Alvin Zhou is a content creator that can be seen in various places on YouTube. His "Anime with Alvin" series (a show on Babish Culinary Universe) recreates foods from popular anime, while the cooking videos on his own channel feature a more laid back, casual feel that can be quite soothing and relaxing. Other projects include the "Making It Big" series, and short films about chefs in the industry. He's interests in anime made him the perfect guest for FanimeCon 2022 and we were lucky enough to talk to him about his start in content creation, some of his favorite foods, his knowledge on the One Piece series, and lots more! This interview is a bit different from what we usually do as it turned into quite the conversation between Alvin and our interviewer, and it's quite the treat! Fans of Alvin, or those discovering him for the first time, will find something worth sinking their teeth into here, so read on and be sure to check out their videos when you're done as well!
Square Enix and Insight Editions are today revealing "The Ultimate Final Fantasy XIV Cookbook", giving fans around the world a chance to experience the gastronomical delights Hydaelyn has to offer.
We reported on it last year and it's that time again! "Miss Hooters Japan Contest 2019" recently took place in the Shinjuku Store (Tokyo) on April 15th and here are the results!
Square Enix is working on a new food collab event and it's not Cup Noodles this time around! Square Enix is teaming up with New York-based beverage chain Kung Fu Tea to launch an exclusive drink inspired by Final Fantasy X/X-2 to celebrate the upcoming release of the HD Remaster on the Nintendo Switch and XBox One!
Are you a fan of Japanese candy but find the selection in the US a little lacking? Well, there's a new service that we think you should check out: OKASHI BOX! OKASHI BOX gives people outside of Japan the chance to taste authentic Japanese candy!
Hooters is a brand that many of us in the US are familiar with, but are you familiar with the Japanese branch of the restaurant chain?
Care to add an egg with your curry? Perhaps a lazy egg? Gudetama - the beloved Sanrio character introduced in 2013 - collaborated with popular Japanese restaurant chain Curry House at all 9 of their locations. The promotion has been extended until the end of February; we were lucky enough to grab a bite at the Cupertino location last week.
J-POP Summit 2017 Announces Premium Line-up of Ramen, Sake, and Food Vendors at This Year's Festival8/21/2017 The San Francisco Bay Area’s Premiere Japanese Pop Culture Event Announces A Slate of Japanese Food and Drinks Participants at Fort Mason Center For Arts and Culture This September
On Friday, April 7th, the Hello Kitty Mini Café opened at the Santa Anita Mall. After their recent great success and incredibly high demand from both the Hello Kitty Café Truck and the Hello Kitty Café Pop-Up Container, they decided to open a permanent location for guests to enjoy.
Aburiya Raku is the kind of restaurant in Las Vegas that seems unassuming, but is beloved by those “in the know”. A dinner only yakitori place, its small space is constantly filled with foodies, local and celebrity chefs, and many a Hollywood star. I finally was able to get a reservation with my boyfriend (gotta book weeks in advance if you want to eat anytime between 6 pm and 1 am), and see what the fuss is all about. Raku, the mother restaurant to my dearly beloved Sweets Raku, couldn’t be more different from Sweets from the interior: dark lighting, dark woods, and leather. We were seated immediately, and told about the various condiments on the table. Raku offers a ponzu, a chili sauce, a shichimi, and a green tea sea salt, all specially made for the restaurant. If they sold the green tea salt I’d buy a billion jars, it’s that good. We were shown the daily special board, offering a variety of sashimi, whole fish dishes, and other seafood for the night. Deciding to skip such things, and instead focus on the grilled skewers and homemade tofu that built Raku’s reputation, we ordered off the regular menu. Ordering off the menu allowed us to order everything we wanted to try in one go, which had the bonus effect of allowing the staff to serve us the items in a set order (drawing from kaiseki and other yakitori traditions, skewers precede fried dishes precede rice dishes precede soups, with other dishes added accordingly). We started with Raku’s homemade tofu. It arrived to the table still in its wicker forming basket, with fresh, real wasabi, chives, and bonito shavings on the side. The tofu by itself was a firm and unsilken affair, with a texture unlike any tofu I’ve eaten at home or in another restaurant. It also had its own faint taste, which complimented the condiments it was presented with. If there was a tofu I’d want to give to people to make them change their minds about it, this would be it. The next dish was the Popeye salad. Served in a hot bowl, it