0:00

Hello everyone . This is Steve from A Better Life

0:02

. This podcast is brought to you by our

0:04

sponsors , premium Botanical . They

0:06

are the makers of Herbal Spectrum , which

0:09

is a full spectrum hemp-based

0:11

CBD . They make salves

0:14

, liquids and they have a great mixed

0:16

berry gummy . You can check

0:18

them out at wwwmypbcbdcom

0:25

. Now

0:28

our podcast the Best of the Best

0:31

, the Best of the Best

0:33

, the Best of the

0:35

Best . Hello everyone , and welcome back to

0:37

A Better Life with George and Steve .

0:40

How are you , george ? Good Steve

0:42

, nice to be back , it is

0:44

. I walked into this

0:46

studio and I

0:50

don't see any extra phonographs , which

0:52

is a plus , a good sign

0:54

. But I see a lot of extra space , which

0:56

will lead to , I

0:59

think , more phonographs .

1:00

Nothing out here , it's all going in the back room .

1:03

So is this a new law that you've instilled ?

1:06

I haven't instilled just the one big one , because I

1:08

don't think it'll fit back there . It's so big . I

1:11

never realized how big it is until I started

1:13

comparing it to everything else . I have

1:15

four others two are

1:17

being restored , two I need to pick up , and then

1:19

that's going to be it , and then I'm working

1:21

on organizing and completing the

1:23

music portion of my collection

1:26

I see , I see , and

1:28

lighting is very different . I

1:31

see today I have to give some of the lamps

1:33

for the back , so I took one out and put

1:36

it back there because I need a little light . I

1:38

don't like the bright light when I go back there and

1:41

play something , because I usually videotape it and post it on Facebook

1:43

or post it somewhere . So

1:46

I've been trying to every day at least

1:48

play one of them whether

1:50

I record it or not , it's another story Only because

1:52

that's what they're here for and I'm going to

1:54

use them so I can enjoy them . That's right

1:56

. So I'm trying

1:59

to do that every day . Some

2:01

days I play more , some days I play less

2:03

. Some days it's 78,

2:05

. Some days it's

2:07

an Edison-Ambriola cylinder . Sometimes it's a two-minute Edison

2:09

gold cylinder .

2:11

How many people get to say that ? How many people

2:13

have these toys where you're

2:16

connecting with a century ago of

2:18

the highest technology money

2:20

could buy back then ?

2:23

Yeah , pretty cool . Today's song

2:25

was I think it was today

2:27

called Wake Up America . Oh , and

2:29

it's about I don't know some obscure

2:32

writer , but it was a song saying

2:34

to America you better start realizing

2:36

we have to enter World War I

2:38

. It was written in 1916 because

2:41

everybody needs to get on the same page , because we have to

2:43

protect America's interest . Let's

2:45

not forget what George Washington

2:47

and Abraham Lincoln did and those kind

2:49

of things , which is interesting . I thought it was

2:51

a little ironic by everything that goes on in

2:53

the world today .

2:54

but yeah , and

2:58

then you George Washington , right , the founding fathers . Then a

3:00

few decades go by and then you have massive

3:03

like the Monroe Doctrine happens

3:05

, and then other few decades

3:07

happen . And then Wake

3:10

Up America . And now we're rolling into , go

3:12

Back to Bet America . Wake

3:15

Up Early America .

3:16

So today is our , I think , valentine's

3:19

Day special edition

3:21

. I know everybody out there has

3:23

done something special for

3:26

their Significant Valentine

3:28

Significant Valentine

3:30

, At least , I hope they did . I

3:33

hope you're going to listen to us , but only after Valentine's

3:35

Day , because I'm not editing it tonight .

3:37

I just would like to wish my special

3:40

Valentine a wonderful

3:42

day and give out all the love

3:44

out there to the world .

3:46

That's very nice . I

3:49

mind this one in Japan , mine's only in New Jersey

3:51

, so it's a little easier .

3:52

Our time zones makes things

3:54

a little harder , but the sentiment's there and the love's

3:57

there . Absolutely , did they

3:59

celebrate Valentine's ?

3:59

Day in Japan .

4:00

They actually celebrate something even more

4:03

. There's a White Day as well , and

4:05

countries that celebrate White Day . The

4:07

Valentine's Day then becomes

4:09

a reverse . The ladies

4:12

propose their affection and love

4:14

to their man . Therefore

4:17

, on Valentine's Day , february

4:19

14th , the girl gives

4:21

the guy a chocolate or flowers or a card

4:23

, and one month later

4:25

, on March 14th

4:28

, that's when traditionally

4:30

, the boy then returns the . If

4:32

he declares the same affection , then

4:34

he returns flowers , chocolates

4:37

. Only

4:39

in Japan are they so organized ?

