Real Tokyo Ramen in Denver

September 2012.

Our latest visit to Oshima Ramen was to introduce Eli to one of our favorite eateries in Denver.

 We wanted, finally, to get a shot of the owner, who always graciously compliments my Japanese, but he demurred. He suggested we take a picture of ourselves instead. Here is the crew.

After spending five wonderful years in Japan, we were delighted to discover an excellent ramen shop in Denver. Our son discovered it originally, and we have been back many times since. There are a couple of places in Denver where you feel as if you are walking out of the United States and into Japan. Domo Restaurant is one, and Oshima Ramen is another. The proprietor speaks to us in Japanese, and the place has the authentic feel of a ramen shop in Tokyo or Yokohama. Here we are on our latest visit (November 2011).

This was a few years ago. The ongoing visit of our close friends, Bob and Vicki, and a promise we had made to our niece, Liz, was a perfect pretext to make the drive south to 7400 Hampden (just east of I25) to share a bit of Japanese cuisine with our friends. (In point of fact, ramen originated in China, but ramen shops are ubiquitous in Nihon, and that is where we learned to love it.)

At Oshima Ramen, you can also enjoy yakisoba, fried rice, Japanese pickles, and gyoza, to name just a few delightful dishes. Here's the gyoza. Not only is the food tasty, it is reasonably priced. Whether you are a veteran noodle slurper or are looking for something different, give Oshima Ramen a try. You won't be disappointed.

Here's a link to a map and some reviews of this shop, one of our favorite places to eat in Denver.

Original Oshima Ramen with a quintessentially Japanese drink, Ramune.

Chicken-Vegetable Ramen.

Original Oshima Ramen.

Spicy Kimchi Ramen

Chicken Ramen, Gyoza, and two types of Japanese pickles (Tsukemono/Takuan).

For more about ramen, check out this link. 

 

2011 review: Eat Local.2009 review: From Japan, with love: a True Noodle House. 
2008 review: Strangelunch.
2004 review: God Has Smiled on Oshima Ramen.

Matsos Family Restaurant

Recently, I was home for my 40th High School Class Reunion, and some dear friends took me to one of their favorite restaurants in a nearby city, Wooster, Ohio. A Greek restaurant, Matsos offers a mouth-watering array of fine Greek cuisine, one of my favorite of all international culinary delights.

Matsos offers an amazing array of Greek favorites. I can vouch for the Spanakopita (which is a filling entrée, not an appetizer) and the souvlaki. My friend, Thorne, loves the Seafood Pizza. I've only been there once, but everything I saw looked and smelled great. Check the place out if ever in Wooster. The menu is here.

Here's another view of the front of the restaurant with Spiro Matsos, the owner.

An interesting sidelight is the owner's participation in a group called Ohio Light Opera. He has pictures of the group decorating the eatery's walls. Here he appears in costume for one of their productions.

For more on the Ohio Light Opera, check out their web site here.

Matsos Family Restaurant offers their delicious Greek dressings online at http://www.matsosgreekdressing.com/.
Thanks again, Thorne and Linda, for treating me at this great Ohio restaurant. Next time, I'll have the presence of mind to snap some photos of the food, which looked and tasted great!

Usage notes:
An entrée, although formerly a smaller course that precedes the main course, the term is now used to describe the main course itself, in which case what would otherwise be called the entrée is called the first course, appetizer or a starter.

Spanakopita (σπανακόπιτα, from σπανάκι, spanáki, spinach, and πίττα, pítta, pie) is a Greek spinach pie made with layers of phyllo and a filling of seasoned spinach, onions and scallions, feta, and sometimes eggs.

A is for Allium

Aioli, Alioli, Aglio e Olio, Allium; it all spells garlic to me!

This post combines two of my favorite things: words and food.

It's been quite a while since I last wrote a post in my ongoing series on interesting words as I read through the dictionary. Here was the original idea.

This post arose from a discussion about the difference between aioli and alioli and which came first. It was the wonderfully gifted cooks in our family who began the discussion, but the word- and food-lover in me brought me into the discussion.

It seems that aïoli, French for garlic and oil, from the Provence region of France, contains egg, as well as garlic and oil. So, it is pale yellow and creamy, like mayonnaise. One of many uses for it is as a dip, for sliced, raw vegetables. More info here and here.

Alioli, on the other hand, a sauce from Spain and a word that came from the Catalan language (but ultimately from Latin "allium") contains no egg. Of course, as in many things regarding cooking, that is a matter of opinion, as one can see from this recipe for patatas alioli, one of our favorite Spanish tapas.

Add to this list a favorite from our sojourn in Italy, Aglio e Olio.


The English A-word for all this garlic wonderfulness is Allium, "a large genus of Liliaceous plants, of which garlic, the onion, leek, chive, shallot, and the British wild flower Ramsons are species," according to the OED [Latin: allium, garlic, of unkn. origin].

Finally, here's a great recipe for garlic bread, done in the style of one of our favorite Tokyo eateries, Ninnikuya.

Here's a fine recipe for crackers and roasted garlic hummus.

For (at last count) 26 mouth-watering recipes involving Garlic, check out the Beans Blog, our favorite food blog.

Finally, our friends sent us this picture, and although I don't completely understand it, I kind of like it!

Israel 60 Celebration Dinner

This year, Action Israel and many other organizations joined with the Allied Jewish Federation to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel, one of the miracles of the modern world. Many dinners have been held this year in the Denver metropolitan area, including 100 on the Night of 60 Dinners in April. Our local group of friends of Israel held a celebratory dinner tonight.

All told, we had 22 in attendance, a neat coincidence as the Hebrew Alefbet contains 22 letters. Using recipes from the materials provided by the Allied Jewish Federation, everyone prepared and shared typical Israeli dishes.

Below are pictures of just a few of the items that graced our table.

The complete menu looked something like this:

Chopped Israeli Salad (pictured below)

Israeli Spiced Chicken (pictured below)

Sliced Eggplants with Garlic and Tomato Glaze

Israeli Cous-Cous Salad with Fennel and Goat Cheese

Humus

Chicken Hamin

Moroccan Meat Balls

Moroccan Chicken with Olives and Lemons

Pot Roast with Carrots, Potatoes, and Gravy

Potato Kugel

Challah and other breads

Brownies

Jam Thumb-Print Cookies

(If you are interested in the recipes, we have posted some of them on our daughter's recipe blog here and will be posting more in the next few days.)

Another interesting article about the Night of 60 Dinners with some insight into Persian cuisine can be found here.

After the meal, we shared some interesting facts about Israel in her 60 years of existence in the modern world, using the materials provided by the Allied Jewish Federation. You can check some of them out here and here. Some of us had gathered other information, as well, and since many of our people have visited Israel, we shared our experiences and our favorite memories.

One of the most touching moments was the reading of the blog post of our friend, Ori, who is spending some months in Israel. She wrote about her thoughts and feelings attending ceremonies on Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day, literally The Day of Remembrance). Yom Hazikaron is always held the day before Israeli Independence Day, which is intended to remind people of the price paid for independence and of what was achieved with the soldiers' sacrifice. Ori's writing really is worth reading, and you can find it here.

The younger set was busily coloring during this time.

Here are the products of their artistic labors!

All in all, our celebration of 60 years of Israeli independence was rewarding, informative, delicious, and a whole lot of fun.