Tastes change. Back in the day, it didn’t matter where or what, it was just fun, not thinking at the time of how better to spend time, just to have the money to buy food in nice digs. It was all new to me. I hadn’t eaten in a fancy restaurant until I was thirty-one years old.
Up until then, it had been old school, red sauce Italian-American, big portioned and immediately delicious.
Or Chinese with mostly fried bits of pork, beef, or chicken so peppery and sweet that I didn’t have to think about anything. It was a great experience.
Things were “exotic,” too, with stuff from Ethiopia, Mexico, India, and Vietnam.
Over time I took an interest in food, especially ingredients, and then it all got murky. Thing is, and ask any chef this, you can buy better ingredients and make better, simple meals at home. If you know what to do with what you buy. You don’t have a profit margin, investors to please, a staff to take care of, or a room to feed.
All that said, last Saturday I had the night free. Pastoral was booked. Giulia was booked.
Grilled yakitori: ground chicken for tsukune; thighs (momo); etc. The sauce is easy to make: Google classic yakitori sauce.
It all comes back to focus, doesn’t it? Not trying to do ten things. Just one.