www.asavorylife.com

In the meantime, here is a picture of my nephew wearing his super lucky pomelo hat on Harvest Moon day. This was clearly the reason USC completely kicked Cal butt.

What is gout? Well according to wiki, gout is a condition where little crystals of uric acid have attached themselves to your joints and cause flashes of pain in those areas. This condition used to be more commonly known among the affluent, since excess consumption of protein and purine rich foods such as foie, lobster, crab, and even champagne can lead to gout.  Hence, the term “rich man’s disease” or  “disease of kings”. Yes.  There can be too much of a good thing.

So for the past couple of weeks, I’ve woken up to random twinges of pain in my joints, namely, the joint of the middle finger on my left hand, and in my toes, making it slightly uncomfortable to walk sometimes.  Gout does commonly strike the big toe. And just why my middle finger is afflicted is perplexing to me, but since I’ve matured beyond flipping people the bird, it doesn’t impede my forward motion. Just the matter of the toes and trying not to look too gimpy.

Though my symptoms clearly do not exhibit the acute pain and inflammation commonly attributed to gout, I’m fairly certain that the seafood weekend in CT did me in. Luckily, I find that the further away I get from my seafood adventures, the more the symptoms dissipate. Clearly I have swung the pendulum too far in gastronomic excess and now in an attempt to bring the yin and yang back into balance, I am declaring a veggie detox for the next couple of weeks to cleanse my temple and garner forgiveness from the gods of retribution.  Shellfish can rest easy for now…

Here’s a little piece of trivial food fact: Did you know that in the old days, lobster was considered poor people food? Yes, according to lobster.org, Massachusetts had a law forbidding lobster to be served to servants and prisoners more than twice a week because a higher frequency would be inhumane.

*quick update* Unbeknownst to me, today is World Vegetarian Day and it kicks off Vegetarian Awareness Month. How apropos.

But first, a dive into U.S. deep sea history with a visit to Groton, CT, (the self proclaimed?) submarine capital of the world.  After cleaning up a few more plates of food at Kitchen Little, we headed out for a fascinating tour of the first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus. I’ve never been in a submarine before and now I understand why this service of the navy get the best food that our tax dollars can provide (though that’s debatable).  The spaces are small and cramped, definitely not for the faint of heart or the claustrophobic.  If you spend weeks underneath the water in a long, skinny tube with no where to get some fresh air, you should at least eat well. They must pick the most agile and compact of navy men/women for these posts because the passage ways are so narrow that only hobbits could get through with ease and don’t even get me started on the bunks, stacked one atop the other with maybe 18 inches of vertical clearance.  Sardines in a can get more wriggling space.  Claustrophobia aside, it was very impressive to see our country’s engineering might and underwater design. Jules Verne would have been proud.

USS Nautilus

After we got a dose of military history, it was time for the real battle at hand: Cove Fish Market or Sea View Snack Bar.

First up was Sea View where over the past couple of nights, we had seen throngs of people munching underneath florescent outdoor lamps and halogen headlights of SUVs. We wanted to be those people, slathered in butter and drowning in tartar sauce by the eerie glow of man made lighting.  To get the full experience, we ordered a representative sample of cold lobster roll, fried fish, and clam chowder.  The lobster roll was pretty good, certainly much better than what was served at the Seaport and the fried fish was light and crispy, an effect achieved by using no breading but perhaps just a dusting of starch.  We were pleased but not wowed. The clam chowder was the test of true perfection and it was disappointing, lacking in salt and that je ne sais quois essence of fresh clam.  No plate cleaning occurred here and we left a few scraps left for the birds.

Sea View Snack Bar

Although we were partially full, we knew we had to press on to Cove’s Fish Market, whose reputation preceded it by Mr. Yam’s exaltation of its clam chowder. Once again, we hit the main points of hot and cold lobster roll, fried fish(cod) and of course, both clear and cream broth clam chowder.  Hello jackpot!  The lobster was tender and juicy, the fish was fresh and delectable. And…the clam chowder was hands down the best we had devoured the whole weekend and then some.  It was well seasoned, clammy, creamy…Les was so enamored that she wanted to buy a gallon of the chowder to take home but sadly, they were out of the take home variety so we were only able to bring it back in the form of full, round bellies. The car groaned under our accumulated weight when we finally headed back to NY, sated and happy as clams.

Cove's Fish Market

And your only shocked and amused response is, “um….my hips?“

Les had read about a great breakfast joint frequented by locals called Kitchen Little on Chowhound, and the chatter was all about the tasty food and long lines because the restaurant is so named not just as a pun but for it’s size.  We had cased the joint the day before and it was the size of a chicken coop. The order came down the chain of command: must be up by 7am and arrive at the restaurant at 8am.  You might scoff at this but for the lot of us, getting five people with varying waking  aptitudes out the door by 8am and on a weekend no less, would be a herculean effort. Thankfully enough, the need for beauty sleep was trumped by the fear of a long line and empty bellies and through fits and starts, we straggled to Kitchen Little at the appointed hour and got ourselves a picturesque seat by the river for an al fresco breakfast.

