Sake Dinner at Kenichi

Last week, I had the great fortune of attending a Sake Dinner as a guest of Kenichi and courtesy of Jennie Chen. I'd visited Kenichi before on maybe 2-3 other occasions and had always had a nice time, but it had been quite a while, and I was very excited to be back and to check out the pairings they had waiting for us.

Kenichi's main dining area (note that the sake dinners are served in their private dining area, not in the main dining room).

As the guests arrived, we were offered our choice of two different cocktails made with sake - one was a canteloupe martini and the other was a mojito of some kind...raspberry? Obviously, I got the martini, and it was wonderful - very light and full of fresh canteloupe flavor. A nice way to kick off the evening.



The elements of each course were introduced first by Kenichi's sake director, Brandi, then by Kenichi's Chef Mark Stroubal, which meant that the meal was not only enjoyable, but educational. Did you know that Kenichi carries a whopping 75 different sake labels? Their collection is the third largest of the restaurants in the U.S.


Chef Mark taking us on a taste tour.

Our amuse bouche was textured beets served with a spring onion dashi. These were served with a carrot-infused Ty•Ku Black Ginjo (which you can see hiding behind the amuse plate). I would not have thought to infuse sake with carrot, but it definitely worked - the sweetness and earthiness of the carrot provided a nice contrast to the salty, crispy beets on the left of the plate and the surprising smokiness of the dashi.



The first course was Chef Mark Strouhal's famous scallop brulée with smoked fuji apples and mizuna. No sooner had I put this tender morsel in my mouth than I began to furtively seek out another that I might steal from an unsuspecting diner. Alas, it appeared that everyone else had already consumed theirs and was doing the same.



This dish was paired with another Ty•Ku offering, their White Daiginjo. As you can see below, the sake pours were very generous. I had six of these, plus the carrot-infused sake with the amuse, plus the canteloupe sake cocktail. Don't you be calling me a lightweight.



For our second course, Chef Mark put together a lovely udon soup with radish, uzura (quail egg), and black cod cakes. This whole dish was wonderful, but the uzura really blew me away - it just sort of simultaneously melted and exploded with wonderful flavor the moment it was placed in your mouth.



I won't inundate you with repetitive photos of the sake since they all look more or less the same, with the only differences being that some were clear, some were cloudy (Kenichi's sake director, Brandi, explained that the term "cloudy" is a preferable to "unfiltered" since all sake is filtered). I will tell you each of the pairings, though, as I was very impressed with all of them. I have typically not been as fond of clear sakes, as many of them taste rather harsh to me, but I found every single one of the sake pairings at this dinner to be smooth and easy to drink. This particular course was paired with a Watari Bune 55 Junmai Ginjo.

For the halfway point (I know! Only halfway?!?), we indulged in a tai sashimi served with white soy and lemon vinaigrette, negi (Japanese green onion), grapes, crispy rice, and balsamic creme. This was paired with a Shichi Hon Yari ("Seven Spearmen") Junmai.



The fourth course - oh! the fourth course! - gave me shivers. Easily one of the most delicious things I've eaten so far this year (can you believe we're already almost 1/4 into the year?). Steamed sea bass with coconut and candied ginger, served with Minogawa Awa Yuki Nigori Junmai. I just love sea bass anyway, and this was perfectly prepared to bring out the rich, buttery texture of the fish, with the microgreens, coconut and candied ginger providing a nice point of interest, both texturally and flavor-wise. MmmmMMMMMMMM. More, plz.



Pork belly is hugely popular right now, and for good reason - it is supremely decadent and kind of hard to mess up. Our fifth course showcased a lovely piece of pork belly with a star anise demi-glace on a bed of pickled cherry congee. The sake pairing was a Tentaka Kuni ("Hawk in the Heavens") Junmai.


Get in mah belly, belly.

I felt pretty good about myself to be crossing this finish line (and I felt pretty good generally after all that sake and delicious food). For dessert, we had sweet kabocha dumplings with blood orange, strawberries, and creme fraiche gelato, served with Kenichi's own label sake - Tanuki's Magic Daiginjo.



