Word: wasabi
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Suddenly everything's on sale--even silver linings. The upside to the downturn is the immense incentive it gives retailers to treat you like a queen for a day. During the flush times, salespeople were surly, waiters snobby, as though their kanpachi tartare with wasabi tobiko might be too good for the likes of you. But now the customer rules, just for showing up. There's more room to stretch out on the flight, even in coach. The malls have that serene aura of undisturbed wilderness, with scarcely a shopper in sight. Every conversation with anyone selling anything...
...medium pressure to create a compact tube. Remove the mat from around the roll, press in the loose ends and place it on a cutting board, seam side down. Using a wet, sharp knife, slice the roll in half then into 6 equal pieces. Serve with wasabi, soy sauce and pickled ginger...
Once ensconced, set out to sample the food in one of North America's great dining capitals. In the preen-and-be-seen category is downtown's Cavalli (514-843-5100), where sumptuous nouvelle cuisine Italienne is served in a hot-pink and wasabi-colored decor best described as Felliniesque. You can lounge in a fishbowl setting, supping on the likes of macaroni with fontina and cheddar, black truffle puree, brioche bread crumbs and black pepper. Of course, this is a French town, and you can't go wrong at Toque! (514-499-2084) for fresh, local gastronomic creations...
...tacky as Savenor’s is sophisticated and unassuming, Cardullo’s sells everything from the grossly excessive ($275 Beluga Malossol caviar) to the decidedly campy (blueberry lollipops with edible scorpion centers). I purchased crisp toast as a receptacle for the foie gras, spicy cranberry and wasabi jam, and balsamic-cherry syrup. I made a final stop at the budget-friendly Shalimar India Food & Spices Store in Central Square for crushed red chilies, coconut milk, bamboo skewers, and coriander (cilantro)—all for under $10. Back in Lowell House, I plugged in my faithful George Foreman...
...focus, quite rightly, is on the food, not decor. An unstructured menu - Zuma dispenses with the usual distinctions between starters and mains - will have you marveling and grunting over things like baby chicken marinated in barley miso and roasted on cedar wood, or fresh cold tofu with grated wasabi and other condiments. End on a dessert like jasmine-poached white peach for a sustained rush of serotonin. Zuma is Hong Kong's restaurant of the moment, but ultimately bound for a far less ephemeral glory than that. Call...