Mitsuwa

It used to be called Yaohan. It is a Japanese grocery/kitchen store/food court. They have stores in California, New Jersey and Arlington Heights, Illinois.

Before I really got into food I was somewhat-obsessive about toys. So up until 4 years ago I had been buying udon in the food court and Godzilla bandai snap-together candy toys at the grocery store known now as Mitsuwa.

Instead of Tetsujin pariphanallia I buy dumpling sauce, dried noodles, frozen noodles, mushrooms, and things that I can't explain.

Needless to say I don't ask the proper questions usually because I don't know what those questions are. There are hundreds of sauces, dozens of soy sauces, dried noodles, frozen noodles, whole wheat noodles, seemingly identical items that have a 30-40% price difference (Japanese brands?). My trick is to loiter and buy what others seem to buy or if I can figure out a question – "Which is the best soy sauce for cooking? Rice vinegar?" etc.

Undoubtably there will be items that I must buy because I can't guess what they are or the packaging is so fricken cool that I need it (remember orbitz soda?).

I got a shot of some mushrooms that look great and I'm sure will make it into a soup or stir-fry but for the sake of the moment it will be the first Chicago Foodies trivia question... what are they and what SHOULD they be used for? See Pic.

The refrigerated udon noodles are awesome. The sesame oil is the best sesame oil I've ever had, Shirakiku, and their dumpling sauce selection is great however I always end up buying something that I see at the Devon Market 3 days later.

Mitsuwa is a great way to kill 2 hours. You can get soup to break up your oblivious wandering through what children may think of a grocery store. There are so many colors and shapes and things that look great but whose function is almost unknowable. I have half a mind to schedule a tour with a translator but I don't want to ruin Mitsuwa's mysterious fantastic quality.

100 E. Algonquin Road,
Arlington Hts., IL 60005
(847)956-6699
9:00AM - 8:00PM

Comments

[JJZ]

Not to spoil the magic, but inside the cap of the Ramune pop, you can pop out the little opening tool, which sits on top of the bottle and easily presses the marble into the little marble holder section of the bottle. I think you have to break the bottle to get the marble out.

[JJZ]

Oh, and no matter how carefully I do it, it still seems to make a mess.

[eatchicago]

Are those mushrooms dried? If so, my favorite use for dried Asian mushrooms is for soups. Reconstitute them in hot water, strain and reserve some of the liquid to add to the soup stock (either true dashi or the powder from the udon packs benefits from some mushroom stock). Slice the mushrooms and add to your soup. Good stuff.

Is there any english on the pack at all? Can you get us a close up photo of one of the mushrooms?

[josh]

They sure are dried! Got a shot of the text on the back...
I knew I should have insisted on buying that mushroom book.

[josh]

I s'pose posting the text ruins the trivia fun...
anyway.

Wood fungus is prized in Chinese cuisine for its crunchy texture and therefore added to dishes only for the last few minutes of cooking. Delightful in salads, soups and stir-fries, it has no flavour of its own, but absorbs the seasonings it is cooked with.

Purchasing and storing: In its dried form there is a choice between the small variety which looks like flakes of greyish-black paper; or the larger variety which, even in its dried state, measures about 5-8cm (2-3 in) across and is black on one side, grey or beige on the other. After soaking, these need to be sliced into strips. All dried fungi keep well if stored airtight.

Preparation: Fungus must be soaked in warm water prior to use (15 minutes for small, 30 minutes for large). It swells to many times its size. After soaking, the fungus is rinsed thoroughly and trimmed of the tough, gritty part where it was attached to the wood. Then, particularly if using the large variety, it is cut into pieces of a suitable size and shape before adding to a dish.

Burma: kyet neywet
China: mo-ei; wun yee
Indonesia: kuping jamu
Japan: kikurage
Malaysia: kuping tikus, cendawan telinga kera
Thailand: hed hunu

http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/special/1999/asian/fungus.html

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