4:42

Here we have a Sadie Hawkins Day . I have

4:44

no idea what it is , but

4:47

that's when you'll see Sadie

4:49

Hawkins dances , and I don't know who

4:51

the heck Sadie Hawkins is , but it is traditionally

4:53

when women ask men out . I

4:56

have been asked to dinner in

4:58

the past on Sadie Hawkins Day and

5:01

they not only asked but paid , which was

5:03

an unusual event , and

5:06

that's the only thing . It

5:08

has no relationship

5:10

to Valentine's Day , and some women do

5:12

give Valentine's Day gifts to their men , but

5:15

it's not as required , and if you don't do

5:17

something for Valentine's Day , you're always left

5:19

to be . When I was

5:21

in the florist today , there was a line out the door . People

5:26

were like looking at the cheapest thing . Guys

5:28

, come in , I laugh at the cheapest thing and

5:31

I'll be like , yeah , I'll have that one and I'll have balloons

5:33

and I'll have this .

5:35

So that's the way it works . Chocolates

5:38

, candies , flowers okay , they're

5:40

great for that industry .

5:41

So for a second . Maybe we should just follow

5:44

up , because we talked a lot about the Super Bowl

5:46

last week and we talked this

5:48

week and the game was , I think

5:50

, by all accounts , moderately boring until the last

5:52

quarter .

5:52

Well , the first three quarters were like extremely

5:55

boring , and then there was like

5:57

a turnaround . This

5:59

tingling feeling of oh

6:02

, some magic's going to happen and , little

6:04

by little , this destiny was

6:06

coming true . And yeah

6:08

, Kansas City . Just , they looked more prepared , they

6:11

looked like they knew what they were doing and they

6:13

just executed , play by play .

6:16

I think the defense was exhausted . Oh , absolutely

6:18

, san Francisco defense was exhausted

6:20

and that was the turning point . But

6:23

just to mention , on

6:25

a horrible note , today also there

6:27

was the parade in Kansas

6:30

City and there was three apparently

6:32

three gunmen who opened

6:34

fire on the ground and then one person killed

6:36

and 22 people injured . At this point , which

6:39

is a horrible thing that we have to live with

6:41

every day Shocking , it's hard to know

6:43

or say , especially a town

6:45

like Kansas City who had the bombing so many years

6:48

ago it's middle

6:50

America and by any other counts , it's

6:52

definitely middle America and I

6:55

feel horrible and I'm sure George

6:57

is with me and we'll send out our hearts and

6:59

thoughts and prayers to everyone

7:01

in Kansas City , not just

7:03

the people that are injured but the fans whose days

7:06

were destroyed by a

7:08

couple people , perpetrators

7:10

that we don't know who they are

7:12

, where they're from or

7:14

anything .

7:15

So at this point , you

7:19

just watch the news coverage and even the reporters

7:21

are shaken and dumbfounded and just completely

7:24

caught as

7:26

a surprise , right , and it's just . You're

7:29

just nomin' and shocked .

7:30

We were just watching something and I turned to George and he said

7:32

these two are in total shock . They're just

7:34

like trying to describe how they feel and they

7:36

have the inability to do that .

7:37

Just a little moment of silence for

7:39

them and hopefully they persevere

7:42

and come back stronger . But it must be tough . A

7:45

lot of sending a lot of love out there .

7:48

What have ? We talked a little bit before about what we're

7:50

going to talk about .

7:50

I know you mentioned Another somber note . A

7:53

great chef , chef David Boulet , passed

7:55

yesterday . David Boulet was

7:58

basically a tremendous

8:00

force in the culinary

8:02

scene for American chefs here in New York and

8:05

he's definitely missed . He

8:07

was and still is loved by

8:10

so many who he touched , who

8:12

he gave a chance to work

8:14

with him and to learn from a master

8:17

, a maestro . I

8:19

started my career in early 2000

8:21

, probably 2001 , and

8:23

he was already someone of a famed

8:26

name . And if anyone's been

8:28

to Boulet down on Duane Street

8:30

in Tribeca , the moment you

8:32

enter you go through a short

8:34

galley of apples he has , he's

8:37

noted to start your meal

8:39

, your experience , off with this . It's

8:41

as if you walked into an apple orchard

8:44

and you're transported

8:46

into this mystery , magical

8:48

land and you get seated in

8:50

this beautiful dining room and off

8:53

you go . You're in your next two , three

8:55

, four hours . Maybe you're transported into

8:57

this almost magical

9:00

Parisian experience

9:02

, but you're in the heart of downtown

9:05

Tribeca and you are

9:07

being served some of the best food

9:09

in the world .

