Sushi and Ippin Ryori

Part three of a multiple event day......
The Art of Sushi and Japanese Tapas
A workshop offered by Foods of New York and led by my favourite tour guide Raheem.....
http://www.foodsofny.com/
I have now taken all their tours and recommend all.
This workshop/walking tour, like all of Raheem’s tour’s (I have taken two others) are more than well researched. The Art of Sushi was two and a half years in the making and included a trip to Japan.  Plus, I suspect Raheem visited every sushi and Izakaya bar/restaurant in the five boroughs of New York City.
 

His Restaurant of choice....

Located near Union Square....

A simple setting......

We were first served Genmaicha....

Green tea with popped rice and matcha green tea powder
Not bad for green tea...

Our first tasting,below was served with Ichiban draft beer ........

Ippin Ryori........Japanese Small plates/tapas
 Left to Right....
Tori Kara Orishu Ponzu***
(Fried Chicken in Vinegar Ponzu)
Asu-Bacon Maki
(Asparagus Wrapped in Bacon and Yakitori Grilled)
Gyu Tataki***
(Seared Grilled Beef with Ponzu)
Sake Itchimatsu
(Salmon and Yam Roll)
Nutta***
( A Cold Salad of Sweet Shrimp, Squid, and Grilled Scallion in Miso Broth)
The first three were served with different ponzo sauces…..

Good research….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzu

Kani Tororo Agedashi

(Crab and Yam Cake in Dashi Broth with dakon(white radish) garnish)

Tofu Denganku****

(Warm Tofu with Sweet Rice and Miso Paste)

For me the best new tasting.....
This tasting was followed by three types of sushi.....
Sushi began as a method of preserving fish, not in Japan where it became a art form but in Viet Nam’s Mekong River valley. Whole fish were stuffed with salted rice and stored in barrels. The rice fermented creating lactic acid, a preservative. A by-product was fish sauce. Later vinegar was added to the rice.
http://sushi-master.com/usa/whatis/history.html
http://homepage3.nifty.com/maryy/eng/sushi_history.htm

Sashimi....

Not technically sushi but in the family.....

With Wakatake Onikoroshi Dainj (Demon Slayer) Sake

(Cold fruity sake)

http://www.sake-world.com/html/types-of-sake.html

Hawian Big Eye Ranch Toro, Striped Bass, Hamachi,

With real and manufacture wasabi, dakon tower and shizo (The leaf of the perilla plant and in the mint family) and pickled ginger, used to cleanse the palate not to be eaten with the fish .…

Ok, the design of this tasting plate……
Dakon the mountain, shizo the land and the fish the sea……
A trinity…….

Cold sake, sushi rice, warm sake ……

Nishinoseiki, Junmai Sake for our next tasting.......

(Warm Pure Mild Sake)

Chopsticks……

Chopstick etiquette…..
Serve with the butt end; eat with the pointed……
No double dipping….
Each family member and guest has their own set…..
No sharing of utensils….

Nagiri.....

Nigiri are little fingers of rice topped with wasabi and a filet of raw, cooked fish or shellfish. They are no more than two fingers wide and four long. They are also eaten fish side down.

Left to Right....

Gyu

(KobeStyle Seared Beef)

Aji

(Mackerel)

Sake Aburi

(Seared Fatty Salmon)

Maki......

(North Atlantic Blue Fin Toro and Scallion Role)

Makizushi or maki is a cylindrical roll, formed with a bamboo mat, called a makisu. Makizushi is generally wrapped in nori, but is also wrapped in a thin omelette, soy paper, cucumber, or parsley. Makizushi is usually cut into six or eight pieces, which constitutes a single roll order.

Mochi (pounded sticky rice) Ice Cream, Mizu Yuzu (citrus) Mochi and Adzuki Beans
(Assorted sticky rice sweets)
 Post Script: I have taken Raheems Central Greenwich Village tour twice, the second time with my wife. Would take both The Art of Sushi and his Chinatown walk again, there is just to much information to absorb on one trip.
http://amusebouche1.blogspot.com/2010/02/central-greenwich-village-nyc-food.html
http://amusebouche1.blogspot.com/2009/12/eating-my-way-thought-nyc-chinatown.html

West 12th Street.................... Greenwich Village NYC.......

Above The James Beard Foundation

http://www.jamesbeard.org/

A Walk In Two Parks.....