Kitchen Little

If the crisp coolness of a fall morning did not wake us up, the food certainly did.  They had a scramble called Portuguese Fisherman which featured chorizo, linguiça, and jalapeño that was a hot, spicy mess. The corned beef hash and home fries were awesome, as was the crabmeat and asparagus eggs benedict. We were rolling over in eggstacy (that’s their motto), it was so good we made plans to return again the next morning, once again sacrificing sleep for food.

cinnamon bun pancakes - delicious!

After breakfast, we headed over to the Mystic Aquarium to hang out with some fish and sea lions. Did you know that one of the differences between sea lions and seals is that you can see the sea lions ears?  File that one away for Jeopardy. We also spotted Nemo and friends hanging out in a tank, trying to escape. They are so small and cute!

Nemo!

The other big thing to do in Mystic (besides eat) was the Seaport, which features exhibits about the shipbuilding and marine industries that was once the bedrock of Connecticut’s booming economy.  It’s a fun place for kids with various olde tyme shops, a real whaling vessel docked at port and a giant half-finished ship. Part of the whaling vessel display included slabs and slabs of dried salted fish that the sailors reconstituted and ate while at sea. I know they were real because I picked one up and gave it a sniff. You can’t engineer the smell of dried fish for the sake of an exhibit. I wonder if there are visitors who actually sneak a filet into their bags and take it home. Disclaimer: I did not take home any souvenirs!!  They were just lying out there in the sun and all the elements for who knows how long and manhandled by curious folks like me. No amount of cooking can erase that history.

Shipbuiling in Mystic Seaport

Again, Mystic Seaport is mostly a destination for people with kids and people who like ships. I was really interested in seeing one of the old houses that still had the original furniture and other household implements.  I had imagined old homes to be small and cramped but the rooms were rather spacious and bright. I could be happy in one of those homes provided they install indoor plumbing.  But I digress. The real reason we went to the Seaport was for their Fish and Ships seafood festival which turned out to be really disappointing. There wasn’t much if anything in the way of fish/seafood or even a festival atmosphere so I’m not going to talk about it.

We ended up heading over to downtown and I took a brief stroll down along the river and was caught sight of the drawbridge being opened to allow boats to pass, which was really fascinating. My friends know I’m completely enamored with bridges of any ilk.  It also just happened to be trending towards dusk and the sky was clear and the light had that lovely glow of fall that I love so much.  Postcard perfect.

Along the river

Open sesame

downtown Mystic

Dinner was, surprise, more seafood at a place called Noah’s in Stonington, a town just a breath away from Mystic.  The food was great and supposedly the best dish of the night belonged to JN who ordered shortribs, the result being that he had a hard time keeping his wife’s fork away from it. Since he was seated at the far end of the table from, my own fork could not reach so I’ll just have to take Les’ word for it.  Save room for dessert because they make it all from scratch and it shows.

So our last night in Mystic ended with another great meal and sweet dreams of good eats the morning to come.

In between meals, we did so some sightseeing around the Connecticut coast and I fell madly in love with the small New England towns, their lush greenery and quaint, centuries-old colonial style homes contrasting sharply with the golden brush and new tract housing of California. The first stop was Guilford, a town founded in the mid-sixteen hundreds. With so many years of history to glean in a few hours, we opted to cruise our way through town and take a Segway tour from a store that rents and sells costumes.  It makes for an odd couple but I suppose if you wanted to dress up as Don Quixote as you segway through town, you could.

Segway Tour - fun and easy

Guilford, it seems, has more old houses than a redhead has freckles.  Every home had a claim to the past, with a plaque near the front door proclaiming its age. 1867, 1793, 1714, etc., not to be confused with actual numbered street addresses. I wonder if there is a town hierarchy in places like these, the older your house, the more benefits you have. Maybe you get to be Grand Puba at the Elk Lodge or take the role of George Washington in any Revolutionary war re-enactment whilst the rest of the townsfolk play the defeated Loyalists.  Or at school, if little Jenny Zuckerman lives in a 1760 house and Abner Appleton lives in a 1832 house, she gets to line up first for lunch on fish stick Tuesdays.  And the what about the kid that lives in anything built in the early 1900s.  1909?  Give that loser a wedgie.

E.T. is the voice of public safety here??

So after our segway trip, we were starving and headed straight to Lenny and Joe’s Fish Tale restaurant in Madison, home of the best lobster roll that Les’ coworker has ever eaten. I could smell the sweet scent of lobster and fried shellfish the moment I got out of the car and that just set us salivate where we proceeded to order an obnoxious amount of food, a scene to be repeated often over the next three days.