9:10

I used to work on Duane Street and one

9:12

day , not even knowing what it was , I wandered

9:14

in there with some guy I went to high school with

9:17

, who ended up working next to me at the EPA , and

9:19

we wandered in there for lunch . One day we were

9:21

like the only two people in a place I

9:23

don't know if it was like an early dinner or whatever . It was

9:25

just a few people in the place and we were blown

9:28

away by the meal Blown away .

9:30

Every bite is sensational

9:33

and I gotta say every chef

9:35

that I've worked with , who's worked

9:37

under Chef Poulay

9:39

or worked in that same

9:41

kitchen , have nothing but the best memories

9:44

and the best experiences one could

9:46

ever hope for . Certainly , new

9:48

York lost a great chef yesterday

9:51

, and so did the country .

9:52

Yeah , I used to go to and

9:54

I told George a little bit about it . They

9:56

had I want to say it was like on 40th

9:59

Street or something like that they

10:01

had a restaurant but it also had a teaching

10:03

kitchen where you went and got lessons

10:05

and you basically sat in a bar

10:07

and all the ovens and things

10:10

were right there . And I forget the gentleman's

10:12

name who worked for Poulay and

10:15

he cooked and demonstrated . There

10:17

was one time we went to a bread thing . Another

10:20

time he was very health conscious , another

10:23

time we went to Paella

10:25

where he made three or four different kinds of

10:27

paella , and the third time I don't

10:29

remember what we went , but it

10:31

was a ridiculous expense because

10:34

everybody goes out of their mind and

10:37

the best wine , the best this , and

10:39

the bill is astronomical but

10:42

it's an amazing experience .

10:46

Yeah , it's talking

10:49

about just Boulay and not talking about brush stroke

10:51

would bea disservice . Chef

10:54

Boulay was also so interested in Japanese

10:56

food . I think that's where my connection with Chef

10:58

Boulay was . I worked for a Japanese food distribution

11:01

company . We

11:03

did sake and we also did these really amazing

11:05

ingredients that we import from Japan . He

11:08

was one of the first chefs that we would show these products

11:10

to . He just had such a deep understanding

11:12

of flavors , textures and

11:15

just the nuances of

11:17

anything , whether it be citrus or

11:19

something like seaweed from the sea , some

11:22

petrified fish you know just me , even

11:24

high-end miso , soy sauce

11:26

, different salts from different

11:28

bays in Japan , and he would incorporate

11:31

it with his chef , chef Yamada , who

11:33

headed the kitchen at brush stroke , probably

11:35

the most talented Japanese chef in

11:38

New York in terms of washoku

11:40

Japanese cuisine . He's really a

11:42

true chef , true

11:46

artist really , and together

11:48

, mr Yamada and Mr

11:50

Boulay , together , opening

11:52

up brush stroke , new York

11:54

got a taste of some really excellent

11:57

early-stage washoku cuisine

11:59

and I think that really opened the

12:01

floodgates for more Japanese

12:03

chefs to really spread their wings and

12:05

embrace the New York market with their

12:07

art form . Again , I have nothing but the fondest

12:09

memory of everyone

12:12

who's worked with Chef Boulay and also

12:14

my very limited exposure with Chef

12:16

Boulay trying some of our products

12:19

back in the day and when he gave us the thumbs up , that

12:22

was a testament to the sourcing and all

12:24

the hard work trying to get those products to New York . Great

12:26

memories .

12:29

A legend . I saw condolences

12:31

and notations from every great

12:33

chef . You would know . It's amazing . He

12:35

was a legend and that really just sums

12:38

it up . And he was an artist , right

12:40

.

12:40

Absolutely , Absolutely . Here's to you , Chef

12:43

. Last

12:45

week was Super Bowl and then actually

12:47

, yeah , this past Monday , I went to this really amazing benefit

12:50

, charity , benefit event for

12:52

the sake breweries that were

12:55

damaged by a massive earthquake in

12:57

Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan . So a

12:59

lot of the sake professionals whether

13:01

from the PR side , from the distribution side

13:03

, from the importing side , from the restaurant

13:06

retail side everyone got together

13:08

and chipped in and were

13:10

able to raise quite a significant amount

13:12

of money through ticket sales and

13:15

through donations and things like that . I

13:17

got to see a lot of old faces , old friends

13:19

that I haven't seen in almost

13:22

a decade or so .

