If you love Japanese food as much as I do and want to treat yourself to a very special and most luxurious meal, go to Jōji the next time you're in New York City. Renowned chef, Daniel Boulud, and sushi master George Ruan, along with sushi chefs Xiao Lin, and Wayne Cheng, teamed up to open the 18-seat omakase restaurant in an alcove of the city's Grand Central Terminal.
Last week, I had the pleasure of dining at Jōji. The two-hour experience features seasonal ingredients, premium fish straight from Japan, with fine sake and wine pairings. Dinner includes five appetizers, 14-pieces of nigiri sushi, and dessert. And because the restaurant space is so intimate, each of the three chefs personally oversee sushi service, making it even more memorable.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
I always love trying new restaurants. Jōji opened two weeks ago in a hidden spot below one of New York City’s busiest stations, the iconic Grand Central Terminal – a hidden Japanese gem. (Photo by Eric Vitale Photography for Jōji)
The restaurant is located under a staircase at the very bottom of One Vanderbilt, a 93-story skyscraper. Just outside the entrance is a Japanese Roji garden, or tea garden. Tea gardens feature traditional stones, water, and plants, and are often designed as peaceful, natural spaces where one could escape the hectic everyday world before entering the tea house. (Photo by Eric Vitale Photography for Jōji)
Here is a closer look at the soothing garden and water feature. (Photo by Eric Vitale Photography for Jōji)
The building’s owners, SL Green, commissioned Japanese architects and designers, Shinichiro Ogata, to create the space. It has a 10-seat counter made out of warm cedar wood that sits in the middle of an all-black-and-white room, dimly lit from above. (Photo by Eric Vitale Photography for Jōji)
The back counter is pristinely organized with just the essentials for dining and sushi making supplies. (Photo by Eric Vitale Photography for Jōji)
There is also a private dining room that seats an additional eight guests. (Photo by Eric Vitale Photography for Jōji)
This is Chef Wayne Cheng just before he begins preparing one of two seatings for the evening.
Here, Chef Wayne starts building a Negitoro Roll. It consists of cooked rice with minced tuna and green onion. Chef Wayne places the rice on the nori, or seaweed paper.
Amounts are perfectly divided for each roll.
All the ingredients are placed onto the nori at one end before hand rolling. Negitoro has a smooth texture and a rich flavor.
Each roll is delicately assembled.
And each chef provides a personal and special experience. The dishes change daily, and sometimes tweaked even further for returning guests.
Here, Chef George Ruan prepares a searing of Akamutsu or sea perch. Akamutsu, also sometimes called nodoguro, usually comes from the east coast of Japan. It is a deep sea dweller with a high fat content.
This is a hokkaido sea scallop – known as the most coveted scallops in the sushi culinary world because of their size, meatiness, and amazing flavor.
All the sushi is made right at the counter where guests can watch and join in the experience.
Here is a board of nigiri ready to serve.
This is a big favorite – an uni caviar hand roll.
And this is a small tasting bowl of ikura or salmon caviar. In Japanese cuisine, it is usually marinated in salt or soy sauce and sake.
Here is a photo of Chef George Ruan who spent almost two decades working at Masa, the Michelin three-star fish restaurant. He is standing with my friend, Chef Daniel Boulud, also a Michelin-starred legend. The two have partnered together to offer guests this sophisticated and elegant omakase dining experience – try it if you can. (Photo by Eric Vitale Photography for Jōji)
For more information, please go to Jōji‘s website or click on this highlighted link. (Photo by Eric Vitale Photography for Jōji)
Today on "The Martha Stewart Podcast," I'm releasing my interesting and fun conversation with Chefs Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson on the opening of their restaurant Le Rock, a beautifully designed eatery at New York City's famed Rockefeller Center. Be sure to take some time to listen on the iHeart Media App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Riad and Lee have known each other for almost 30-years. They worked at Daniel, Balthazar, Pastis, and Minetta Tavern before opening Frenchette in 2018. With this newest endeavor, Le Rock, Riad and Lee are reinterpreting classic French dishes and breaking away from more traditional menu styles - offering "Cette Semaine" items that change weekly as well as "Tout Le Temps" or what is served "all the time." The night before we recorded my podcast, I had the opportunity to dine at Le Rock - the large and airy Art Deco space was pleasantly lit and every offering we tried was delicious.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Le Rock is located inside Rockefeller Center’s International Building. On the exterior of the building is this grand carved-limestone relief entitled “The Story of Mankind” by Lee Lawrie and colorist Leon V. Solon. This art work screen is divided into 15 small rectangular spaces created to symbolize and chronicle mankind’s progress.
Le Rock features large windows, which let in lots of light from the plaza outside.
Here I am at the entrance to Le Rock the evening before my podcast.
Inside, guests are greeted by verdigris accents. Verdigris is the common name for blue-green, copper-based pigments that create the patina on copper, bronze, and brass.
Custom verdigris colored service shelves are both functional and ornamental.
Riad says “every seat is good seat.” He and Lee wanted the restaurant to feel both casual and grand, with plenty of space for every guest.
This is the bar, which also features Art Deco designed stools and background.
The menu includes their interpretation of many french dishes – broken down into specials and everyday favorites.
We enjoyed the bread service with radishes, butter, and crevelle de canut, a French cheese spread.