I had an absolutely wonderful time and thoroughly enjoyed the meal, the sake pairings, and the fine company. Many, many thanks to Kenichi for having me and to Jennie for the invitation!

If you're interested in experiencing one of Kenichi's Pairing Dinners for yourself, call the restaurant for details about their next one or follow them on Twitter. Also, I highly recommend that you keep an eye on John Knox's Flickr feed; he is a far better photographer than I and was enthusiastically shooting photos throughout our meal.

See?

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A Woman in Her Forties

My brilliant and beautiful sister-in-law, Roseanne, writes a wonderful blog entitled "A Woman in Her Thirties." Although I can now no longer use this phrase to refer to the things I'm doing, a woman in her forties knows a good thing when she sees it. Roseanne, I hope you don't mind if I adapt and adopt the phrase for my own for one blog post.

A woman in her forties throws her own birthday party.
I knew I really wanted to do something fun and different and interesting to celebrate my 40th birthday (well, besides all the stuff I've already described here and here) (I did warn you that I was celebrating for a week, didn't I?). So I decided to throw myself a little party. I had big dreams of renting a venue and hiring a top-notch caterer, a DJ, and Cory Ryan to do a photobooth, but budgetary realities stepped in and I ended up deciding to do it at home without any of these trappings (although I did finally break down and cater part of it).

Then, much to my delight, my brother and Roseanne decided to fly in for the occasion. And the guest list grew. And although in the end I couldn't invite everyone I wanted to because I didn't think they'd all fit in the house, it turned out to be a pretty wonderful evening.

A woman in her forties sometimes goes off-topic.
I'm not going to highlight food in this blog post because neither the food I served nor the photos I took of said food were particularly remarkable (except for maybe the foie gras I mentioned in this post). However, I do need to thank two of my friends who showed up at the party with special treats. My friend Phillip arrived bearing an incredibly decadent chocolate raspberry truffle cake from Central Market, and Jennie Chen appeared pulling a cooler larger than herself filled with four dozen of what she knows to be my favorite cupcake in the universe, her very own (super secret) recipe, the tipsy ispahan. I dubbed Jennie my food event sugar mama in this post; she has now officially graduated to being my sugar mama, period.

A woman in her forties is surprised.
As if all that weren't enough, just as we were about to cut the cake(s), Chris shushed everybody and then revealed that he had been secretly gathering letters for me from many of my family members, co-workers, neighbors, and friends, and that he had compiled them into a book with the help of my dear friend Liz. I was absolutely stunned, then of course started with the waterworks when they presented me with this gorgeous volume. I read the entire thing cover to cover that very night (after the last of the guests departed at 1:30 a.m.). It is, without a doubt, one of the most meaningful gifts I have ever received in my life.

A woman in her forties is grateful.
Here's the mushy part. Birthdays are always a time when I feel particularly thankful for all the wonderful people who surround me. My family, who shaped the person I am today and who have loved and supported me through thick and thin for 40 years (36.5 years, in Larry's case, and 7 for Roseanne, who is as great an addition to our family as I could ever have imagined). Chris, my best friend and my rock. Mindy, the furry love of my life. My co-workers, who put up with my idiosyncrasies for more hours in the day than anyone should have to. And of course my friends, with whom I've shared many laughs, a few tears, and countless fabulous meals. I am unbelievably fortunate to have the love and support of so many phenomenal people. And in a decade year, well, all of that gratefulness seems to be somehow magnified until it is very nearly overwhelming.

So I just want to say thanks, from the bottom of my heart.



A woman in her forties basks in the glow of the past, and looks forward to the next forty years.

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Austin Chronicle's "Best of Austin" Party

I am glad to report that I am back from San Antonio, which means that I can get back on the blogging wagon again (or would that be off the blogging wagon?). And I can eat meals that aren't 90% carbs, too...not that there's anything wrong with meals that are 90% carbs, but phew - they have a way of sticking around when you're also off your regular exercise schedule.

