A Better Life New York
Steve "The Judge" focuses on the art of enjoying yourself through food, fun and frolic. Steve conducts live Interviews on many popular and controversial topics. Steve has candid conversations about fine dining to BBQ, cigars to cars, history making events and everything in between. Recently, we added a special monthly addition ion collecting Antique Phonographs with experts Wyatt Markus, and Collector/Dealers Joe Hough and Tracy McKinney. Sponsored by Premium Botanicals the maker of Herbal Spectrum a line of full spectrum Hemp based CBD products. http://www.mypbcbd.com
A Better Life New York
Valentine's Serenade, Sushi Sagas, the New World of Sake and the Late Chef Bouley: An Ode to Culinary Excellence and Enduring Traditions
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As George and I dust off the grooves of history, we find ourselves entwined in the warm embrace of Valentine's Day and the stirring echoes of a 1916 phonograph tune. This episode is a tapestry woven with intimate tales and cultural idiosyncrasies, from the sweetness of Japan's White Day to the quirky twist of Sadie Hawkins Day in America. We don't shy away from the gridiron either, dissecting the heart-pounding strategy and exhaustion that defined the recent Super Bowl's final quarter.
In a heartfelt moment of reflection, we offer our condolences to those affected by the tragedy in Kansas City and honor the culinary genius of the late Chef David Bouley. His legacy lingers in the savory scents of his famed New York establishments and his transformative influence on American cuisine. As we savor memories of dining under his expertise, we explore his adventurous spirit, seen in his collaborations and his aid to sake breweries hit by an earthquake in Ishikawa Prefecture. This narrative flows into a discussion of New York's flourishing sake community and how food trends, like the ascent of sushi from canned curiosity to luxurious treat, shape our palates.
Join us as we peel back the layers of sushi artistry, revealing the precision and dedication behind each sliver of sashimi and the intense labor poured into its perfection. Discover the global odyssey of sourcing the finest fish and the competitive zeal that drives New York's sushi chefs to emulate Tokyo's Toyosu Market standards. With my impending journey to Japan, we tease the prospect of bringing you even richer stories of culinary tradition in future episodes. As the sweet sentiments of Valentine's Day swirl around us, George and I invite you to join our celebration of love, life, and the continuous quest for a perfect bite.
Hello everyone. This is Steve from A Better Life. This podcast is brought to you by our sponsors, premium Botanical. They are the makers of Herbal Spectrum, which is a full spectrum hemp-based CBD. They make salves, liquids and they have a great mixed berry gummy. You can check them out at wwwmypbcbdcom. Now our podcast the Best of the Best, the Best of the Best, the Best of the Best. Hello everyone, and welcome back to A Better Life with George and Steve.
Speaker 2:How are you, george? Good Steve, nice to be back, it is. I walked into this studio and I don't see any extra phonographs, which is a plus, a good sign. But I see a lot of extra space, which will lead to, I think, more phonographs.
Speaker 1:Nothing out here, it's all going in the back room.
Speaker 2:So is this a new law that you've instilled?
Speaker 1:I haven't instilled just the one big one, because I don't think it'll fit back there. It's so big. I never realized how big it is until I started comparing it to everything else. I have four others two are being restored, two I need to pick up, and then that's going to be it, and then I'm working on organizing and completing the music portion of my collection I see, I see, and lighting is very different.
Speaker 1:I see today I have to give some of the lamps for the back, so I took one out and put it back there because I need a little light. I don't like the bright light when I go back there and play something, because I usually videotape it and post it on Facebook or post it somewhere. So I've been trying to every day at least play one of them whether I record it or not, it's another story Only because that's what they're here for and I'm going to use them so I can enjoy them. That's right. So I'm trying to do that every day.
Speaker 1:Some days I play more, some days I play less. Some days it's 78,. Some days it's an Edison-Ambriola cylinder. Sometimes it's a two-minute Edison gold cylinder.
Speaker 2:How many people get to say that? How many people have these toys where you're connecting with a century ago of the highest technology money could buy back then?
