Atelier Crenn from an year ago
Third time is the charm for the photos, with the latest renovation, there is now a hint of light for the lens. Not that photos matter or even the menu matters. A dinner at Crenn is like a series of short adventure trips for the uninitiated. No baby steps, you jump straight into it – sky diving, canoeing the rapids, zip lining, bungee jumping and so forth. Imagine you have been handed a schedule that looked like the following,
Sky, gravity & wind
River, foam & paddles
Canopy & pines
Frankly, even if the schedule came with a video of the activity, you will only know the motions and not the sensations.
Here was what the menu said on Nov 22, 2017,
Plum kambucha
Kir Breton
Fish & Chips
Geoduck, Sea Urchin & Citrus
Seeds & Grains
Caviar, Monkfish & Koji
Brioche & Housemade butter
Abalone, Cabbage & Smoked Creme
Matcha Tea Service
A-5 Wagyu, Porcini & Bearnaise
Harbison, Buckwheat & Truffle
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Nopal Elixir
White chocolate avocado cremeux
Mesa Crisp
Sapote Ice Cream & Maracuya
Vanilla Bean Guanabana & Crystallized Tobacco Leaf
Recreation of Agave, Coconut & Iced Pulque
Mignardises
Think of the elixirs and tea services as brief rest stops in between the adventure courses. I had been experimenting with home brewing kambucha last year, but that only made me wonder how did Dominique manage to get kambucha to taste good, let alone great. Thanks to a recent trip to Mexico City, at least the dessert menu ingredients like Sapote and Guanabana were familiar. Harbison? Your Googling is as good as mine. Her pastry Chef Juan Contreras, a Los Angeles native, has been with her for a while but this was the first time we noticed an influence from south of the border.
The menu also showed a hand-drawn Ocotillo, a desert cactus. We had seen Ocotillo in bloom earlier that year during the trip to Joshua Tree National Park. From a distance, they look like red tipped 20 ft tall grass. When the earth is dry, the stems are leafless, grey and thorny. The leaves sprout whenever the earth is a little moist. I took that to be the representation for the dessert menu.
Some of the photos …
Kir Breton, this is the only repeat adventure from last two times. Champagne cocktail served in a white chocolate shell with creme de cassis on top.
Fish and chips
White chocolate avocado cremeux
Sapote Ice cream & Maracuya
Vanilla bean guanabana & crystallized tobacco leaf
Recreation of agave, coconut & iced pulque. Pulque is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented sap of the agave plant. It has the color of milk, somewhat viscous consistency and a sour yeast-like taste.
Noah Purifoy’s outdoor museum
Assemblage sculpture from Noah Purifoy’s museum in Joshua Tree, California
Noah Purifoy was an accidental find. During last visit to Joshua Tree National Park, we ended up staying close to his museum of assemblage sculpture. Since then, I learned many things, a) media describes him as an artist forged by fire, his earliest body of sculpture, constructed out of charred debris from LA’s 1965 Watts rebellion, was the basis for 66 Signs of Neon, the landmark 1966 group exhibition on the Watts riots that traveled throughout the country, b) he was exhibited at LACMA in 2015, “Noah Purifoy: Junk Dada“, 50th anniversary of the Watts riots when several of these large-scale sculptures from Joshua Tree museum were brought in along with some of his early works, and finally, c) something provocative even by today’s standards, his 1971 solo show.
A 1971 solo show at the Brockman gallery in Los Angeles—for which he converted gallery space into a squalid, crowded inner-city apartment shared by an extended black family, complete with a stinky refrigerator, roaches, and figures getting busy under bedcovers—was an even more provocative exploration of racial and social injustice (the title of the show: “N* Ain’t Gonna Never Ever Be Nothin’—All They Want to Do Is Drink and Fuck”). – Julia Felsenthal for Vogue in 2015
One of the pieces, that stuck me most was an assembled home.
View 1: Assemblage sculpture of a home at Noah Purifoy’s museum in Joshua Tree, California
View 2: Assemblage sculpture of a home at Noah Purifoy’s museum in Joshua Tree, California
View 3: Assemblage sculpture of a home at Noah Purifoy’s museum in Joshua Tree, California
I didn’t know anything about Noah when we stumbled upon his open museum. I had seen assemblage sculpture in closed museum spaces before, a piece here or a piece there, and they never quite made much sense. But out there in the bright desert sun, in a seemingly middle of nowhere little (albeit destination) town, on a vacation from the humdrum of life, and seeing them all together, a narrative has started to form.