13:23

So is that the earthquake that

13:25

took place when you were there ?

13:27

This was a week prior . This was a bigger

13:29

earthquake . I was in . It

13:32

registered a 4.2 . That would be

13:34

big here , but that's a once every

13:36

two , maybe three , four

13:38

months in Japan . You'll get a nice shake and

13:40

it was only like a second , you too . So

13:42

earthquakes that last five

13:45

seconds plus almost 10 seconds are catastrophic

13:48

, even if they register smaller . But

13:50

a big shake with a one second shake

13:52

not too bad . But the one in Ishikawa was

13:54

. It was big enough that

13:57

it brought down buildings , brought down houses

13:59

, brought down breweries that have been around

14:01

for a few hundred years , five , six

14:03

, seven generations old . A ton of

14:05

them have now disappeared

14:08

and there is a massive effort

14:10

to rebuild . There's a massive effort

14:12

to raise funds so that we can make

14:14

it possible . And the sake community

14:16

here in New York , I

14:18

have to say , is amazing , filled with a

14:20

lot of industry professionals

14:23

passionate about the craft . I

14:25

know there's wine people who transferred

14:27

into the sake world . I know there's

14:30

guys who worked in the restaurants

14:32

as GMs , as

14:34

servers , who now are on the distribution

14:37

and importing side of sake , because

14:39

it's just , it's really amazing , almost

14:41

renaissance of the beverage here . I

14:43

think in the next five , 10

14:46

years we really will see sake

14:49

as a major varietal

14:52

on a lot of beverage menus . It's

14:54

tremendously delicious , has a lot of potential

14:57

for pairings and we'll I

14:59

think we'll capture the hearts and the

15:01

palates of all Americans .

15:04

Really it's interesting

15:06

. I look forward to that . It's

15:09

always . It's funny how the culinary

15:11

world never sleeps right . There's always some

15:13

artist out there that comes up with

15:15

something they never thought of before .

15:18

I used to tell myself Raps , listen , you

15:20

have to consider food , what we eat , as

15:23

fashion . It's fashionable

15:25

. Now it might not be 10 years , it might be even more

15:27

so 10 years , but understand that . It's

15:29

just like language , right , it constantly evolves

15:31

. We adapt and we evolve

15:33

with food , language

15:36

, clothing , fashion , all

15:38

this is all . It's not stationary

15:40

. It just continually evolves and moves

15:43

with you and food for

15:45

what it's worth . We have certain

15:47

dishes that have passed the

15:49

test of time , right , there's just simple

15:51

dishes , original dishes that it's

15:54

good , but you also have foods that

15:56

kind of have had its heyday

15:59

and it's no longer a thing , and

16:01

you roll with the punches .

16:04

Yeah , but and there's also things that move into

16:07

the staples of American life

16:09

. Right , mexican food gets real

16:11

popular and all of a sudden it slips into

16:13

the regular rotation for American

16:16

life .

16:16

Like , I would say , avocado . Without Mexican

16:18

food , we probably would not have been introduced to the

16:20

avocado , and now it's considered a

16:23

super food for breakfast , right ? Like

16:25

, yeah , the avocado toast ? Perhaps

16:27

not . You would not connect the

16:29

direct dots to a enchilada

16:33

or some Mexican food . But Because

16:36

of the exposure , because it's been around

16:38

in supermarkets , it

16:40

has its own , almost

16:42

its own little island between the aisles

16:44

. It's almost on every menu . It's on every

16:46

menu and it's a nice add-on and it's delicious

16:49

and guess what ?

16:50

it's a superfood , it's super healthy almost

16:52

on every American restaurant

16:54

menu right .

16:56

Add avocado right every lunch . Any

16:58

lunch salad will have an option . That's

17:01

the way it is . I think it's a beautiful

17:04

thing , right ? We all have to eat to survive

17:06

, and when I eat , better when

17:08

I eat look at tuna

17:10

.

17:11

You used to tuna with sushi and

17:13

now it's Seared tuna is

17:15

almost on every salad .

17:18

Every place you go , every diner , every

17:20

, everything , there's seared tuna yesterday year tuna

17:22

was canned tuna and then this

17:24

whole sushi and Toro

17:27

boom and now everyone understands Raw

17:29

tuna is utterly delicious and

17:32

then yeah , as you mentioned , you have your seared

17:34

tuna on your menus and All

17:37

these tuna , carpaccio tuna

17:39

, sushi tuna , poke

17:41

right , anything tuna .

