Last night was the annual Natto Day dinner organized once again by the duo of Scott Pang and Greg Sekiya and held this year at Nami Kaze. For starters, Natto Day is always on July 10th because 7 and 10 can be read as na and to and the Japanese love their puns. These dinners have been ongoing since 2011 minus a couple of pandemic years and we've tried to attend as many as possible. This year's dinner was held at one of the newer restaurants in the 50th which also received a James Beard nomination for best new restaurant as well as other local awards, Nami Kaze run by Chef Jason Peel and staff. The menu looked like this...
Nami Kaze offered sake pairing - four different sake - to pair throughout the meal for $35. Since they allowed a reduced BYOB charge, I brought a Cowboy Yamahai sake that I knew would pair with the stinky, slimy bean...
We also ordered a round of cocktails including the Island Hopper for Ms S...
The Nihon Negroni for yours truly...
And the non-alcoholic Yuzu Ginger Soda for C...
We then started with the Mrs Cheng's Soy Milk, Potato, Natto, Truffle, Uni which was basically a soy milk custard topped with natto and uni and it paired perfectly with the Cowboy Yamahai sake...
We then moved on to the Maguro Natto Nami Kaze Style which was raw tuna mixed with cured egg yolk, natto, crispies all on tororo or grated mountain yam. This dish paired perfectly with the Island Hopper cocktail...
The next dish was the Local Cabbage, Natto, Gochugaru, Cream Cheese which was almost like a fresh kimchi mixed with natto on cream cheese. The heat of the gochugaru was tempered by the cream cheese...
Next up was the Clams, Sake, Seaweed, Natto, Onion which was like the typical steamed clams but in a natto infused broth...
At this point, I uncorked a bottle of 2022 Jolie Laide Pinot Gris which had enough body and earthiness to match the natto...
The nest dish was the Kanpachi, Ginger, Smoke, Natto, Butter and the ginger, slight smoke and natto balancing the fattiness of the kanpachi...
The last savory course was Mountain Views Dairy Pork, Natto, Fish Sauce which like slices of pork bathed in a rich barbecue sauce...
The dessert course was Caramel, Nut, Pear, Natto, Vanilla which was a light, almost like whipped cream cheese with just a hint of the funky bean...
All this for about $108 - well worth the price of admission! Ms S is already thinking a return visit to Nami Kaze to sample their regular menu...
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