Our Favorite Meals of 2023: Part Five
Our final part of the series features a once in a lifetime sushi dinner in Japan, meals at the late great Compass Run, a downtown lunch, 7 courses in Oregon, a long overdue return to Toronto and more.
Soon Ho
Co-founder of Extra Extra Pizza
First Time Favorite Meal Contributor!
My favorite meals of 2023 have to be from a one-night trip to Hudson, New York and then a trip within a trip to New York City. Bridget and I traveled to attend Peripheral (Hudson’s first and only natural wine festival!). After an unabridged day of tasting and learning wine, we opted for a “bang bang,” where you bounce from one restaurant to another in succession, resulting in a beautifully interminable dinner experience. It’s somewhere between Girl Dinner and a seat at the table of Henry VIII.
Our first stop was at Lil’ Deb’s Oasis; a burst of emotional, visual, and comestible technicolor. Bright neons, low-lit corners, tangy fish sauce-thomcord compotes, crackly fried tapioca–this restaurant was laden with delicious juxtapositions. We shared a piquant tuna tataki, toasty chicory salad, and a plate of pillowy tapioca fried to a delicate and unspoiled crisp. We ordered a yuzu chevre and quince cheesecake with a punchy espresso martini and a crystalline hazelnut and rhubarb gin cocktail, completing the first part of our two-part dining experience. It was a perfect all-sensory indulgence which left us ready for our next development: Backbar!
Backbar provided the hearty, spiced bulk of the second bang in our bang bang. We dug into tender, juicy fried chicken enclosed in a sandwich that tasted the way a really good hug feels. A pair of cumulous pork belly bao buns accompanied a bowl of dan dan noodles dotted with sambal oelek’s bright heat. To put the Extra in our extravagant meal, we also ordered (+devoured) kara age chicken–a dish that brought me back to the humble beginnings of our friendship working at a small Japanese restaurant together.
I guess I can’t stop here because one more meal comes to mind as a favorite of 2023. I was treated to a lovely birthday dinner by my significant other at Atoboy, a Korean-inspired and banchan-venerating restaurant in the Flatiron District. From start to finish, each dish in the carefully constructed prix fixe offering precipitated a childhood story. I talked through this entire meal, which is not often the case in my household. This meal was special to me, not only because it was unflinchingly delectable but because most Korean meals I have these days are connected to a lattice of sentiment and reminiscences. I hope to eat more and feel more in the coming year!
Eric Wood
Former Buffalo Bill & Host of Centered on Buffalo
First Time Favorite Meal Contributor!
My favorite meal of the year was at Ilio DiPaolo’s in Blasdell the night before my Flights and Bites annual event benefitting the Evan Wood Fund.
Ilio’s does an incredible job with their Italian food. I would go there after every home game throughout my career. Even above their food though, is their service and hospitality. Those make it an easy choice to bring my out of town guests.
The Veal Parmesan with a side of gnocchi is my go to order.
Taylor Fulton
@seltzermom, Creator of , Former Buffalo Eats Contributor
2x Favorite Meal Contributor
I’m going to cheat and talk about two meals I loved this year, because I know I’m not the only one who cheats and mentions two meals!
As I scrolled through pictures of food I took this year, I felt immediate sadness looking at my final photos from Compass Run. Everything Chef James put on that menu, start to finish, you could tell were imagined with pride and love. Of course, you can still find that at Toutant, but it was so apparent to me that Chef James, Connie, and their entire staff wanted to fill the hole Dobutsu left the right way.
From the oysters to the button mushrooms, and the warm buns to the last-ever crab dip, everything was above and beyond at my friend’s and my final dinner there. I don’t even remember if we got entrees; we were so consumed by ensuring we got bites of everything we knew we’d soon lose. My last Compass Run meal will always be special to me, because I was so intentional in being present in every bite.
(James, if you read this, it’s Taylor. Hi. Please drop the shrimp dip recipe. I have like, five dollars, but you can have all five if that’s what it takes.)
