Italian Food & Wine and More

Back when I was the Director of Tennis at the Tokyo Bay Hilton Hotel (the official hotel of Tokyo Disneyland, about 20 minutes from the center of Ginza), there were a number of great restaurants there. High-level Japanese, gourmet Chinese, Indian, Korean Barbecue, and Asian noodle bar all were part of the well-run food and beverage department of the hotel. However, one of the best dining experiences was the Italian food at Piazza Roma, under the care of my friend, chef Piero Zani.

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To anyone living in the New York area, it would be hard to escape the fact that Spring has arrived. Of course, the foliage knew something we didn’t, for even as snowflakes continued to fall, and an icy wind gripped the City deep into April, Nature was coming alive with the bounty of the Earth.

Chief among that bounty includes the arrival of early Spring vegetables, most notably sunchokes (also known as “Jerusalem Artichokes”) and ramps (also known as “Wild Leeks”). Jamie took a trip down to the Union Square Greenmarket, and came back with several bunches of ramps, and a nice bag of sunchokes. My quest was to find a delicious way to prepare them…
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As a big fan of Robert Sietsema’s food blog in the Village Voice, the cleverly-named “Fork in the Road,” I’m always on the lookout for his latest discoveries.

Jamie & I had a need to get out of the City, a brief relief from the everyday commonplace. We’ve also long wanted to travel to Egypt, ride a camel, and check out the Pyramids.

Sietsema wrote a memorable piece about his experience with a few rock and roll luminaries at Asmak Taama in Bay Ridge, and, being huge fans of great seafood, we decided to investigate for ourselves.
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