[Music]
hey what's going on everybody for first
we feast I'm Sean Evans coming at you
from Manhattan's Little Tokyo a stretch
in the East Village that's home to some
of the best Japanese food in the entire
city in a typical first we feast fashion
we're rolling deep our good friend Frank
Panello is in the building you know him
from the pizza show on Vice land season
two it's out now and what you might not
know about Frank when he's not slinging
slices in Brooklyn
he's eating Japanese food when did that
love affair begin do you remember for me
the love of it with Japanese food and
just all types of Asian food started a
while ago but it really like clicked to
me I had a stopover at a Narita the
airport in Japan in Tokyo and I just had
this bowl of udon soup and like just I
don't know bells and whistles started
going off and then if I have your story
correct used to work in the neighborhood
right I worked in Japan I read my way
around the corner right in the corner
right around the corner so many good
spots in this neighborhood but if I walk
straight down ninth Street it turned
into st. Mark's and there's a bunch of
little Japanese restaurants so I was
always going down there for a bowl of
udon noodles you know a little rice cake
sushi whatever I mean whatever I could
finally get my hands on in this
neighborhood I was eating well that's
exactly what we're doing today we're
gonna be snacking through the
neighborhood having some of the best
Japanese dishes in New York City secure
a yogi she's the CEO of TI C restaurant
group she's gonna be leading the charge
so you know we're in good hands Frank
are you ready my man I can't wait let's
go
[Music]
all right sorry here at the table Sakura
we're having lunch and it looks like
something serious is going down can you
unpackage this for sure so we're at
Silvia we opened in 1996 soba noodles
are buckwheat noodles you can have
different variations of the buckwheat
noodles but what makes soba soba is
definitely the buckwheat so what you
have is tins under Silva so it has the
cytosol ba and the tempura da and so you
eat it together and it's not that
serious right yours is a little bit more
serious and will take a little bit more
skill maybe but you're gonna scoop out
the Silva from the hot liquid and then
dip it in the cold side og
[Music]
and you slurped I did did you like my
slurp how was it it was a hundred
percent Javanese slurp I love it this is
delicious like every bite is like a
flavor bomb in the fall time in New York
this time of year there's nothing better
than Japanese noodles whether it's ramen
food on the stove in my opinion just
come in it's a little cold out and eat
one of these bowls and you're just like
golden I think people think of ramen is
the classic Japanese noodle dish how do
they differ so so by is much much older
but the samurai used to eat it ramen
actually originates from China and it
has consi which is kind of like baking
soda which gives it the yellow tint soba
is traditionally made from only
buckwheat sometimes flour and water and
you just mix it roll it out and you just
get to enjoy that buckwheat aroma it's
nice for a New Yorker to kind of be able
to come to a place like this like a guy
like me come to a place like this and
get traditional so but here in New York
people call this kind of strip Little
Tokyo and I think my father definitely
had a hand in that my father's first
restaurant was in 84 and then from there
just kept taking over the block now we
have 12 different dropping
and 15 locations so here we are crashing
the lunch rush where are we and what are
we about to be we're add oats African
minute I just down the street from Sofia
and we're gonna try Japanese Street food
so we're gonna try some takoyaki as well
as Oklahoma yeah this is
Tuggle yaki taco is octopus yaki is
grill so it's kind of like grilled
octopus the autumn bob style they're
really hot so don't pop them in your
mouth
it has otaku sauce mayonnaise and the
green stuff is I'll know to eat which is
I get to do the best part the best place
to top it to top it
I love the way the bonito flakes look on
top of the taco balls they just look
like little dancing angels so go savory
funnel cake that's like octopus eppley
[Music]
it's mostly cabbage one has shrimp in it
and the other one has pork in it
I thought that was prosciutto at first I
was trying to make it Italians the
Python and you coming yeah you know you
were always trying to make it Italian
should be fluffy and crunchy at the same
time definitely with the sauce and the
mayonnaise all together and the Maumee
bonito flakes off it's like steaming it
seems like oftentimes everyone has to
label something like the pizza of this
the pizza of that like sometimes this is
called Japanese pizza either of you have
an opinion on that I think calling this
Japanese pizza is doing a disservice to
pizza in Japan
is legit amazing amazing stories from
Japan about people spending a lot of
time and Napoles studying going back to
Japan and doing it even better in Japan
than in Italy so I'm looking forward to
that trip slightly nervous because this
is very filling but I know we have one
more stop to go so I'm just gonna save a
little bit up top because everything's
been so good so far so we're gonna roll
up to high collar now we're known for a
key southern style coffee program and
our cuts sandwich and Omer rice
Sakura we're shifting gears here in a
major way it would seem you've handed me
this knife what do we have going on in
front of us right now so that nice is to
open up the belly of the own right we're
going down I love a good cross-section
it's a gooey situation here can you tell
me what is this exactly
so it's an omelet on top of a ketchup
rice so this tile of food is yo chakra
yo means has the character of the west
and Shoku is food so you're doing
western food which is very very common
in Japan actually it's something you eat
with your friends as well as at home
your mom makes this kind of stuff this
is a breakfast item or any time of the
day any time of the day so good let's
move on to the katsu sandwich
so you just eat it with some yeah and
just go in just go in and it's our
tartar sauce on the side mmm was that
little barbecue sauce on them it's our
cuts to sauce it has a little bit of
Tang a little bit of three matches
really well with the fried pork means
I'm Japan takes any food from anywhere
else it seems like it's always better in
Japan I don't know what it is but you
guys just do everything good over there
all right Frank I know that your bar is
high when it comes to Japanese cuisine
how did we do today you think this is
amazing I mean for me I thought I knew
this neighborhood pretty well already
but we got the behind-the-scenes tour
today all three spots were amazing
whether it was the soba noodles I had
them in different ways I've never had
before delicious I mean then hitting the
soccer street food it's just like that's
that's a comfort food for me as well
I really enjoyed it if you want the best
Japanese food in New York Little Tokyo
that's where you'll find it thank you if
you want the best damn pizza show on
cable that's Frankie nello show it's the
pizza show season two on Vice land first
we feast you already know
[Music]
guys got me thinking about my Chipotle
days