miriam mizakura's shalom japan - glatt kosher restaurant from the 80s-22 wooster st

[koshergourmetmart]

was perusing the 1987 jewish travel guide and found a listing for miriam mizakura's shalom japan - glatt kosher restaurant from the 80s-22 wooster st. So it seems kosher Japanese is not a new phenomenon! I found an article from NY Magazine about it

http://books.google.com/books?id=a-UC...

[mrogovin]

IIRC, they did not serve sushi (it was near impossible to get ingredients, though Eden Foods did have some of the items available). Mostly teriyaki-style grilled meats. Small menu. It was not known for its fine cuisine. David Brenner did a send up of the place once. I believe it moved in 1987 or 1988 and closed shortly thereafter.

[SoCal Mother]

Yes, I remember getting something in a very sweet sauce and being told it was teriyaki. I don't think I had even heard of sushi back then. I imagine the reason it didn't last was that it was an enormous amount of fun to go once, but there was no reason to return.

[havdalahclub]

There was another Kosher restaurant downtown in the same time frame as Shalom Japan called the Cauldron. It had a very 60's type of feel to it.

[berel]

ate there too, It was a Chabad place that sold organic food , brown rice, tempura etc

[SoCal Mother]

Oh yeah...I ate there once also. Tempura...greasy breaded vegetables. Never went back.

[queenscook]

I SO disagree. I think their tempura was among the best tempura I've ever had. Maybe it depended on who was doing the frying on any given day?

[SoCal Mother]

Or maybe I just don't like tempura. First and last time I ever tried it.

[berel]

I think you had the choice of sitting at a table or sitting on the floor

[mrogovin]

Didn't like the place. Seaweed (excuse me, sea vegetable) salads were just not to my taste. The only other kosher place nearby was (and think still is) a Satmar bakery.

[SoCal Mother]

Well I liked the weirdness of it. Remember that was not an era of kosher foodies. (Chinese at Shmulke's was a novelty.) A Lubavich friend took me there. I had never met a frum vegetarian. It was fun even though I hated the food. I could pretend that I was at the Moosewood Restaurant.

My favorite dairy place in NYC was a place my mil used to take me to in Manhattan on Broadway. Greener Pastures, maybe? A very old fashioned dairy cafe/bakery that had wonderful creamed spinach.

[cappucino]

Yes. Greener pastures. Owned, I believe, by Indians. Vegetarian. Nice ambience? Atrium?

[Maven123]

Greener Pastures was a wonderful place; however it was located on the East
Side near 59th and Lexington Ave. i believe the dairy place you are referring
to is Farm Food in the Theatre District. I also have fond memories of Brownies
on 16th street. There was also R. Gross Dairy, as well, on Broadway.

[Himishgal]

Yes, I think it was Gross' that had the memorable creamed spinach.....
We are certainly dating ourselves here :)

[moonlightgraham]

Remember the Garden Cafeteria on the lower East Side?

[berel]

how about Phil Gluckstern's in Midtown Manhattan?

[mrogovin]

I liked Greener Pastures. But for dairy food that would line your arteries, nothing beat Ratners, with its surly waiters and yummy onion rolls.

[momrn]

Sure, my husband talks about it all the time. Isaac Bashevis Singer used to sit there. A friend of his interviewed him there for a book report(just a few years ago)

[robocop]

Talking about Gross' and dating onself, does anyone remember the Gross' challah they sold on Friday? Boy, do I miss that. Anybody have any idea where there is similar tasting challah today?

[SoCal Mother]

YES!!! It was Gross'. Creamed spinach and veggie patties. I had never seen a vegetarian restaurant that wasn't a pizza place or a bagel shop and I was astonished to see a deli type place that was dairy.

Loved Rattner's too...

[koshergourmetmart]

was just thinkign about greener pastures-right near bloomingdales

[serenarobin]

LOVED Greener Pastures. Especially their veggie burgers. Never tasted any like them anywhere else, and haven't been able to replicate it at home. Anyone know how they made them?
I wonder if the owners are still around?

[Maven123]

How about their Russian Cheesecake?

[serenarobin]

yum!
and their pecan pie...

[sima]

and also don't forget the homemade whipped cream on that pecan pie...
yum ! yum! yum!

[caterman]

Talking about a blast from the past- remember MINTZ's Buffet on the east side- they had great food as i can remember- The owner invented TOFUTTI in the basement - He sold the buffet business first then TOFUTTI -

Also -remember "Benjamin of Tudelo" on the west 70's . A wonderful restaurant that never made it. Had my first taste of Baby Lamb Chops with Dijon mustard - Couldn't stand the taste of Dijon then & I still don't care for it now -oh well
It had great décor and a Swiss chef - Basically it was misunderstood - a great place that today would be one of New York's best .

Back in the late 70's-early 80's kosher taste buds were only used to Shmulka Bernstein on Essex St. ( which is so sorely missed) J2 for pizza & Yahalom on 47th street for Israeli fare -
& for you real old timers the CROWN DELI on Houston St. - That was a fantastic place-Sawdust on the floor etc...........

[moonlightgraham]

How about Cheers? Or La Difference?

In the 1990's there was a Glatt Kosher Mediterranean Restaurant near the NY Public Library that no longer exists.

[mrogovin]

I think you mean Nanu on 23rd St. Very good food.

I also remember Benjamin of Tudelo. It was really the first upscale meat restaurant - like Panasonic, just slightly ahead of our time.

Cheers was better than most at the time, but really not that great. I mean, they used garlic powder on their garlic bread. What's with that? Never ate at La Dif.

Medici 56 was one of the better places, except for the service (it was owned by a caterer who knew banquets and not about restaurants. Very different concepts of service, but good food.

[Maven123]

No, there was a place in the mid 90s around the corner from the Midtown NYPL
on 40th street. it had excellent food. There was also Edible Pursuits on 5th Avenue
and Brownies on 5th and 16th street.

[berel]

I remember Miriam singing and playing and guitar like instrument during dinner

[sima]

Miriam also did stand up and told JAP jokes... ...it was so campy.....we always had a blast

[berel]

It's all coming back to me now

[SoCal Mother]

We went there just after we got engaged. (Ahem, some time ago...)

The food was awful but the show was funny.

"I am original J.A.P"

She sang a version of "I enjoy being a girl" that started out:
"I am Jewish girl from Japan
If you don't know who I am
[can't remember this line]
But you don't look Jewish to me!"

[moonlightgraham]

I remember Shalom Japan. The owner who was Japanese and Jewish would often tell patrons that they didn't look Jewish. I think that Shalom Japan eventually relocated to Queens and then eventually closed.

Speaking of being ahead of its time, there was a Glatt Kosher Indian restaurant on Coney Island Avenue in the late 80's or early nineties. It didn't survive for very long.