I am beginning to realize that the museum spaces are as important as the pieces themselves. I remember feeling sorry for the magnificent creatures of Theo Jansen when they were exhibited indoors at the San Francisco Exploratorium. They felt broken and powerless in the cavernously large and poorly lit exploratorium. I am sure they would have been wonderful on the beach, howling in the wind.
The disappointment at the Exploratorium was similar when seeing sunflower seeds of Ai Weiwei at the Tate Gallery in London. The original intention was a design where visitors could walk or roll on an infinite carpet of porcelain sunflower seeds in the vastness of the turbine hall. Juliet Bingham, Curator of Tate Modern had said, “Each piece is a part of the whole, a commentary on the relationship between the individual and the masses. The work continues to pose challenging questions: What does it mean to be an individual in today’s society? Are we insignificant or powerless unless we act together? What do our increasing desires, materialism and number mean for society, the environment and the future?” But shortly after its opening, this interactive display was declared a health hazard due to porcelain dust. So, Tate had to put the seeds in a conical pile in the center of a featureless bright room, cordoned off with a security guard watching over.
So if a museum piece doesn’t make sense, I just have to remind myself that perhaps it is in the wrong place and at the wrong time.
East meets west? I think not.
 Super soft mochi balls with various syrups – honey, tart lemon, green tea, and strawberry. With sweet adzuki bean, tart and dried plum blossom and soy bean powder. |
 Jean-Paul Hévin’s mascarpone – layered chocolate and banana mousse. |
Japanese pottery
There is traditional pottery that comes with amazing glazes and hand painted artwork and then there is the Japanese minimalist aesthetic. Both extremes are stunning. Former is relatively easy to find in Tokyo – every guidebook will provide a pointer or two. The later on the other hand was serendipity for us.
 Yumiko Iihoshi Porcelain: Yumiko Yoshihoshi is the artist behind the line and is relatively recent graduate of Kyoto Saga College of Art and Ceramics Degree. As far as I could decipher from auto translation, her designs use both industrial production and hard craft. The pieces are mass produced but hand glazed. |
 Fine workmanship, delicate pieces, and beautiful organic but minimalist shapes. The Harajuku store is in a strange building called Co-op Olympia. It is a renovated old building with cavernous hotel like walkways. It took us two trips to locate. The shop is is one of the suites. |
The traditional designs are explosion of colors or textures. Absolutely delightful. And if you have taken a class or two of pottery, you will appreciate the art even more so.
 Overall, the size of the piece and prices are not very correlated. Japanese are fond of small and beautiful objects and there are many delicate small dishes for serving kaiseki style food. These are not dishwasher friendly, no two pieces are exactly alike. What you typically get is beautiful shapes, textures, and glazes and sometimes, fine hand painting. |
 A beautiful sake pot with two serving cups. |
Whiskey and sushi?
Omotesando neighborhood of Tokyo has a whisky bar delightfully named The Whisky Library with its wall to wall whisky collection. And these were not just empty display bottles, the servers were climbing ladders to serve. We tried two flights – one from the famous Suntory distillery and other from Nikka. Suntory family had a maple/woodsy finish and Nikka had a sake/salty finish. Both excellent.
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 Miyagikyo (single malt), Yoichi (single malt), and Taketsuru (blended malt) from Nikka distillery and Yamazaki (single malt), Hakushu (single malt) and Hibiki (blended) from Suntory. |
The flights were followed by sushi at Tsukiji Tama Sushi Sasashigure at Omatesando Hills mall. Don’t frown at mall sushi – while the $300-$500 sushi at the likes of sushi master, Jiro, is no doubt sublime, a high end mall sushi meets expectations, particularly after a a few shots of delightful whisky.
