Papa John's - Papadias - Pizza (not)

Papa Fricken John's

Yep

As of late Papa John's is bombarding the airwaves with their Papadia adds.  And, if I can be frank, they kinda look good....  Well, maybe not the double cheeseburger one, but the meatball pepperoni one, Madonna!!!  I want it.

Here's the description from the official Papa John's website, enjoy the read...

Hmmmmm, sounds good to me 👍  

Let's Party!

Yeah, 4 of em.

First up, Grilled Buffalo Chicken

Just an absolute mess.  Murder scene style.

This was probably my favorite one though.  Don't get me wrong, none of these are worthy.  But on a fast-food level, this sheit is better than some McDonald's, on a couple of levels.

The "flat bread" is simply and obviously their pizza dough folded over.  Which I must say tastes better than their pizza (it's thinner so maybe that is what makes it better??? dunno).  

To me, the best thing about this thing is the ease of holding and eating it.  Even this messy piece of shit I could manage with one hand and still type a meaningful email or 2  ;-).

All in all, this one wasn't bad, for $6 I'd get it again, if there wasn't another choice, and if it was an easy choice, AND I needed to eat on the run, none of which are a part of my life these days

(dammit COVID!).

2nd, Meatball Pepperoni

This one was OK.  Not terrible, just kind of boring.  Not much meatball flavor, but what can you expect from a Papa John's meatball...

Meh

3rd, the Italian :-)

This is the one that I thought would be my favorite, and it just wasn't.  There was a weird sour taste to it.  Maybe the alfredo sauce (puke) or the peperoncini's???  Who knows, better yet, who cares???

4th, the Philly Cheesesteak

And this is the one that I really wanted to hate, and I didn't.  I honestly don't have much to say about it shockingly.  It was not exciting and it was not un-flavorful.  It was OK, just OK.

It comes with some nasty-ass garlic sauce though.  Blech!  

I tried it, and it was-what-I-thought-it-was!  Wait, what?

Terrible

So, of the fast-foods this one was better then some, but not as good as it should.

Although, if you're on the run, and need it fast and easy, why not?

DVA  out

Ottimo Vita - Pizzeria and Meat Italian - Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan

https://ottimovita.owst.jp/

How bout a pizza?  

Exactly what I was thinking too, yeah, let's do it.

In a brand new building directly across from Shibuya Station lives a Neapolitan pizza restaurant that I simply must try.  I LOVE Japanese food, but after a week of rice and fish I need a change.

Ottimo Vita

The photos look legit (some may say Kosher....) so let's see if it lives up.

A nice view and the dining room is comfortable.

The beer is cold and refreshing.

The pizza menu is basic and on point.  Just the hits, that's all they are playing.

I order the "set" which the only difference is a salad, and for $3 seems worth it.

Or is it?

From the angle it looks like a large bowl, but it's not.  There is literally one layer of greens.  Probably not even one leaf in it's entirety.  OK, now I'm on alert.  I hope the rest is not like this salad.  Don't get me wrong, it tastes good, but there just is any of it there!

Nice

NICE

NICE!!!!!

Yeah, this is good.  Classic Neapolitan pizza, and I should have thought when I had the salad that the typical error with the pizza is to over top it.  Not here.  The chef has an easy hand and a measured restraint.  A perfect balance of toppings, sauce, crust.  Speaking of the crust, it is super light and fluffy and yet crispy and crackly on the outside.  Perfect.

I loved it.

For dessert how about a haircut?

What about a beard trim, or even a shave?

DVA

The Alchemist - Bar and Dining - Niigata, Japan

https://www.thealchemistbaranddining.com/

I'm back in Niigata and with a free night by myself I'm in need of something new.  The inter-webs has brought me to this place, The Alchemist.

I'll start by saying there aren't a lot of non-food photos because, frankly, I hadn't expected to do a story on this one.  Not that I thought it wouldn't be worthy, rather I simply wanted to have a nice meal and check out a new place (new to me) and starting off by shoving my phone in everyone's face is kinda lame.  So, being the wallflower that I am, I sat at the bar, literally at "the pass", and injected myself into as much of the action as I could, and I loved it.  A big bonus was that not only was the food great, the people working here were equally as awesome.  

I'd return just to hangout and talk, and I will.

