A taste of 1789 Japan

A meal out of history, babka love, Christmas Caesar, Kismet’s cheesy pickle-and-greens dip, ranking the best and worst chicken tenders, a Somni sneak peek, why Trump’s no-tax-on-tips may not help many restaurant servers and a note about illnesses following the 101 Best Restaurants in L.A. party. I’m Laurie Ochoa, general manager of L.A. Times Food, with this week’s Tasting Notes.

Out of the past, a five-tray dinner

If you were a feudal lord visiting the Izumo Taisha shrine in 18th century Japan, chances are good that you would have enjoyed the hospitality of the Tezen family. Under the Goyō-yado system, certain families with high social standing were chosen to provide food and lodging for feudal lords. The Tezen family, sake brewers and one of Japan’s most well-known Goyō-yado hosts, has kept meticulous records of the banquets and meals it has served over the years and maintains a museum of art and everyday objects, many used during the visits by dignitaries.

One of the most notable meals was a 1789 banquet for Matsudaira Nobuchika, brother of a Matsue Domain lord, that was prepared on a day’s notice according to notebooks kept at the time. Tezen Wakako, part of the family’s 11th generation, was in Los Angeles earlier this month to give a talk about the Goyō-yado system for USC’s Shinso Ito Center. Reading from the family’s diaries, she described the preparations for the visit, and the fact that Nobuchika required one of his attendants to sample the food to ensure there were no “dangerous ingredients.”

The next night at the downtown L.A. restaurant Shibumi, chef David Schlosser re-created a version of the 1789 banquet, guided by Wakado. One of the distinguishing frameworks of the Edo period banquet was the presentation of the courses on trays. “This is a five-tray meal, which is considered a big deal,” Schlosser said.

Chef David Schlosser and Tezen Wakako at the downtown L.A. restaurant Shibumi, where the chef served a meal based on a banquet hosted in 1789 by Japan’s Tezen family.

(Laurie Ochoa / Los Angeles Times)

Another thing that set the meal apart was that it began with sweets — a red bean soup with mochi plus a confection made with super-fine-grained wasanbon sugar by a company that was operating at the time of the 1789 banquet, as well as narazuke pickles aged for three years in sake lees. A second tray of miso soup, rice and sliced abalone served with water dropwort, a cousin to watercress, was followed by more elaborate trays that included snow crab, sea bream, oyster dumplings and more.

Mochi ready to be finished with black sugar syrup at Shibumi.

(Laurie Ochoa / Los Angeles Times)

The meal ended with mochi drizzled with a syrup of black sugar from Okinawa followed by the diner’s choice of matcha or hojicha. But unlike the actual 1789 meal that ended after 1 a.m., according to Tezen family notes, the Shibumi dinner was finished before 11 p.m. Apparently, those feudal lords knew how to party into the wee hours. According to the 1789 diary, “His lordship spent the entire time in good spirits.”

A better babka

Three babkas.

(Catherine Dzilenski / For The Times)

One of the perks of coming to The Times Test Kitchen on days when a photo shoot is happening is getting to eat the leftovers once the pictures are taken. Earlier this month, baker and food influencer Emily Alben used one dough recipe to make three different babkas in the Test Kitchen: a chocolate-espresso-glazed hazelnut chocolate babka with amaretti filling; a chocolate-cherry babka with black sesame and cocoa crumble; and a black-and-white cookie-inspired babka. If I had to choose one, I’d go for her cherry-chocolate babka with black sesame, but I wouldn’t turn away the other two.

Alben is a babka fan but insists that the babkas sold in many bakeries could be “well … better.” So she set out to create a better babka and came up with three.

The Caesar salad that came to Christmas

Carolynn Carreño’s father, Guillermo Carreño, prepares a Caesar salad tableside at Jai Alai Frontón Palacio in Tijuana.

(Carreño family)

The same day we photographed Alben’s babka, cookbook author Carolynn Carreño was one stove over toasting croutons for one of the best Caesar salads I’ve ever tasted. Carreño tells the story of how the father she rarely saw was famed for the Caesar salads he would make in Tijuana, first at the Hotel Caesar and then at his own restaurant, “a mecca for movie stars and politicians, bullfighters and beautiful women.” One Christmas, her father showed up and gave his daughter a lesson in Caesar salad making, the Tijuana way. That meant Mexican limes, not lemons; loads of Parmesan; anchovies, of course; and a few dashes of Tabasco. Since then, she’s refined her crouton technique, reconsidered the use of romaine lettuce and even Little Gems for the salad (“They both suck!” chef Jonathan Waxman told her) and came up with a classic Caesar recipe that would be an ideal addition to the Christmas table, or any day of the year.

Taking a dip

Kismet chefs Sara Kramer, sitting, and Sarah Hymanson sample their baked dip packed with cheese, fresh greens and pickles in the L.A. Times Test Kitchen.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

When Kismet chefs Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson came to the L.A. Times Test Kitchen for our Chef That! video series to demonstrate their Pickley Cheesy Greens Dip, there were lots of laughs, debates (the pros and cons of celery, Dodger dogs versus Chicago dogs) and plenty of good cooking. The pickle twist in their greens dip brightens what might otherwise be a heavy dish — it’s an excellent recipe for holiday entertaining.

Also …

Chef-owner Aitor Zabala at Somni in West Hollywood.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

• Stephanie Breijo got a look inside chef Aitor Zabala’s new showcase restaurant Somni, already one of the city’s most coveted reservations. Zabala opened the original L.A. version of Somni inside José Andrés’ Bazaar in 2018 and has now set out on his own with a hugely ambitious approach to fine dining that will certainly attract the attention of Michelin inspectors and World’s 50 Best evaluators.

We tasted tenders from 11 fast food and fast casual restaurants to find out who makes the best.

(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)

Finally …

Oysters.

(Jay Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

All of us at L.A. Times Food were saddened to learn that dozens of people who attended the Dec. 3 reveal party for this year’s ranking of the 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles became sick after leaving the celebration. Once our events team became aware of the illnesses, they encouraged attendees to make reports directly with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, which is investigating.

The illnesses, as Salvador Hernandez on our breaking news desk reported, appear to have been caused by norovirus-contaminated raw oysters from British Columbia that were delivered to 15 states across the U.S. On Wednesday, the FDA issued an advisory recommending that consumers avoid eating Fanny Bay, Buckley Bay and Royal Miyagi oysters harvested in specific British Colombia growing areas between Dec. 1 and Dec. 9.

Norovirus is especially difficult to identify. As Hernandez wrote, “without specific testing, there is no way for a vendor or restaurant to detect norovirus because it does not affect the taste, smell or appearance of oysters.”

Hillary Manning, an L.A. Times spokesperson, told Hernandez, “We have produced culinary events for many years and take food safety very seriously. As is the case with each of our events, we had protocols in place and, based on an inspection from the L.A. County Department of Public Health, we were in compliance with all relevant safety standards. We also know the care that each chef and restaurant takes in preparing and serving food to our community.”

She later added, “If you attended the event and have any concerns, please refer to your ticket confirmation email and reply to our events dept.”