Eat, Drink + Be Merry. Food, Travel, Photography, Design + Music in Los Angeles and Other Parts of the Earth.

I was recently at a bookstore in Japan and was stopped in my tracks when I saw this photo on the cover of a book. I bought it immediately. Her name is Nana Rokusha (ナナロク社) and her pictorial biography is a top seller in Japan at the moment. I fell in love with the way she eats food. I hope I look like that when I eat. I recommend this photo book if you’re looking for new coffee table material. The photographer, Kawashima Kotori (川島小鳥) spent a year in the Nigata prefecture photographing Nana with her family and the photos are awesome. Funny, innocent, gross, adorable – it’s a nostalgic reminder of all the things that happen during our childhood. You can buy the book here through Amazon Japan or maybe find it at a bookstore in Little Tokyo or Torrance/Gardena. The book has over 200 photos of this special child. Photos are property of Kawashima Kotori. Thanks for reading.

Is that haircut not the best?!

It wasn’t a very difficult decision to spend our winter break in Japan. Just the summer before, we rocked it out at the Fuji Rock Festival – undergoing some of the worst weather conditions for nearly five days and putting our relationship to the test to see world class bands. We survived without any casualties and with nothing but big smiles. Then in March 2011, the tragic tsunami hit and all of a sudden, we missed Japan. We had taken the train along the eastern coast of Japan through Sendai, which was hit the hardest. I’ll remember the dark blue ocean and green scenery with quaint villages peppered along the coast – all of which was gone on that fateful day. We had an even stronger appreciation for Japan and it was only natural that we would go back as soon as we could. So begins my series on Japan and our experiences in Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, Hakodate, Fukuoka, Kagoshima, the Fuji Rock Festival and Kurokawa. You may not know these names now, but you will very soon. This series is a collection of postings from our trips to Japan from 2010 – 2011. Bare with me – these are long postings with the intention of making it easier for your future reference . Enjoy.

When Jeni and I decided that we’d be going to Japan, she quickly pulled out our collection of various Japanese travel guides. “Where do we go?,” I asked. Jeni had already lived in Osaka for two years and it was all she really knew until we would travel to other prefectures in Japan. “I’ve always wanted to go to Kagoshima,” she said. I had no idea what she was talking about and responded with, “What’s it known for?” I guess I’m easy, because the second she said the K-word, I was sold. “Their known for kurobuta pork. You know Berkshire pork.” Even in the U.S., that stuff isn’t cheap. But when you see it on the menu, you should probably order it because it is amazing pork. Kagoshima is highly agricultural, and as you’ll see in this posting, they really know how to raise some of the best beef, pork and chicken around. And like that, we were in 30,000 in the air traveling to a prefecture we knew nothing about – with nothing but our soon-to-become-true fantasies of dreamy, melty pork leading the way. Funny to fathom how food can be the main objective in traveling.

Twelve hours later, we arrived in Kagoshima, the southern most prefecture of the island of Japan. Prefectures are governmental bodies larger than cities, towns, and villages. A prefecture, may sound like a state, but it functions more like a large district with administrative jurisdiction or subdivision. Basically think of them as a county. The entire country of Japan is smaller than California and is broken up into 47 prefectures. Tokyo being the “metropolis” prefecture. Example: Los Angeles, Orange County and Riverside would be considered separate prefectures.

The second we stepped out of the Kagoshima airport, we were hit with the cold wind. I LOVE cold weather, Jeni hates it. Luckily she had some of those hand warming heat packets with her because this was going to be one cold trip. Living in Los Angeles, we don’t really have seasons. And that’s why I look forward to visiting cities like New York more than once a year because the seasons completely change the character of the city. Certain foods taste better, people are in a different mode  and there’s an overall different vibe. Same with Japan since we went last year during the summer – this would be a different kind of Japan.

I loved Kagoshima after the first few minutes. I loved that there weren’t too many tall buildings like Tokyo. It was also not crowded at all. “Finally Japan, thank you for the breathing room.”

