Pete's Dish - June 24

What's going on in and about town!

Back in April, I wrote about the LUCKYRICE feasting fest on Evenings With Peter. Having made a splashy debut in New York, the event is soon to stick a fork in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Miami, with dozens of mixologists and chefs on hand to make guests experiencing all sorts of Asian cuisine (from Pacific-rim dining to street food grub) feel very lucky indeed. Go to luckyrice.com for more info.

I featured chef Tadashi Ono here on my blog from a post several years ago, featuring a wonderful recipe that he personally selected for me from his cookbook with Harris Salat--a Halibut Hot Pot! Chef Ono is now collaborating with Salat (founder/owner of Japanese Ganso in Brooklyn) to form Ganso Group and expand the Ganso brand. Ono will act as Partner and Culinary Director of Ganso Group, assuming executive chef duties for all projects, including Ganso (25 Bond Street, Brooklyn, 718-403-0900, gansonyc.com), soon to be re-launched with Salat as Ganso Ramen. Up the road a piece and a few months later, look for Ganso Yaki (515 Atlantic Avenue), also in Brooklyn.

The first authentic Sindhi restaurant in New York, Kailash Parbat, recently introduced their new chaat bar, presenting guests an opportunity to create snacks suited to their tastes, be the flavors mild or wild. On offer are dishes such as fried corn cups topped with a saucy corn chaat mixture and stuffed pastries mashed and topped with curried chickpeas, chaat chutneys and yogurt. All ingredients are made in house daily, and may be found in the restaurant at 99 Lexington Avenue, between 27^th and 28^th Streets, 212-679-4232, kailashparbatny.com.

There's still time to celebrate these festivities going on throughout the rest of June at the following places! 

National Seafood Month: Seafaring fare is reeled right out of the sea and to the table at Bay Kitchen Bar (39 Gann Road, East Hampton, 631-329-3663, baykitchenbar.com) in the Hamptons, overlooking Three Mile Harbor. As perhaps evidenced from the photo above, chef Eric Miller works with local clammers, baymen and fishermen to personally select the best catches of the day.

National Dairy Month: Brazilia Cafe (684 Broadway, 646-852-6348, braziliacafe-nyc.com) offers moo-velous homemade small batch gelato created by the “Ice Cream Professor” Malcolm Stogo. Look for Italian-style Açai Camu Camu Berry, Brazilia Coffee, Sea Salt Caramel, Dulce de Leche, and Ricotta with Fig.

National Steakhouse Month: NYY Steak Manhattan (7 West 51st Street, 646-307-7910, nyysteak.com) brings on the beef with USDA Prime steaks aged and butchered on the premises. The signature 27 oz. Long Bone Ribeye should satisfactorily take care of your curious carnivorous cravings. 

Matsuri's Seven Deadly Sins Menu

Congratulations to Matsuri, celebrating its seventh anniversary! In honor of the occasion, the fish forward restaurant housed in The Maritime Hotel is plying patrons with a Seven Deadly Sins Tasting Menu for $77.77 all throughout October--and a fanciful flight of sake pairings to accompany the transgressions is also available for an additional $37. With chef extraordinaire Tadashi Ono at the helm, the real sin would be missing out on the festivities!

The Maritime Hotel is also running a fun Seven Deadly Sins hotel package for two for $495/night plus tax. Call 212-242-4300 to book this package, which a complimentary bottle of red wine upon arrival, the gluttonous seven-course tasting menu for two, accommodations in a Queen Superior Guest room and sloth-like 2 p.m. late checkout the following afternoon.

Here's a look at the Seven Deadly Sins menu with the restaurant's tempting comments in italics:

PRIDE This dish is portioned for one, no sharing allowed.

Sashimi selection of tuna, yellowtail and salmon

ENVY Don’t be jealous of your dining companion. You know what they say, “The hijiki is always greener on someone else’s plate.”

Green salad with watercress, hijiki and soy dressing

WRATH You may have a boiling hot temper, but can your palate handle this heat?

Red hot shrimp skewers with yuzu marinade

LUST Eat at your own risk. This dish is nothing short of a love potion.

Aphrodisiac hot pot features oysters, sea urchin and yamaimo

GLUTTONY For those with elastic waistbands, this decadent dish will hit the spot.

Duck breast roasted with wasabi sauce

SLOTH This slow-cooked dish is nothing to race through, so relax and take your time!

Beef short rib slow cooked in miso broth

GREED For those with expensive taste, this dessert is as rich as they come.

Rich hot chocolate cake and raspberry sorbet

In The Kitchen With Tadashi Ono - Halibut Hot Pot

I recently enjoyed a staggeringly good dinner at Tadashi Ono's cavernous Matsuri restaurant anchored in Manhattan's Maritime Hotel. He personally selected a recipe for a Halibut Hot Pot from his new book, Japanese Hot Pots, to be featured here. Domo Arigato Tadashi!
Halibut Hot Pot
Inspired by Ara Nabe (a variety of grouper from Fukuoka)

Serves 4

1 pound halibut fillet
1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more for curing the fish (to concentrate the flavor and make the fish denser)
2 (6-inch) pieces kombu
1 ounce harusame (thin, tranparent starchy noodles), soaked in water for 15 minutes
1/2 pound napa cabbage, sliced
1 negi (a Japanese onion, or sub two large scallions per negi), sliced on angle into 2-inch pieces
1/2 package (about 1/2 pound) firm tofu, cut into 4 pieces
6 ounces oyster mushrooms, trimmed and pulled apart
3 1/2 ounces (half of a 200-gram package) enoki mushrooms, trimmed and pulled apart
4 cups water
1 cup sake
1 cup ponzu (the sweet citrusy ponzu sauce may be found in Japanese markets), for dipping
1/4 cup momiji oroshi (a blend of Japanese chilies and daikon available in Japanese markets), for garnish
1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh chives, for garnish

To cure the halibut, very lightly salt it on both sides and place it in the refrigerator, loosely covered, for 30 minutes. Remove the fish, wipe off excess moisture on its surface with a paper towel, and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices. Set aside.
Place the kombu on the bottom of a hot pot and the harusame over the kombu. Place the cabbage, negi, tofu, oyster mushrooms, and enoki mushrooms on top of the harusame, arranging each ingredient in a separate, neat bunch. Pour in the 4 cups water and the sake, and sprinkle in the 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Cover the hot pot and bring it to a boil over high heat. Decrease the heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes. Uncover the pot and arrange the halibut slices on top of the other ingredients. Simmer until the fish is cooked through, about 5 minutes more.
While the hot pot is simmering, pour the ponzu into four small bowls.
Transfer the hot pot ot the dining table. Garnish the ponzu with the momiji oroshi and the chives. Dip the ingredients into the ponzu, and eat.

Serve with rice zosui:
This is basically a soupy rice, a shime that typically complements thinner, more delicate broths. The technique is simple. For four servings, add 2 cups cooked Japanese short grain rice to the remaining broth in a hot pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat. As soon as the hot pot boils, turn off the heat, mix the contents well, and serve in individual bowls.

Variations:
You can also prepare this hot pot with cod, Chilean sea bass, turbot, pollack, North American grouper, or barramundi.

Tableside Cooking Option:
Arrange the ingredients on serving platters. After curing the halibut, do all the cooking at the dining table. Add the supporting ingredients all at once, or reserve half or more to cook later. Cook a little of the fish at a time.

To order Tadashi's marvelous book, click here or here!