While we’re on the subject of crabs, my second favorite meal of the year happened when my friend got us bags of (pre-cooked, chilled) crabs from Maryland. I cannot for the life of me remember where they were from, but they were phenomenal. We did a mock crab boil — my first — complete with mallets our *other* friend from Maryland just happens to have with her in Buffalo. You know, in case of crab emergencies.
It was a beautiful, clear night. We ate crabs and corn on my friend’s rooftop. I think my pores seeped Old Bay for days, not that I was mad. Sometimes, the best meals are simple, new experiences with friends while Old Bay seeps into your bones.
Michael “Gus” Giambra
Chef at The Little Club
First Time Favorite Meal Contributor!
One of my favorite dishes around is the cold shredded potatoes with szechuan chili oil and cilantro from Home Taste on Delaware. I’m never not whisked away by its simplicity and vibrant tingling sensation.
We had some great dishes from Mike Thill at Wayland Brewing, where Rootdown produce got the taqueria treatment and really hit the spot. My dear partner Erika is a lead brewer at Wayland as well, and I found her ground cherry sour with a touch of green cardamom to be a recent favorite beverage of mine.
In April we went to see some family and concerts in Los Angeles. The natural wine list at the Hollywood Bowl certainly helped my companion through the three consecutive Phish shows. During our time out there we caught the Raw Wine Fair, where one of the great opportunities is to purchase tinned fish you've maybe not seen before. Other highlights included meals from Dune and Saffy’s, and pickled eggs at the wine bar El Prado with Brian Eno playing on vinyl.
We took a class on fermentation vessels in winemaking at Grape Witches in Toronto, whose wonderful team sent us to the modern Chinese restaurant ALMA for chili crisp wings and their signature radish cake. So many good wings this year between the return of the Dapper Goose wings, Tonchin curry & parmesan wings in NYC, and Mister Goodbar’s honey creole wings that oft became the next day’s lunch as chicken salad, featuring the wing sauce-marinated celery and carrot.
Nikki Rosenberg, Craig Parker and Jake Bauer put great care into revitalizing the kitchen at Milkie’s Elmwood Lounge. Here, the Italian shiitake and oyster mushroom with giardiniera (à la the popularized Italian Beef) was a delight. Bauer has had a strong year in both stand up and sandwiches; his post-show porchetta at the Bubble Box comedy show had the attendees abuzz.
2023 was the second year in a row that Erika has worked a grape harvest in Germany, and I’ve been fortunate to tag along. Cooking for Jasmin Swan and her team at Katla Wines has been a dream. Serving Buffalo wings with their Bavarian bleu cheese brought us together.
We made it up north to Oslo where we poked around farmer's markets, tasting what was being prepared and retrieving some produce to cook for the week. Of course I couldn't resist checking out the flea market in the same square the following day. Oslo’s regional hot dogs, which are wrapped in soft potato flatbreads called lomper, were a real treat. The best dog was from Syverkiosken, which I read was the oldest kiosk in the city making pølse med lompe. Tim Windelboe’s Cappuccino Al Freddo - a shaken, frothy, chilled espresso beverage - was so good I returned for another two that week.
Jah Isakaya in Copenhagen stood out, with raw Japanese soul food, a sake tasting menu, and reggae records spinning in the background. We also popped into a wine bar called Ancestrale to split a plate of pickles and were surprised by a memorable ricotta gnocchi dish with carrots done three ways, the most exciting being the itsy bitsy pickled carrots it was topped with.
Lest we forget the holy grail of Sunday snacks in Buffalo, the Ham & Cheese croissant from Colleen Stillwell and Molly Doherty at Butter Block! Cooking with them for our women's month collaborative dinner at the Little Club has been one of my favorite and most humbling services each year.
Donnie Burtless
Buffalo Eats
7x Favorite Meal Contributor
Last year was the first year in a long time that I was able to do some light traveling. My wife Alli surprised me with a birthday trip to the Finger Lakes for my first ever wine vacation, I drank every riesling I could find and had several great meat and cheese plates. I also did a weekend trip to NYC with some buddies, had a great meal at Peter Luger’s, did a day long pizza crawl around Brooklyn and foolishly drank like I was in my 20’s.