At any rate, my first "back in the game" fling was at the Austin Chronicle's "Best of Austin" awards party, which I got to attend courtesy of the fabulous Jennie Chen, a/k/a MisoHungry. Jennie won a "Best of" Critics' Picks award for "Most Diversified Portfolio," which is to say that Jennie does lots of things, all well, and is an inspiration to those of us who can barely keep our socks clean. Read more about Jennie's award here.

Jennie and her very well-deserved award!

As you might imagine, a party celebrating all of Austin's best was replete with great people, cool beats, and tasty nibbles (and let's not forget the free-flowing river of Tito's Vodka). I had a great time, ran into lots of old friends and made some new ones, and ate and drank myself silly. Thanks so much, Jennie, for letting me tag along for the party!


DJ Manny (Best Live Club/Party DJ) kept the beats thumping.


The most interesting-looking bite I've seen in a while - muscat grape terrine with goat cheese, black lava salt, and ver jus - made by The Carillon.


Green curry tofu by Zen (they also had some wonderful filet mignon and seared ahi, but I ate mine thinking I could come back and photograph later, and they were out when I went back for more).


Gouda/Havarti and Monterey Jack/Colby grilled cheese sandwiches by Chedd's


Rigatoni with house-made red chile fennel sausage sugo, roasted sweet peppers, basil and pecorino romano from Primizie.

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Cupcake Smackdown!

Every once in a while, being a food blogger gives me access to some pretty wonderful opportunities that I would not have otherwise had. One of those manifested for me today, when I got to be a judge for Austin's first Cupcake Smackdown! The Smackdown, organized by the tireless Jennie Chen, featured blind taste competitions in storefront, catering, and amateur categories; a "cutest cupcake" contest; and cupcake-eating contests for both humans and dogs.

I got there a little early and got to peek behind the scenes a bit at the veritable hive of cupcake activity. There were more cupcakes than I'd ever seen before in one place. Cupcakes...EVERYWHERE!





Before too long, there were people and dogs everywhere, too. This event got a TON of buzz, and it seemed as if all of Austin came out to join the fun.


Photo by Dawn Mitchell


Vendors were on hand to ensure that nobody went cupcake-less.
Photo by Dawn Mitchell




Soon, the much-anticipated judging began. I was one of five judges sampling cupcakes submitted by caterers. We judged seven cupcakes in each of three different categories - vanilla, chocolate, and baker's choice - for a total of twenty-one cupcakes.


A table full of tastings

I have to admit, the judging was much more difficult than I expected. We rated each cupcake on texture and taste for both cake and frosting separately, then gave a fifth rating for the cupcake overall. For me to judge the cakes that way, that meant I took at least three bites from each of twenty-one cupcakes - usually more, as I often had to go back and re-sample them to better enable me to compare cupcakes to one another. I'm here to tell you, that's a lot of cupcake eatin'...but somehow, somehow, I muddled through.


Yours truly, discussing the finer points of judging
with Kristin Owen from Do512.
Photo by Jack Newton


Marshall Wright of EatThisLens, doing the dirty work.

By the time we were finished, I was, well, finished. Eating cupcakes, that is. I couldn't even think about eating another bite. But I wasn't too spent to wander around and snap some photos of the pretty little things.


These beauts were from Wicked Cakes.


These crazy creations from Cowgirl Cupcakes featured a french toast cupcake with candied bacon on top.
Yes, bacon.


I'm not sure what flavor this one was, but it sure was cute!

I hung around for a while longer and watched half of the cupcake pupcake eating contest for dogs, too. In this portion of the event, the dogs were timed to see how quickly they could eat three cupcakes. Most of the pups took between 40 seconds to two minutes to eat theirs, but this champion scarfed his down in eleven seconds and kept looking for more.


And I thought I was an enthusiastic eater...

What a wonderful way to celebrate these totally tasty treats. Huge kudos to Jennie for pulling off a first class event!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go slip off into a diabetic coma. Till next year!
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Updated 8/2/09 - For those of you who are eager to taste the best cupcakes in Austin, Jennie's blog has been updated with the list of winners.

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