Our check in was set for 3 pm and we arrived in Kagoshima 3-4 hours early. We left our bags at the hotel and decided to kill some time. Kagoshima City itself isn’t that big and we relied a lot on the train to get around since it was easily navigable, taking taxis when it was too cold to walk at night. This train made us feel like we were in a tiny model city.

We took the train back towards the Kagoshima train station to hang out at the shopping center there called Amu Plaza. FYI, a shopping center or train station in any Japanese city is more than what it seems. There are usually cafes, restaurants and grocery stores many levels beneath the ground. This ferris wheel you see is on top of the Amu Plaza which also has a movie theater. We lucked out and ran into a vendor’s market selling all sorts of Japanese goodies like bonito flakes (katsuoboshi), rice crackers (senbei) and various marinated fish. They even had jarred honey with Japanese hornet carcasses inside – crazy! Ever watch the famous “30 Japanese hornets vs. 30,000 Killer bees” video? If not, YouTube it now. We tried the mochi grilled over charcoal and then wrapped with seaweed and a brush of soy sauce – so good.

And then, the smell of something very very familiar… not just meat, GOOD meat. Within two hours, we would finally be getting a piece of real kurobuta pork. The guy on the left was grilling some various chicken parts and the guy on the right was grilling skewered kurobuta belly. I’ll take both… delicious. Right then and there, I knew this would be a fantastic trip down to Kurobuta City, I mean, Kagoshima City.

In Amu Plaza, we found a nice selection of restaurants and food stores. There was a ramen shop with large posters screaming for us to try it out. Having tried some tasty ramen during last year’s visit to Fukuoka (Hakata), we were completely blown away with their style of ramen. I was a firm believer that there is no bad ramen in Japan, but this particular place just wasn’t very good. Kagoshima-style ramen employs the Hakata-style tonkotsu broth boiled for hours, but it could be the sauteed cabbage and fried shallots that might have rained on the parade. There was another place we tried a few days later that was a little bit better but I think overall Kagoshima may not as big of a ramen town as Sapporo, Fukuoka or Tokyo. Rameniac and I had a conversation about Kagoshima-style ramen and it seemed like we were both on the same page. I’ll have to give ramen another shot once I come back to Kagoshima. Another thing we tried was yaki tamago, which literally means “grilled/fried egg”. You may recognize this as a type of common ingredient served with sushi rice. Scrambled eggs are mixed with seasoning, probably with tsuyu (a dipping sauce, made of dashi, mirin and shoyu), and cooked in a rectangular pan. Watching the chef make it was a real treat – an old man, with chopsticks watching an egg cook like he was dismantling a bomb. No matter what the Japanese are doing, they’re going to put in 110% detail and attention. The omelette was great!

On the top level of Amu Plaza, we found even more restaurants. We were sold once we saw a line outside this restaurant that serves kurobuta shabu shabu. This would be our first time eating kurobuta pork in shabu form – nice! We started with some yellowtail sashimi and I was quite surprised to find the soy sauce to be very sweet. I later read that in Kagoshima, sweet soy sauce is the regional twist. It was interesting but I still prefer the standard kidney-punishing stuff.

We both got bento box lunch sets. Mine came with what I thought was miso soup, but was in fact a popular regional soup called tonkotsu. Not like tonkotsu as in pork bone broth ramen. Tonkotsu is a slightly sweet stew that is made with none other than tonkotsu pork bones, veggies and not sake, but shochu, the potato rice wine, and served with slivers of sliced kurobuta. I could eat this all day. Jeni got the kurobuta katsu and it was beautifully fried.