But the trip that stands out from a favorite meal perspective was a trip to Toronto with Alli in August. We found a hipster hotel in a good area, and opted to go for quality instead of quantity for our meal choices. This lead to an excellent steak frites at Cote de Boeuf, a long overdue visit to Bar Raval for some wine and jamon and some stupid good Rigatoni at Sugo. The trip was our proper return to Toronto after nearly 8 years away and made us realize how much we’ve missed that city.
Greg Moyer
Owner of Leftern
First Time Favorite Meal Contributor!
Sometimes lost in the Pantheon of what makes Buffalo truly special is how diverse the city is. Most people from WNY will have similar Rushmores as it relates to what their favorite things about the area are. They’ll mention the architecture- as the city is lined with breathtaking architectural marvels that borrow styles from countless different eras of design. They’ll mention the history- as you can’t tell all of America’s story without mentioning battles, industries, political figures, and American heroes that populated the city limits throughout time. They’ll mention the art and music- as every person from here is at most, one degree of separation from an incredible artist or musician, and there’s a deeply rooted cultural history of artists that either started or made their way through Buffalo at some point in their illustrious careers. And ya gotta mention the wings- as they of course are rumored to have been invented within the city’s boundaries.
It makes perfect sense that at the crossroad of all of these things, in the literal heart of downtown, the center of this city’s vast history, lies a modest-sized, unassuming diner that perfectly exemplifies how this city changes every single decade while continuously remaining a melting pot of every different culture, social class, and personality dropped here along the way. Buffalo presents: The Courtyard Restaurant: where every person you have ever, and will ever meet, eats lunch.
I ate at all of you and your favorite foodie Instagram account’s favorite restaurants in 2023, and I enjoyed every damn one of them. Buffalo is a sneaky elite food city. When we have guests come in from out of town, admittedly- their bars are set pretty low- but they are always blown away by the offerings. That being said, my favorite meal of 2023 was had at The Courtyard Restaurant. This isn’t a spot to bring your out of state friends to brag about, this is a spot to bring your friends and family who live in Buffalo to remind them how truly special this city is. I landed there via the simple ask to my boss at work, “Where the fuck can you get a decent lunch downtown?”. This may seem like an ignorant question, but I’m rarely available to go out to lunch, especially downtown, so I’m admittedly not well-versed. And the first 5 places my subconscious presents me when thinking about food downtown, all are closed until dinner service. My boss suggested Courtyard. “The place is great. My wife’s Greek and she loves that shit. Let’s go.”
One of the things I find most romantic about existing inside the downtown area of any ‘major’ city is how strangely anonymous and little it makes you feel. It’s a comfortable, judgment-free feeling as everyone around you is on their own mission, carrying their own baggage, navigating the same upside down world you are. I was reminded of this immediately when I first stepped into Courtyard. I left my problems at the door as it felt like I stepped off of Franklin Street into a time machine to the mid-90s- when my Dad used to bring me downtown to go to a Bison’s game or the library for a school project. Right on cue for a diner- the kindest soul- a good neighbor with a thick Buffalo accent greeted us with a smile and told us to sit anywhere our hearts desired before taking someone’s order on the exact paper pad you see in your imagination right now, with the same scribbled hieroglyphics that only a diner waitress can decipher.
As I took my coat off and looked around, I saw the faces of every person I’ll ever meet. Fifteen or so tables, each with four or more seats, providing a place to break bread for people of every culture. It seemed like every age from 6 to 86 was represented. In a room smaller than my apartment, I saw construction workers next to lawyers. Police officers next to grandmas. Single mothers next to FBI agents. Electricians next to tech guys. Disheveled gentlemen with their ass cracks hanging out at the bar next to well manicured women who could’ve left there and went straight to reporting the news on TV. Eavesdropping table by table is like switching the channel on satellite TV. You’ll overhear conversations about the Bills, the weather, a restraining order being put on “his bitch ass”, plans for their weekend, or about a court case currently in intermission. It’s sensory overload that is undeniably calming. Everyone sitting in that restaurant is dealing with their own shit, but it can wait, while we all throw down on some old fashioned diner food, together.