As luck would have it I had a Saturday off.

With a little planning I setup a multievent New York City day.

A walk with The Municipal Art Society of New York titled Radical Greenwich Village

http://mas.org/tours/

And a tour of Union Square through

Union Square Partnership, Cross Roads of New York.

http://www.unionsquarenyc.org/explore/events/1317-usp-presents-union-square-crossroads-new-york-walking-tour

My day began near the above corner a few blocks from Washington Square Park.
My first tour was to begin under the Washington Square Arch.

My first stop Caffe Riggio.

Serving the community since 1927 and credited with bring the first cappuccino machine to NYC.

http://www.cafereggio.com/

MacDougal Street at 10:30 on a Saturday morning......

Most people I saw had guide books and were not speaking English....

Just a great day in the park......

My tour was good, full of history, lasted almost three hours but not site specific.

Most of the “radical” homes and meeting place are gone.

But if you have not been to the Central and West Village it is well worth the $15.00 fee.

Judson Memorial Church over looking the park....

“A church that's a little bit different - and committed to making a difference.”

And has over the years. The bell tower was once known as Judson Hotel, they housed homeless immigrants.

From the website:

“On April 10, 2007, Judson Memorial Church voted to become a sanctuary congregation, in cooperation with the national New Sanctuary Movement….(JMC) is proud to serve Fair Trade coffee, tea and, cocoa during Coffee Hour…..(and)… estimate that about one-third of active folks at Judson are gay or lesbian.”

A horse trough, possibly the last in the city is located on the east corner....

Next stop.......

The raised bumps at the bottom are braille…...

Union Square is located at the intersection of Broadway and the former Bowery Road – now 4th Avenue–its name celebrates neither the Federal union of the United States nor labor unions but the fact that "here was the union of the two principal thoroughfares of the island" and the union of several trolley lines, as in the term "Union Station."

 

The tour is free and begins every Saturday at 2:00 in front of the statue of Abraham Lincoln on the 16th Street transverse....

Constructed in 1869 and designed by Henry Kirke Brown it is the first public staute of Lincoln.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Kirke_Brown 

 

Opened in 2009, it is a fun 15,00 square foot addition and dedicated to Evelyn Strauss, a former President of the Union Square Partnership.

Abe's view of the park.......

The West Side of the park is home to some of the cities first skyscrapers. The Bank of the Metropolis (left) bring the first.

The west side of the Square also bordered The Ladies' Mile a major shopping district in the second half of the 1800's. Large cast-iron dry goods stores opened along 6th Avenue between 18th and 23rd streets, many of which are still extant. It is also the location of a new type of shop, the department store. Retailing was changed forever. Ladies of leisure now had a reason to leave the home, shopping.

This tucked away garden and the statue below were added in 1986.

Jump..........

http://amusebouche1.blogspot.com/2010/04/madison-square-park.html

Also by Henry Kirke Brown, the above statue of George Washington (1856) Is the first public sculpture erected in New York since the equestrian statue of George III in 1770 and the first American equestrian sculpture cast in bronze.

The above statue of Marquis de Lafayette, modeled by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi was dedicated at the Centennial, July 4, 1876.
Marquis de Lafayette became a natural born citizen of the United States during his lifetime and received honorary United States citizenship in 2002.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorary_citizen_of_the_United_States

The eastern side of the square is dominated by the four Zeckendorf Towers, once home to the bargain-priced department store, S. Klein.

Formerly Tammany Hall......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammany_Hall

Formally Union Square Savings Bank, now a concert hall.....

The Century Center for The Performing Arts is housed in an historic building designed by Henry Hobson Richardson. It was originaly the Century Club, which was frequented by actors, writers and artists. In 1997, it became the Century Center for the Performing Arts. The house has a seating capacity of 299.

Irving Place Fillmore.......

No Comment.....

4 Irving Place - Con Edison (a.k.a Consolidated Gas) Building

From the website:"The Consolidated Gas Company was formed in 1884 with the merger of six of the city's independent gas companies. This merger took place, in part, as a response to the threat created by the formation of the Equitable Gas Light Company, backed by William Rockefeller, and in part in response to the "threat" posed by electricity. The new company established its headquarters at 4 Irving Place in the offices of the old Manhattan Gas Light Company."

http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17951

 For more history on Union Square and Grammercy Park visit

 http://www.oldandsold.com/articles14/new-york-74.shtml