I believe it’s midnight 27-28 days in advance.
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Update #1 (5/15/19):
Since I arrived at the ROW an hour early, I decided to do a little pre-gaming:
chocolate walnut cookie at The Manufactory
Very crispy…chocolate-y with hint of nuttiness
clams from somewhere at Rappahannock
Sandy AF
oysters from somewhere at Rappahannock
They’re a dollar each since it’s happy hour but they’re flavorless…
Note: Special thanks to Chef Go for providing me description of each course
Summary: Another fun dinner that’s almost flawlessly executed. On a second thought, why can’t other simple cooking be as good as Hayato’s?
Highlight:
- hokkaido scallop and chrysanthemum greens with tosazu jelly
- kobashira and udo tempura
- tai, santa barbara spot prawn, hokkaido uni sashimi, fresh nori
- nodoguro and lotus root
- harrys berries, kinako cream
Welcome sake is sweet and floral
totally forgot what champagne this is
Course #1: hokkaido scallop and chrysanthemum greens with tosazu jelly - Highlight
Excellent balance between sweetness of the slightly charred but rare scallop and acidity in the jelly. The dashi braised greens further echo the dish’s ocean salinity.
Course #2: kobashira and udo tempura - Highlight
I would liken the surf clam abductor muscle’s flavor to a more savory and pleasantly chewy scallop or perhaps even the flavor of a dried scallop. The young udo shoot, on the other hand, reminds me of a tender and mild tasting asparagus. Both tempura are simply shatteringly crispy.
Course #3: kasugodai bo-zushi
The soft and vinegar-y baby red snapper melds very well into the bed of toothsome shari mixed with minty shiso. But I do prefer Chef Go’s aji bo-zushi since the fattier aji coats my mouth with its delectable unctuousness.
Unfortunately, there’s a small scale on my fish.
Course #4: dungeness crab suimono
The feather-light clear dashi pairs well with the inherent sweetness of the dungeness crab meat which is ever so lightly bound together by kanimiso (crab innards).
What are the chances? I ended up with 3 pieces of cartilage mixed into my crab meat.
Course #5: tai, santa barbara spot prawn, hokkaido uni sashimi, fresh nori - Highlight
Excellent. Shoutout to the live spot prawn that has an incredibly snappy texture.
Course #6: katsuo tataki
The early season lean bonito has a hint of smokiness from the charred skin and the use of soy and various aromatics like grated ginger, citrus, and daikon radish really brought out the delicate tuna flavor.
Course #7: nodoguro and lotus root - Highlight
Hayato’s nodoguro’s still one of the best piece of fish I’ve ever had. Its combination of clean oily flavor, soft, flakey flesh, and charred crispy skin is dangerously intoxicating. The side of soy brushed lotus root is grilled over binchotan for over 40 mins to achieve a slightly crisped yet chewy exterior while retaining its inherent snappy texture inside.
Course #8: kisu in fava bean ankake
The expertly fried kisu is quite lean and delicate in flavor so I’m glad it’s paired with a equally light but thickened dashi that’s amped up with a just touch of grassy note from the chopped fava bean.
According to Chef Go, this A5 Omi Wagyu he uses is much beefier in taste than A5 from both Miyazaki or Kagoshima and cost roughly 30% more. The slices in the picture are about $20 each.
Course #9: a5 omi gyu shabu shabu, komatsuna, bamboo, shiitake
The wagyu is incredibly buttery and beefy but the star of the dish is actually the dashi. Bonito flakes in this dashi are steeped at a higher temperature and for much longer so the broth carries an intense flavor that’s able to withstand the wagyu.
Course #10: konoko (sea cucumber ovaries) and sake
This rare delicacy is lightly salted and carries a very unique flavor that I liken to a cross between an intensely briny uni and Chinese salted fish. Texture wise, it reminds me of a slippery sausage casing. Super interesting indeed!
Course #11: sawara yuan yaki rice pot, miso soup, pickles
I ended up with 4 bowls with each one getting progressively bigger. The distinctly aromatic sansho leaves offer bursts of freshness to lighten up the fish and soy meshi. According to Chef Go, he prefers a roughly 1 to 1 fish to rice ratio.
Course #12: harrys berries, kinako cream - Highlight
Bar none the best strawberries I’ve ever had. They’re superbly tender with just enough acidity to balance its intense sweetness. The kinako (soybean flour) cream, while not as light as pastry cream, has a touch of toasty flavor that made its pairing with the strawberries really unique and fun.
Extras…all ended up in my belly
Banana Cream Tart from The Manufactory
Post-Hayato bang at home. It’s glorious.
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Nice pics. Thanks for sharing the knife he wields - Tsukiji Masamoto.
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What a wonderful meal…sorry about your couple of mishaps. I need to try to get in, again.
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Stepping up your photo game! Great pics!
Shame about the oysters. They look really good and full of water. Surprised to hear that they were flavorless.
Killer photos and report!
Nice, your welcome sake is none other than the highly sought after Juyondai which every Asian sake drinker over there lusts over and pays premiums to pursue.
Full name is Juyondai Honmaru Tokubetsu Honjozo Namazume 十四代 本丸 特別本釀造 生詰. It has distilled alcohol added (otherwise it would be a Tokubetsu Junmai/pure rice), and the sake rice used is Gohyakumangoku, polished to 55%. Delicious and smooth for this unicorn brewery offering for sure, and crisp/clean. It is actually the baseline / “cheapest” offering, although on the black market you are looking at a minimum of US$350 in Japan, which means it commands higher in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, if somehow made its way there. Typically only sold in 1.8 L bottles…possible this was gifted/brought over when Ishikawa san visited (apparently he came during a recent weekend, and then went back to Tokyo).
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Ding ding ding! We have a winner!
Apparently, there is a single seat open at Hayato in the next 3 nights. If you haven’t been or are itching to go again…
Remember, price is going up by 20% very soon.
This also includes the bento boxes
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WHAT THE FUCK?! YA GOTTA BE FUCKING KIDDING ME! Who in their right mind would plagiarize off me?! LOL!
Anyone know this Andy Gavin guy?
wow that’s pretty blatant.
Andrew Scott “Andy” Gavin (born June 11, 1970) is an American video game programmer, designer, entrepreneur, and novelist. In the video game industry, he is known for co-founding the video game company Naughty Dog with childhood friend Jason Rubin in 1986, where games such as Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter were released to critical acclaim.[1] The sophistication of Naughty Dog technology is often credited to Gavin’s background in LISP at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.[2]
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What a weird thing to do!
Andy Gavin was a video game designer that made a bunch of money and was one of the partners in the doomed Ramen Roll in Culver City.
Anyone has Twitter? Maybe one of you good samaritan can post on his Twitter and link him to this post/and to remove his plagiarized posts.
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That’s wild!!! Until you posted (and until I remembered that y’all have posted together) I thought @PorkyBelly must have doxxed you.
Here’s his twitter, with a link to your work at the top:
https://twitter.com/asgavin
I don’t tweet much myself but if no one else wants to/is going to I could reach out to him. Or you could make an account and privately message him.
I’ve seen his name around and he is social friends with some big name gourmets, industry people, and wine fiends.
Just wow… there goes his cred
@moonboy403 or do nothing and start using words like dope, shiznit, lit, tight, delisioso, yummy, #YOLO, dopeass, badass, use more emoji’s and other millennial slang more in your descriptions and see what happens to that blawg of his.
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I’ve seen him with kevineats a lot.
Hardly anyone will ever know about this besides the few of us FTCers 
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