Note that this is a breakfast and lunch venue only- it closes at 2PM. I’m a big lunch guy, so that’s fun for me. Most places, especially downtown, made up their mind long ago and surrendered to the notion that the idea of lunch is dead, and don’t open their restaurants until 4PM or later. I have a conspiracy theory that I think one establishment started that, and every time one restaurant does it, the one next to it has to since less people are headed that direction, until tumbleweeds eventually take their place. I think we need to cut that shit out if we ever want downtown to have a pulse again, but that’s a rant for another time.
The menu? Pretty damn standard- but I count that as a positive. In my opinion, there’s something incredibly charming about a no-frills diner menu. This one in particular is a hybrid of classic Greek offerings as well as American diner food. Two of my favorite things about a diner live on here as well- incredibly kind and attentive hosts and wait staff, and whatever chemicals in the air of a good diner that make you crave a fountain soda as soon as you step foot inside the restaurant. I don’t really drink pop, but it feels illegal to be here without slamming a syrupy soda water. There’s probably an undercover FBI agent sitting within 15 feet of you enjoying a Chicken Souvlaki if you’d like to put that theory to the test. The best part? While you’re in this time machine, enjoy prices from 1995, too. Inflation has decimated every square inch of this country outside of these four walls.
Once you’re done with the least boring lunch of your work week, finish your fountain drink down to the ice, grab your coat, bring your check back to the lovely lady up front. Settle up, give her a sincere ‘Thank You, we’ll be back soon’ and a ‘Go Bills’ for good measure. Throw your coat back on and step out of the time machine to the brisk air at 127 Franklin Street in 2024. Look around- the architecture hasn’t changed much since your visit to 1995. And the Sabres still suck. Unbelievable. Back to work.
Evan Duckett
Buffalo Eats, Singer of Final Declaration
3x Favorite Meal Contributor
My favorite meal of the year was on June 10th, 2023, seated five minutes before doors opened to the crowd amassed for the final service at Compass Run (back door privileges of living down the hall), and encapsulated everything I loved about the place: perfect comfort food, in my own building, served by people who have become something like family. A beautiful side note is that the meal was shared with relatively newly minted close friends, a result of our collective 72 hour no power or heat survivalist situation at Christmas, six months prior. Over the course of Compass Run I ate everything on the menu, usually multiple times, but the collective order on that final service was truly perfect: some burgers, a couple chicken fried steaks, some buns, and one of everything for dessert. Compass Run did fresh seafood and southern comfort as good as we’ve ever had in Western New York, but man that burger was something special every time; two Plato Dale served Oklahoma style with a pile of steamed onions and American on a fresh baked bun.
I’ll never forget being at Compass Run the night before the blizzard started, not fully knowing what was coming down the pike, and I’ll never forget Compass Run opening for the first time after the blizzard, and when they probably could have stayed closed a bit longer, and what a comfort that was to be back at that bar with those people.
I miss Compass Run deeply, and as much as I miss the food, I miss seeing the faces of James and his kitchen staff, DeVoe and his bar staff, and Lauren and her FOH staff around the building before service hours, during prep times, and at the occasional family meal that I was lucky enough to be included in. I love Toutant to death and will always patronize it and consider it amongst the best in the city, but Compass Run was special because it was our place. So here’s to the burgers, and thanks for everything.
Melissa Winkler
Owner of Winkler & Samuels
2x Favorite Meal Contributor
A dining experience that stood out the most to me this year was when I was traveling for our wine shop and while in Oregon and visited Hiyu Wine Farm in the Hood River area of Northern Oregon.
