Let’s get one thing clear: Not all food writers are restaurant reviewers. Restaurant reviewing is its own thing, and not an area of food writing that I’m particularly good at. I’ve done it–citysearch still has some of my reviews up from 2000, although edited down for a new format and unattributed, when I was an intern there. I’ve also written plenty of restaurant coverage for travel pieces, which I see more as recommendations within a specific context than reviews, and chef profiles, which necessarily involve some discussion of their restaurant(s).
Within the context of coverage and profiles, I sometimes attend press dinners–events designed to acquaint people in media with new/revamped restaurants and chefs. Last night I was invited to dinner at O Izakaya Lounge, a nutty mix of sports-bar and Japanese izakaya house (often described as a Japanese pub since both food and drink are served in a casual environment). Giant televisions showing random sporting events (arena football anyone?) aren’t so much my thing, but the walls not covered by flat screens are adorned with a custom wallpaper inspired by traditional Japanese baseball cards that is distractingly cool (I’m pretty sure it’s not polite to stare at the wallpaper instead of your dinner companions).
So what did I eat? A bit of everything. Platter after platter kept coming out of the kitchen. The braised porkbelly (melting) with kim chi (sharp) was a great combination. Ground-rice coated chicken wings were crunchy and gave me plenty of ideas on what else one could do with ground rice. I also enjoyed seeing duck and eggplant both perfectly cooked in the same dish–it’s rare that I get a piece of either that isn’t over or under cooked. The biggest treat for me, however, was the bevy of house-made pickles that decorated the table (and then my plate and then my stomach). Cucumber, daikon, tiny baby turnips, kim chi, sweet potato. Slowly but surely, through carefully timed requests to my fellow members of the media, I managed to get all the pickle dishes close at hand. I know my palate, I know my quirks. I also know most people don’t want to make a meal of pickles. I can put my fixation aside for the purposes of describing a restaurant to readers, but I really don’t want to.
The Dinner Files :: What a good idea | 08-Mar-08 at 9:35 pm | Permalink
[...] other night I ate super-crispy chicken wings that had been coated in ground rice instead of bread crumbs. What [...]