Chef Katsuyuki Seo prepares to serve 40 Gastronauts.
Special to World’s Fare: I'm no stranger to the wonderful Japanese fare served at Katsuno in Forest Hills. It ranges from exquisite kaiseki meals to some Japanese specialties that are delicious, but perhaps not best-suited for the faint of heart or palate. So it’s no surprise The Gastronauts picked it for the site of their last dinner. Once again, Gastronaut Dan Kim was kind enough to provide the following dispatch.
–Joe DiStefano
Traditional Japanese cuisine is often cited as the most difficult to master, requiring a testing amount of patience, restraint, and discipline. A skilled veteran possesses an air of effortlessness and calm, transcending the notion of modernity with a link to the past. Enter Chef Katsuyuki Seo. He and his wife Yuka brought a bit of Tokyo to Metropolitan Avenue when they opened Katsuno a little over a year ago in Forest Hills. The staff kindly hosted 40 Gastronauts for a special dinner and hung up the "closed for private party" sign. On the menu: clam soup; squid with natto; ankimo (monkfish liver); beef sushi; baby squid; sea cucumber; and the pièce de résistance, shirako or cod milt. If you’re wondering what milt is, it’s fish sperm. We took our seats, with sake bottles the size of an infant and split our chopsticks.
Clam soup proved to be a powerhouse of umami.
We started with a simple soup that should be renamed nature’s umami. Several tender clams arrived bathing in the mild, bright broth. The warm slurps and the steamy aroma provided instant reprieve from the cold.
Natto and squid turned off some Gastronauts, but not our fearless correspondent.
Natto is made from fermented soybeans, and can be an acquired taste. The strong flavor and stickiness (somewhere between cobwebs and rubber cement) may contort a few faces. Sliced with the precision of a surgeon, the squid added a nice contrast. Some Gastronauts didn’t proceed with a second bite. I grew up eating Korean doenjang, also fermented soybeans, so I enjoyed this dish despite the gluey webs.
A roulade of ankimo, or monkfish liver, was like the foie gras of the sea.
Katsuno’s ankimo resembled a small torchon of foie gras, but was surprisingly light. Served in a shallow pool of ponzu sauce and garnished with momiji oroshi (grated daikon with chili peppers), the liver started out with creamy and sweet notes, then evolved to a faint nuttiness.
Clockwise from top left: sea cucumber, baby squid, beef sushi, plum rolls.
The beef sashimi that sat on shapely nigiri had the cool, silky sensation of a rare, tender cut of steak hitting the tongue. Having been accustomed to saucy, rubbery versions of sea cucumber, I wasn’t expecting the sweet and tart flavors or the fleshy texture reminiscent of fresh lychee. There wasn’t a single bland moment to recall. In the most literal sense, a lot went into the baby squid to make it particularly special. Its belly was filled with sake, mirin and soy sauce, which then permeated the entire body. The resulting bite was explosive–a sweet, savory, tangy start and a bright, oceanic finish, like yellow uni. It was the piece that kept on giving and my favorite bite of the night.
Shirako, or codfish sperm, is a specialty served in winter.
Visually similar to lamb brain, the cod milt was creamy, yet not too rich. The subdued fishiness was tougher to locate. The “lobes” mimicked ricotta in both texture and taste while the loose parts brought to mind fresh, silky tofu. The accompanying ponzu sauce and momiji oroshi provided dimension to the subtleties of this delicacy.
The evening was about slowing down to appreciate the role of each ingredient. It was about identifying the flavors that were absent in order to appreciate what was there. Our palates are slightly more honed for it. There’s no doubt I’ll return for a traditional kaiseki dinner. Katsuno has the strong potential of becoming a mandatory pilgrimage for Japanese-cuisine enthusiasts.
Katsuno, 103-01 Metropolitan Ave. (at 71st Rd.), Forest Hills, 718-575-4033, www.katsunorestaurant.com
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