Look at this Dressed Crab, one of their appetizers. Everything was wonderfully fresh and flavorful.
Leeks Vinaigrette is from Le Rock’s Tout Le Temps menu.
We also tried Escargots Bourguignons – a traditional French dish originating from Burgundy. The dish consists of snails that are baked with garlic and butter.
This is Agnolotti Corn Chanterelles from the Cette Semaine menu. Agnolotti is a type of pasta made with small pieces of flattened pasta dough, folded over a filling.
And of course, there were fries. Listen to my podcast to find out what we thought about these fried potatoes.
For the entrée, we had Duck Aux Epices, or duck with spices.
And this Cote de Boeuf. If you remember, I invited Chefs Riad and Lee to join me in making Cote de Boeuf years ago on my television show, Living.
I was also very happy to get a personal tour through the kitchen, which is designed differently from traditional restaurant kitchens. Hear why it works for Le Rock on my podcast.
The next day, Riad, Lee, and myself met at Newsstand Studios, also at Rockefeller Center. It is a a state-of-the-art podcast studio built out of a retrofitted 1940s newsstand.
The studio was comfortable and looked out onto the lobby of the 45 Rockefeller Center – just steps from Le Rock.
So, be sure to listen to my podcast later today with Chefs Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson – it’s a wonderful discussion about their friendship, their restaurants, and their vision for Le Rock. And please visit Le Rock the next time you’re in New York City – you’ll love it.
I love visiting gardens around the country and around the world - especially when they are as enchanting and as beautiful as Wethersfield Estate & Garden in Amenia, New York.
Wethersfield was the country home of philanthropist, conservationist, and banking heir, Chauncey Devereux Stillman. In 1937, he bought two abandoned farms where he designed and developed his estate and eventually expanded the property to its current size of approximately 1,000 acres. Situated at the top of a hill with breathtaking mountain views, the home and land includes a three-acre formal garden, a seven-acre wilderness garden, a working farm, a carriage house and museum, and miles of woodland trails for hiking and horseback riding. Over the weekend, I toured the gardens and attended a lecture on Wethersfield hosted by the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art - a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and preserving the practice, understanding, and appreciation of classical design. Wethersfield Garden is described as the finest classical garden in the United States built in the second half of the 20th century - I do hope you take the opportunity to visit it someday.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
This is the historic front gate at Wethersfield Estate & Garden. The leaded urns are topped with camels from the Stillman Family crest.
Visitors to Wethersfield Garden are able to view the property map, showing the formal garden near the main house.
Wethersfield’s Director of Horticulture Toshi Yano greets guests and thanks everyone for attending the ICAA’s Bunny Mellon Symposium.
Here, a tall limestone urn in the distance marks the boundary between the working and designed landscape. One can see the Taconic mountain range beyond.
This is the Tempietto at the Belvedere. From here, one can see distant views of the Berkshires and the Catskills. It was important to Chauncey that the design of his stately Georgian-style colonial home include sweeping views of the area.
Here, weeping beech trees are pruned into columns to mark the four corners of the East Garden. Look closely, and one can see Fuchsias overflowing from the leaded urns.
Fuchsias were among Chauncey’s favorite flowering plants. Fuchsia is a genus of tropical perennial plants that produce exotic-looking, two-toned flower blossoms.
Here is another view inside the East Garden with its handsomely manicured hedges.
This statue shows Cupid riding a dolphin in a lovely niche of shale and bluestone. The wall doubles as a rock garden filled with alpine plants.
This is a limestone finial atop a brick column at the Cutting Garden.
This is the “Schooling Field” where Chauncey would train his Hackney horses for four-in-hand carriage driving. A field that also has sweeping mountain views.
This statue is of a panned piper on one side of an arch cut into an arborvitae hedge.
This is a very well-executed ha-ha – a “blind fence,” or a recessed landscape design element that creates a vertical barrier. In the distance one can see the slight change in color toward the end of the lawn marking a four foot drop meant to keep the livestock out of the garden.
The swimming pool at Wethersfield has been converted into a reflecting pool.
The curvature of the oval reflecting pool is echoed in the steps where masses of scented geraniums fill the air with perfume.
I admired the cherub with a finger to his lips. Toshi says it suggests to visitors that “silence is golden.”
This is a living rug in bluestone and turf grass. It marks the entrance to an arborvitae allée. The Naiad fountain at the very end is by Swedish sculptor Carl Milles.
Wethersfield is filled with unusual limestone and lead ornaments – this one also caught my eye.
Urns designed by Stanford White are filled with Artemisia mauiensis, or Maui wormwood – a perennial plant native to the island of Maui with mounding, soft silvery foliage.
It also looks so beautiful in this parterre.
This is the goldfish pool at Wethersfield’s Pine Terrace. The shale retaining walls in the garden are made of stones from the farm’s historic field walls.
Sweet autumn clematis, Clematis terniflora, flows over a fence with its white fragrant blooms. The hills of the Taconic range can be seen in the distance.
This stone step mounting block shows visitors entering or exiting that the owner had horses, and in this case, a collection of riding carriages.
And this is the west side of the main house at Wethersfield, beautifully maintained inside and out. The entire property is now managed by the Wethersfield Foundation. Go to the website at Wethersfield.org to learn more about this fabulous estate and garden.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