Here are the owners, Ai and Josh.  Josh is the chef, Ai is the Queen of all of the other action, especially the wine, of which I am told they are the #1 purveyor of Australian wines in Japan.  Did I mention that Josh is Aussie?  Yep, big time.  And as this isn't at all an "Australian" restaurant, LOTS of the ingredients are Australian, presented with very solid classic cooking, in a warm and inviting atmosphere.

One word of warning if you go, don't look for the guy in the tie.  I think that must have been a wedding photo or something  The guy I met was in full chef mode, t-shirt, apron, kitchen towels tucked in either side, working it.  A great bloke tho.

So Josh is Aussie, Ai is Japanese.  They lived for a while in Australia and a few years ago moved to Niigata where they are raising their 2 young girls, and killing it with this bar/restaurant.

On to the food.

Disclaimer!!!

I did not eat all of the food you are about to see.  I ate a lot of it, and I'll tell you at the end, but as I said I was sitting at the pass and I checked it all out and took photos of what I could.

Amuse-bouche.  Pork belly on top of a sun-dried tomato puree.  Really perfectly crispy top, juicy meat, a great bite to start.

Polenta with short ribs and etc...  Looked and smelled great.

Josh apparently had a burger spot back in Australia and said that if I tried one thing (I got more than 1 thing) it should be the burger.  Burger me Josh.

They grind the meat and make the buns.  I love that there isn't a million things going on with this burger.  I want a burger not a salad....  Meat, cheese, pickle, mustard, ketchup, bun.  BOOM!

I don't do "bests", etc.. as you know, but this is one of my favorite burgers, ever.  Again, a great balance of flavors.  You can taste everything, and it works together. 

A great burger

Next up is the sausage roll.

Pork and kangaroo meat.  This one is easy to F-up, a few extra minutes, someone not paying attention for a sec, and the thing is dry AF.  They are paying attention here.  The meat was juicy and flavorful and the dough was crisp and flaky.  Beet root jam (or something like that) it was a bit sweet but it was paired with this roll because it works amazingly to balance the flavors, sweet/savory, crispy and light and fluffy.  Loved it.

I started with a beer, then moved to a martini.  It was quite good, the olives were marinated in Australian Yuzu, or something???  Dunno, but I liked it.

A very nice local couple sitting next to me brought in a batch of strawberries for the owners.  They were some unique strain or variety, and unique to this area???  Sorry, bad recall on this one.  What I do remember is that they were delicious, and really nice of them to share with me also.  Good on ya. 

Pavlova, cream, passion fruit something or other, etc...  Looked great and I saw a few going out so it seemed to be one of the popular desserts.

Ta da!

Duck prosciutto

Looked killer, maybe next time I'll try it.

Antipasto plate.  Sliced to order, house made bread.  Killing it.

Steak and mash, compound butter.

I saw a few steaks going out also.  Smelled great.  A steak might also be on the list for next time, we'll see :-)

And my final dish, Lasagna.

I'd say a de-constructed version as it was layered to order.  Did I say that they make the pasta here?  Yeah, and it was really great.  A nice end to a great night.

So, to recap, I had:

1 beer

1 martini

2 glasses of wine

amuse bouche

a burger

a sausage roll

lasagna

For a total of about $80 USD.

Yes, ridiculous.  It would be a bargain for double that.

Let me also note that this is not a locals only hangout, nor is it an ex-pat spot.  While there is 1 Aussie and 2 Americans working here, who are all native english speakers, 1 of them is fluent in Japanese, and the owner and a server are also native Japanese, and speak english.  

So, whether you are looking for a date night spot, dinner alone, business meal, drink before or after dinner, this is the place for you. Warm, inviting, friendly people serving great food and drink.

The Alchemist, can't wait to come back, thanks.

DVA

Parmigiano Reggiano- Caseficio Sociale Soragna - Italy

https://www.caseificio-soragna.it/

Parmigiano Reggiano is the oldest cheese in the world.

At least that's what I was told, and I believe it.  It's also the first product in the world with the DOP designation, the Protected Designation of Origin (Denominazione d' Origine Pretetta, in Italian), the law that protects the names of specialty food products from a specific geographical origin.  

