“Japanese food and TLV.”
Hmm. Something in this sentence seems wrong…
Well, until Yoshi (Yossi Holu) came along, that is.

Alon at YOSHI

I’m very sorry to say this, but the fact that there are “Sushi” bars on every block in TLV, does not mean for ONE SECOND that I would eat at these places-
In fact- I would not send my cats to eat there.

For example, here, for your amusement, is a badly-written, hilariously provincial, and embarrassingly ridiculous article about TLV being a “Mecca for Sushi”

http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3499855,00.html

And to this I have one thing to say: YOU RECKON???!!!!

i.e:
“Japanika”- comes to mind as a big offender-
A Kiosk in the middle of Rothschild Ave, serving frozen tuna sold as “Maguro”, Nasty, hard-packed makis made with refrigerated, soggy rice you could use as glue to hold together bricks, pre-cut vegetables prepped hours before service, shlepped down the street from the apartment serving as a prep kitchen by dejected “cooks” who are paid minimum wage to shovel up pre-made slop bad enough to induce someone who loves, respects, and understands real Japanese cuisine, and sushi, to commit Harakiri-

And worse yet, the !@#$%! place is packed every night!

And don’t think I am singling them out for abuse!
This is a very long list which I will devote another post to in future!

Anyway- The point being, many people here claim to love sushi, yet it is my sad belief that 99% of the people here have never actually really eaten real sushi, or Japanese food.
As well as the awful “Sushi Bars” in TLV, just look at all the Kosher catering offering “sushi” at every single Horrible Wedding… And this is what people think sushi is?! WTF?!!

If you are not in TLV and can’t go to Yoshi,
Here is the link to my favourite Sushi bar in NYC:

Blue Ribbon Sushi
119 Sullivan St
(between Prince St & Spring St)
New York, NY 10012
(212) 343-0404

Rima slices Lobster Maki at Omnivore

In fact, before Yoshi came along, the only place in Israel I would eat Sushi at, was at my house!

And I should note that I have spent 25 years studying Japanese philosophy and culture, and 19 years studying and practicing Japanese Cuisine!

Matcha Tea Rice Onigiri and Maguro at Omnivore

Hamachi and Asparagus Tempura at Omnivore

Sorry to get on a Rant, but Sushi is not something that a housewife, or even a cook or chef, can prepare after reading an online recipe, or watching some crappy tv show, or buying a book!!

In fact it makes me DAMN ANGRY to be at a shop and see someone come in, clutching a print-out from the internet, proclaiming to one and all, that she has decided to make sushi that evening, because, “How hard could it be- It’s just rice and raw fish!”
!@%$#@$!!!!!

Cutting Bluefin Tuna at Tokyo Fish Market

This is a lifelong discipline which requires YEARS of dedication and understanding of both culture and philosophy, not to mention all aspects of devotion to the subtleties of this noble cuisine!
There are guys in Japan who work for 7 years or more, just perfecting the artistry of correctly preparing Sushi Rice!

NOT as I might add, how things are here (with a very few exceptions
which I will discuss later) where a resentful foreign worker or 17 year old student before he leaves to the army, is preparing horrible vats of rice not fit for pig food, after about 2 hours instruction!!
And, the Citizens of TLV are eating it, and liking it! WTF?!

Now, back to what I was discussing before, which is YOSHI:
let’s face it: The location sucks.
The interior was not designed by some Muckety-Muck interior designer, for 2 million dollars (Thank God!)
It is extremely simple, to the point of being “un-designed”.
The waiters, who know the menu inside and out, and are pleasant, professional, and knowledgeable.
(This is in stark contrast to most of the “waiters” at most of Tel-Aviv’s other Sushi bars, where they are chosen only for their looks, and usually fancy themselves to be aspiring models, or moonlight as ‘selectors’ at the nightclubs on their days off!)

Unfortunately, they don't serve their sushi like this!

You won’t see “Brazilian-salsa-maki” or any other fusion crap on his menu!
And all these points make this place virtually invisible to the sushi-eaters of TLV!
So take my advice- if you want to avoid poseurs, and temples of hype devoted to the design of the furniture, and instead you just want to concentrate on Real Japanese food- come here!!!

