Stay Rad

In this episode, Jeff tries to expand his dad’s palate beyond that of the buttery Chardonnay…

Wines Tasted:

La Pepie 2011 Cot

Giuseppe Lonardi 2009 Valpolicella Classico

Stay Rad,

Jeff and Marcello

In this episode, Jeff tries a bunch of wine with the help of Dave TheVegetarian…

Stay Rad,

Jeff

On our last full day in Japan, we decided to give Nagoya a big Sayonara.

To do this, we needed to head on over to the subway…

But first, we had to walk through a little rain.

What we decided to do was get a day pass for the subway, get off at random stops, and have a drink.

Nagoya Subway

Starting from Higashiyama Koen, our first stop was Hoshigaoka…

We stopped at the Aloha Table Hawaiian Restaurant for lunch and a drink.

I had the Fire Rock Pale Ale…

And Chicken Curry.

We got back on the Subway and headed over to Ikeshita…

We wandered into the basement of a business building and found the Mono Wine Bar…

How cool is this? Their house wine was a Monte Bello (Okay… Not THAT Monte Bello) Sangiovese for only 400 yen a glass…

I opted for the Okha 2010 Pinotage. It’s got a nose of dusty blackberries, and a palate of cherries and bandaids. Very nice!

The next stop was Chikusa…

We found a cool little ramen shop called Fuji Ichiban.

I had a tall glass of Kirin and a cold bottle of Kikukawa Sake. The Kikukawa has a great, mouth-filling, caramel flavor that I just love in sake…

We all shared a plate of Pork Gyoza (Pot Stickers).

Back on the subway, we made our next stop at Sakae…

We made our way up a creepy elevator, and ended up at the ultra hip bar, Black Stone…

I had me a small glass of Suntory Malts.

The last stop on our Sayonara tour was Shinsakae Machi…

We hit up Jerry’s Uno…

Where I got a very tiny margarita…

Some amazing buffalo wings…

And a “Meat Taco”. By “Meat Taco”, I mean “Baby Burrito filled with Pork and Cabbage”.

The next morning, it was time to head back to the good ol’ U.S. of A…

First Trip: Nagoya to Tokyo

Kara spotted Mt. Fuji out of her window.

Next Trip: Tokyo to LA

On the plane, I ate some Beef and Soba…

And had me a mini bottle of Art’s Non-Vintage Cabernet Sauvignon from France. Not bad. Next time you are offered a free glass on an airplane, you should try it.

Yup… Back in America.

Having a Sam Adams during our SIX HOUR LAYOVER in LA.

By the time we arrived at the baggage claim in San Jose, it had been about 30 hours since we first woke up the morning of July 2nd in Japan… It was still only 7:10pm the same day…

So…

That’s it!

We’re back from Japan.

I still have a few little Japanese things to show to you over the next couple of weeks, but the blog is going to ease its way back into its normal format…

More videos…

More reviews…

More wine…

More Awesome!

Stay Rad,

Jeff

PS – The Next Episode of Stay Rad Wine Blog TV will be number 50.  Stay tuned for the goods.

Sometimes, plans change…

Yesterday morning, we were planning to head out to Takayama for the weekend, but we had a really late start.  The old town city is quite a drive, we didn’t have any hotel reservations, and businesses usually shut down there around 5 pm.

So, we decided instead to spend the day on Himakajima Island.

Just off of the Chita Peninsula, this island is home to a small fishing village that specializes in Tako (Octopus) and Fugu (Blowfish).

It sounded like a good time, so we all hopped in the car and headed South…

Driving

We bought our ferry tickets, and headed down to the docks…

The Docks

Waiting with a Football and a Mocha

After a quick boat ride, we reached the shore…

The Shore

And then, it happened…

We took a look at a posted map of the island, and realized that we were not on Himakajima Island, but its neighbor Shinjojima Island… We had jumped off the boat one stop too early.

We figured since we were already there, that we would rent some bikes, and explore Shinjojima before hopping over to Himakajima…

Biking It

We saw some pretty cool stuff…

Locals Fishing

And we spent quite a bit of time hanging out on the beach…

The Beach

But we were ready for the excitement of Himakajima, so we returned our bikes and hopped on another boat to the bigger island…

On the Boat

The town looked much more developed on Himakajima Island…

Octopus Statue

But we soon realized that most of the shops were starting to shut down.