Speaker 1:Yeah, pretty cool. Today's song was I think it was today called Wake Up America. Oh, and it's about I don't know some obscure writer, but it was a song saying to America you better start realizing we have to enter World War I. It was written in 1916 because everybody needs to get on the same page, because we have to protect America's interest. Let's not forget what George Washington and Abraham Lincoln did and those kind of things, which is interesting. I thought it was a little ironic by everything that goes on in the world today.
Speaker 2:but yeah, and then you George Washington, right, the founding fathers. Then a few decades go by and then you have massive like the Monroe Doctrine happens, and then other few decades happen. And then Wake Up America. And now we're rolling into, go Back to Bet America. Wake Up Early America.
Speaker 1:So today is our, I think, valentine's Day special edition. I know everybody out there has done something special for their Significant Valentine Significant Valentine, At least, I hope they did. I hope you're going to listen to us, but only after Valentine's Day, because I'm not editing it tonight.
Speaker 2:I just would like to wish my special Valentine a wonderful day and give out all the love out there to the world.
Speaker 1:That's very nice. I mind this one in Japan, mine's only in New Jersey, so it's a little easier.
Speaker 2:Our time zones makes things a little harder, but the sentiment's there and the love's there. Absolutely, did they celebrate Valentine's?
Speaker 1:Day in Japan.
Speaker 2:They actually celebrate something even more. There's a White Day as well, and countries that celebrate White Day. The Valentine's Day then becomes a reverse. The ladies propose their affection and love to their man. Therefore, on Valentine's Day, february 14th, the girl gives the guy a chocolate or flowers or a card, and one month later, on March 14th, that's when traditionally, the boy then returns the. If he declares the same affection, then he returns flowers, chocolates. Only in Japan are they so organized?
Speaker 1:Here we have a Sadie Hawkins Day. I have no idea what it is, but that's when you'll see Sadie Hawkins dances, and I don't know who the heck Sadie Hawkins is, but it is traditionally when women ask men out. I have been asked to dinner in the past on Sadie Hawkins Day and they not only asked but paid, which was an unusual event, and that's the only thing. It has no relationship to Valentine's Day, and some women do give Valentine's Day gifts to their men, but it's not as required, and if you don't do something for Valentine's Day, you're always left to be. When I was in the florist today, there was a line out the door. People were like looking at the cheapest thing. Guys, come in, I laugh at the cheapest thing and I'll be like, yeah, I'll have that one and I'll have balloons and I'll have this.
Speaker 2:So that's the way it works. Chocolates, candies, flowers okay, they're great for that industry.
Speaker 1:So for a second. Maybe we should just follow up, because we talked a lot about the Super Bowl last week and we talked this week and the game was, I think, by all accounts, moderately boring until the last quarter.
Speaker 2:Well, the first three quarters were like extremely boring, and then there was like a turnaround. This tingling feeling of oh, some magic's going to happen and, little by little, this destiny was coming true. And yeah, Kansas City. Just, they looked more prepared, they looked like they knew what they were doing and they just executed, play by play.
Speaker 1:I think the defense was exhausted. Oh, absolutely, san Francisco defense was exhausted and that was the turning point. But just to mention, on a horrible note, today also there was the parade in Kansas City and there was three apparently three gunmen who opened fire on the ground and then one person killed and 22 people injured. At this point, which is a horrible thing that we have to live with every day Shocking, it's hard to know or say, especially a town like Kansas City who had the bombing so many years ago it's middle America and by any other counts, it's definitely middle America and I feel horrible and I'm sure George is with me and we'll send out our hearts and thoughts and prayers to everyone in Kansas City, not just the people that are injured but the fans whose days were destroyed by a couple people, perpetrators that we don't know who they are, where they're from or anything.
Speaker 2:So at this point, you just watch the news coverage and even the reporters are shaken and dumbfounded and just completely caught as a surprise, right, and it's just. You're just nomin' and shocked.
Speaker 1:We were just watching something and I turned to George and he said these two are in total shock. They're just like trying to describe how they feel and they have the inability to do that.