17:44

I'm always amazed at the fish markets in Japan

17:46

and how food

17:49

, how these fishes become Almost

17:51

like a currency , that they're so

17:54

expensive .

17:54

The auctions are in the auctions are insane

17:57

. The previous so the

17:59

Tsukiji market , which is closed now . The

18:01

Tsukiji market was at

18:03

that time the largest fish market in

18:05

the world and then now the new one that

18:07

replaced to key G , called Toyosu , is 40%

18:10

larger . This thing is basically

18:12

a city , but it's bigger than the city block

18:14

. It must be like three city blocks worth of real

18:17

estate . And you go to the tuna

18:19

auction . They block it off now because Tourists

18:22

ruined it for everyone and but you

18:25

can look from the upstairs window and

18:27

they have these monstrous 400

18:30

, 500 pounders lined up in a row

18:32

four , five , six rows deep

18:34

and they're just auctioning out to the

18:37

house that's gonna pick up the fish , then break

18:39

it and Created

18:41

into sections for their prized

18:44

sushi restaurants . So

18:46

it's a multiple-tier system

18:49

that has been going on for hundreds of

18:51

years and it's a sight to

18:53

be seen . But the best part about it is the

18:55

auctions around 4 , 30 , 5 o'clock

18:58

in the morning . When that ends you

19:00

just walk around the corner and you go to

19:02

all these famous sushi shops that are

19:04

open for breakfast and Like

19:06

8,000 yen so it's about

19:08

45 , 50 bucks You're

19:10

gonna get some of the best sushi you've ever

19:13

had . It's not fancy Ginza

19:15

or New York . High-end sour

19:17

, it's everything's pristinely cut

19:19

and it's glimmering and it's perpendicular

19:21

and all that . This is the

19:24

rustic Fisherman sushi

19:26

, but it's fresh , it's

19:28

made with skill and it's

19:30

it's a great experience .

19:32

So they're serving the fish they just bought at the

19:34

market . Is that what you ?

19:36

There's today . So again , food

19:39

is fashion right today . Sushi

19:41

is not like the same sushi I had when

19:43

I was a kid living in Japan in the 80s . And

19:46

you can go , you can just say the same

19:48

thing every 10 , 20 years . Going

19:51

back , it has evolved into what it

19:53

is today . Yeah , it's . It

19:55

is the same in the sense that it has

19:57

Nitta , which is the raw

20:00

fish , or the cured fish , on

20:02

top , the shadi , which is the vinegared

20:04

rice , and

20:06

the nigiri is the action in which you're

20:08

putting it all together into

20:11

your fist , right , so that that's a nigiri

20:13

. And the nigiri style sushi

20:15

has been going on for I think , four or five

20:17

hundred years and If you

20:19

had a time machine and the camera and

20:22

you took a snapshot every 10 , 20

20:24

years , you would see that it's

20:26

gotten smaller . It used to be a two

20:28

finger with hand nigiri

20:30

and now most chefs only use one

20:32

finger , and maybe that's because so

20:35

that you can try more dishes , more bites

20:37

. So it's improved the experience

20:39

, but it's . It's a different animal , it's a different

20:41

exposure experience . You're

20:44

not biting the nigiri anymore . It's a one

20:46

, one-shot deal . It's seasoned

20:48

with the masters soy sauce blend

20:51

. Back in the 80s very few

20:53

places would do that it was . Basically , you would dip

20:55

the fish into the soy sauce and

20:57

put as much whereas little as you wanted . A

21:00

lot's changed , but it's Undoubtedly

21:03

delicious .

21:04

It's an . I love sushi and I don't like

21:06

some of the things that are like still crawling when

21:08

you eat them , kind of thing . But I love

21:11

it and you could tell the fresh

21:13

one Mm-hmm summer aged to

21:15

know .