The reason for this is that most of the people who work on Himakajima actually live on the mainland of Japan.  The last ferry leaves at 7:30 pm, so in order to make sure that everyone gets home, most restaurants close at 5:00 pm.

But we were hungry…

PB started talking with one of the locals, named Suzuki…

PB and Suzuki

Suzuki knew of a restaurant about a mile from the docks on Himakajima that stayed open later for the locals, so he made a call and had the place send out a van to pick us up and take us to the place…

The Van

The Ride

When we arrived at our destination, we were treated to a traditional Japanese dining experience…

Dining on the Floor

All Japanese Menu

Tea

Since Himakajima is a small fishing village, they pretty much only serve what was caught that day…

We all decided to share a plate of Sashimi…

Sashimi

Now look…

I’ve had Sashimi before.

I love eating fresh, raw, pieces of fish.

But…

I’ve never had anything this fresh before.

Check out the video…

And just in case you thought I was a poser, here’s footage of me eating it…

Ater that, I dove into my Unagi (Eel) and Miso Soup…

Unagi and Miso Soup

And, of course, I had some of their house Hot Sake…

Yum!

After we returned to Nagoya, we headed out to the Sakae district to check out the nightlife…

Sakae at Night

We met up with some friends at Darts Bar Leo…

Darts Bar Leo

The Bar…

Complete with Darts…

And Karaoke! How about some NOFX?

Sometimes, plans change…

And they become greater than you ever thought they could be.

Stay Rad,

Jeff

This morning, we are headed out to Takayama for the weekend.

Considering that I haven’t posted anything for two days (and I probably won’t be able to post again for another two), I’ve decided to unload a bunch of pictures on you with a few words.

You ready?

Thursday:

We spent the day exploring Nagoya Station.

We stopped at a restaurant for lunch, where I had an Asahi…

and some Chicken Katsu with Miso Soup.

Walking around Nagoya Station some more…

We stopped at Dean & Deluca for coffee…

I noticed a wine section in the back of the store, so I went to check it out…

Definitely some heavy hitters. Big wines at Big prices. How about a 2008 Opus One for 50,000 yen?

Walking through Nagoya Station some more…

We made our way back to the Frozen Garden for some “Frozen” Beer, and found ourselves in the middle of a TV commercial.

Later, we met up with some friends and took a train out to the city of Honda…

To have dinner at Sumo Bar…  Where everything is Sumo Sized…

Everything!

Many of us ordered Sumo Sized Beers (1.5 liters)…

Here’s the owner. He was a former Sumo Wrestler.

Here’s the food…

Tako Wasabi (Wasabi Pickled Octopus)

Mochi Pizza

Miso Cucumber

Tomato Nabe with Chicken and Tofu

Much like the ramen from the other night, we were able to make risotto by adding rice to the left-over broth from the Nabe.

Dessert was on the house!

Friday:

We jumped on a train to Toba…

And made our way over to Mikimoto Pearl Museum on Pearl Island…

This is the home of the Cultured Peal.

We saw a pearl diving demonstration in which women, dressed in white, dive into the ocean, holding their breath…

Until they come up with an oyster…

Here’s a statue of Mikimoto…

And here is a replica of the Liberty Bell… Made from pearls.

Hungry, we wandered into a local restaurant…

We pointed at a menu…

And were brought this… Tuna Tartare over Rice and Udon.

We jumped on another train and headed through the countryside…

We arrived in the small town of Futami…

Where we walked along the water front…

Until we came to Meoto Iwa… The home of the Wedded Rocks.

They love frogs there…

These two rocks are married. They renew their vows every year. I know some people who may want to take a hint from the rocks here.

At the end of a long day, it was time for dinner…

We met up with some friends at Orsarino for some Italian/French food…

Scallops

Tons of goodies…

And Pasta…

And Venison…

Oh yeah…

We drank a whole bunch of Natural Wine that we got from a Natural Wine Shop in Nagoya called Peshico with the help of our friend, Joel…

But I’ll talk to you about the wine when I have time.

