant suggestions.

If you loved the Molecular Tapas Bar at the Mandarin Oriental, you may want to consider Yamada Chikara in Minami Azabu. Caveat - I have never been there, but if you do some Googling you will find some glowing testimonials. The chef apparently worked at El Bulli for a while before opening his own place.

http://www.yamadachikara.com/

Dinner is 16K yen per person, unless the price has changed in the past several months.

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where to buy absolut peppar in tokyo

I searched and there are a few shops that sell the 750ml bottles on Rakuten. No signs of the 1 litre size, unfortunately.

http://search.rakuten.co.jp/search/mall/absolut+peppar/510915/st.A-v.2

Also, I think it would be worthwhile to check at the Duty Free shops at Narita Airport. I wouldn't be surprised if they sold Absolut Peppar there.

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Zauo/ other "weird" restaurants

Robb, are you referring to Beer Rock in your post above? I really liked that place and I always enjoyed talking with the owner. Does anyone know if he opened up a new bar elsewhere?

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Any Suggestions for the Best Mid-Level Sushi in Tokyo?

The braised pork dish you had at Tamoiyanse is called buta no kakuni (豚の角煮 or just 角煮). Their menu is posted online at their website at the below URL.

http://tamoiyanse.com/

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White Smoke Texas smokehouse - anyone been?

Thank you for the information about California Wine Garden, Asomaniac. I have walked by there many times, but have never stopped in for a drink. Apparently that will have to change soon.

Speaking of Azabu Juban wine bars, have you been to Vino Hirata? Way back in the day I went to Cucina Hirata a few times for some wallet-emptying dinners, but had never been to Vino Hirata until a few weeks ago. Contrary to my experience at Cucina Hirata, I found some of the wines at Vino Hirata to be well-chosen and with reasonable mark-ups. Very nice setting, too.

Since I am venturing off-topic anyway, thanks to you I bought a few bottles of Percarlo for the holidays and drank a bottle recently. It's such a nice wine, with both complexity and balance.

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sake-related request

Unfortunately I haven't been to either of the places that you listed, so I would not be able to provide an introduction. I would love to join if you need company, though.

According to the below post by the dearly departed (from this country, not necessarily this board) jem589, a fairly regular member of this board (whom we know) joined him at Shutoan. I think she may be out of town at the moment, but hopefully she can be persuaded to arrange something in the near future.

http://iitokorone.blogspot.com/2010/05/shutoan-yotsuya.html

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White Smoke Texas smokehouse - anyone been?

I have been to White Smoke twice for dinner. Overall I think the quality of the food is quite good. However, their BBQ is uniformly over-priced, and in the case of the "Dinosaur" short ribs, insanely so.

I just checked their website and they have raised their priced over the last time I was there. The first time I went, the Dinosaur ribs were 4,200 yen and while I enjoyed them, I felt substantially over-charged. Now, it seems that they are charging 7,000 yen for this dish. For this amount, you could easily feed a family of 5-6 at the best BBQ joints in the U.S. The ribs weigh in at 450 grams, but half of that weight is the bone. Therefore, you get about 250 grams of meat for 7K yen. I would avoid this dish unless someone else is paying. Even then, I would still recommend ordering something else.

On the plus side, the quality of the beef brisket is very good and it's not as severely over-priced as the short ribs. Definitely order the brisket. Also worth ordering are the baby back pork ribs and smoked chicken.

From the sides, I liked the apple cabbage cole slaw and the roasted shallots with watercress. If you like dessert, their pecan pie is excellent.

URL: http://thebettertable.com/

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Has anyone been for dinner at L'Effervescence?

Robbie Swinnerton wrote two recent reviews of L'Effervescence, both in the Japan Times newspaper and on his blog.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fg20111202rs.html
http://foodfile.typepad.com/blog/2011/12/two-more-from-chef-namae.html

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Tokyo izakaya/yakitori recommendations (for people living in Japan)

I haven't been there in several years, but I am sure Kushiwakamaru in Naka Meguro is still worth checking out for tasty, reasonably-priced yakitori. It's been around forever and it's a fun place with a classic atmosphere.

http://r.tabelog.com/tokyo/A1317/A131701/13003193/
http://www.inpraiseofizakaya.com/in-praise-of-izakaya/2010/5/7/kushiwakamaru-nakameguro.html