I had been in Oregon traveling around, trying out new products for the shop, and meeting some producers we have long loved since we opened (Fossil & Fawn and Maloof being my absolute favorites). I was so taken aback by the breathtaking views of the Pacific Northwest, and its vast wilderness. I have a friend that describes Europe as being defined by history, and old architecture, whereas the United States is defined by its vast open spaces. And I didn’t truly understand this until visiting Oregon. It is so incredibly beautiful, filled with landscapes varying from desert scenes, to wide open rolling hills, to tangled forests. Most wine coming from Oregon is coming from the Willamette Valley, situated south of Portland. But Hood Mountain, where Hiyu is located, lies just east of Portland and is right on the border of Washington and Oregon. Hiyu is not just a winery but an ecosystem, nestled amidst rolling hills and lush vineyards, is renowned for its commitment to biodynamic and organic farming practices. The Winery takes a holistic approach, emphasizing harmony with nature to produce wines that reflect the unique terroir of the region. Our friend Nate Ready is the winemaker at Hiyu, and it was great to see first hand what makes their wines unique and to catch up! After a private tour of the winery, a friend and I stayed for a wine pairing dinner at their world class on-site restaurant. It was a great way to see the full scope for how beautiful the wines are. I always say that you don't really get to appreciate wine to its fullest extent unless it is being paired with the right food, and you learn about the story behind it. Half way through the dinner Nate took us and the other guests for a walk around the garden where they grow all the food for their wine dinners and through the vineyard that the wines came from. All of this was happening as the sun was setting over the beautiful vineyard; Nate went on to explain their philosophy behind how the wines are grown and produced.
They have a much different approach to making wines than most other places. Some of the vineyards are planted with multiple grape varieties, sometimes even grafted to the same root stock. For their blends like ‘Aesalon’ everything is harvested at the same time. Most other wineries will harvest different grapes at different points in the season, to ensure maximum ripeness. This gives the winemaker more control over the final resulting wine produced. But it can also create a homogenized example of either the grape validity, or a region as a whole. Whereas at Hiyu the philosophy is completely different. By harvesting the different grape varieties all at once, some grapes are riper than others, which results in a more complex flavor profile and adds texture to the wines. They are farming their wines biodynamically, a farming practice that has the foundation of organic farming, but with the philosophy that everything is interconnected in the vineyard, so to produce a really great wine you need to take care of not only the vine itself, but everything around the vine as well. It’s a really beautiful philosophy, and I think it produces some of the most interesting wines. They are using this farming practice not only for the wine grapes, but for all the food they grow, that they then use to make the amazing food at the restaurant. We were on experience overload, so I was sure to take a copy of the evening’s menu with us:
Course 1: Focaccia with olives
Course 2: Yellow Romano bean called “Marvel of Venice” served with chickpea panisse, pardon peppers and baba ganoush paired with 2022 Hiyu ‘Tzum Eventyr’, Columbia Gorge White an Albarino from a site in the rainforest that looks across the Columbia toward Mt. Hood. It spends 10 days on the lees which gives it a marzipan and melon aroma.
Course 3: Confit Oregon Albacore, tomatoes infused with lavender and salad of cucumber and fennel. Paired with 'Aesalon', Columbia Gorge, a field blend of Xarel-lo, Arinto, Verdelho, Macabeo and a dozen other Spanish and Portuguese white grapes. It spends a few days on the skins to allow the essential oils to migrate into the juice before being pressed into old barrels to age. It’s an experimental wine made from Mediterranean varieties grown in a warming alpine climate.
Course 4: After returning from a walk in the gardens we enjoyed a version of Ratatouille. It was paired with Hiyu 2019 Moondog, Columbia Gorge. Which is made from 30 different clones of heirloom Pinot Noir, coming from France. The wine is a lighter expression of Pinot Noir with bright acidity and a beautiful red floral aroma.
Course 5: Roasted Lamb and potatoes paired with Hiyu 2018 Noctua “Perennial", Columbia Gorge Red Wine made from Prieto Picudo, Babosa Negro, Juan Garcia, Touriga Nacional, clones of Tempranillo. It's a deep, intense wine, with aromas of just ripe blackberry, and perfume. It’s made to be both an expression of Hermitage (Rhone Valley, France) and Rioja (Spain), while still being very much itself, which it certainly was.