Just know that it was the goods.

Now, we’re off to Takayama!

Stay Rad,

Jeff

Yesterday was pretty relaxing…

We jumped on the JR Train and took a 25 minute ride to the city of Gifu.

Downtown Gifu

After a short bus ride, we ended up at Gifu Park…

The Fountain at Gifu Park

If you look straight up from the fountain, you can see Gifu Castle…

The Castle

We were all like, “What the heck?”…

So we decided to start hiking…

In about an hour, we made it to the top of the mountain…

Gifu Castle

Inside of the castle was a museum that told all about the different lords that lived there.  There was also tons of cool samurai stuff to be seen…

Helmets

The view from the castle was amazing…

You don’t realize how big Gifu is until you look to see nothing but city in all directions.

If you look close enough, you can see the fountain where our journey began.

We heard that there was a restaurant on the top of the mountain, so we started hiking toward Squirrel Village…

This Way

We found our restaurant.  Much like the ramen shop from the night before, we ordered our food from a vending machine…

Vending Machine

Our seats had really cool views of the city of Gifu…

I had an Asahi.

For lunch, I had a big ol’ bowl of rice with beef and miso soup.

After lunch, we rode the ropeway down to the bottom of the hill…

The Ropeway

On the ride back to Nagoya, Kara got a Georgia Black Coffee from a vending machine. This can was ridiculously hot.

Once back in Nagoya, Aim E. took us to the home of the giant Buddha…

The Gateway

Buddha’s Hand

Buddha

On the way back to Aim E.’s apartment, we stopped by the convenience store for a snack…

I got BBQ Chicken chips and an Asahi Red Eye (It’s like Japan’s version of the Chelada)

After a little nap, we headed back out to the streets of Nagoya to get some dinner…

The Neighborhood Watch

Paragon. This place is all about Asian fusion.

Here’s what I had…

Pork Dumplings

Cassis Shochu

A dope salad with root chips on top.

Tai Style Okonomiyaki with Shrimp and Squid topped with a Spicy Cocktail Chili Sauce

After dinner, we bounced on over to Sakae to hit up a cool bar…

The TV Tower at Night

My Bar

More Asahi

Then we walked back to the subway to head home…

A Ferris Wheel

Like I said…

Yesterday was just another ho-hum relaxing day in Japan.

Stay Rad,

Jeff

After a long night of Karaoke, we decided to take it pretty easy yesterday.

Lib, Kara, and I jumped onto the subway around 12 noon to explore the downtown shopping district of Sakae (pronounced Sock-Eye).  Underneath the streets, it’s like one big mall that goes for miles.  There are tons of shops and eateries.  And dare I say it, there are a lot of people out for a Tuesday.

Under the Streets of Sakae

It goes on like this forever.

Hungry, we stopped into a market and picked up some food to eat on the go…

This is a Karoke. It’s like a breaded and fried potato pancake, but much softer and fatter than a latke.

Once we reached the surface streets, we spotted the Nagoya TV Tower…

The Nagoya TV Tower

There’s a beer garden underneath the tower, so we were all like, “Why not?”

Beer Garden

Why Not?

From the top of the tower, you get a neat perspective on how big Nagoya is…

Nagoya is home to some 6 million people.

At its fattest distance, the city is 70 miles across.

At the top of the tower, we Yumi Katsura Lover’s Sanctuary…

Lover’s Sanctuary

On the way back from Sakae, we stopped by the convenience store to pick up some snacks…

Calbee Tomato Soup Chips and The Premium Malts by Suntory

Later that evening, we headed out to the Nagoya Dome to catch a baseball game between the Nagoya Dragons and the Osaka Tigers…

On the way to the Nagoya Dome.

Nagoya Dome

At the game, they sell Chu-Hi made with Shochu, soda, and a lemon popsicle that you float in your drink. Very tasty.

The cheering section. Go Chunichi Dragons!

The Dragons Won!

On the way out of the stadium, I kept running in to Doala (the Dragon/Koala)…

Here he is, riding a baseball.