At Yoshi, he has not only just perfect sushi but also authentic and unusual Japanese first courses, such as his Agedashi Dofu,
which is a paragon of delicacy-  the dashi with it’s subtle scent of the sea, from the kombu in the REAL dashi-
(the Japanese equivalent of basic chicken or beef stock-)
(And by REAL, I mean, none of the MSG- filled, instant dashi you can buy at the shops-)
Combined with the lightly smoked flavour of the freshly-shaved dried bonito flakes shivering on top of the lightly crispy rectangles of crispy tofu floating in that ethereal dashi-
And with the correct garnish of freshly-grated daikon radish adding astringency and contrast to this classic dish, Yossi (“Yoshi”)shows his confident and exquisite hand.

Similarly, he has REAL Japanese Hamachi Yellowtail Sashimi and Sushi-

Hamachi Sashimi

And I must say now- with truly perfect Sashimi and Sushi, just as important as the quality of the fish, is the manner that the fish is sliced, and the sharpness of the knives, the direction of the cut regarding the tendons of the fish, and of course the correct preparation of the rice- which prepared right, should maintain each separate grain in prefect individuality, and al-dente-
NOT a disgusting, squashed, mush!!!!!

Suminagashi Deba Sushi Knife

Yoshi does all this, and also keeps the respect for his ingredients by serving with the correct garnish of Tosaka-nori and julienne Daikon radish with his sashimi- And, correctly, the fish is NOT cut in paper-thin slices as if for carpaccio!
No way!! perfect, almost 1cm-thick slices of top-quality fish are what you will get when you order Sashimi here!!

His Maguro salad? SUBLIME!!!  Cubes of A-Grade maguro, cut a’ la minute, dressed lightly with a Japanese mustard (NOT wasabi!) sauce, with fresh wakame seaweed and edamame… oh man alive!!! “Oishii” !! (delicious)

Wendy Ding's lovely painting of a "Sushi-Girl" Oiishi!

And his “Spider-Roll”- a whole, tempura-fried soft-shell crab, rolled in a Maki with tobiko caviar! Heaven!!
I have been known to eat 2 of them by myself!!!

Spider Roll

As for sake, I recommend the “Nigori”- which is unfiltered sake with a white, milky texture and fragrance of fresh almonds and lychees.
Or the austere and refined “Jinjo”- the equivalent of a dry, crisp, Pinot Grigio or Fume Blanc.
Of course, these are served cold.

Nigori Unfiltered Sake

As I said before, and I will say it again:

If you want flashy interior, models as waiters, and cream-cheese and bacon makis,  or “Fusion” crap, etc-
Go elsewhere.

If you want the only truly authentic Japanese food in TLV- Go to Yoshi.

Arigato Gozymasu!!!

Rima, Shai, Alon at Omnivore

Yoshi:
76 Arlozorov, corner of Shlomo Ha’Melekh, Tel-Aviv
03- 522-5125

יושי- רחוב ארלוזרוב 76, פינת שלמה המלך, ת”א. 03-5225125.

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For those of you not familiar with this quote- it happens to be from a novel from the series of which I adore- Douglas Adams’ “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy”- An irreverent and hilarious satire about the entire galaxy…and the ridiculous and destructive consequences of Human Nature..

 
Specifically in this book, the protagonist revisits what he thinks is Earth, although it was destroyed in a previous novel.. Only to find out that the Earth he is now on, is an artificial one, created by Dolphins as a nature preserve in their “Save the Humans” campaign…

Now, this might seem irrelevant, but I assure you it is not- This post is about  SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD and FISHING PRACTICES…

I guess I should point out that I grew up in a very remote and isolated part of Northern California- A place called Mendocino, where all us kids grew up with the Pacific Ocean as our backyard- where we were as familiar and comfortable with the sea and it’s secrets as we were with our best friends-
At the time, in the 70’s and 80’s, this part of the California Coast was still almost pristine, unspoiled, and full of every imaginable marine life-

Mendocino California

 
Of course, there was no way to make a living then in that place unless you were either a Marijuana Farmer,

Marijuana in the "Emerald Triangle"

or a fisherman, or someone who made their living from something connected with the sea– which all of our friends and family fit either into one or both of these categories..
In any case, life was different.

