Instagram: Tokyo, Japan

I'm back from our trip to Tokyo, Japan. Above is a preview of what's to come when I have a chance to comb through the photos I took during our trip. My overall impression of Tokyo: EXPENSIVE. After a few days, I stopped reaching for my currency converter on my phone. Did I really pay $9.95 for a non-alcoholic drink or $5.03 for a pastry? Yup and it tasted good too.

Row 1: Drink vending machines located all over Tokyo; Tokyo Sky Tree and pastries from the Johan Paris boutique inside Mitsukoshi Ginza.

Row 2: View from the Tokyo Tower; specialty drink from the Gundam Cafe in Akihabara and dinner at Takazawa.

Row 3: Ginza shopping district; dinner at RyuGin and lunch at Narisawa.

Row 4: Chateau Restaurant Joel Robuchon in Ebisu; Laduree boutique inside Mitsukoshi Ginza and Sukiyabashi Jiro inside the Ginza Metro station (near exit C6).

Kickstarter: The Porthole

Last month I made an investment in something truly innovative and pretty darn cool. Martin Kastner of Crucial Details (the guy who designs the cool tableware for Alinea and Next), set up a campaign on Kickstarter to bring his latest design, the Porthole, to the masses. He needed an initial investment of $28, 500 and ended up with $736,113! 4,270 backers made an investment and we're all patiently waiting to receive our very own infusion vessel.

Below is a short video that describes the story behind the Porthole.

I don't normally do product reviews but as soon as I get this sucker at the end of November, I will definitely write a blog post on it.

Countdown: 2.5 weeks to Tokyo

Wow, it's been a LONG time since I updated this blog. I couldn't book reservations until the first of October so work occupied most of my time. I'm happy to report that I booked reservations at all of the restaurants that I wanted to dine at while in Tokyo. I also want to mention that Visa Signature Concierge is awesome. Some reservations I had to "call" during local hours. I didn't want to go through the hassle of calling a foreign country and screwing up the reservation so I had Visa Signature Concierge book the reservations for me. It took them mere minutes. For example, RyuGin seems to be one of the elusive bookings but one email through the concierge website and 38 minutes later I got my confirmation. It was that easy. I'm not sure why I never used them before.

Here's our dining line up:

Takazawa
Sanyo Akasaka Bld. 2F 3-5-2 Akasaka Minatoku Tokyo, Japan
Reservations: Book two months in advance via website.

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

** Michelin stars

6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Reservations: Phone reservations only or book through credit card concierge service.

RyuGin

Ranked #28 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants, *** Michelin stars

Roppongi Bldg. 1F, 7-17-24 Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo

Reservations: Phone reservations only or book through credit card concierge service.

Narisawa

Ranked #27 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants, ** Michelin stars

Minami Aoyama 2-6-15, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0062

Reservations: Book one month in advance via website.

Other notable places we plan to visit:

• Hidemi Sugino - Famous pastry shop in Ginza, Tokyo
• Laduree - Parisian macarons
• La Boutique de Joel Robuchon - Robuchon's bakery shop
• Tsukiji Fish Market - Biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world

Prior to our trip, I have a quick business trip to Chicago. I'm arriving there on a Sunday and only staying for a few days. It will be my first trip there without a dinner reservation to Alinea. I don't feel too bad since I look forward to our dining adventures in Tokyo.

What's Next: Tokyo, Japan

I admit, I've been neglecting this blog. It's been a month since my last post and I still have Vegas posts to publish. Oops! Well, I've been working on a few things on my bucket list so that's my excuse. At least now I have something to look forward to. Something that readers can look forward to.

We're going to Tokyo! Thank United Airlines for slashing their airfare this week and allowing Hubs and I to afford to go there. Seriously, the airfares were around $2K for economy a few months ago. Tokyo seemed like a dream when my boss told me he spent nearly $6K to fly his family of three last April. Well, dreams do come true and now I can start planning our dinner itinerary.


On my list: 


Takazawa (formerly Aronia de Takazawa)

Nihonryori RyuGin

Le Chateau de Joel Robuchon

Other notable places:

• Sukiyabashi Jiro (most likely the Roppongi location as I'm lazy to learn Japanese to get into the Honten location).
• Laduree Ginza Mitsukoshi

Preview: Las Vegas

We spent a week in Las Vegas a few weeks ago. The only planned dinner was at Jaleo. For the rest of the week we just winged it. Best vacation in a long time: 12 hours of sleep and being able to find a place to eat at 2am. We also got bumped up in status on MLife (MGM's Player's club). Never thought we would ever reach Platinum. Well, at least I don't ever have to wait in line for anything, EVER.