This weekend I visited  one of the producers of just such a product in just such a geographical origin, Caseficio Sociale Soragna.  And this ladies and gentlemen is the master (it shames me that I don't know his name, because this visit was truly magical).  He allowed us to come into his factory completely unannounced and without too much disruption I hope, asking a bunch of questions and taking a bunch of photos.  I hope that you enjoy this as much as I did. 

However, this story really starts with me (surprised???  Ha! :-) 

For about a year now I've been dabbling in making my own Parmigiano style cheese (again, only cheese made in a very specific area in Italy can legally be called Parmigiano Reggiano, so I'm very much respecting that).

Allora

I've made a few wheels of cheese and I think they are quite good.  The flavor and texture are nearly there, but the rind needs some help, it's a bit thick and hard, so on my recent trip to visit colleagues in Ticino I took a voyage into Italy to investigate solutions.

My good friend, and a man who I owe a large debt of gratitude, arranged this magical trip.

Mr. Nicola Bergamaschi

Nicola's family has lived in this area for several generation, the family home is still there.

We had originally planned to tour another factory but there was some mix-up and they weren't there.  Nicola jumped into action and drove us a few kilometers to another factory, and the magic began.

We arrived in the area the night before with Nicola's 14 year old son in tow.  It's always fun drinking wine with a 14 year old, well, in Italy at least :-)

In the morning production had started at 5.  We arrived around 8:30 so the action was well underway.

I'll not bore you with too much of the technical details, but in general here's how it goes:

Cows are milked twice a day, in the morning and the afternoon.  The morning milk has much less fat because the cows are just sleeping, no movement.  The evening milk, however, is full of fat.  Both are delivered just after milking.  The evening milk is left out overnight in shallow pans and the cream rises to the top.  In the morning the cream is removed and butter is made elsewhere while the remaining milk is mixed with the morning milk as it's delivered.

Each copper pot receives 1000 liters of milk.

The milk is heated up and mixed with 30 liters what they call serum, not sure why, but that's just what it is.  More on the serum later but that starts the fermentation and converts the lactose in the milk to lactic acid.

Rennet is then added and the solids in the milk react by forming a large curd.  This is then "cut" by a large whisk making small rice grain sized curds which are then heated to shrink them even further, drawing out more of the whey, until the master has determined that the curds are perfect in size and texture (about 12 minutes).

The heat is turned off and the cuds settle forming a mass.

The mass is gathered in cloth and is cut in half.

We were given a chunk of the curds to eat.  It had a light buttery flavor and the texture was a bit bouncy, in a good way.  Maybe al dente is a better description...   The feeling was "fresh", if that makes sense.

Each half is then transferred to it's initial mold or form and left for a few hours under a gentle pressure.

After some time they are unwrapped and re-wrapped in fresh dry cloth and pressed again.

A third time they are placed in a new mold.  However this time there is no cloth and a plastic sheet is placed between the cheese and mold making the classic imprint on the exterior.

Among other things the plastic includes the month of manufacture and specifics about the manufacturer.

Once completely externally dry they are soaked in salt water for 20-25 days.  Again, until the master says they are ready. 

We were told that the water is changed every 2-3 years..... they just keep adding more salt and let it ride.

This factory makes about 48 wheels

every

day

:-O

Every Day

In the beginning the wheels are turned every week.  After 6 months or so that changes to every month.  This is generally done by this machine that also brushes the exterior of each wheel.

This is a lot of cheese....

Some of the whey is reserved each day and is left to stand all day, evening, and into the next morning.  This is then called the "serum" and is used to start the initial fermentation of the milk.

There is about 5 million Euros worth of cheese stored here.

 At 12 months an inspectors checks each wheel.  If it meets the requirements of a perfect Parmigiano Reggiano (whatever criteria that is) then a hot brand is used burn the certifying mark into each wheel.  They can now be sold but typically are aged a minimum of 24 months or longer before they are sold.

Nearby is also the Parmigiano museum.  We visited and it was awesome, but there's not more info to share over what's above, so here's a cool poster that I saw.

I can't thank Nicola enough.  Not only did he coordinate everything but he took time away from his family (except for his oldest son), drove me around, translated, and generally made this a truly life (and cheese changing) experience.

Thank you Nicola, you are forever in my heart.

Saluti 

DVA