Speaker 2:Just a little moment of silence for them and hopefully they persevere and come back stronger. But it must be tough. A lot of sending a lot of love out there.
Speaker 1:What have? We talked a little bit before about what we're going to talk about.
Speaker 2:I know you mentioned Another somber note. A great chef, chef David Boulet, passed yesterday. David Boulet was basically a tremendous force in the culinary scene for American chefs here in New York and he's definitely missed. He was and still is loved by so many who he touched, who he gave a chance to work with him and to learn from a master, a maestro. I started my career in early 2000, probably 2001, and he was already someone of a famed name. And if anyone's been to Boulet down on Duane Street in Tribeca, the moment you enter you go through a short galley of apples he has, he's noted to start your meal, your experience, off with this. It's as if you walked into an apple orchard and you're transported into this mystery, magical land and you get seated in this beautiful dining room and off you go. You're in your next two, three, four hours. Maybe you're transported into this almost magical Parisian experience, but you're in the heart of downtown Tribeca and you are being served some of the best food in the world.
Speaker 1:I used to work on Duane Street and one day, not even knowing what it was, I wandered in there with some guy I went to high school with, who ended up working next to me at the EPA, and we wandered in there for lunch. One day we were like the only two people in a place I don't know if it was like an early dinner or whatever. It was just a few people in the place and we were blown away by the meal Blown away.
Speaker 2:Every bite is sensational and I gotta say every chef that I've worked with, who's worked under Chef Poulay or worked in that same kitchen, have nothing but the best memories and the best experiences one could ever hope for. Certainly, new York lost a great chef yesterday, and so did the country.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I used to go to and I told George a little bit about it. They had I want to say it was like on 40th Street or something like that they had a restaurant but it also had a teaching kitchen where you went and got lessons and you basically sat in a bar and all the ovens and things were right there. And I forget the gentleman's name who worked for Poulay and he cooked and demonstrated. There was one time we went to a bread thing. Another time he was very health conscious, another time we went to Paella where he made three or four different kinds of paella, and the third time I don't remember what we went, but it was a ridiculous expense because everybody goes out of their mind and the best wine, the best this, and the bill is astronomical but it's an amazing experience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's talking about just Boulay and not talking about brush stroke would bea disservice. Chef Boulay was also so interested in Japanese food. I think that's where my connection with Chef Boulay was. I worked for a Japanese food distribution company. We did sake and we also did these really amazing ingredients that we import from Japan.
Speaker 2:He was one of the first chefs that we would show these products to. He just had such a deep understanding of flavors, textures and just the nuances of anything, whether it be citrus or something like seaweed from the sea, some petrified fish you know just me, even high-end miso, soy sauce, different salts from different bays in Japan, and he would incorporate it with his chef, chef Yamada, who headed the kitchen at brush stroke, probably the most talented Japanese chef in New York in terms of washoku Japanese cuisine. He's really a true chef, true artist really, and together, mr Yamada and Mr Boulay, together, opening up brush stroke, new York got a taste of some really excellent early-stage washoku cuisine and I think that really opened the floodgates for more Japanese chefs to really spread their wings and embrace the New York market with their art form.
Speaker 2:Again, I have nothing but the fondest memory of everyone who's worked with Chef Boulay and also my very limited exposure with Chef Boulay trying some of our products back in the day and when he gave us the thumbs up, that was a testament to the sourcing and all the hard work trying to get those products to New York. Great memories.
Speaker 1:A legend. I saw condolences and notations from every great chef. You would know. It's amazing. He was a legend and that really just sums it up. And he was an artist, right.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, Absolutely. Here's to you, Chef. Last week was Super Bowl and then actually, yeah, this past Monday, I went to this really amazing benefit, charity, benefit event for the sake breweries that were damaged by a massive earthquake in Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan. So a lot of the sake professionals whether from the PR side, from the distribution side, from the importing side, from the restaurant retail side everyone got together and chipped in and were able to raise quite a significant amount of money through ticket sales and through donations and things like that. I got to see a lot of old faces, old friends that I haven't seen in almost a decade or so.
