last week, i had one day in new haven.
that's 24 hours to experience all of new haven's culinary offerings.
but is it really possible to fully experience a town's best eats in that short of time?
no.
so really,
you've sometimes got to do silly things in order to at least come close.
you've got to eat at odd hours,
jump up and down a lot to work up artificial appetites,
do stomach stretching exercises...
and the number one rule of spending only one day in a new town?
if you meet a grilled cheese truck on the street,
you must make friends with it.
take it to coffee,
give it your business card...
{even if you are on your way to eat sushi}
it was a rough day because a bit of an impromptu early morning smörgåsbord in the yale cafeteria
left me with little room for the lunch at
that friend ariel and i had planned.
and then when we happened upon the
our reaction was more a less a groan and a feeling of obligato stuffing than of excitement...
i guess we have to try it, ariel
yeah, and i guess we have to get bacon on it.
owwww my insides!!!!
that is until we actually tasted the grilled cheese that came out of the truck.
a blend of provolone,
swiss,
comte,
gruyere,
gouda,
and sharp cheddar
oozed out of two slices of sourdough,
with the chewiness of some applewood smoked bacon up in hurrr.
{party in my mouth like wha?}
like, dang.
too often i meet a grilled cheese where there is too much cheese,
or the cheese isn't melty but the bread is burnt,
or the grease from the bread spills down my hand and/or corrupts my arteries,
these ratios that came out of the truck, however, were exceptional.
piping hot,
oozey goodness,
it made me wonder why everything doesn't come out of a cute little truck.
also available was grainy mustard
{double points for mustard, kids}
so we slathered her in the seed,
ate as we walked,
and prelunched it up!
tummy was rightfully confused when we finally made it to
miya's.
and even more confused when i opened the menu.
{for a good/hilarious potty/subway read, read their menu}
our appetizer was
tokyo fro
like an afro?
it's really amusing to picture a 14 year old japanese boy with an afro- so do it.
it's basically shoe string taters fried to a crisp
with a "secret" sauce
which very strongly resembles in-n-out's secret sauce...
it looks like a lot of food,
but it had the lightness of popcorn,
so naturally ariel and i finished the whole thing.
{wondering where on earth i am going to fit this sushi!!!!}
and then,
there it was.
a plate of a delicious looking
smoked salmon roll
with cream cheese and avocado
and pretty orange crispy things around the edge
and a
hot-headed cowgirl roll
avocado, cream cheese, papaya, burdock & hot pepper
rolled in coconut
ari got
kimchi seared escolar
and
spicy albacore
now,
if i may admit something to you,
i am still new at this whole sushi thing.
but with gourmet garage as my one real comparison,
miya's was like hearing lady gaga for the first time during my diet of kenny g.
my smoked salmon roll was a little {ok a lot} cream cheese heavy,
however being reminiscent of a ye old bagel & lox, i was a fan.
i only had the balls to taste ari's albacore, which was fresh! and rumor has it sustainable! {?}
i'll save the kimchi escolars for next time...
my fave by far was the cowguurrrrl.
maybe it's because there was no fish in it?
sorry, this whole meat without feet thing is still stressing me out, but i'm working on it.
coconut+rice really are a match made heaven, if you ask me. they should date more often.
i can see why my whole new haven correspondence/advisory team demanded that i go to miya's.
not only was it very very fresh,
but the combinations of rolls were just outrageous.
the textbook sized menu leaves enough options to have a different roll every day for about a semester
{it's proximity to yale is making me have scholastic lingo, my apologies}
next time i go back, though, i'm getting the
oo la la mitzvah! roll
"winner of the prestigious 2008 l'chayim world sushi award; this award winning roll was developed by rabbis [of the lost tribe of china] as a gift to the israeli national ping pong team in support of their quest for an olympic medal. tempura arctic char, brie cheese, avocado & ch'i energy"
thanks, miya.
i will be back!!
but, first, i've got 34 restaurants to go!!
xoxo
yeh
