osechi ryouri

[uchinanchu]

Anyone know of a place in SF that'll be selling osechi for shogatsu?

Or, failing that, a large Japanese family I could blend into long enough to jack a few mouthfuls of kuromame, kombu, and gobo from....

Oh wait. Large Japanese family. I guess that's an oxymoron nowadays.

[PorkButt]

See page 2 of the Nijiya ad:
http://www.nijiya.com/SalesAd.asp

Can anyone out there translate?

[uchinanchu]

Which part? That's a lot of text... looks like "OS-1" is a 3 tier jubako and the rest are single boxes. OS-2 is labeled "top" and OS-3 is labeled "regular." Ummm... my japanese is terrible and I can only make out a few things. Kuromame, kurikanruni, ajitsuke kazunoko, tazukuri, something with sweet bean jelly, kurikinton, some kind of stuff wrapped around poles(?), kamaboko, ikura... ok, now i'm going blind.

What I'm wondering is whether or not that OS-1 is supposed to last 3 days. I think that'd last me about an hour. What's even more interesting is that Nijiya seems to be selling sujiko from Alaskan salmon... 14.99/lb.

I emailed the address listed on RF-1's website. Hopefully they'll get back to me.

Also, melanie... you are mean.

[Debbie M]

Uchinanchu, as I recall from the brief glimpse at the flyer, the RF-1 osechi was large enough for 4 people, and was around $200 (give or take $100 either way; I just remember thinking it was kind of pricey).

So, is the kid in your avatar eating tankan?

[uchinanchu]

I received a response from them (quite quick!). Their osechi is $300 for a 3 tier box (for 4~5 people). With the following included....

First tier
• Seasoned Prawns
• Roast Beef with Salted Olives
• Smoked Salmon
• Slow-Cooked Baby Abalone
• Marinated Herring Roe
• Rolled Kobe-Style Beef with Burdock
• Kombu-Cured Sea Bream

Second tier
• Pickled Daikon and Carrot with Dungeness Crab
• Bottarga (Mullet roe)
• Braised Burdock Root with Sesame
• Caramelized Dried Anchovy with Pine Nuts
• Sweet Black Beans with Candied Walnuts
• Mashed Sweet Potato with Chestnuts
• Pickled Chrysanthemums-Shaped Radish

Third tier
• Braised Medley of baby taro, bamboo shoot, carrot, lotus root, konnyaku, shiitake mushroom and snap peas
• Baked Omelet with Seafood Puree
• Baked Black Cod with Sweet Miso
• Minced and Roasted Chicken with Saikyo Miso topped with White Sesame
• Wrapped Kombu

I always assumed the kid was eating a mikan... but I guess that'd have to be one huge mikan.

[vincentlo]

$300? Are we still talking about the same OS-1 ($145) from Nijiya?

Here's a link to bigger color pics of the same osechi from Nijiya in PorkButt's link:
http://www.nijiya.com/SeasonalAd2.asp

Actually a lot of Japanese chefs will prepare an osechi for you if you ask. I know Taka-san of Sushi Tomi in Mountain View is offering this for his regular customers.

Vincent

[uchinanchu]

Naw, the $300 osechi was from delica rf-1.

I finally decided to suck it up and make my own this year. Supermarket osechi is usually not that awesome to begin with and I can make better ikura and konbu dishes anyway (I've seen sujiko at both Nijiya and Uoki Sakai). Also, if I'm gonna spend $300 on something I can eat in a few hours I'd rather save it for sushi in LA, NYC, or Ginza.

[anzu]

This was my first time in 10 years that I was in the Bay Area for New Years, and missed my parent's osechi. I ended up making some Japanese food (not necessarily "osechi"), b/c New Year's w/o some Japanese food is just plain strange for me, and foisting it on some friends. I used to have a Japanese group in grad school that got together periodically to make Japanese food. Do Chowhounders ever do a "chowdown" get together--e.g. a potluck osechi party or osechi-making party of sorts? (is that an appropriate question to post on the Bay Area board?)

[Melanie Wong]

Munching on some gobo salad leftover from NY's day . . . there are potlucks and there are cooking and baking groups, but I'm not aware of any that focused on osechi or Japanese food specifically. If you're a member of one of the chowdown lists on yahoo, please feel free to float the idea to the list and let's make it happen.

[kungful]

I was just finishing off the New Year's kimpira gobo, as well.
I posted the spread on my webpage:
http://kjparis.net/osechi.html

[Melanie Wong]

Heheh, we had Spam musubi too. But my favorite bite was the wild abalone sashimi.

[wolfe]

This link may be helpful in translating your post for us gaijin.
http://www.bento.com/fexp-osechi.html

[Melanie Wong]

Here's the New Year's Day spread at the home of the large Japanese family that has adopted me, http://farm1.static.flickr.com/37/806... . Not much help to the OP, as they make everything themselves, but this gives an idea of the tradition.

[kungful]

Suruki and Takahashi markets in San Mateo both have an Osechi platter you can order.
I think Tokyo Fish in El Cerrito does as well.

[wally]

El Cerrito? Berkeley, I think.

[kungful]

oops, yup

Tokyo Fish
1220 San Pablo Ave,
Berkeley, CA 94706

[K K]

I recall Delica RF-1 at the SF Ferry Building took advance orders on them last year, they're likely your best bet. Some Japanese restaurants might offer this too but I'd be hard pressed to even guess which ones (Kitsho in Cupertino did last year, only mentioned in passing by the owner to his regulars, he used no preservatives in his).

[Debbie M]

I was at Delica RF-1 last week, and they were offering them this year.

I also walked by Nijiya in SF Japantown recently, and it looked like you could order them there as well -- which probably means you can also order them from the other branches.