21:15

So that's where I should have mentioned earlier and I

21:17

was reluctant to say oh , they're using the fish right

21:20

out of auction because they realized

21:22

that the science and the art

21:24

form of fishing has also changed

21:27

and improved . The moment a certain

21:29

type of fish and it depends on the type of fish right

21:31

, they may , they may KG minute

21:33

, which is , once it's caught , they'll drain

21:35

the blood , they'll cut the under the collar

21:37

, they'll crack and then make

21:39

sure that it exposes the vertebrae

21:41

from the tail part . They'll cut

21:44

and basically bleed out the fish . They'll

21:46

stick a metal , metal wire through

21:48

the spine to stop it from and paralyze

21:51

it basically . So you're stopping

21:53

all the adrenaline from

21:55

going into the bloodstream and therefore

21:57

that will sour

21:59

and ruin the texture of the protein

22:01

. So you want to we're able to keep

22:03

that in pristine condition . So , taking

22:07

that fish and now throwing it into a super

22:09

freezer , you're able to stop time

22:12

. Essentially , the fish , if you

22:14

rethought it , is basically

22:17

20 minutes old , one hour old

22:19

. It hasn't even gone through rigormortis yet

22:21

. The fish that they thaw

22:23

like a fluke or

22:25

like a flounder , once it's perfectly

22:28

thawed and you rest it , it's

22:30

going through rigormortis now and

22:32

then at that time they will filet

22:34

it and slice it and now you have

22:36

this , amazingly , what they

22:38

call in Japanese , which is it's an anamonipia

22:41

. It just means that it's almost crunchy

22:43

. The flesh is so fresh

22:45

, it's in rigor , it's so crunchy . You

22:47

have this really nice toothsome

22:49

feel . And that's the pinnacle

22:52

of whitefish , sashimi Tuna

22:55

, I believe they age for seven days , some

22:58

fish they'll age for two , and

23:00

chefs just know how to manipulate the protein

23:02

to accentuate the umami , the

23:04

texture and also the color

23:06

. We're in the

23:08

golden age of culinary

23:11

delights .

23:12

Really , that's more

23:14

than I ever contemplated

23:17

.

23:17

I know just about this much . There's

23:20

so much to learn , and the greatest sushi

23:22

chefs , I think , are the ones that engage with

23:24

their customers and they live

23:28

off of smiles . I think that's what chefs

23:30

do . Sushi chef watches their

23:33

customers sitting at the counter eat their sushi , the

23:35

eyes close . You

23:37

give out a little breath out of your nose . You're

23:39

chewing and you just your whole

23:41

way through . You open your eyes and

23:44

tell the chef that was delicious Chefs

23:46

, thank you . Pulls up either their book

23:48

, ipad , a picture . This

23:50

is the fish that you just ate . It's

23:52

unique because of this and this . It was caught this

23:54

day by the fishermen over in this

23:56

part of the world . They

23:58

know everything about what they're sourcing

24:01

, and that's the beautiful thing about premium , high

24:03

end sushi . If you're not to

24:05

me , if you're not asking those questions , you're doing

24:08

yourself a disservice . You're paying an astronomical

24:10

amount of money Mine as well . Get educated

24:13

as long as well as enjoying

24:15

the delicious meal .

24:16

Interesting . So

24:19

is that going to New York as well as it goes on in Japan

24:21

?

24:21

Yeah , so New York , I would say the last 10 years

24:23

, right off the bat . If you give me a pen

24:25

and pen paper , I could give you 30

24:28

names of chefs that have come

24:30

from Japan , all parts

24:32

of Japan , not just Tokyo , but

24:34

to come here and show their craft

24:37

. So I would say 10 years ago I

24:39

wouldn't say New York was a sushi destination

24:42

. You'd have to go to Japan for that

24:44

experience . Today , I

24:46

think , dollar for dollar , maybe

24:48

more , I think maybe you'd that's

24:51

crazy , right ? You pay more in New York for

24:53

high-end sushi than

24:55

Tokyo . If you paid and

24:58

this is disgusting to say but you'd have to pay $500

25:01

in New York to

25:03

experience something for $200 in

25:05

Tokyo . But

25:08

the quality is the same .

25:10

So is the fish coming from the Pacific

25:12

or is it coming from All over ?

25:13

the world , all over the world , but

25:16

for the most part Toyosu

25:18

Sushi auction market

25:20

is where all

25:22

the premium fish will go first

25:24

, because that's where

25:27

they know the people who want the best

25:29

of the best will pay for , and

25:31

you'll have scouts and buyers going

25:35

in the morning , picking out

25:37

, putting into boxes , throwing

25:40

some dry ice around it , putting

25:42

another box around it , and then it's FedEx

25:44

over immediately . The moment the

25:47

people buy it in Toyosu , within

25:49

an hour it's already on a truck

25:51

going to either Narita or

25:53

Haneda Airport and 12

25:56

hours later it's at JFK . Another

25:58

hour or two goes through all the

26:00

paperwork and it's within 24

26:02

hours . Let's say , the chef in

26:04

New York City has the same fish as the chef

26:07

in Tokyo . And

26:09

yeah , they do their magic .