Speaker 1:So is that the earthquake that took place when you were there?
Speaker 2:This was a week prior. This was a bigger earthquake. I was in. It registered a 4.2. That would be big here, but that's a once every two, maybe three, four months in Japan. You'll get a nice shake and it was only like a second, you too. So earthquakes that last five seconds plus almost 10 seconds are catastrophic, even if they register smaller. But a big shake with a one second shake not too bad. But the one in Ishikawa was. It was big enough that it brought down buildings, brought down houses, brought down breweries that have been around for a few hundred years, five, six, seven generations old. A ton of them have now disappeared and there is a massive effort to rebuild. There's a massive effort to raise funds so that we can make it possible.
Speaker 2:And the sake community here in New York, I have to say, is amazing, filled with a lot of industry professionals passionate about the craft. I know there's wine people who transferred into the sake world. I know there's guys who worked in the restaurants as GMs, as servers, who now are on the distribution and importing side of sake, because it's just, it's really amazing, almost renaissance of the beverage here. I think in the next five, 10 years we really will see sake as a major varietal on a lot of beverage menus. It's tremendously delicious, has a lot of potential for pairings and we'll I think we'll capture the hearts and the palates of all Americans.
Speaker 1:Really it's interesting. I look forward to that. It's always. It's funny how the culinary world never sleeps right. There's always some artist out there that comes up with something they never thought of before.
Speaker 2:I used to tell myself Raps, listen, you have to consider food, what we eat, as fashion. It's fashionable. Now it might not be 10 years, it might be even more so 10 years, but understand that. It's just like language, right, it constantly evolves. We adapt and we evolve with food, language, clothing, fashion, all this is all. It's not stationary. It just continually evolves and moves with you and food for what it's worth. We have certain dishes that have passed the test of time, right, there's just simple dishes, original dishes that it's good, but you also have foods that kind of have had its heyday and it's no longer a thing, and you roll with the punches.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but and there's also things that move into the staples of American life. Right, mexican food gets real popular and all of a sudden it slips into the regular rotation for American life.
Speaker 2:Like, I would say, avocado. Without Mexican food, we probably would not have been introduced to the avocado, and now it's considered a super food for breakfast, right? Like, yeah, the avocado toast? Perhaps not. You would not connect the direct dots to a enchilada or some Mexican food. But Because of the exposure, because it's been around in supermarkets, it has its own, almost its own little island between the aisles. It's almost on every menu. It's on every menu and it's a nice add-on and it's delicious and guess what?
Speaker 1:it's a superfood, it's super healthy almost on every American restaurant menu right.
Speaker 2:Add avocado right every lunch. Any lunch salad will have an option. That's the way it is. I think it's a beautiful thing, right? We all have to eat to survive, and when I eat, better when I eat look at tuna.
Speaker 1:You used to tuna with sushi and now it's Seared tuna is almost on every salad.
Speaker 2:Every place you go, every diner, every, everything, there's seared tuna yesterday year tuna was canned tuna and then this whole sushi and Toro boom and now everyone understands Raw tuna is utterly delicious and then yeah, as you mentioned, you have your seared tuna on your menus and All these tuna, carpaccio tuna, sushi tuna, poke right, anything tuna.
Speaker 1:I'm always amazed at the fish markets in Japan and how food, how these fishes become Almost like a currency, that they're so expensive.
Speaker 2:The auctions are in the auctions are insane.
Speaker 2:The previous so the Tsukiji market, which is closed now. The Tsukiji market was at that time the largest fish market in the world and then now the new one that replaced to key G, called Toyosu, is 40% larger. This thing is basically a city, but it's bigger than the city block. It must be like three city blocks worth of real estate. And you go to the tuna auction. They block it off now because Tourists ruined it for everyone and but you can look from the upstairs window and they have these monstrous 400, 500 pounders lined up in a row four, five, six rows deep and they're just auctioning out to the house that's gonna pick up the fish, then break it and Created into sections for their prized sushi restaurants. So it's a multiple-tier system that has been going on for hundreds of years and it's a sight to be seen.
