As a die hard night owl, I am ridiculously excited that Yelapa, one of my favorite local haunts, is staying open until 2am on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

While Houston has a few great late night options, the new Yelapa hours will provide a slightly more sophisticated option for satisying cravings in the wee hours.

I am particularly happy to see the pineapple cebiche on the menu. It’s one of my favorites, and raw(ish) fish til late is going to be awesome!

Chef LJ’s famous ‘real’ guacamole is also available on the late night menu, as well as the usual tacos, a new take on fried calamari, tempura rock shrimp with highly addictive lime aoli, and several other options.

Throw in some tasty cocktail options like a blackberry mojito, Japanese style Blue Moon, some creative micheladas, and a badass margarita, and it’s gonna be a good night.

So now you know where to find me late on a Friday night!

I sampled a bit of this yellow-orange treasure a couple of weeks ago at Kata Robata, my favorite local Japanese restaurant.  Chef Hori introduced the uni, which is apparently quite popular in Japan recently, as uni that has not been preserved with the usual alum additive, but instead soaked only in a 3% (as I remember it) sea salt water solution.  The resulting uni (sea urchin roe for those who haven’t a clue what this is about), is like no other uni I have ever tasted.  While I enjoy the usual uni, alum and all, the ensui uni has a much milder, sweeter flavor that is heavenly.  It also seems to maintain it’s firmness a little better, which allows you to appreciate the texture of each tiny bead of roe as it falls apart against your tongue.  If I am getting a little porny with my description it’s because it IS that good.

With this in mind, I have to back up for a moment and describe my experience with uni up to this point.  I was 12 years old the first time I tried uni.  I was on a trip to San Francisco with my dad when we ventured into a run-of-the-mill Japanese restaurant as we were prone to do when travelling, as Japanese cuisine, and sushi in particular,  has been a favorite of mine ever since my dad thought it would be fun to see if he could get his 7 year-old to try a taste of his tekka maki at the old Tokyo Gardens.  He would go on to remind me constantly into my adulthood how he regretted creating that monster.

I digress.  So we ordered some uni at this San Francisco sushi joint.  Neither of us had ever tried uni before even though my Dad had spent some time in Japan, and we were regulars at the few sushi spots that I was aware of in Houston in the 80s.  Uni was not readily available in Houston at the time as far as I can remember, and if it was it was off my 12-year-old radar.  Ever the adventurous eater, perhaps in spite of my age, I was eager to try it.  However, when it arrived, my dad and I both noted its resemblance to cat poop both in smell and appearance.  After tasting it, I imagined it must also taste like cat poop, though I could not confirm that for obvious reasons.  It made such an impression on me that I did not taste a bit of uni until one of Randy Rucker’s tenacity dinners last year, which had a delicious uni and cauliflower puree.  I have since seen the error of my ways and learned that I should not assume that my tastes are the same as they were when I was 12.  I also assume that the uni I tried then was utter crap, thus ruining my taste for it for over 20 years.

What a strange turn of events.  Until sometime last year I consistently listed uni as one of things I would not likely eat ever, and now I have found bliss in its unadulterated form.  Go figure.

If you love flavors of the ocean, seek out some ensui uni, and please don’t be a stubborn idiot like me and miss out on something wonderful for 20 years.  I will admit that uni is not for everyone, and its strong flavor is off-putting to many, but even if you think you don’t like uni you might love ensui uni.

There is not a lot of information about ensui uni around the interwebs, but this Japanese site has some nice photos and a little text that can be translated with google (why must websites use images for text? ugh).

For your viewing pleasure, some other dishes we enjoyed at Kata Robata:

I just read a post over at opmomblog.com that I need to share.  I need to share it because 1. the photo of the chicken with cherry tomatoes made me hungry just now, and 2. because it appears to be so easy to make.

If you are like me, you have convinced yourself that you really don’t have time to cook anything, so you go down this path of pizza delivery and take-out Chinese, and end up… well… FAT.  Had I read Carrie’s blog posts years ago, perhaps I’d have saved myself the hassle of dieting now.

See, cooking doesn’t have to always be all Emeril or Mario Batali.  Sometimes it can be something simple and lovely like Carrie’s Chicken and Cherry Tomato Saute.

Over this past July 4th holiday weekend, I got the urge to buy an ice cream maker. Part of this urge was no doubt the result of a little OpMom.com inspiration. See, the lovely ladies at OpMom posted a few recipes for “Italian Wedding” goodies over in the recipes section of OpMom.com. If you dig around you’ll find Italian Wedding Cake, Italian Wedding Cake Martini, and even Italian Wedding Tea. Yum.

Enter me, the tenacious foodie. I decided what this list REALLY needed was some Italian Wedding Ice Cream. Is there such a thing? Who cares. The recipe that follows is my first attempt. The recipe needs a few adjustments however, and among the reasons is that the volume was too much for my 2 qt. ice cream maker. I think it could probably use a little more coconut, and after I eat the whole tub have a few more bites, I will think about what might make this ice cream perfect. Please feel free to suggest any modifications as well. When the recipe is final, I will add it to OpMom.com!

2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
pinch salt
1/2 cup sweetened coconut
1/2 cup lightly toasted chopped pecans (about 1-2 min on 400F)
1/2 cup drained crushed pineapple

Combine the first six ingredients in a bowl. Whisk until the sugar dissolves. Pour into the ice cream maker, and churn for about 20 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients when the ice cream has thickened, but still soft enough to mix.

Finish churning (about 10 more minutes) and enjoy!

 Here’s what I tried