La Jolla, CA: TBL3 at George's California Modern

Stone Levitation Ale

Coronado Orange Avenue Wit

1a. Black Truffle-Nori Bagna Cauda

1b. Chino Farms Vegetables

2. Spot Prawns - citrus, fennel, nasturtiums, lime blossom

3. Percebes - cooked in sea water

4. Clams - faves, lardo

5. Foie Gras - brioche foam, strawberries, beets

6. Poached Rabbit - sprouted legumes, peas, uni vinaigrette

7. A Wild Salad - spinach, radish pod, cattail heart, pine nuts

8. Squab - natal plum, bay flowers, buckwheat

9. Black Cod - asparagus, apple, prawn juice

10. Dry Aged Ribeye - green garlic, artichokes, balsamic

11. Carrots - dry age roasted, red wine carrot puree, marrow persillade

12. Peas - mint, white pepper pavlova

13. Chino Farms Strawberries - angel food, lemon

14. Chocolate - white miso ice cream, kinako, kuromitsu

In celebration of my 33rd birthday, I wanted to do something different. Rather than heading to Las Vegas, we dined at a local institution. The last time I dined at George's was in 2005. I haven't been back ever since. When I think about it, I'm not sure why. When I heard that Chef Trey Forshee was offering a multi-course tasting menu, I was curious to try it. After all, San Diego doesn't come across as a gastronomy hub.

Table 3 is essentially the best seat within George's California Modern overlooking La Jolla Cove. It is a 14-course tasting menu that is requested weeks in advance through Kristine Fogarty, Director of Special Events. The current price is $180 per person but I can see it going up in the near future. In my opinion, this menu is not for everyone. As the season changes, so does the local ingredients therefore you must keep an open mind and palette.

The menu that was served to us primarily focused on local vegetables and seafood. The abundance of produce that is available to us locally is amazing which made most of the courses quite enjoyable. Given the current price tag of this meal, I hope the menu continues to evolve in creativity and taste with hopes to one day take on the ranks of one of the best in the world.

Preview: TBL 3 @ George's California Modern

Spot Prawns - citrus, fennel, nasturtiums, lime blossom


Percebes - cooked in sea water


Poached Rabbit - sprouted legumes, peas, uni vinaigrette


Foie Gras - brioche foam, strawberries, beets

A preview from our dinner last night at George's California Modern in La Jolla, CA. TBL 3 is the exclusive 14-course tasting menu by Chef Trey Foshee. I will try to do a full post this weekend since it's still fresh on my mind.

101 Best Restaurants in America 2012

Last month an editor from Daily Meal asked if they can use a photo I took during a meal at miniBar. I'm always surprised whenever I get these requests because half the time they never get published anyway. Well, it was for real and my photo was featured in this year's 101 Best Restaurants in America 2012. The full article can be found here: http://www.thedailymeal.com/101-best-restaurants-america

miniBar ranked #65 on this year's list. The photo slideshow is found here: http://www.thedailymeal.com/101-best-restaurants-america-2012-slideshow. I'm pretty ecstatic to have my photo associated to a revered chef like Jose Andres and he's one of my favorite chefs of all time. Spanish chefs are so bad ass. Now if only I can get my Tickets photos published, that would be the icing on the cake.

Speaking of the list, I was also surprised that I've dined at a number of the restaurants (e.g. > 10) that made it onto the list this year.

94. Jaleo, Las Vegas (I dined at e so I assumed that counts)
87. Palena Cafe, Washington, D.C.
83. Ben's Chili Bowl, Wasnington, D.C.
81. The Bazaar, Los Angeles (again, dined at Saam which is inside the Bazaar)
76. Ad Hoc, Yountville, CA
75. Father's Office, Los Angeles, CA
67. Joe's Stone Crab, Miami, FL
65. minibar, Washington, D.C.
32. Joel Robuchon, Las Vegas, NV
29. Bouchon Bistro, Yountville, CA
10. Citronelle, Washington, D.C.
3. Chez Panisse, Berkeley, CA
2. Alinea, Chicago, IL

BTW, I have a very special tasting set up next week at TBL3 at George's California Modern. This will be my first local tasting in my hometown of San Diego. Stay tuned.