Speaker 2:But the best part about it is the auctions around 4, 30, 5 o'clock in the morning. When that ends you just walk around the corner and you go to all these famous sushi shops that are open for breakfast and Like 8,000 yen so it's about 45, 50 bucks You're gonna get some of the best sushi you've ever had. It's not fancy Ginza or New York. High-end sour, it's everything's pristinely cut and it's glimmering and it's perpendicular and all that. This is the rustic Fisherman sushi, but it's fresh, it's made with skill and it's it's a great experience.
Speaker 1:So they're serving the fish they just bought at the market. Is that what you?
Speaker 2:There's today. So again, food is fashion right today. Sushi is not like the same sushi I had when I was a kid living in Japan in the 80s. And you can go, you can just say the same thing every 10, 20 years. Going back, it has evolved into what it is today. Yeah, it's. It is the same in the sense that it has Nitta, which is the raw fish, or the cured fish, on top, the shadi, which is the vinegared rice, and the nigiri is the action in which you're putting it all together into your fist, right, so that that's a nigiri.
Speaker 2:And the nigiri style sushi has been going on for I think, four or five hundred years and If you had a time machine and the camera and you took a snapshot every 10, 20 years, you would see that it's gotten smaller. It used to be a two finger with hand nigiri and now most chefs only use one finger, and maybe that's because so that you can try more dishes, more bites. So it's improved the experience, but it's. It's a different animal, it's a different exposure experience. You're not biting the nigiri anymore. It's a one, one-shot deal. It's seasoned with the masters soy sauce blend. Back in the 80s very few places would do that it was. Basically, you would dip the fish into the soy sauce and put as much whereas little as you wanted. A lot's changed, but it's Undoubtedly delicious.
Speaker 1:It's an. I love sushi and I don't like some of the things that are like still crawling when you eat them, kind of thing. But I love it and you could tell the fresh one Mm-hmm summer aged to know.
Speaker 2:So that's where I should have mentioned earlier and I was reluctant to say oh, they're using the fish right out of auction because they realized that the science and the art form of fishing has also changed and improved. The moment a certain type of fish and it depends on the type of fish right, they may, they may KG minute, which is, once it's caught, they'll drain the blood, they'll cut the under the collar, they'll crack and then make sure that it exposes the vertebrae from the tail part. They'll cut and basically bleed out the fish. They'll stick a metal, metal wire through the spine to stop it from and paralyze it basically. So you're stopping all the adrenaline from going into the bloodstream and therefore that will sour and ruin the texture of the protein. So you want to we're able to keep that in pristine condition.
Speaker 2:So, taking that fish and now throwing it into a super freezer, you're able to stop time. Essentially, the fish, if you rethought it, is basically 20 minutes old, one hour old. It hasn't even gone through rigormortis yet. The fish that they thaw like a fluke or like a flounder, once it's perfectly thawed and you rest it, it's going through rigormortis now and then at that time they will filet it and slice it and now you have this, amazingly, what they call in Japanese, which is it's an anamonipia. It just means that it's almost crunchy. The flesh is so fresh, it's in rigor, it's so crunchy. You have this really nice toothsome feel. And that's the pinnacle of whitefish, sashimi Tuna, I believe they age for seven days, some fish they'll age for two, and chefs just know how to manipulate the protein to accentuate the umami, the texture and also the color. We're in the golden age of culinary delights.
Speaker 1:Really, that's more than I ever contemplated.
Speaker 2:I know just about this much. There's so much to learn, and the greatest sushi chefs, I think, are the ones that engage with their customers and they live off of smiles. I think that's what chefs do. Sushi chef watches their customers sitting at the counter eat their sushi, the eyes close. You give out a little breath out of your nose. You're chewing and you just your whole way through. You open your eyes and tell the chef that was delicious Chefs, thank you. Pulls up either their book, ipad, a picture. This is the fish that you just ate. It's unique because of this and this. It was caught this day by the fishermen over in this part of the world. They know everything about what they're sourcing, and that's the beautiful thing about premium, high end sushi. If you're not to me, if you're not asking those questions, you're doing yourself a disservice. You're paying an astronomical amount of money Mine as well. Get educated as long as well as enjoying the delicious meal.