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Up until a few years ago, my early images of Santa Barbara were rather narrow-minded and quite collegiate. I remember walking around UC Santa Barbara’s Isla Vista party zone with red solo cups held upside-down to show police that we weren’t publicly drinking. I remember seeing videos of bare-footed, stoned fans rocking out to Jack Johnson’s sleepy, mostly boring, jams at the Santa Barbara Bowl. Oh yeah, and one of Father Serra’s crumbly missions built centuries ago.  As I grew older, I no longer thought about that once I discovered the benefits and joys of gratuitous wine tasting in Santa Barbara’s surrounding areas of Santa Ynez, Santa Maria, Lompoc and Los Olivos. In less than 2.5 hours, you can ditch your miserable 9-5 and get a taste of the affluent life for chk-chk… nothing. For many Southern Californians, Santa Barbara makes for one of the best weekend getaways, especially for me and Jeni. It’s our Napa Valley, minus the stuffiness and arduous drive. But on our most recent trip to Santa Barbara in November, I had a different idea of Santa Barbara. I couldn’t think of anything else but one thing that people either love or hate (mostly hate): sea urchin. The Japanese call it uni, the Spanish call it erizo de mar (“hedgehog of the sea”) and the Italians call it ricci di mare. In Maine, they were once referred to as “whore’s eggs”. Nothing starts my day like a fresh bowl of whore’s eggs. And worldwide, it’s known simply as “delicious”. Over the last five years, I had grown not just a liking, but a passion for all things uni. Any time I see uni on the menu, I’m going to order it, no matter how bizarre it sounds. I’ve had it as sashimi, as sushi, in pasta, in croquette form, as a flavored Japanese snack and if I remember correctly, even as ice cream. But I haven’t eaten live Santa Barbara. I had live Russian uni in Hakodate, Japan (Hokkaido) and it was one of the most amazing breakfasts one can have. While San Francisco has their luscious oysters of Tomales Bay, Santa Barbara has their delicious, spiny offerings. Almost all uni you eat in Los Angeles will be shipped from Santa Barbara, according to the many sushi chefs I’ve asked. So the time has come to go straight to the source.

Before I move on, does anyone not know what uni is?! Uni consists of the gonads (reproductive organs) of the sea urchin and it’s highly prized in cuisines all over the world. It is sometimes mislabeled as sea urchin “roe” – they’re not eggs! The sea urchin is a ball-shaped critter with hundreds of spines that are usually 1″ in length, and sometimes up to 4″ in defense mode. I myself have seen some LONG spines while diving in the Caribbean – like 6″-8″ and didn’t bother trying to capture it!  It belongs to the echinoderm family like sand dollars and sea stars and enjoys feeding off algae and kelp. Whoever first ate the gonads of the sea urchin was one hungry man, like the first guy (probably an Arawak) who first cracked open an oyster. Once you cut those spines off, the sea urchin is at your mercy.

On an early Saturday morning, Jeni and I took off on our bikes and rode around the Downtown area of Santa Barbara. It’s one of the best ways to enjoy Santa Barbara. People are running along the beach doing healthy stuff, checking out the farmer’s market, probably lighting up some herb and just enjoying the sun. I had heard the Santa Barbara pier was a good spot for seafood naturally and I looked up this place called Santa Barbara Fish Market, making that our first destination. Like a fat kid with $2 running after the ice cream truck, I quickly found the tiny seafood market and parked my bike. Eager, I looked in all the cases and tanks… shit, no uni! The guy working there had no idea when the next shipment would come in. I knew places like the Hungry Cat or various SB seafood markets would technically be offering live sea urchin due to its location, but after calling around, it didn’t seem people really knew, or even cared for this spiny delicacy. Jeni laughed when she saw my look of disappointment. But then, the food gods showed us the way. As we were getting back on our bikes, we saw some people huddled around some folding tables down by the dock. And we found our savior standing around three plastic tubs containing uni. Our savior came in the form of a white guy in his 40s, wearing a visor, sunglasses, T-shirt and Levi’s. “And what is thy name, oh Lord of uni?”

“I’m Harry Liquornik and I’ve been diving for sea urchin for 25 years.” “Liquor” rhymes with “occur”, not the booze. And he’s also known locally as “Harry Urchin”. Harry Urchin and sometimes another diver hop on a boat around 6 am three to four times a week to dive for uni. Depending on the season, they’ll sometimes head north for 2-3 hours by boat towards some islands off of Santa Cruz and Santa Maria and dive for urchin there. Harry states that June and March is the general uni season in California, with August, September and October being the most lucrative time for harvesting. The sea urchin tastes best during those three months since they are very “hot and bothered” (swollen gonads).

