denbushi | blog

I’ve decided to start writing simple reviews of the restaurants in the area here (Shibuya and Aoyama, mostly) that I frequent for lunch. Always on the lookup for simple fodder that let me take photos with the new camera (details forthcoming) and add content to my long-abandoned blog. With that…

Beacon bills itself as an “urban chop house” and is the latest venture by well-known local chef David Chiddo. He and his partner also run T.Y. Harbor Brewery and Cicada in Hiroo. I haven’t been for dinner yet but I’m told the food is excellent and very expensive.

I do go for lunch once every two or three weeks, though, because the food is fantastic and the “power dining” experience is a refreshing change from the standard 1000 yen 和食 set lunch I typically endure come lunchtime. Also, the price is right at between 1200 and 1600 yen.

Yesterday I met with some old friends who run a company here called BlueShift. On arrival I was happy to see that we managed to get one of the swanky booths that line one side of the room. However, I got stuck facing the wall instead of the room and so ended up missing out on the people watching that makes a Beacon lunch good fun.

I ordered the Grilled half chicken “frango style” with veggies (ポルトガル風ハーフグリルチキンと温野菜). At 1600 yen this was the most expensive item on the menu but every bit worth the price. The chicken was grilled to perfection, with crispy, oil-free skin and tender juicy meat. The vegetables that accompanied it were also perfectly done, and the whole thing lay in a shallow, thin sauce with just the right level of spicy zest. Add to that complimentary bread and herb tea and you’ve got yourself a fantastic lunch experience. For power lunches and entertaining clients in Shibuya it can’t be beat.

Met up with old friends Donald and Jason and a couple of other folks last night at Andy’s fantastic izakaya under the Yamanote Line tracks in Yuraku-cho (有楽町). British ex-footballer Andy has run Shin Hinomoto (新日の基) for as long as I’ve lived here in Tokyo (much longer, actually) and serves up some of the best home style izakaya fare around. The portions are massive and the prices cheap. What could be finer? I hadn’t been in maybe a year or more this time, and it was great to see that the food and raucous atmosphere are still as enjoyable as I remember. We samples some of out standard dishes–sauteed enringi mushrooms, grilled asparagus spears, sashimi moriawase–and also ventured into new ground, enjoying lightly-battered John Dory (マトウダイ) and steamed black cod (ギンダラ). Everything was great, and we washed it all down with chilled mugs of beer and imojochu (芋焼酎). Gotta remember to get over there more often!

Being here in Japan and disconnected from the US media (due to a lack of CNN or television access to other US news sources) I have seen little video of any of the candidates for President and instead mostly ingest news from print and online sources. So while I often read about Obama’s exceptional oratorical ability, aside from the occasional brief snippet, I’ve not actually watched him speak. Until today.

Popurls tipped me to the buzz surrounding his recent speech on race, and so I tracked down a complete online version on Obama’s YouTube page. I watched it and was floored. Now I understand my so many writers use the word presidential when referring to him. Everything about the speech was fantastic–the delivery, content, message, timing, everything. A cogent speech delivering a powerful message, in well-crafted prose spoken with exquisite finesse. What’s more is that he apparently wrote the thing himself. How refreshing after years of watching the speech-impaired, semi-literate Bush clumsily try to string more than a few words together without looking at his notes.

Obama is the first presidential candidate in 40 years to match the authoritative presence and oratorical power of John F. Kennedy, and the similarities don’t end there. His populist message of unity and an unflinching willingness to take the issue of race head-on has earned him the respect of pundits and politicos on both sides of the political divide. For once it seems as though we might have someone who can actually redraw the lines of our cultural debate, and take us from the endlessly divisive left-right debate to a more meaningful and important discussion of class, economic division, and income inequality.

In other words, Obama just might be the one who can train the spotlight on the issues that really matter to most Americans: jobs, health care, education, fairness and equality for all, and a bright future for our children. He might be the one that can return the focus to those things we all share, instead of those which divide us. He might just be the one who can restore the the dignity of the United States and our respect abroad after two terms of Dubya and the catastrophic damage the current administration has done to both. He might just be the one after all. After listening to him speak today, I think he might.

Obama, you’ve got my vote. Godspeed.

I attended my first wine tasting dinner by The Vine (one of our clients) last night at Legato in Shibuya. Legato’s parent company Global Dining is also a customer of ours, so you could say it was a familiar setting even though the event was my first.The Vine’s owner James conducted the proceedings and did a fine job of discussing the wines, answering questions and generally keeping things interesting.

All of the wines featured that night were all of the appellation Châteauneuf-du-Pape, one of my recent favorites from the Soutnhern Rhone valley. These are rustic, strapping wines of often dazzling complexity, and are seen as some of the best value-for-money wines coming out of France these days (mostly thanks to vigorous promotion by Robert Parker).

James prepared a selecton of reds and whites from the 2005 and 2006 vintages, with the former generally thought of as being the better year of the two due to perfectly timed rains a month before the harvest that year. These rains, which spelt disaster for some of the other wine producing regions, arrived at just the right time in the Rhone to plump up the grapes, infusing them with a rich and vibrant succulence. The extra juice lends a fruitiness to the smoke and pepper undertones of these great wines.

The wines served that evening were:

1. Bois de Boursan Blanc 2006.
2. Clos du Caillou Blanc 2006.
3. Pierre Usseglio 2005.
4. Bois de Boursan 2005.
5. Charvin 2005.
6. Clos du Caillou 2005.
7. Bois de Boursan Felix 2005.
8. Clos du Caillou Quartz 2005.

My favorites of the evening were all of the Clos du Caillou and the Charvin, while I found the offerings from Bois de Boursan to be a bit too pungent and leathery. James attributed my ranking of them this way to a simple lack of appreciation of Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s intrinsic rustic nature, which the Bois de Boursan wines apparently typify. For me, I just found them to be a bit too, well, stinky, and stuck by my guns (and the Clos du Caillou!).

The food was great (if a bit spare), with each of the four courses matching the wines perfectly. All in all a great tour of some recents offerings from the “New Castle of the Pope,” but I have to say the premium attendance price means I’ll probably not be joining all of the Vine events that come along. My budget for such things is closer to the 5500 yen or so charged by ORCA International for their wine parties, unpretentious one-glass affairs which involve less “tasting” and more drinking of their fine Pacific Northwest wines.

I found a little park near our place equipped with basic necessities: slides and swings. It was Shione’s first time there, and she made a beeline for the really long slide built into the high slope at the edge of the park. In seconds she clambered up the few steps to the platform, dropped into position, and shot down the chute without a moment’s hesitation. This kid, she knows no fear! Mia was happy to have a playmate, and they must have gone down the slide together 20 times before running off for the swings. Glad to have a decent park nearby, and with Spring on the way we’re going to lots of opportunities to go back.