Speaker 1:Interesting. So is that going to New York as well as it goes on in Japan?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so New York, I would say the last 10 years, right off the bat. If you give me a pen and pen paper, I could give you 30 names of chefs that have come from Japan, all parts of Japan, not just Tokyo, but to come here and show their craft. So I would say 10 years ago I wouldn't say New York was a sushi destination. You'd have to go to Japan for that experience. Today, I think, dollar for dollar, maybe more, I think maybe you'd that's crazy, right? You pay more in New York for high-end sushi than Tokyo. If you paid and this is disgusting to say but you'd have to pay $500 in New York to experience something for $200 in Tokyo. But the quality is the same.
Speaker 1:So is the fish coming from the Pacific or is it coming from All over?
Speaker 2:the world, all over the world, but for the most part Toyosu Sushi auction market is where all the premium fish will go first, because that's where they know the people who want the best of the best will pay for, and you'll have scouts and buyers going in the morning, picking out, putting into boxes, throwing some dry ice around it, putting another box around it, and then it's FedEx over immediately. The moment the people buy it in Toyosu, within an hour it's already on a truck going to either Narita or Haneda Airport and 12 hours later it's at JFK. Another hour or two goes through all the paperwork and it's within 24 hours. Let's say, the chef in New York City has the same fish as the chef in Tokyo. And yeah, they do their magic.
Speaker 1:I know my friend has a rather large fishing boat and he goes all over to North Atlantic, as well as in Florida, and he catches tuna all the time and he'll bring in somebody who'll pay $5,000, $6,000 dollars for a tuna. Oh easy, hundreds and hundreds of pounds, yeah, it's for fuel.
Speaker 2:He says the champion tuna, so the homo-mago-rood, yet the bluefin, the highly sought-after bluefin tuna, from either the Sea of Japan or the northern part, where Japan and Russia meet, that part of the waters, those fish, let's say a 500 pounder, it can command over a million dollars. Wow, I kid you not. And the pride in which these sushi restaurants, I guess they uphold, they can never not have tuna. That's basically, if they can secure their hands on good quality tuna, they're not going to open. And it's just like samurai mentality. It's shameful Samurai mentality, but it is. These guys are just hardcore blue-collar workers. That's their badge of honor to serve what they can source the best, best products possible for their customers.
Speaker 2:And there's guys like there's a chain, there's a chain that has 40 restaurants in Tokyo called Sushi Zanmai and the CEO. Every year, near Ziv, he's on national television, he takes a spot for his commercial and he says, yeah, today I bought the most expensive tuna. It's a Tsukiji or Toyosu market and I'm breaking it all up to all my stores around Tokyo, around the country. If you want the best, you come to my place. And it's smart, right, well, brilliant, even though he paid $2 million, whatever, it's worth it Because, yeah, his claim is factual and it's an everyday person's Sushi place, although it's become a little bit more expensive than I remember. He must be doing pretty well gathering clientele and charging a nice premium, but good for him. You play the game and you want to give the clients the best of the best.
Speaker 1:But in Japan no one's going to tolerate anything but the best right, the barrier of entry is low.