26:11

I know my friend has a rather large

26:13

fishing boat and he goes all

26:16

over to North Atlantic , as well as in

26:18

Florida , and he catches

26:20

tuna all the time and he'll bring

26:23

in somebody who'll pay $5,000

26:25

, $6,000 dollars for

26:27

a tuna . Oh easy , hundreds

26:30

and hundreds of pounds , yeah , it's

26:32

for fuel .

26:34

He says the champion

26:36

tuna , so the homo-mago-rood , yet the bluefin

26:38

, the highly sought-after bluefin

26:41

tuna , from either the Sea of Japan

26:43

or the northern part , where Japan

26:45

and Russia meet , that part of

26:47

the waters , those

26:49

fish , let's say a 500 pounder

26:52

, it can command over a million

26:54

dollars . Wow

26:56

, I kid you not . And the

26:59

pride in which these sushi restaurants

27:01

, I guess they uphold

27:03

, they can never not have tuna . That's basically

27:06

, if they can secure

27:08

their hands on good quality tuna

27:10

, they're not going to open . And it's just

27:12

like samurai mentality . It's shameful Samurai

27:16

mentality , but it is . These guys are just hardcore

27:18

blue-collar workers . That's their badge

27:20

of honor to

27:23

serve what they can source the

27:26

best , best products

27:28

possible for their customers . And

27:30

there's guys like there's a chain

27:32

, there's a chain that has 40 restaurants in Tokyo

27:34

called Sushi Zanmai and the CEO

27:36

. Every year , near Ziv , he's on

27:39

national television , he takes a spot for

27:41

his commercial and he says , yeah

27:44

, today I bought the most expensive tuna

27:46

. It's a Tsukiji or Toyosu market

27:48

and I'm breaking

27:50

it all up to all my stores around

27:53

Tokyo , around the country . If

27:55

you want the best , you come to my place . And

27:58

it's smart , right , well , brilliant

28:00

, even though he paid $2

28:03

million , whatever , it's worth it

28:05

Because , yeah , his

28:07

claim is factual and it's

28:10

an everyday person's Sushi place , although

28:13

it's become a little bit more expensive

28:15

than I remember . He must be doing pretty

28:17

well gathering clientele and

28:19

charging a nice premium

28:21

, but good for him . You

28:24

play the game and you want to give the

28:26

clients the best of the best .

28:28

But in Japan no one's going to tolerate anything but

28:30

the best right , the barrier of entry

28:32

is low .

28:33

Competition is high . So you

28:35

take a country of

28:38

130 million , that's one-third

28:40

of our country , right , we're at like 370

28:42

. We have about

28:44

500,000 restaurants

28:46

in our country 500,000

28:49

. Japan is 600,000

28:51

. So

28:54

they have three times more restaurants than we do . The

28:57

barrier of entry of owning a restaurant

29:00

is very low . It's

29:02

not necessarily a credit check , it's just

29:04

. Sometimes I've

29:06

heard it's a shake of a

29:08

hand and you turn the key and

29:11

now you're running this restaurant . You

29:13

would never stiff the guy out

29:16

of a contract or wages

29:18

, or the owner of the real estate

29:20

does not have to chase the

29:23

store owner for rent . Let's put it

29:25

that way . That's not really a thing in

29:27

Japanese culture and

29:30

unthinkable here , right , without

29:32

ironclad contracts .

29:34

Absolutely .

29:35

But yeah , that's the thing . So the barrier of entry is easy

29:38

. It's low . You , a lot of amateurs

29:40

right , a lot of guys who just love cooking

29:42

, a lot of ladies who

29:44

finish their first career and wants

29:46

to open up a restaurant , can , you

29:49

can open a cafe with some food . You just have to get a food

29:51

license , food service license

29:53

, and you're up and running . The barrier

29:55

of entry is very low , very easy , and

29:58

you can make a living out of it . It's not uncommon

30:00

to eat two , three meals

30:02

outside the house and still

30:04

relatively close to the

30:06

same budget .

30:07

Really .

30:07

Yeah , that's interesting .

30:10

I know that I've seen a lot of shows about restaurants

30:12

in Japan and . I always find it interesting

30:14

. I think I'm going to start , or I'm trying to make

30:16

it and the honor , that's

30:18

involved and the tradition

30:21

that's involved .

30:22

Relationships with your food purveyor is

30:24

tremendous . It is a samurai

30:27

mentality Exactly Like

30:29

.