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Florilege in Aoyama

Has anyone been to Florilege, a French restaurant in Aoyama? It opened in September 2009 and the chef is the former sous chef at Quintessence. For what it's worth, the restaurant gets a very high score on Tabelog and there is a two month wait to get a table on weekends (I called). According to their website, they only offer a set course for dinner, but it's a fairly reasonable 10,500 yen.
http://www.aoyama-florilege.jp/

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Top Gaijin eats or Non-Japanese foods in Tokyo

Robbie Swinnerton reviewed Hato's Bar and Devilcraft in today's Japan Times. Devilcraft sounds like a good place if you are craving Chicago-style deep dish pizza. Anyone been there yet?

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fg20110819rs.html
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fg20110819sr.html

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Aquavit - review

I am not sure if this is appropriate here, but happy birthday Asomaniac. I am glad you were able to celebrate with an excellent dinner and tasty adult beverages. Thanks for the review.

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Japanese Curry in Tokyo

Here is a link to a fairly long curry thread that started in December 2009.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/672397

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Catering Service or Take-away for Party at Home in Tokyo

And if you like Aussie cuisine:
148 Hiroo Catering: http://lovestocook.net/wp/?page_id=61

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Top Gaijin eats or Non-Japanese foods in Tokyo

Frijoles recently opened a second branch in the Piramide (Pyramid) Building in Roppongi.

http://www.frijoles.jp/

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overrated/overpriced in tokyo

A recent thread had me wondering what people feel are the most overrated and/or overpriced restaurants in Tokyo. Judging from past threads, Gompachi (overrated), Hirosaku (overpriced), and Hamadaya (both) probably qualify. Any others?

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Best oysters in Tokyo?

I really like the Fish House Oyster Bar in Ebisu. It's a casual place with an excellent selection of oysters. Here are some photos from a recent visit.

http://oyster-bar.jp/

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Hot peppers in Tokyo?

There is an online store on Rakuten that sells various dried and canned chilis.

http://item.rakuten.co.jp/loj/c/0000000210
http://item.rakuten.co.jp/loj/c/0000000211

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Top Gaijin eats or Non-Japanese foods in Tokyo

I also tried Hato's bar last week for the first time. As mentioned by sonik and davey.c, the atmosphere is excellent and the staff and guests are really friendly. The beers change regularly - one of the IPAs I tried was great and the other beers were at least okay. I ordered the pork spareribs and the pulled pork sandwich. The sandwich was tasty. The ribs had nice flavor, but they weren't very meaty. I also give it a thumbs up and will definitely return to get my pork and craft beer fix.

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Top Gaijin eats or Non-Japanese foods in Tokyo

For those of you who crave U.S. style BBQ, I can recommend the Bashamichi Taproom, which opened this past Saturday in Yokohama. It is the only restaurant I know of in the Tokyo/Yokohama area that offers authentic BBQ that is traditionally smoked over wood for several hours using low heat. I was there on Sunday and found all the BBQ meats plus the side dishes to be delicious.

http://bairdbeer.com/en/taproom/bashamichi-taproom

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My Tokyo Food Trip for 11/18-11/24: Need suggestions!

For what it's worth, Hamadaya regained its third star in the 2011 Michelin guide.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20101125n1.html

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Ishigaki recommendations

Coincidentally, I will also be in Ishigaki next week from Tuesday through Friday. I have never been there and my GF is making all of the arrangements, but one night we are going to try to eat here:

http://www.nikikabira.com/restaurant/index.html

One other dinner will be spent at a yakiniku restaurant that serves Ishigaki gyu, which is supposedly a famous type of beef.

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Going to Tokyo. Need some recommendations.

Not sure if they are the best, but the one's I read regularly are:

http://gaishoku.blogspot.com/
http://iitokorone.blogspot.com/
http://tokyoeater.blogspot.com/
http://www.potatomato.com/seat/

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Your favorite place(s) at Jiyugaoka?

