Snowy Tuesday Thoughts

The forecast in Denver Today: Light Snow with 0in of possible accumulation - WRONG!

My second day back in Denver is a snowy one and that has not stopped the Hipster invasion from my local happy place: CREMA COFFEE HOUSE

I have recently had the great fortune of a growing readership with special thanks to the amazing and prolific Lesley Carter and her World-Class Blog: Indulge – Travel, Adventure, & New Experiences. Lesley has built a following with her adventurous life and excellent blog that is nothing short of remarkable. I rarely envy anyone or anything, I envy this woman's passion and discipline.

As many of your reading are new to me, I thought I would share some randomly chosen thoughts and observations to give you insight into my writing and personality. I will couple this with photos from today's 0 inches of snow.

• I lived in a town of 500 people till I was 12 - It is called Bristol and it is where I began making stories I still tell

• I traveled to Italy 20 years ago this year and I have been hooked on the boot ever since.

• I heard a hipster tell another hipster this morning "I told him he was going to have to talk to my lawyer" What does the lawyer ask in payment to be on hipster retainer? A crocheted backless t-shirt? Some skinny jeans with uneven cuffs? A surly use of mislabeled irony?

• Many of my friends and family members have new babies. I am often asked to come over and meet the baby. Does an adult really meet a baby? I think we can see a baby, hold a baby, even attempt to talk at the infant; however, I would not go so far as saying we meet a baby. The baby cannot shake my hand or offer a salutary wish. I cannot ask the baby what he does or where he is from without appearing foolish. The baby will not remember me tomorrow. I think meet is not the appropriate term. I don't think anyone in 1957 asked people to come meet the baby. I don't think the 3 wise men met Jesus. They may have worshiped him, but when one of them encountered JC in the streets of Damascus some years later and asked: "don't you remember me Jesus?" Jesus said, "of course I do, because I am the son of God, a normal kid would not have the same recollection." Please don't take this badly new parents. I really like to see your children, I just won't meet them till they reach the age of memory.

• My first thought when I wake in the morning is: What can I eat?

• My last thought when I go to bed each night: I wonder what I will eat tomorrow?

• I judge myself much harder than I judge others and I judge the shit out of others.

• I would sell my first-born to Somali pirates for enough lifetime flight miles

• I try to avoid shitting in public bathrooms to an almost self-subversive level. I really need silence and classical literature to take a proper duke.

• I feel dead to myself and the world when I am not traveling or at least planning to travel

• I will not get on a plane without my wife and have no interest in travel without her. I did not get married to live a separate life and her presence brings me solace that no SRI ever could.

• I graduated college sometime between 1995 and 1997 as I am not sure when all my outstanding credits and bills were paid at my very good if very expensive university - I was scheduled to graduate in 1993

• I have a love/hate relationship with crowds. I hate to be part of one and I love to be in front of one.

• One of my favorite streets

• I love to be liked and yet I am not great at keeping my polarizing opinions to myself

More fun to come and thanks for tuning in to this cable access thrill ride.

Shit-hole Stories - Superbowl Snacks

If you read my blog yesterday you might remember that Juliet and I are holed up in a shit-hole called Extended Stay America in Lakewood, CO. Juliet's company put us up here while they help us to find a short-term lease for the next 13 weeks. I have stayed at numerous extended stays on some of my extended stays around the country and I have always found them sparse but clean and easy to manage.

This Extended Stay is easily the rattiest hotel I have ever stayed in a 1st world country. My jungle hut in Vietnam was the Ritz f-in Carlton compared to this pit. Nevertheless, I will save the smoky details and just send a few shots of our first and possibly only dinner at the ESA Lakewood.

Considering the circumstances: our exhaustion from an all-night drive and trying to take advantage of the low-rent proceedings, we decided to picnic it for the Sperbowl. We stayed in our room and watched the game on an old throwback TV while enjoying our smoky non-smoking room circa 1986. It was like being in a college dive bar without the longneck beers and the hard livin' men and women (they were likely in the surrounding hotel rooms).

The best part about our Super Bowl was the lovely Venison Summer Sausage my dad gave us for the road that was too frozen to eat on our journey to Denver, and was exceptionally temperate by game-time. We enjoyed that with a couple of wonderful cheeses from Italy and Austria on some gluten-free rice crackers and drank a bottle of Aglianico del Vulture I picked up at the local Wine shop for $9.99

This was going to rock of course and especially when we realized we had no wine glasses nor a corkscrew so I had to hustle the wine shop chick for 2 cheap beer glasses and a discount on a nice wine opener to throw in with my other 20 when I get our stuff from storage. Another 9 bucks down and this was getting to be an expensive shit-hole Superbowl picnic.

As fate would have it, the sausage rocked, the cheeses were solid, and the f-in wine was corked. I served it a little too cold so the TCA only hit about mid-bottle. I basically threw in huge mouthfuls of cheese and meat and kind of washed it down with Mr Corky as I needed the buzz without regard to the olfactory torture I would endure.

The cool glow of the tube made for such a nice light to display my sausage while chugging down corked wine in a beer glass[/caption]

In the end, valuable lessons were learned.