was cold baby spinach topped with sautéed mushrooms, crunchy fried onion strips, and a really good vinaigrette. We were told to mix the contents, which wilted the spinach just enough without getting too mushy. I rather enjoyed it, and was surprised at just how much salad there was. It could easily be split into 3-4 good sized servings. The vinaigrette was just tangy enough, the crunch of the onions blending nicely with the softness of the mushrooms and spinach. Thus arrived our skewers for the evening: bacon wrapped enoki, kurobuta pork cheek, tsukine ground chicken stuffed mushrooms, and wagyu beef tendon. Sure, they’re a bit more unconventional and out there, especially when the menu offered wasabi skirt steak and chicken thigh skewers, but where’s the fun in that? Just like my desire to eschew (apparently really good) sashimi to taste what made their reputation instead, I wasn’t about to let the chance to go a little wild slip me by. Each of the skewers were covered in the same salty sweet glaze, tasty but not overwhelming. The enoki were crisp at their edges, and the bacon chewy. The pork cheek was tender and fatty. No gristle to be found here. Pork cheek is akin to a richly marbled pork chop, or maybe more like a pork tenderloin. The ground chicken filled mushrooms were kind of a mess to deal with. They arrived quite hot (fresh from the grill, to be expected) and squirted out as we tried to bite into them. Once they cooled down a little, I found the mushrooms to be surprisingly not watery and the chicken full of flavor. The beef tendon, I didn’t share. I wish I had ordered several of them. Beef tendon is gelatinous without being fatty or greasy, sometimes just a bit chewy, and tastes mildly of beef. I’ve had it many a time in pho or at dim sum, but grilled is a whole new beast. The crispy edges contrasted with the chewy bits in a mind blowing way, giving a hearty chew to a normally “almost no chewing required” cut of meat. I wish this and pork cheek were more common in American markets; we’re really missing out. Up next was probably the most disappointing (but still good) dish of the night: braised pork belly. I love pork belly. I love braising it. While the dish had a lot of flavor thanks to a delicious sauce that could be sopped up by more spinach sitting in the dish, the pork belly itself was much too fatty for my tastes. It was, at times, like eating just soft fat. I’m willing to chalk it up to us getting bad pieces, but the overall underwhelming-ness of it (plus the price versus the fact that we only got 3 pieces) makes me wary to order it in the future. This was followed by a dish I ended up with mixed feelings about, Raku’s kaarage. Served on a bed of even more spinach was a rather beautiful looking roll of fried chicken thigh. The chicken was juicy, the skin perfectly crisp and not soggy, but the flavor lacking. A hit of the green tea salt helped immensely. The weird part however was that the spinach was doused in some sort of sauce; maybe the spinach prevented the chicken from getting any of it? Next up was one of Raku’s signature dishes: foie gras custard with a slice of grilled duck breast. I know foie gras is a bit controversial to some, but I happen to enjoy it every now and again. The custard was wonderfully eggy and creamy, the sauce thin and clinging to every spoonful. The duck breast slice was perfectly cooked, but a bit tough to eat along with a spoonful of custard. As our dinner winded down, we were presented with our grilled rice balls in broth. It was a really simple dish: a grilled rice ball, in dashi, with a bit of wakame along for the ride. The rice balls had soaked up the broth, rendering what crispy edges might have been there down to merely firm. It also caused the rice balls to become engorged a bit, making eating them with spoons a necessity. The dashi was a bit too salty for my taste, but the texture of rice was a welcomed one. The final dish of the night was a soboro-don: ground chicken and mustard leaf over rice, with seaweed and a raw quail egg on top. Mixing the bowl led to a wondrous, savory mix of everything, without a hint of the sweetness that had pervaded the other dishes. Each bite felt like a hearty one, ensuring that if we weren’t full yet, we would be after this.
Raku’s service was also top notch throughout the night. After a bit of a slowdown between the salad and the start of the skewers, food came out at a nice, steady pace. The waitstaff was quite helpful, and our water glasses constantly refilled. The meal totaled $105 after tax and a hefty “it’s the holidays” tip, rendering it expensive but not outrageously so for two people. We both left full and relaxed, and I was quite pleased to have finally gone to Raku. Hopefully I can return soon. -Janette (anarchymarie) Aburiya Raku 5030 W.Spring Mountain Rd #2,Las Vegas, NV 89146 Mon-Sat 6 pm to 3 am Price range: $$$ |
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