Harry charges $5 per sea urchin and this is a steal considering some restaurants may charge $15 for one. And if you buy two, Harry will hook you up at $8. “Two please. Two massive ones.” Harry went looking through his various containers, picking each one up and comparing it to the next until he found me two delectable ones. Harry says he’s seen some bigger than basketballs once the spines have been cut. Whoa!

Harry then brought out his state-of-the-art “uni cracker” that would reveal the sea urchin’s jewels of masculinity/femininity and forfeit them to human consumption. He turned the sea urchin over on its top side and placed the cracker jaws right over the mouth. I could see the spines slowly moving, knowing very well what was about to happen. Gripping the cracker with his left, he pounded the handle with one blunt hit with his right palm. Whack! The jaws immediately broke through the thin shell and sunk into the cavity of the sea urchin, slightly cracking it and spilling out some liquid. Then he gripped the clamp handle of the cracker which spread the jaws outwards and the sea urchin was completely halved.

Harry then let me crack open the second sea urchin.

The first thing I saw upon cracking the sea urchin open was the beautiful golden gonads. It was a eureka moment. It was the same exact thing us uni-lovers couldn’t wait to eat at sushi bars. The uni was simply beautiful in color and reeked of the salty California waters in a good way. Contrary to looking at the entrails of a mammal or fish, the sea urchin was a rather beautiful thing to look at. The colorful purple spines, the golden gonads, the various colors of digested kelp that almost resemble orchids. With a plastic spoon, Harry began to do the “dirty work” by pouring out the contents of the cavity and pulling out the intestines and tubes. Once those are gone, there’s only one thing left to do: eat the uni. Sea urchin has fivefold symmetry with a total of five gonadal “clusters”. Each piece of uni can range anywhere from 40-60 calories, safe to say one piece of uni sushi is 80-120 calories plus rice and nori. So imagine how many whole sea urchins are needed to fill up ONE of those wooden uni trays. With the plastic spoon, I scooped out the uni like it was ice cream. Some of the spines were still moving!

It is nearly impossible to detect the sex of the urchin. I found a site quoting, “roe from female sea urchins were commonly associated with sulfur odor, bitter taste, and metallic flavor, while roe from the male sea urchins were associated with sweet taste.” See, males are generally sweeter than females. But really, it doesn’t matter – what matters is the taste. Forrest Gump could very well have replaced his chocolate box/life analogy with uni. Depending on the water temperature, size, month and state of libido, each uni will in fact taste different and you really don’t know what you will get. I typically enjoy sweet, creamy, custard-like uni as opposed to the sometimes metallic uni. The sea urchins I had this day were perfectly sized and had a good amount of creaminess and brininess. But both were very different in flavor profile. I’ve eaten enough uni to experience a “bad uni day” and this was definitely not one.

I noticed that the uni Harry had had larger clusters versus the smaller-clustered uni I’ve eaten in sushi restaurants. He said that the larger the sea urchin, the larger the uni but you really don’t know until you crack it open. On any given dive, Harry can range anywhere from 80-120 sea urchins. From there he sends them to a processor which finds all the “A” grade uni and delivers them to sushi restaurants. These are typically the small-clustered ones. He also noted that the Japanese chefs are extremely particular with their uni. Japanese?  Picky?  Really?

Harry typically sells his catch on Saturday mornings from 6 am – 10 am right on the dock. If you’re using Google to locate Harry, I recommend searching for the Santa Barbara Fish Market or Brophy Bros., which by the way has some really decent clam chowder. This is not located at Stearns Wharf but by all the boats. Harry Urchin has graciously offered his contact for those that are serious about eating live sea urchin. Give him a call prior to heading up to Santa Barbara to see if he has a catch. He is also down in Santa Monica on Tuesdays or Wednesdays to sell his catch to restaurants like Hungry Cat and various sushi joints. He can arrange a meet up to sell his spiny delicacies. Come say hello to Harry Urchin and let him know that you read about him – he’ll be stoked!

If you’re new to uni, I highly recommend giving this amazing delicacy a chance. It’s the best. Thanks for reading.

Harry Liquornik
abreojos.one@cox.net
(805) 451-2504