30:29

you coined it perfectly . I never

30:31

thought of it like that , but it's a samurai mentality

30:33

. It's all about honor and tradition

30:35

and hope you make money .

30:37

Yeah , you want to make a living . You want to make a decent

30:39

, honest living for

30:42

you and your family , and that's something

30:44

that , as an adult , I see even more clear

30:46

now . Doing business in Japan , doing

30:49

business with Japanese , it's

30:51

not the fastest , it's not the most glorious

30:53

in terms of glitz

30:55

and fame , but at

30:58

the end of the day , when you're counting everything

31:01

from , just everything

31:03

everything included , you can

31:05

say that you did an honest day's work

31:08

.

31:09

It's interesting .

31:10

Yeah , yeah . It

31:12

was so cold today , yesterday

31:14

and the day before I thought we were in the

31:16

clear and no such luck . I

31:19

woke up this morning and it was what ? 23

31:21

and it said real feel 14

31:23

. Oh boy , and

31:25

I walked to the station , hop on the train , get to Grand

31:28

Central , walk a few blocks and I'm in my office

31:30

. But it's great . And it's also oh

31:32

boy . Some days you're like my

31:34

bones hurt , my hip hurts

31:36

. How am I going to make it ? But

31:39

we all do somehow , don't we ?

31:41

Nothing like a CBD gummy for the

31:43

help of your aches and pains

31:45

. So that was very interesting about

31:47

it being Valentine's

31:49

Day and you think about going to a sushi

31:52

restaurant or something

31:54

like that . It's nice to know a little bit more and

31:56

I appreciate the overview

31:58

.

31:58

Oh , and sushi is one of the

32:00

funny things I thought . By

32:03

being raised in Japan , I

32:05

had an inside track and then

32:07

, entering the food world , I

32:09

met a gentleman , Trevor

32:12

Corson . On his business

32:14

card it says Sushi

32:16

concierge . Basically

32:19

, people pay Trevor to sit

32:21

with them to eat sushi and he narrates

32:23

and takes you on a journey based

32:25

on what fish , what

32:29

the sushi chef prepares . He

32:31

has a dialogue with the chef and then

32:33

basically adds a

32:35

tremendous amount of knowledge

32:38

about whatever

32:40

it is that makes that dish so incredible

32:43

. He's written numerous books about sushi

32:45

, about Japan , and sushi

32:49

is just one of those skill sets that

32:51

are passed down generation to generation

32:53

. And there are those chefs in New

32:55

York City third generation sushi

32:57

chefs that are doing the craft

33:00

of a hundred years ago .

33:02

I have to say I don't think there's anything more American

33:05

and Nouveau-reach than heaven . I would come

33:07

with you and explain what you're eating .

33:09

Nouveau-reach .

33:11

Absolutely , but being Valentine's

33:13

Day , I think we can abbreviate

33:15

it a little bit here , if you don't , unless

33:17

there's something else you want to cover . But

33:21

I think that was a great overview

33:23

of Japan and sushi in

33:25

New York City and everything about it .

33:27

Yeah , it's funny , I'm just getting hotter and hotter

33:29

about Japan , I think my new position

33:31

and I'm actually heading over to Japan next week

33:33

. I'll be there for two weeks on business

33:36

and I think I'll be traveling

33:38

to five different prefectures with my colleague

33:40

and I'll

33:42

be very excited to come back and talk about all the

33:44

food we ate .

33:45

I think we may have to do some on location there . Maybe

33:48

we could do some and we've been talking

33:50

about this , I know .

33:51

We have the technology . We haven't tested it out

33:53

. We have it all , but I would

33:55

be happy to dial in from either

33:57

Tokyo or up north or south .

33:58

Wherever it is , I think we're definitely going to

34:01

do that . Next week you'll be away .

34:03

Or is it weekend ? I'm flying out Tuesday and I'll

34:05

be back the following Okay , maybe Thursday

34:07

or .

34:07

Friday next week We'll put something together

34:09

. It turns out that this is a great

34:11

introduction to the world of Japan

34:14

on our overview of

34:16

sushi , and I think I'm going to

34:18

have to listen to it back more than once because

34:20

there was a lot of information there . I

34:22

look forward to our look into the

34:24

world of food and culinary

34:27

and how it all works in Japan , and

34:29

we're lucky that we're going to have you there .

34:31

Awesome .

34:33

And that note I wish you all the happiest

34:35

Valentine's Day .

34:36

Yes , happy Valentine's Day , my love , and

34:39

we'll catch you guys very

34:41

soon . Thank you very much .

34:43

Enjoy your day .