Course 6: Cheese Course
Course 7: Black Raspberry dessert paired with Hiyu Floréal Cider, Columbia Gorge. Hiyu Wine Farm's apple wine, only on its fourth release, derives from a mix of 80 different cider and dessert apple varieties grown on a 60-acre biodynamic orchard. One of the wilder wines made of apples we know of: fuller-bodied, leesy, distinctly smoky, as well as being dry and lightly oxidative.
Tom & Alex Burtless
Buffalo Eats
9x Favorite Meal Contributor
After a rough overnight of travel to London this past May, we had our first night’s dinner at Brawn. My wife had heard about it while listening to a podcast and made a note for our upcoming travel plans. We sat at the bar and ordered (nearly) everything off of the menu. Revived by a great meal and a few Negronis, we were ready to explore the city. Our bartender recommended some great spots that all proved to be worth a visit, including Equal Parts, an amaro bar a few blocks away.
Le Tambour Tavern just across the border in Hamilton is the (fairly) new sister restaurant of our Toronto favorite, Cote de Boeuf. Fortunately, Le Tambour has much more seating and offers reservations. Both restaurants instantly transport you to Paris with small but impressive menus and wine lists. Highly recommend both next time you’re up that way. Don’t miss the steak frites.
Surprisingly, a simple chicken salad sandwich also ended up being a favorite meal for me this past year. Alex and I went to La Sandwicherie in Miami two days in a row this past trip - couldn’t get enough of their house made French vinaigrette.
Emily Sorokes
@buffalobeerfluencer
First Time Favorite Meal Contributor!
My favorite meal of 2023 was at Besa in Detroit.
I traveled to Detroit in March on a work trip and wasn’t sure what to expect. After a quick 40-minute flight across the lake from Buffalo, what I found was a diverse city with everything from industrial factories, to high end shopping districts, breweries, elevated dining, and more.
My work event sent me to ZANA, Besa’s sister restaurant, for lunch in the Detroit suburb Birmingham. All the staff said that if I had time to kill before my flight, I should go to Besa. After a heavy lunch, my colleague and I walked to Besa for a dinner of some shared appetizers. Part of the fact that this meal was so memorable is that the work trip had ended, and I was so relaxed knowing that all of the sales meetings went well. The ambiance was upscale and chic, with attentive and knowledgeable service. But the dishes really spoke for themselves. The Mediterranean dishes with an American flair were simply delicious.
My meal:
Chardonnay - buttery and oaked, my favorite type of white wine
Besa Fries with lemony buttermilk aioli — upon looking around the restaurant, nearly every single table had at least one order of these fries. The aioli was so addicting, I could have eaten it with a spoon.
Pulled lamb shoulder on top of brown butter hummus and pomegranate reduction — the lamb was slightly crispy, and the brown butter added a savory richness that was so delicious.
Joseph Leta
Co-founder of Buffalo Otaku & Former BE Contributor
6x Favorite Meal Contributor
This year, I spent a lot of time thinking about essence. Philosophically, Aristotle is credited with illuminating this concept, roughly explained as the property of some thing, without which, it would not be that thing. By way of an easy example, if a bachelor were married, he would not be a bachelor. Therefore, the essence of a bachelor is the absence of a steady romantic partner. Coincidentally, in early 2023 I got married to my beautiful co-Otaku, Sadako in her birthplace, Osaka. Therefore, in essence, I lost the essence of my bachelorhood.
Over the years the concept of essence evolved, and to avoid losing the lingering audience which failed to exeunt after the mention of Aristotle, I will forgo a prolonged historical discourse. The aspects of essence into which I found my mind boring was culinary essence, or more specifically the technique of magnifying the flavors of an ingredient to shine as that Ingredient. Salt a fresh tomato or cucumber, and the ordinary becomes sublime.