There were so many Abalone, me and my dad (A Marine Biologist who actually happened to be the first man to dive under the Antarctic ice) used to go out in his canoe and pull up our limit in the time it took to free-dive down 4 times and pop them off the rocks-
We were so damn broke sometimes, we ate these when we had nothing else, and we used to make jokes as we ate our Abalone by candlelight in his cabin in the redwoods, that we were eating a delicacy for free that the “Rich Tourists” paid fantastic sums for.. Because we didn’t have much else!!

Diving for Abalone

A real big Abalone

I still have friends there, and they hide their Abalone Diving Spots jealously, and yet still have a hell of a hard time even finding their legal limit
(see link about Abalone regulations)
And God help you if you make the mistake of taking undersize Abs, or over your limit!!! That will be a VERY expensive mistake!!!!
http://sonic.net/~rocky/abregslimits.htm

Ling Cod was so plentiful, only the very cheapest restaurants sold it, as “Fish and Chips”. You couldn’t get rid of the stuff!!! We used to serve it for Employee Meals at the restaurant I worked at in High School!

A huge Ling Cod

 
This fish is now so rare as to be a protected species, with extremely strict restrictions!
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/news/news04/04032.html

You guys all have eaten “Uni” (Sea-Urchin, or Oursin, roe) at a Sushi Bar, right??

Uni Nigiri

 
Well, it may surprise you to know that in the early 80’s in Mendocino, there were so many Sea-Urchins, that they were considered a pest, and in order to get them, all you needed was a wire mesh screen and a small boat- You could pull up literally hundreds of pounds of them in a few hours.

California sea urchins

These were then sold by the pick-up truckload (20$ a pickup load!!) to the marijuana farmers, who smashed them up and used them for fertilizer!!!!!

Around the mid 80’s, the Japanese got wind of this immense stock of “Uni”, sent agents out there to our coast, started paying the fishermen 500$ per 50 lbs…Which were then iced down , driven straight to the airport, and flown to Japan.. where the prices even then were around 100$ per cleaned pound…and the prices just kept going up..

Fresh Uni

 
And now, the once plentiful Sea-Urchin is a rare sight… And it’s a good chance that if you eat Uni, even in Japan, these came from Mendocino!!!

By the way, this type of Sea-Urchin should not be confused with the French “Oursin”, which come from Brittany, and are managed well, and not threatened in any way at the present time..
However, they are extremely susceptible to pollution, and whole colonies can be wiped out or contaminated by industrial pollutants and sewage pathogens, etc- Therefore, be careful to only eat fresh, LIVE Oursin, from a reputable restaurant!

Alon eats Oursin at Cafe Turin

My family originally comes from Carmel, on the Monterey Peninsula.

Sea Otter in Monterey Bay

Carmel Beach

 
My dad did a lot of research for Scripps Institute of Oceanography, and logged loads of technical dives in the Submarine Canyon in the Monterey Bay- the 3rd deepest in the world-
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://sanctuarysimon.org/monterey/images/build/sc_overview_1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://sanctuarysimon.org/monterey/sections/submarineCanyons/overview.php%3Fsec%3Dsc&usg=__BdetGJCesvCo7mipxL6t5GSUxgY=&h=190&w=270&sz=24&hl=iw&start=19&um=1&tbnid=kw5Jl2akobEcjM:&tbnh=80&tbnw=113&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsubmarine%2Bcanyon%2Bmonterey%26hl%3Diw%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:he:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GGLJ_en%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

The things he studied and photographed I can remember seeing photos as a kid and being AMAZED at this fantastical world, lying beneath the waters, as close as we could see, yet a completely different universe, with its own life forms, rules, mysteries, and secrets-

Diving in the Kelp Forest, Monterey

Rima and giant squid

 
Ones which we may never now know in full as it has been almost irreparably harmed by pollution in the last few decades.