Speaker 2:Competition is high. So you take a country of 130 million, that's one-third of our country, right, we're at like 370. We have about 500,000 restaurants in our country 500,000. Japan is 600,000. So they have three times more restaurants than we do. The barrier of entry of owning a restaurant is very low. It's not necessarily a credit check, it's just. Sometimes I've heard it's a shake of a hand and you turn the key and now you're running this restaurant. You would never stiff the guy out of a contract or wages, or the owner of the real estate does not have to chase the store owner for rent. Let's put it that way. That's not really a thing in Japanese culture and unthinkable here, right, without ironclad contracts.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:But yeah, that's the thing. So the barrier of entry is easy. It's low. You, a lot of amateurs right, a lot of guys who just love cooking, a lot of ladies who finish their first career and wants to open up a restaurant, can, you can open a cafe with some food. You just have to get a food license, food service license, and you're up and running. The barrier of entry is very low, very easy, and you can make a living out of it. It's not uncommon to eat two, three meals outside the house and still relatively close to the same budget.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 1:I know that I've seen a lot of shows about restaurants in Japan and. I always find it interesting. I think I'm going to start, or I'm trying to make it and the honor, that's involved and the tradition that's involved.
Speaker 2:Relationships with your food purveyor is tremendous. It is a samurai mentality Exactly Like.
Speaker 1:you coined it perfectly. I never thought of it like that, but it's a samurai mentality. It's all about honor and tradition and hope you make money.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you want to make a living. You want to make a decent, honest living for you and your family, and that's something that, as an adult, I see even more clear now. Doing business in Japan, doing business with Japanese, it's not the fastest, it's not the most glorious in terms of glitz and fame, but at the end of the day, when you're counting everything from, just everything everything included, you can say that you did an honest day's work.
Speaker 1:It's interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. It was so cold today, yesterday and the day before I thought we were in the clear and no such luck. I woke up this morning and it was what? 23 and it said real feel 14. Oh boy, and I walked to the station, hop on the train, get to Grand Central, walk a few blocks and I'm in my office. But it's great. And it's also oh boy. Some days you're like my bones hurt, my hip hurts. How am I going to make it? But we all do somehow, don't we?
Speaker 1:Nothing like a CBD gummy for the help of your aches and pains. So that was very interesting about it being Valentine's Day and you think about going to a sushi restaurant or something like that. It's nice to know a little bit more and I appreciate the overview.
Speaker 2:Oh, and sushi is one of the funny things I thought. By being raised in Japan, I had an inside track and then, entering the food world, I met a gentleman, Trevor Corson. On his business card it says Sushi concierge. Basically, people pay Trevor to sit with them to eat sushi and he narrates and takes you on a journey based on what fish, what the sushi chef prepares. He has a dialogue with the chef and then basically adds a tremendous amount of knowledge about whatever it is that makes that dish so incredible. He's written numerous books about sushi, about Japan, and sushi is just one of those skill sets that are passed down generation to generation. And there are those chefs in New York City third generation sushi chefs that are doing the craft of a hundred years ago.
Speaker 1:I have to say I don't think there's anything more American and Nouveau-reach than heaven. I would come with you and explain what you're eating.
Speaker 2:Nouveau-reach.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, but being Valentine's Day, I think we can abbreviate it a little bit here, if you don't, unless there's something else you want to cover. But I think that was a great overview of Japan and sushi in New York City and everything about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's funny, I'm just getting hotter and hotter about Japan, I think my new position and I'm actually heading over to Japan next week. I'll be there for two weeks on business and I think I'll be traveling to five different prefectures with my colleague and I'll be very excited to come back and talk about all the food we ate.
Speaker 1:I think we may have to do some on location there. Maybe we could do some and we've been talking about this, I know.
Speaker 2:We have the technology. We haven't tested it out. We have it all, but I would be happy to dial in from either Tokyo or up north or south.
Speaker 1:Wherever it is, I think we're definitely going to do that. Next week you'll be away.
Speaker 2:Or is it weekend? I'm flying out Tuesday and I'll be back the following Okay, maybe Thursday or.
Speaker 1:Friday next week We'll put something together. It turns out that this is a great introduction to the world of Japan on our overview of sushi, and I think I'm going to have to listen to it back more than once because there was a lot of information there. I look forward to our look into the world of food and culinary and how it all works in Japan, and we're lucky that we're going to have you there.
Speaker 2:Awesome.
Speaker 1:And that note I wish you all the happiest Valentine's Day.
Speaker 2:Yes, happy Valentine's Day, my love, and we'll catch you guys very soon. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1:Enjoy your day.
