Adventures in Japanese Street Food

On one of my first few dates with Jerry, I ate penis.  Hi Mom!  I believe when Jerry asked me whether I would try it, my response was "I'm always down to eat some dick!" I'm pretty sure it's the moment he fell in love with me.

You could say that we're adventurous eaters. Jerry more so then myself. If there is something bizarre and unusual on a menu, Jerry will find it, order it, and then try to make it at home. I can't even tell you what his "home version" of penis was. Don't worry, Mom. I didn't fall for it. :)

Kenka is a Japanese restaurant on St. Mark's Place in the Village. It specializes in Japanese street food and is delicious. It's kind of a dive-y place, but worth the salmonella risk! There are times, usually when intoxicated, that I will crave the okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake). I was excited about taking Jerry there because dive-y places is kind of his thing and the menu is filled with oddities. Plus, they give you free cotton candy (perfect for a diabetic!).

okonomiyaki

For starters, we ordered the raw salted squid, which taste like...well, salt, but squishier. We also ordered giant oysters that were the size of your fist! Initially, these babies were difficult to get down. They needed several bites. At the time, I thought they were mildly disgusting, like trying to ingest giant boogers (hey, we've all tried one, no?). Now when I think about it, they were better then boogers.

Oysters the size of your head!

We also ordered frog. No, not frog legs, but an entire frog. I felt badly eating the little guy, but he was delicious. I tried to justify that he's part of the fish family. Kermit made Jerry want to go out and make frog legs. It does mildly resemble the taste of chicken.

Kermit

And, then finally, the feast de'resistance...the penis! Bull penis, that is. Be not afraid my friends.

Mmmm....penis

It was.....creamy (eewwww). Actually, Jerry and I have differing views on the texture. I thought it had the texture of over-cooked calamari. Jerry describes it more as spongy. Notice I haven't mentioned taste yet. Mostly because it had none. It just tasted like whatever the sauce it was in.

So there you go! There's my first installment of our food adventures! Hope you enjoyed the penis!

Penis.