Baby octopus teppanyaki style
 First some cabbage and mung bean sprouts |
 Toss with some salt and spices |
 Next some baby octopuses on the hot plate |
 Buttered up and tossed with soy sauce |
 Time to plate |
 Yummy! More so with some potato sake. Served on the edge of hot plate, a few inches away from diner’s plate, so stays hot while one lingers on the cold sake. |
Specters by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
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Ōta Memorial Museum of Art at Harajuku shows exhibitions of ukiyo-e wood-block prints. It is one of the few museums to continuously exhibit ukiyo-e. The main part of the collection consists of about 12,000 pieces collected by one individual, Seizō Ota Ⅴ, former president of Tōhō Insurance Company. His extensive collection was made available to public by his family after he passed away in 1977. During our visit, the exhibition showed “Specters” by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi.
Did someone say horse sashimi?
Sora An restaurant was at the footsteps of our AirBnB. We went in for a bento lunch and ended up being repeat customers.
 Super lean horse sashimi served with grated ginger and minced garlic |
Cocktail tasting at Gen Yamamoto
This is unlike any alcohol flight, the experience is closer to a sushi bar with 8 seats and a chef’s menu.
 Slightly tart ume (plum) juice tart and sparkling sake with superfine cucumber dice |
 Tomato with sanshō pepper based gin, possibly Roku. |
 Unfiltered sake, edamame and milk |
 Finnish gin, Napue, peach and wasabi |
 Yamamoto whiskey on crushed ice and summer pomelo with a few pieces of unsweetened and candied sweet potato. |
 English Vodka, Black Cow brand made from milk, with green tea |
Fruits of Japan
 A single bunch of grapes = $100 USD (approximate) |
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Pierre Hermé’s millefeuille at Isetan
 From Isetan, Shinjuku |
 Millefeuille in Paris in 2010. Thankfully, a few things don’t change. |
Isetan department store in Shinjuku is a delight for food voyeurs. Although the food court has everything, Japanese and western desserts might be the crème de la crème of the court. Weather permitting, the Isetan roof garden is a nice spot to enjoy these good eats.
Deus Ex Machina
The decor of this coffee shop in Harajuku is modern, pour is perfect and barista more hipster than most.
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Craft of food
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This is an ultra realistic hand made plastic food sample from a Harajuku mall. To learn more about the history and fascinating process, check out youtube Japanology episode of Plastic Food Samples. This food aid is particularly useful in Japan where the Google translate application fails on 99.9% of the words.
AFURI ramen in Harajuku
This ramen shop is located close to Harajuku station. It is a kitchen gleaming in steel. You order via a vending machine.
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 AFURI signature “Yuzu Shio Ramen” with chicken & dashi based shio (salt) broth, yuzu (a citrus), half nitamago (boiled egg marinated in soy and spices), chashu (marinated and braised pork belly), mizuna (mustard greens), menma (fermented bamboo shoots), nori (toasted seaweed). |
AFURI website tells us that the shop is named after Mt. Afuri, located at Tanzawa mountains in Kanagawa prefecture. As per legend, Mt. Afuri is father of Mt Fuji. Afuri is known for its sweet water, and used to be considered the sacred mountain for good harvest. And the philosophy of this ramen shop is to bring the sacred of Mt. Afuri to the food and service.
Roof garden of Tokyu Plaza
A couple of adorable little babies running around, falling, crawling, climbing, …
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Street crossing near Tokyu Plaza
 Hall of mirrors at the entrance of Tokyu Plaza by architect Nakamura Hiroshi |
Nature vs nurture
 Curated parks of Tokyo, this one is behind Nezu museum, present a surprising variety of vegetation. At Yoyogi park, there is effort to bring varieties from all over Japan. And any patch of vegetation you look at, you are presented with a mix of textures and forms. Pines intermixed with broad leaf trees, grasses intermixed with ferns, trees mingling with vines. How very poetic. |
 Trees that are closer to walking paths are invariably trimmed to present the natural beauty of shapes. Emphasis is on organic fluidity as opposed to uniformity. Simply delightful. |
Dinnerware at Tamawarai
Tamawarai is one of Harajuku’s best buckwheat noodle spots. With a seating of less than 20, it is quiet dining experience punctuated by sounds of enthusiastic slurping. The otherwise bare space with its small prison like windows was enlivened by eclectic dinnerware.
