Not a Note 104

Now THAT'S eatin'!

You know what people tell me all the time after they eat something I’ve made or have seen a pic of something yummy, like this pad kee mao I whipped up because I wanted to see if I could make wide rice noodles from scratch:

“You should open a restaurant!” And you know what that actually means? It means “You should devote all your waking hours to staying afloat in a businesses with one of the slimmest profit margins around. And deal with bizarre customers who downrate you on Yelp for being closed when they decided to come by or because you don’t serve beef in your vegetarian restaurant or … in the case of one of the best omakase restaurants on the Eastern seaboard:

“We drove two hours to come here and granted I should have made a reservation, so that's on me. My cousin and I were so excited to try the omakase, but apparently they didn't have enough fish? Kinda confused how that could be possible considering that's pretty much all they serve. The whole thing just feels pretty unprofessional in a way. There was also a customer eavesdropping and told us we should just get the roll she suggested. Like I didn't come here for a roll? So freaking rude.”

Exsqueeze me? Let’s unpack a bit of this. You admit that you drove TWO hours for an omakase meal but didn’t think it worth calling ahead to make a reservation? Then you arrive all excited to “try” omakase (forgive me, but I’m guessing this lady doesn’t have a clue as to what omakase is) and apparently they “don’t have enough fish”. Followed by “Kinda confused … considering that’s pretty much all they serve.”

Uh huh. Like I said - no clue as to what omakase is. Hand selected fish flown direct from Japan and prepared by the hand of a master, not the regular tuna, salmon, etc that’s used in the regular rolls and onigiri sushi.

And she’s surprised they didn’t have enough?! Of COURSE they didn’t - they have what they need for the reservations because, and this might be confusing to some, the fish is very expensive and isn’t used on ANY of the regular sushi items.

Not only the fish but the ingredients that are added to adorn them. Genuine wasabi root, hand grated. Gold leaf. Caviar. Yuzu leaf. Truffles.

This isn’t a White Castle rat burger (tuck the tails) here. It’s the top tier of Japanese eatin’ and it’s well worth seeking out.

That’s Chef Kevin in the pic above, by the way, and you can find him and his marvelous creations (but make a reservation!) up in Keene, NH of all places. You can Yelp it HERE.