Now, I  hope you will forgive me, as this post, as usual, seems to have taken on a life of its own, which took a different track from my intention of just providing a short and accurate overview of which types of fish you should be eating, and which you should avoid, if you care at all about sustainability and conservation, and have a desire to be able to eat fish in ten years from now..
So perhaps I should get to the point…

Rima and a Skate

Which is, as much as I would love to scarf up Abalone to my heart’s content, gorge on Sicilian Tuna Bottarga on a regular basis,

Sicilian Bottarga

 
and shovel up platefuls of Chilean Sea-Bass, I just cannot, in good conscience, do this anymore…
(Friends!!!!!! PLEASE DO NOT EAT CHILEAN SEA-BASS!!!!
although it was once my favourite fish, it has been exploited and overfished to the point that anyone who eats it, or puts it on the menu of their restaurant, is directly contributing to the probable extinction of a species-
So- I urge you to NOT TOUCH IT, and to tell any restaurant that serves it that you do not want to see it on menus!!! *sob*)

As distasteful as the subject is- the reality is, we live in different times, and it’s literally up to us, and especially those of us who are chefs, to lead the way in making ethical and responsible choices about what we will cook, eat, and serve to our clients!!!!

Tuna from "La Boqueria" in Barcelona, This fish had a tag guaranteeing it was legally caught

Lots of people say to me, “What’s the big deal?! There’s always Fish Farms! Why the hysteria?!!
http://www.sviva.gov.il/Enviroment/bin/en.jsp?enPage=e_BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=Zone&enDispWho=fish_farms_e&enZone=fish_farms_e
And to this, I sadly must say- Fish Farms are no silver bullet to stop the vampire of overfishing and threats to species- Fish Farms can cause different problems, both ecologically, and biologically, which in the long run, could add to the problem, not solve it-
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=31&art_id=vn20050405065346180C545538&set_id=

We  also need to understand that continuing to deploy huge, modern, fishing fleets using every bit of technological advantage to find fish and then pull them up in absolutely unsustainable numbers, just cannot continue-

If you love travelling in Italy, as I do, and know the Italians’ love of seafood and fish, it will break your heart to go there now and go to the fish markets and speak to the fishermen and fish merchants- who have seen catches decrease in size and quality to the point that many entire villages and economies dependent 100% on fishing, are destroyed..

filming "Duet" in Verona Italy with Elia and Matteo Rizzo of Il Desco Ristorante

Why?? OVERFISHING. Plain and simple.
People seem to forget that complaining to the government when quotas and limits are put into effect, as if it is some punishment designed to create suffering for the fishermen- It is a NECCESSARY MEASURE effected to try to preserve at least a tiny bit of base stocks of fish and allow the populations to stabilize!!!
http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2008/11/too_many_tonnes_of_tuna.html

I love fish, as all of you know-
in fact, it is my favourite thing to eat, and to cook.
But because I love fish, I am more careful than ever to make sure the choices of fish I am buying are responsible choices…
As time goes on.. the amount of Ahi Tuna, Grouper, Yellowtail, etc. I use is going way down, and my use of sardines, anchovies, local blue crabs, mackerel, etc, is going up.. And I urge you to do the same…
Save the rarer and precariously balanced fish species for special occasions, where they belong!!

Rima and mediterranean camel-fish

Here again is the link to Monterey Bay Aquarium’s great pocket guide to safe and sustainable seafood- I hope very much you will download and use this, and speak up when you see something you know shouldn’t be on a menu…
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_regional.aspx

This obviously is just a tiny bit of information, to hopefully just get everyone to think twice about what kind of fish you are buying and eating, and where they are from, and what is the status of the species…
I for sure am NOT planning on stopping eating fish!!!
Just trying to be a little more thoughtful about it..

NEXT POST….
BACK TO MY USUAL WISE-ASS COMMENTARY AND BON-VIVANTISM!!!  so please don’t delete me..:) 
And now if you will excuse me I happen to have a fish
(local red palamida- there’s tons of ‘em here!!!)  in the frig which I am going to make into a big plate of sashimi!!!

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