Print is dead. It's true because Anthony Bourdain said it and used my website as an example.
I wasn't going to talk very much about this whole thing, not wanting to be all "look at me I'm so cool" and so on and so forth, but a few people have asked how everything came to be, did I get to meet Bourdain, etc. and so I thought I would share the story.
You all know that I love Kihachi. Really, really love it so much. It's my favorite restaurant in the city and one of my favorite locations of any kind. It's so peaceful and serene that I don't even mind listening to the easy-listening version of the Beatles' White album over and over. I learn something new every time I visit. I try something unique every time I eat there. Eating at Kihachi has taught me a lot about how to taste things - even if they are objectionable - and how to enjoy challenging textures (I'm still not quite there on sea cucumber, but I still try it every now and again).
I've learned to eat natto (I like mine with hot rice on the side, while Husband just eats it as is - no hot mustard or anything!); I've eaten some of the best tasting single bites of food I've ever had in my life at Kihachi. I still remember the first time I hade really great fatty tuna, and real wasabi. The first time I had uni that I really really loved, where I ate my only bites of real Kobe beef shipped overnight from Japan - that Kobe was probably the single most delicious thing I have ever eaten in my life.
Once I received a comment telling me to chill on the Kihachi posts, so I did for awhile. But every time I go there I just have so much I want to write about. It's a hard balance because eating at Kihachi can be a challenge for a Western palate and I knew lots of people went there looking for a sushi bar and were disappointed to find something so very traditional. Not that I know from traditional, having never been to Japan. I've only read a lot of books.
At any rate, one night at work I receive an email forwarded from Jeni, from Michael Ruhlman. Savvy eaters and cooks are probably familiar with some of Ruhlman's books. Bourdain was looking for spots to eat while he was here for his speaking engagement. Just the fact that I was even the forth link on that email about made me pass out.
Kihachi was my very first thought, and then other things came up. I secretly hoped they would pick Kihachi because it is truly our very own world-class restaurant. Knowing how extensively he has traveled in Japan, and knowing he can go to Masa whenever he wants, I thought perhaps they would choose something more "Columbusy."
So, when I received an email from No Reservations' production company, stating they were interested in filming at Kihachi and could I be their liaison with Chef Mike Kimura, well, I pretty much came close to exploding. I remember watching the very cool Paris episode when Bourdain travels with a blogger, and thinking wistfully how that could never happen in a million years in Columbus.
Husband and I got a surprise night off together and I convinced him we could afford a very cheap night out at Kihachi to talk to Chef (it's possible; we'll discuss that later).
It had been awhile since we had been to Kihachi, and I like to think that Chef was happy to see us. After a little small talk and receiving our first round of sake, we were about to be handed menus when Chef said "no menus. Tonight I cook for you." After an amazing, amazing meal which featured many courses featuring the much-prized matsutaki mushroom, I turned to the other diner sitting at the counter and said "can I trust you to remain completely silent about something?" He probably thought I was stark raving mad, but agreed. I handed Chef a printout of the email I had received and said "Have you ever heard of Anthony Bourdain?"
This is the thing I love the best about Chef Kimura: after reading through the email, I asked him if he would do it, and he said "Yes. I'll do my best."
And so it was that I spent 3 weeks keeping the most exciting secret ever. We arrived at Kihachi on Saturday and soon Ruhlman arrived; we met and shook hands and everyone made small talk while the film crew continued to check the lighting and took footage of Chefs Mike and Endo prepping the feast. Soon enough Bourdain came strolling through the door, just as though he belonged there. His first word was "Ruhlman" very much the same way Seinfeld used to say "Newman" (it pains me that lots of you kiddies have no idea what I'm talking about; one day Seinfeld will seem old fashioned and quaint like the Mary Tyler Moore show - we'll say it was daring for its day).
I would just like to interject here that I can't imagine how this man does it. I saw a tweet from 10am that someone had seen him at O'Hare, and I knew that only a few hours before he had been in Rochester and Denver and that a few hours later he was to be in Dublin. It made me tired just thinking about it.
At any rate, Ruhlman and Bourdain ate about 13 courses. No, I didn't get to eat with them; I just took some photos for myself and for the camera crew and made sure everyone filled out release forms. No matter that I didn't get to hang out and chill with two of my heroes, but I did get to stare and take pictures of them through the kitchen curtains like a crazed stalker. There was one funny moment when the taxi took forever to arrive (thanks a lot, cowtown!) and we and the film crew briefly considered that we might drive Mr. Bourdain back into the city. That would be pretty funny considering he is 6'4" and we have a little 10 year old Civic 2 door (which is dusty, full of my junk like I'm living in it, and has a perfectly round 10 inch hole in the bumper). Finally the cab came around the corner and then just like that everyone was gone.
So that was how it went! Super awesomely cool.
Oh, and about the first line. At the Bourdain event, someone asked where he ate and how he came to find Kihachi. He said that in these days, he goes to food blogs instead of print when researching places to eat - one more piece of evidence that print is dead. Then he said that he came to find Kihachi through my blog. At which point my heart stopped beating.