The rundown for the first official road trip O’ seafood meal was: Fried clams, fried scallops, hot buttered lobster rolls, fried softshell crab roll, clam chowder (clear broth, very nice and light)…and for the vegetable food group — fries, onion rings, and cole slaw. Perhaps the wedge of lemon I squeezed over the seafood counts as well…I think.

Buttered lobster rolls are tasty but it needs the zing and tang that some celery and mayo would give it. Otherwise, I’d just skip the roll and devour the lobster.

Mmmm - softshell crab

Our next stop was Essex, another small New England coastal town with again, old houses and an idyllic setting. It bills itself as the “Best Small town in America” and I don’t know why but whenever I hear of the best town or best village moniker, I think of the movie Hot Fuzz.  There’s got to be something dastardly going on around here.  I bet you the grannies in the quilting club are secretly running an extortion ring, demanding protection money from the shopkeepers.  Having had our fill of colonial style architecture in Guilford, we just ended up sitting at a local park overlooking a small inlet marina.

seems so idyllic...what lurks underneath? muahahahahaha

We made it to Mystic at the end of the day (yes the home of Mystic Pizza, made famous by a then relatively unknown starlet named Julia Roberts!)

Mystic Pizza - Mr. Yam says it's good if you set your NYC thin crust prejudice aside

Forget the sights, it was all about dinner and we hurried to Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough before they closed for the night.  I don’t know why they call it lobster in the rough. Maybe it’s because actually getting a plate of lobster in front of you is a rough experience because you have to drive down small dark streets and past moon lit cemeteries, and just when you think you’re lost, you find a giant gravel parking lot with lights strung up from a small shack by the dock. Or maybe it’s because you wait in a really long line and then sit at the tables outside. But the food was good and if you are suffering from deep fried everything shock, Abbott will bring you relief as everything here steamed.  You’re on your own if you drown yourself in butter.

Hello my little lobsters

The dinner tally was steamed mussels, clam chowder, lobster bisque, corn, lobster, and lobster roll.  The soups were disappointing but the rest of the meal was tasty.  Day 1 of the roadtrip was over and  I had already consumed more seafood than I had all summer long. The next two days would be taxing. Stay tuned…

Over the course of 10 days, I went to Noodle Bar, SSam Bar, and Milk Bar (and PDT for the Momofuku dog) and have generally been satisfied with my visits but not blown away because the food was uneven, some great stuff and some so so.   I was starting to think that the hype was just a hype and we were all just following the Pied Piper out of town to drown in a river of kimchi and other pickled vegetation.

Let’s not mention the fact that the man did not make it easy for me to get to his food. Running to make a fried chicken reservation? No way, won’t catch me doing that again.  Anyway, back to Ko. JN had been monitoring the Ko reservation board for me and found a sitting for 9:30pm on a Monday night that very morning, but since I was helping the Korean move during the day, I decided I would be completely wiped out and I foolishly turned it down and spent the next three days lamenting the fact. But then, as luck would have it, I scored a last minute dinner reservation to Ko, which has a notorious reputation for being difficult to get into, something about 12 seats and only being able to reserve one week in advance (forget about trying to get into lunch). Someone out there with other priorities canceled his/her Friday night reservation, which I promptly snatched up around 11am on Thursday morning. I had been so used to seeing the red Xes that the green check mark nearly blinded me.  Even worse the countdown clock they give you is completely nerve wracking. You have 60 seconds to accept the reservation and then another 150 seconds or so to enter in your credit card information.

“Aaahhh!!!!! Where’s my wallet?!! Who else can I take to KO?! (JN shouts in the background, “Take Les! Take Les!”) Okay okay! What do I do?  Oh my God, oh my God, a hundred and twenty seconds left, security code? what?!” I ended my little hissy fit by texting a command to Les, “You are coming with me to Ko tomorrow!!” Like there was ever even a doubt that she would decline. We knew where our priorities lay.

We show up the next night and placed ourselves down at the the long bar where all the diners can watch the chefs mill about in a small cooking area. The experience is similar to sitting at a sushi bar and watching the chef prepare each course.  It’s great for voyeurs like me who like to watch their dishes being prepped and plated.  The bar at Ko is a zen like setting with random music coming from the speakers overhead mingling with the hushed voices of diners.  The lighting is clear and bright, a refreshing change to other fine dining establishments, because I can actually see my food and appreciate the visual presentation. Of course, with lighting seemingly made to be conducive for food photography, Ko has a no picture policy. And I am perfectly okay with it because at the end of the day, eating takes priority over blogging.

Here’s how the dinner proceeded.