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Unagi Irokawa in Asakusa
 Irokawa in Asakusa is a two woman operation, one cook and the other for the rest. The restaurant seats five at the bar and eight at the two tables. A backroom with its tatami floor holds waiting patrons. You wait, you eat and you leave. And you thank your stars that you are glad to be alive. |
 Eel, rice and a BBQ sauce ladled on top. This is an eel restaurant, it serves eel and eel parts. Normal portion has two skewers and large has three. You are served a bowl of broth, some pickled vegetables and hot tea with the meal. |
 Optional menu items, eel liver and neck, the former was slightly bitter and the later bony. The liver reminded me of a particularly Bengali dish, my father’s favorite, called “Tele bhaja”, translating to fish gizzard fried in oil. |
Fujimaki, a train station Izakaya
Fujimaki is located next to Yoyogi station, on the top floor of a little nondescript mall. It would have been hard to find if we did not place ourselves in the hands of Google maps. Ten closely placed bar stools around the counter served by an elderly cook, accompanied by second who prepped the food and a third who did the dishwashing. The table fans whirred away but it was muggy and sweaty. It had just rained and it was cooler outside than inside. Jazz played in the background. Patrons were smoking, drinking large volumes of beer and sake and eating through the menu – mostly all parts of chicken – liver, gizzard, fatty tail and everything else in between. An occasional bacon wrapped okra or cherry tomato was a nod to the vegetables.
 Chicken liver |
 Grated daikon/radish and pickled vegetables |
 Chicken skin |
 Cartilage of chicken breast |
 Eggplant with grated ginger |
 Okra wrapped in bacon |
 Chicken with roe and seaweed |
 Chicken with umeboshi paste and shiso leaves |
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Onden Ippo in Harajuku
 Smooth jazz and eclectic “bar meet spa” decor are what you notice when you climb down to this basement restaurant. |
 Pickled cucumbers, and pickled bamboo shoots as appetizers. |
 Salad of cabbage, bitter greens, and a pretty little cherry tomato in a tangy mayo sauce. |
 Grilled mackerel. |
 Sashimi with sisho buds |
The grilled mackerel is where my chopstick skills met its match. The fish was grilled crisp. If I were a cat, I could have just picked it up with my paws and munched it down head, spine and tail! I asked for a fork. To assemble, I picked up some of the grated daikon on my rice bowl and topped with some of the mackerel flakes before adding a dash of soy. Oh, it made me want grilled eel.
The customer next to me had ordered the mackerel as well. He was a dapper looking gentleman, and carried with him at least seventy five years of chopstick wielding experience. I was just a little embarrassed eating mackerel with fork, chopsticks and fingers. But I shouldn’t have been. The demolished mackerel on our respective plates looked nearly identical. And I noted that both of us used fingers in coordination with our implements.
Sound of summer at the Yoyogi park
 Trees of Yoyogi park |
 Ikebana at Meiji Shrine |
Jetlag in tokyo – Tsukiji market or Yoyogi park. In the end, the park won. It was closer. We headed out from our temporary home in Harujuku towards Meiji shrine. Tokyo has a delightful gadget called pocket wi-fi. So you can boldly go walkabout through narrow lanes without worrying about not leaving breadcrumb trails for the journey back home.
Tokyo is quiet for a big city. Early mornings should have been delightfully devoid of sound except for an occasional cat prowling about. Instead, we were immersed in an inorganic buzzing sound. At first, I wasn’t sure what it was, the sound was localized around trees. Yet, no number of birds can create that racket. And when the sound got amplified in Yoyogi park, I remembered the cicadas. We were indeed hearing the sound of Japanese summer, the cacophony of cicadas. Early in the summer morning, the park wraps you in a wet warm blanket. You notice your breathing because it takes a tad extra effort in that viscous air. The lack of sunlight on the wet musty ground lends a sense of suspense. The wide variety of vegetation brings a wondrous quality to the perambulation. Yoyogi park casts a spell like Hayao Miyazaki’s world aided by the cicadas who drown out all thoughts with their cacophony.
Joshua Tree in Bloom
You go for a blast of flowers and colors and stay for the details.
Near the Cottonwood region of Joshua Tree – purple chia and yellow desert sunflowers.
Locomotoring 