Jes and I had a very unique dining experience last night with Kevin, Karrie, and Kevin’s nephew Eric. We went to an ultra-exclusive whole-in-the-wall Japanese “restaurant” where you have to be invited and on a special list in order to be seated and served. The chef is a decendent of a family of Imperial Chefs from Japan and the place has no name, no signage, keeps the front door locked, and probably doesn’t take credit card payments. Luckily, Karrie was invited by the “inner circle” and we got to come along for the ride. When you enter, it’s a modest-looking place with only 3 table settings. The chef needs to know exactly how many people are coming so that he can buy and prepare the meals to the number. It felt like going to someone’s house for dinner. There was no menu and the wife brought out each dish and told us which sauce(s) to use or no sauce at all.

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Together, we had a platter of miniature appetizers (one per person), some fresh veggies with miso dip, and EIGHT courses of beef! The beef was the best I had ever tasted. First of all, I don’t think this cow that we had eaten was raised in the U.S. We joked about how this cow probably never saw the USDA, never saw the inside of a freezer, and most likely came straight from Japan for a pretty penny. The first two beef dishes were raw: (1) raw marinated slices or beef and (2) raw throat (yes – cow’s throat – pictured above). The wife then brought a mini-hibachi to the table. The next 5 courses were as follows: (3) tongue – disturbingly tasty, (4) filet mignon – the most tender I’ve ever had, (5) spare ribs without the bones, (6) outside of a rib eye, (7) inside of a rib eye, and (8) skirt steak. By the end of the meal, we were ready to roll over and die. The evening ended with 5 different types of ice cream/sorbet. MMM…best meal ever. Sorry for the blurry images…it was rather dark inside.