I’m not sure what he’s doing here.

The last stop of the night was Aim E. and PB’s favorite local ramen shop…

The Motoyama Go Go Ramen Shop

Here, you order your ramen in a machine. It spits out a ticket, and they cook your ramen while you wait to be seated. Hella efficient.

First, Sapporo.

Then comes the ramen. This one was spicy with chunks of pork and a hard-boiled quail egg on top. I hate hard-boiled eggs, but I ate mine anyway.

This ramen was the bomb!

Complete with tissues for your runny nose. This is the good stuff.

This place does something really cool with their ramen.

When you’ve eaten all of the noodles, you can make risotto with the left over broth.

First you pour it into a ceramic cooking dish and place it on a hot plate…

Then you add rice…

And cheese…

Gordon Ramsay and Wolfgang Puck would be proud.

And with that, we faded into one collective food coma and turned in for the night…

Stay Rad,

Jeff

Yesterday, while roaming the streets of Nagoya, Lib asked a very important question…

“Can we find a spot that sells soft serve beer?”

Kara and I had no clue what she was talking about, but it sounded cool.

What was crazy was that Aim E. and PB, who live in Japan, didn’t know what she was talking about either.

“My friend told me about it,” Lib continued, “It’s beer with a frozen beer foam top, that you can eat like soft serve ice cream.”

And then it happened…

We started to walk into the subway station, when we saw a billboard…

And there it was…

An ad for “Frozen” Beer!

After a bunch of freaking out and high fiving, PB went into hardcore research mode.

Apparently, “Frozen” Beer is a concept by Kirin.  It’s a seasonal treat for the summer, where certain locations will be serving Kirin beer with a frozen cap of foam that comes out of a soft serve machine.  The idea is that the frozen foam top will keep the rest of the beer cold for a longer amount of time.  As the foam melts, it just turns back into beer, so your drink does not get watered down.

PB found out that one of the locations for “Frozen” Beer was right next to where we were gonna have dinner.

Perfect!

For dinner, we met up with a few of PB’s friends at a place specializing in chicken wings…

Yup!

The chopsticks come with specific instructions for how to eat the wings.

The first order of business was to get some beverages…

Kara had a fresh Chu-Hi where she got to squeeze her own lemons and add them to the Shochu and Soda in her glass.

I got a Kinga Kogen Beer. It’s a hefeweizen style microbrew. Very crisp, with a good citrus kick.

Then came the food…

Kara isn’t much of a chicken wing type of girl, so she got some tuna.

Aim E. ordered some really tasty fries made from a savory type of root.

Here’s some cucumbers topped with miso. Miso is the pride of Nagoya.

In Japan, when you get chicken wings, they don’t serve the drummette. They only serve the wingette (what I call the forearm), and they leave the wing tip attached. I ordered the spicy. It’s a dry rub that is totally caked on.

Bones

After a dope dinner, we hit the streets to look for “Frozen” Beer…

The Streets

A Giant Upside Down Top

And then we saw it…

Frozen Garden! This must be the place.

Look at all the people! This must be the place.

After waiting in line for a good 20 minutes, we were let in to the Frozen Garden (A pop up store that only opened 12 days ago, and will be gone by the end of summer).

We each ordered a pint…

Oh man!

The first thing I did was take a bite out of the foam.  In solid form, the foam has a nutty type of flavor, but as it melts in your mouth, all you taste is beer.

After a couple of bites, I started to just drink the beer.

It tasted like regular old Kirin Ichiban.

Very crisp.

Very cold.

Very Japanese.

After being stoked to the hella on that “Frozen Beer”, we hit the streets again to get our karaoke on…

The Streets

Then we found it…

Joy Joy Billiards and Karaoke

Karaoke in Japan is a bit different…

You don’t sing in front of a whole bunch of strangers.  You rent a room with your friends by the hour.  In the room, you’ve got a bunch of mics, so everybody is pretty much singing along.

While you’re there, most drinks are free…

Free Drinks

With enough Calpis Chu-Hi you can’t help but sing along…

Lady Gaga, anyone?

Stay Rad,

Jeff