1. Never agree to allow a third-party to book a hotel room for you

2. Never purchase less than 2 bottles of wine at any time for any reason

Ciao,

M

Uchi Houston - 1st Look

The venerable Jeremy Parzen wrote a terrific piece yesterday in the Houston Press on the wine program at the new Uchi Japanese Restaurant in Houston.

I thought I would take this opportunity in the midst of our long drive from Houston to Colorado and detail our 1st dining experience at Uchi Houston.

I have been a longtime fan of Uchi in Austin as my wine group began doing programs at the original Uchi back in 2003. Through the years I have dined over and over at this hub of creativity and elegance on South Lamar in Austin. In the process I can say with all certainty I have enjoyed at least 3 of the top 10 meals of my life there.

Our frequent Uchi dining partners included a pair of dear friends with an exceptional wine collection and my amazingly talented fellow food and wine adventurer, "Dr" Loren Root (@theleftoverchef). Loren, as I have said many times is the best fish chef I know and his passion for Japanese cuisine borders on mania. It is with Loren that I developed my passion for sushi and my nearly fanatical love of uni (sea urchin). I seek out the best sushi on the planet in my travels and Uchi Austin has been at or near the top of my list since 2007.

When I heard that Uchi was coming to Houston I knew I was in for some amazing dining just around the corner from my home and the money I would save on gas to Austin I could push into an extra bottle of Sake'.

Alas, Juliet and I moved from Houston before Uchi opened. Imagine our joy when the maven all of Houston food and bev people(even living in Seattle), Emily Resling was able to get us into one of Uchi's soft opening evenings last week while we were in Houston visiting some of our dearest friends.

Having been a part of several restaurant openings I fully expected Uchi Houston to be crowded, a bit disorganized, and likely to be good but not up to the excellent standards I have come to expect from Uchi and its sister Uchiko in Austin.

Boy was I wrong! Uchi Houston was firing on more cylinders than the big block chariots of Narcissus parked in the lot. I was nervous when I did not see any of the chefs I knew from Austin. I was afraid the guys in the kitchen and at the sushi bar might miss out on the tutelage of a veteran Uchi chef on-hand to bring the true depth of experience Uchi has delivered for 8+ years.

My expectations were blown out of the water. Under the amazing guidance of lead sushi chef Nobu (not THAT Nobu, but a serious and soft-spoken bad-ass who worked with the famed Morimoto in his past) we were led down a path of fish joy that simply left us feeling like we had been transported to South Lamar circa 2009. The service was on top of its game in a place that was packed to the gills. We were seated immediately for our 7:30 reservation and enjoyed a nearly 3 hour extravaganza.

Jeremy Parzen discussed his take on Uchi's wine list yesterday and so I will take a moment to extol the virtues of Uchi's Sake' list. There are solid choices across most price ranges and on our particular evening we chose the Otokoyama Tokubetsu Junmai - in 720ml bottle. This sake' was described on the menu as having the flavor of clean winter air. While the whimsy of this description was not lost on me, the sake' itself was vibrant on the palate, clean across the aromas, and finished with a long, perpetual grip that carried the flavors of the fish and kept my fingers reaching for glass after glass.

Master Yasuda the former namesake sushi chef genius at NYC's world-class Sushi Yasuda suggested to me a few years back to consider drinking Junmai grade sake' with sushi, as its clean, elegant style, and higher tones pair better with fish than the higher grades of sake'. Who am I to argue with a master?

I sometimes hear detractors claim that Uchi is not a traditional sushi restaurant and that causes these naysayers consternation. I agree it is a unique program and at the same time Uchi utilizes the freshest fish available that I have ever enjoyed in Texas in both traditional and non-traditional ways which are inarguably exceptional.

I am going to say something here that is not intended to come off as anything more than a qualifier for the opinions I express. Since 2006 I have dined out an average of 400 times per year and in that time enjoyed sushi in New York City, Houston, Austin, Dallas, San Francisco, Denver, and Hong Kong. I have tasted some sublime fish in most of these places and Uchi Austin and now Uchi Houston live up to the best of the best in any of these places.

Yes, I know Uchi does experimental desserts, gorgeous chef-prepared plates, as well as beef and even interesting creations with foie gras. I have enjoyed some gorgeous creations by Top Chef Candidate Paul Qui and many from Owner/Chef Tyson Cole as well. However, it is Uchi's masters of the sushi counter that keep me coming back time after time.

The fish, the service, and the simplicity of feeling like I am worlds away from my cares easily mask the 2 bills+ it costs for a night out here for two. Is it expensive, yes? Do I still smile when I think of the first time Chef Masa in Austin carved an apple in about 7 seconds and created a saba (mackerel) dish that my wife , who does not enjoy mackerel, actually adored; absolutely!

Houston, I know how proud we all are of our homegrown restaurants and I urge the community to embrace Uchi Houston as one of their own and take a chance on a dining experience that could change your lives for the better.

Bravo Uchi Houston for a superb beginning. I cannot wait for my next rendezvous with you and Nobu!

Please see my additional photos and descriptions of our dishes.

Take my advice - sit at Nobu's station and let him drive the truck