What did you eat last night for dinner?

I had a massive plate of grilled chicken oysters, some uni and some bonito innards.

I've never seen chicken oysters served as a dish.

I saw some pretty bonito whole at the Philippino fish market last week. I was planning to get one an experiment with it - any suggestions on how to prepare?



Baron said:

I've never seen chicken oysters served as a dish.

I saw some pretty bonito whole at the Philippino fish market last week. I was planning to get one an experiment with it - any suggestions on how to prepare?

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I've never seen chicken oysters available like this either, but I am definitely going to this restaurant again. It's a Japanese grill house and they offer every different part of the chicken separately. The oysters are like $6 for 5 oysters, which seems like a great deal to me. Bonito I have generally seen seared only. Only seen it already filleted.

Bonito innards?

I visited La Boite a Epices in NYC yesterday and am dreaming up tonight's dinner.



Baron said:

I've never seen chicken oysters served as a dish.

I saw some pretty bonito whole at the Philippino fish market last week. I was planning to get one an experiment with it - any suggestions on how to prepare?

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Ever go to John Wilson's stand at Hollywood Farmer's market? I get most of my seafood there now. I like Seafood City, but I only want pompano so often....



philosophe said:

Bonito innards?

I visited La Boite a Epices in NYC yesterday and am dreaming up tonight's dinner.

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It's a dish called shuto. I think they are pickled or salted. Very strong taste, but good.



mordecai said:

Ever go to John Wilson's stand at Hollywood Farmer's market? I get most of my seafood there now. I like Seafood City, but I only want pompano so often....

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I go to the woman's stand near the crossroads at the market (she's also in Pasadena on Saturdays). Is John Wilson the guy at the far south end of Ivar? I tried to buy some fish from him a few weeks ago and stood at the front of the line for like 5 minutes while he carried on a conversation with a reporter and totally ignored me, and I finally walked away. I don't mind people being talkative, but I won't stand around waiting forever - same thing happened at the chicken vendor once. You'd think they would be anxious to take my $15 for a chicken or whatever they charge.

As for Seafood City - yes, the selection is a little odd, but I intend to start experimenting with some of it to see what's really good. They usually have whole bonito and it's wild and local. They often have a few varieties of mackerel, and good looking sardines. They also have a ton of over sized farmed stuff from Asia that I steer clear of.

I wouldn't buy from her. According to guys at some of the legit stands (the mushroom foragers, Buffalo Nazi, Marcie's, some others) she used to have a horrible smelling fish taco stand there before selling fish. Her stuff is allegedly bought from wherever and then marked up. "local branzino" more highly priced than Whole Foods? okay...

The chicken vendors with the pink stand cover also are worth the wait in my opinion.

Everything I've had from Wilson is incredible. I go when they open so I don't usually have to wait. FWIW, he has also held up the line for 5 minutes talking to me about the best way to cook something, so it isn't as if he's just a sucker for publicity.

Do they have baby octopus at SFC or just squid?

I really don't care why he's talking to someone - I just don't want to stand around like an asshole being ignored when I'm trying to buy something. But I'll give him another shot. His stuff did look really good and I gather he's the fisherman?

The woman's stock has all been pretty good, but I've only bought from her 3 times. The prices and quality were fine - comparable to whole foods I suppose, nothing special.


edit: they had octopus last time was at SFC, but I didn't look at it too closely.

He is the fisherman, and I believe the stuff he sells is usually caught that morning. The lines are why I go so early by the way. When you have one or two people answering questions about locality, hormones, freshness, seasonality, pesticides, certified organic v organic to the thousands of people who come to their stands each day, what do you expect? For a simple transaction I would just go to a brick and mortar.

Went out last night:

Sashimi of fluke, creamy miso, mizuna, tobiko-mustard
dressing

and

Hudson valley duck breast, herbed couscous,
asparagus, dried cherry & pine nut relish

Doesn't really go together, but both were superb. Both dishes were recommended to me, so I decided to get them.

Moroccan Spiced Squab, Honey Glazed Carrots, Coriander-Infused Purée

What's that scarf the bird is wearing?

It's a zucchini blossom.



mgm9128 said:

Moroccan Spiced Squab, Honey Glazed Carrots, Coriander-Infused Purée

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Squab, carrots, and puree. That's it, ditch the rest.