Crisp, deep fried chicharon with togarashi salt was presented next to a dense yet fluffy black pepper biscuit with mirin glaze. I loved the biscuit/muffin thing because it was warm, crumbly, moist, buttery, and peppery. The mirin glaze was fantastic and added a touch of sweetness and tang. Chicharon was alright, I couldn’t taste too much of the togarashi seasoning but anything made of piggy and deep fried works for me.

Then we had a ceramic spoon containing a mouthful of fried calamari, pistachio puree, eggplant puree, and a little sprig of dill. Great texture and flavors together.

Up next was sliced raw diver scallop, crisp watercress chunks, crispy ham bits, with pineapple vinegar. The scallop was sweet and fresh and the ham added the salt the dish needed.

One of my favorite dishes was uni with shiso leaf in a cool dashi broth with charred grilled vegetables that I suspect are pea shoots/vines. I call them dou miao in Chinese.  The dashi broth was light and it was complemented by the smokiness of of the pea shoots.  In a flash of whimsy, they placed the pod of snap peas laid open on the dish and in the pods, were what appeared to be peas but were really just tiny little balls of cucumber.

And then the oft mentioned and blogged about egg dish. THE egg dish that I had heard so much about from Les. I can’t even begin to say how good it was. A smoked egg cut open so the yolk spills out topped with a briny dollop of caviar. Then it’s served with an onion soubise, tiny little chips made from fingerling potatoes, chopped chives, and a sweet potato vinegar.  This is a dish where you need to put a little bit of everything on the spoon to get the full impact. Oddly enough, it was like eating a mutant version of sour cream and chives/sour cream and onion chips if that makes sense and then egg and caviar flavor just float happily on your tongue.

In an homage to everything summer, they plated up a dish of sweet corn and sour cream ravioli in a buttery sauce of diced Spanish chorizo, corn, cotija cheese, pickled tomato, and lime zest. The sweetness of the corn mixed well with the soft sour cream and complemented the smokey, spicy chorizo. This is where I really appreciated the intimacy of sitting at the bar and watching the chefs (the one stationed in front of us was really cute! I was told I had to mention that.) prepare the meal. We watched the preparation of the dish from sautéeing the diced chorizo in butter and the plating of each layer of flavor with the corn, the cheese, the diced tomato. We could see and smell all of it, down to the faint whiff of lime as they grated it over the microplane. It really builds the anticipation for each dish and enhances the experience.

For our fish dish, we had grilled caper-brined baby trout, potato risotto, baby swish chard, and radish. The fish was melt in your mouth tender and the caper brine did not overwhelm the delicacy of the fish.

Of course we also had the famous frozen foie dish. Shaved torchon of foie over riesling gelée, lychees, and pine nut brittle. The treatment made the foie so fluffy and light and the remaining components added sweetness and bitterness to the dish which offset the richness of foie.  This is also another dish where you’ve got to put every ingredient in a spoonful to appreciate the overall effect. Les didn’t like foie so they gave her nicely cooked piece of bass with teeny little onion ravioli. She said it was good and I’ll take her word for it.

The final course before dessert was this amazing deep fried short rib on top of pickled pearl onions (the dude is sooo Korean, pickles everything he can get his hands on), a preparation of onion using some French word I don’t know (miqui or something, someone please educate me), grilled leeks, and my arch nemesis…a huge bed of pureed of scallions. If you’re looking for irony, this is it. As Les so eloquently put it,  the definition of irony is when the best dish of the night contains scallions and yet, you hate scallions. Take that Alanis Morissette! However, back to the subject. I ignored the evil greenery and focused on the delectable short rib. The skin was nice and crisp and any external fat was nicely caramelized. The inside was so tender and melt in your mouth, reminiscent of wagyu beef.

We had watched them trim the cooked short rib on the cutting board and both Les and I were aghast at the chunks of meat being cast aside and wasted. Granted, a lot of it was fat but a LOT of it was meat!!! I was so tempted to reach over and rescue those perfect, crackling, tender pieces of beef and help them achieve their life purpose of satisfying my tummy but decorum held me back. Plus I didn’t want to get banned from Ko as the Changer seems to like to have things just so, down to the music that plays in the restaurant…so I’m told.

The first dessert was animal cracker ice cream, diced peaches, and peach soda.  It really did taste like animal crackers and it was light and refreshing.

The final bit of the evening had a savory kick to it. Black pepper ganache with black pepper crumble,  macerated blueberries, and topped with ice cream made from olive oil and creme fraiche ice cream. I loved this. It was akin to eating yogurt with granola, a breakfast favorite of mine. And I do like ending a great evening with breakfast.

Ko completely won me over.  It was such a great meal — elegant, whimsical, creative, and absolutely delicious. There wasn’t a single dish that was subpar or that I didn’t devour to the last lick. I don’t know what kind of mojo David Chang has got swimming around in the water he drinks but I’ll gladly join his army and help expand the empire. We’ll deep fry and pickle everyone that gets in our way.