Text 30875, 80 rader
Skriven 2012-11-07 06:35:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Dinner at Mike's 521
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I am usually underdressed, some say shabbily, but here I
was more severely underdressed than usual. I wore my torn
old jeans and flannels proudly among the vast preponderance
of dour black suits, which seemed blacker and even more dour
than the ones out on the street. Mike said, though, that
t-shirt and jeans would be almost overdressed in the
sanctuary of his home, though, so I didn't change to go out.

He'd called and said he'd tell the concierge how to direct
the taxi to his place. It turned out that it was about a
10-minute walk from the hotel, but we didn't know that at
the time. Plus it was dead easy to get to. My theory on
this is that the address is one of the most prestigious
in the city, so if it was made known that we were visiting
such a location, some of that prestige would rub off on
us, and so we'd get better treatment thenceforth at the
hotel. That's just my theory based on how the devious
occidental mind works.

When we went down to consult with the concierge, she
remarked that Mike's Japanese was so good she initially
had thought that he was a native. She went with us to
talk to the cab driver to make sure we got to our
destination directly and without incident (the fare was
the exact same both ways).

The ride, owing to some disturbance wherein some crazy
was driving along shouting his tirades on a megaphone,
took longer than the walk would have.

I haven't seen Mike in some years, and it was surprising
how settled he looks now. I guess we all grow up at some
point, and as he has two teenage children it is perhaps
appropriate to look settled.

Lovely apartment, quite roomy by Japanese standards. Mike
inquired about our stay so far, so we recounted our
adventures, and he said, and the earthquake? Apparently
there'd been one in the afternoon, five point something,
around the time we were at the noodle restaurant. We
didn't notice it at all, probably thinking it was the
train overhead.

He poured us a nice glass of Conn Creek Chardonnay, and
we discussed the pros and cons of oak in white wine: this
was moderately oaked, so the crisp citrusy aspect was
balanced by the vanilla pretty nicely. I prefer an oakier
style, myself, that has become somewhat unfashionable in
recent years, but this had enough to please me.

Mike, having Irish blood, had been asked to make a pot of
Irish stew to sell at his daughter's school fair; we had a
generous taste of that for our first course. He had boasted
over e-mail that he made an especially good Irish stew, and
I guessed, oh, do you brown it first? He said yes, and he
also put wine and bacon in it. Oh. You can see where this
was going. The stuff was almost unrecognizable as Irish
stew but gave the impression of being a very good beef a la
bourguignonne. Of course it was an especially good stew.

In addition to the Irish, most of which was earmarked for
that other purpose, Make had his son fix beef stroganoff
under his supervision. The kid seems to have a culinary gift
- it was a very nice stroganoff with extra onions the way I
like it, over al dente European egg noodles.

Faust Cabernet 05 from Quintessa is an excellent wine, just
ready, any residual edginess taken care of by the sour cream
in the dish. Luxuriant with berries, pleasantly oaked, it
was a great pleasure to taste it.

For dessert I contributed a bottle of Johnnie Walker Double
Black from the airplane duty-free (there hadn't been time to
check out the duty-free at Dallas, which is said to be
dubious anyhow). This was interesting, much smokier than
other Johnnies, also much less blendy-tasting.

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