A good option for cake would be to visit the Sweets Forest, a building with eight different dessert shops. The framboise souffle I had at Le Souffle a few years back was excellent.

http://sweets-forest.com/index2.php

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Finding Confectioner's Chocolate in Japan

Cuoca carries Valrhona and other high quality chocolate for cooking. Cuoca is a store that specializes in all sorts of cooking supplies and ingredients. It's an excellent resource for those who love to bake. There are two locations in Tokyo - one in the B3 of Shinjuku Mitsukoshi Alcott, and one in Jiyugaoka. The home page, only in Japanese, is linked below:

http://www.cuoca.com/
http://www.cuoca.com/category/28.html (Valrhona page with prices)

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Where to purchase tonic water and club soda in Tokyo

There is a shop on Rakuten that sells both club soda and tonic water.

http://www.rakuten.co.jp/cherrybell/

They have Schweppes tonic water for 2,589 yen (250ml × 24 bottles) and Canada Dry club soda for 2,579 yen (500ml x 24 bottles).

glenn

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lunch or dinner for quality and value?

If you have some spare time, I recommend that you look through the Potatomato blog. She has over 100 reviews just in the Shibuya/Aoyama/Daikanyama area, and most of them are for lunch. Lots of excellent photos as well.

http://www.potatomato.com/seat/category/foodtokyo/shibuya-ebisu-daikanyama/

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If not consider Michelin stars, where are your favorite restaurants?

>Also, in Tokyo do they held Wine Dinner a lot?

There are quite a few wine dinners in February. Jeroboam is holding at least 4 next month. Information can be seen here:

http://www.jeroboam.co.jp/english/event.html

The Vine, a distributor of mainly Rhone wines, will have a tasting dinner at Legato in Shibuya on February 17. Here are some details:

Date: 02/17 (Tuesday)
Time: 19h30
Place: Legato
Address: 15Floor, E-Space Tower, 3-6 Maruyama-cho, Shibuya-ku
Phone: 03 5784 2121

Cost: 12,000 JPY (includes 4 course dinner)
Number of persons: 12 only

Coursodon, Murinais and Les Clos Perdus
Please join us for a very special wine dinner attended by 3 highly acclaimed and talented winemakers:
Jerome Coursodon of Domaine Coursodon in St Joseph
Luc Tardy of Domaine du Murinais in Crozes-Hermitage
Hugo Stewart of Les Clos Perdus in Corbieres
Jerome, Luc and Hugo will be on hand to present and talk about their wines.
These three Domaines represent some of the finest wines of their respective appellations. Domaine Coursodon is one of the oldest producers of St Joseph and under the management of young Jerome is producing stunning, hugely praised, reds from Syrah and whites from Marsanne. Murinais makes some of the juiciest and purest red and white Crozes-Hermitage also from Syrah and Marsanne and also much praised. Les Clos Perdus is a new star in the Languedoc with a very limited and terroir specific production of wines from low yielding, old vines of Grenache, Mourvedre, Carignan and Cinsault. See our website for further details of these great wines.

12 Wines
Les Clos Perdus Corbieres Cuvee 51 2007
Les Clos Perdus Corbieres Prioundo 2006
Les Clos Perdus Corbieres Mire la Mer 2006
Les Clos Perdus Corbieres Extreme 2005
Murinais Crozes-Hermitage Marine Blanc 2007
Murinais Crozes-Hermitage Les Amandiers 2006
Murinais Crozes-Hermitage Vieilles Vignes 2006
Murinais Crozes-Hermitage Vieilles Vignes 2005
Coursodon St Joseph Silice Rouge 2006
Coursodon St Joseph Paradis St Pierre Rouge 2006
Coursodon St Joseph Paradis St Pierre Blanc 2006
Coursodon St Joseph l’Olivaie 2003

Send an email to The Vine at info@thevineltd.com to reserve a space.

Also, there is a wine dinner at Salt in Marunouchi on February 16. Here are the details:

Sauvignon Blanc 2007
Riesling 2007
M3 Chardonnay 2007
Pinot Noir 2005
Shiraz 2006
Shiraz 2005

Time: Monday 16th February, 2009. Reception from 7:00 PM
Dinner from 7:30PM
Place Salt Tokyo, 6th Floor Shin-Marunouchi Building
Marunouchi 1-5-1, Chiyoda Ku, Tokyo
Price: \16,000 per person including Consumption Tax and Service Charge
Seating: Maximum of 60 people
Food and wine: 5 course dinner with wines matched to each course
Bookings: Salt　Tokyo ℡03-5288-7828　 Email: oz_y.salt@pjgroup.jp

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