Gently poach a lobster in some butter spiked with vanilla bean, and you have alchemistically transubstantiated an oceanic cockroach into culinary gold. It is the ability to take the picked-clean carcass of a turkey, and after many hours of gentle heat, with the minimal inclusion of aromatic vegetables in crystal-clear agua, that the essence of Thanksgiving imbues in ideally a gelatinous, liquid form.
This sounds simple enough, but, perhaps it is the aspect most absent in our culinary world, especially locally. Dining out, it is rare I find a protein cooked poorly, less rare to find things over-salted, but quite frequent to find a dish ruined by smothering. WNY’s perennial favorite, Hutch’s is classic for this taking a beautiful, seafood protein, and covering it in so much butter sauce it would not matter if you were dining on Dover sole, Patagonian toothfish, or Orange roughy. In another celebrated restaurant recently opened in 2023 (in a part of Buffalo which I will liken to Hoboken) I was horrified to be served Halibut with ketchup (under the guise of escabeche—but, it was ketchup), and an expensive, rubbery lobster covered in so much proprietary spice that the essence of this poor sea creature was snuffed in a blanket of excess. I should consider myself lucky that these dishes were not covered in melted mozzarella.
And the wind cries essence…
As a gift for our wedding, a dear friend of my Wife invited us to a rare dining experience in Kanazawa, Japan—coincidentally one of Buffalo’s sister cities. Kamatsu Yasuke is the name of this small eatery, and it features the celebrated culinary stylings of chef Morita Kazuo, a 92 year old sushi chef, which are mostly performed by his next generation of acolytes.
Occasionally, for very special occasions, chef Morita emerges from retirement, to prepare a meal. While I would like to think this special occasion was my wedding, it was actually the fact that we were invited to dine with 90 year old Noguchi Naohiko, a Toji (sake brew master) referred to in Japan as the “God of Sake Brewing.” On this occasion, in essence, legend met legend.
With 70+ years of experience as a sushi chef, Kazuo’s effortless performance contained no wasted movement, much liked the famed Japanese painters that stare at a canvas for hours, before finishing their masterwork in a few simple strokes. Each piece of nigiri was prepared à la minute for the few diners, all entranced with his culinary dance.
At the mid-point some binchotan was ignited, and placed in a clay box. Slices of fresh unagi were grilled by an assistant, and cooked to a creamy finish. As each piece was perfected, they were handed to chef Kazuo, hot from the grill. Chef reached into a bowl of rice, grabbed the perfect handful, and formed it into a simple handroll with roasted nori, and some cool cucumber. He started with the gaijin--they always start with the gaijin, and handed me this seemingly simple treat, still spouting its steamy, eel-y aroma. At this restaurant, in our sister city halfway across the world, I had not only the finest bite of 2023, but potentially of my life.
Perhaps, you might think my taste buds a bit daft, especially since something so simple, so omnipresent in WNY moved me to culinary ecstasy--but the fact that it did can not be denied. This is what happens when a chef dedicates his life to decades of culinary introspection, and discovers essence. Perhaps, it was a unique nori grown in a minuscule micro climate, or the grains of rice, cultivated specially for this famous culinary outpost.
Perhaps, the eel was just caught off the coast of this seaward community, and chosen for its unctuousness. Maybe, it was the golden mean of ingredients, or finding the proper temperature with pin-point timing; the chaud-froid (hot eel/cold cucumber) distinction illuminating textural contrasts. Maybe, my starstruck wanderlust overwhelmed my better senses. Perhaps, it was all of that, and many more aspects of noumena well outside of my episteme gleaned and transmitted by years of fine tuning. Chef Kazuo dug deep into his soul, and with the full emanation of his Monkey D. Luffy-ian haki created a morsel which contained not only the essence of the perfect eel handroll, but his entire culinary mindset.
After enjoying this treat, chef’s friend, Toji Noguchi rose, walked over, and honored me by pouring some of his sake into kintsugi — a glass that over the years was broken, and artfully mended with veins of gold – a perfect metaphor for an aged legend who embodies the essence of humility, during a meal that encapsulated the essence of our 2023, screaming with restraint, and humble, culinary intention.
