Book Review: The Japanese Art of the Cocktail by Masahiro Urushido and Michael Anstendig
The spirit that Masa Urushido brings to his sweet, welcoming West Village bar, Katana Kitten, and everything that is painstakingly made there, is equal parts easy-going joy and the kind of practiced precision that allows for the latter. It is what he cites as the most important aspect of Japanese bartending and culture in general: omotenashi, that country’s devoted notion of selfless hospitality. Sure, this Japanese-American mash up of a cocktail lounge is a giddy gallop through pop culture icons as well as a haven of highballs, but they aren’t just any ol’ spirit and soda combo (as you’ll quickly find out in the section on his recipes for them—this is the man, after all, who blazed through 120 cases of Suntory Toki whisky in his first 5 months of being open because they are so damn good). Urushido’s commitment to hospitality is in every detail of his bar, and every page of his book, The Japanese Art of the Cocktail ($30, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), co-written with Michael Anstentig. And it’s awfully engrossing to pour over and, oddly, encouraging to try out, hand-carved ice spheres and all.
Viva La Difference
Or maybe it’s not that odd. While some bartender’s layered and laboratory approach to ingredient making and cocktail concocting can be pretty intimidating, there’s something about Urushido’s simultaneous humble respect for the process, along with a generous spirit of explanation—from how he to perfects his “Fluffy Style” hard shake, creating a pretty, frothy, light-as-air texture in his drinks, and how to craft perfect ice shapes--that draws you in and makes you absolutely want to try your hand at some of the 80 recipes contained in the 280 some-odd pages of this book. But before you even get to that, he lays the groundwork for gaining an understanding of a few important (if not entertaining) cornerstone concepts, like where he comes from (rural Minowa, Japan in the Nagano Prefecture, smack in the middle of that island nation), what drives Japanese food and cocktail culture, what is Japanese whisky, sake, and shochu, and what makes Japanese bars and bartending different from the American versions, among other pieces of knowledge that have informed his own unique and studied style of making drinks.
Don’t Skip the Story
Masahiro Urushido photo credit Eric Medsker
The name Katana Kitten tells you a lot about Urushido’s style—in Japenese, a katana is a samurai sword; and kitten, well, it’s a cute playful thing that makes you smile. The juxtaposition of the two is part of the secret to Urushido’s success since opening the Kitten in 2018, surviving a global pandemic and, now, using at least part of that time productively to write a book, which isn’t just your typical compendium of easy banter and recipes. It’s a journey—through his early life and young adulthood, his philosophies, the places and people he learned from and honors with both his words and his work, and how it all applies to the drinks herein.
Even if he isn’t on your radar as a bartender (although, shame alert: He should be), his story is fun to read. From days growing up watching his maternal grandmother cook or tagging along in the garden and rice fields with his paternal grandparents, to his fascination with American culture as an ‘80s kid, to moving to big city Tokyo and finding his way as a bartender, starting in little karaoke bars and working his way up to the higher echelons of Japanese hospitality, to making it in New York.
For a cocktail book, this is a lot of preamble to the main event—the cocktails—but do not skip it. Not only is it full of the romance of big city dreams so many of us have, but thanks to Urushido’s clear desire to share (and Anstentig’s familiarity with Japanese culture and solid writing chops), what these first 50 pages will do for you is help you to understand why it’s worth the extra effort to learn techniques, take your time, and source the right ingredients (for which there is a multi-page, multi-state Resource guide in the back, as well as a half-dozen pages devoted to identifying and clearly explaining the particular Japanese ingredients used here). It’s a wonderful extension of this denizen of dapper drinks and an ode to the schools where Urushido learned his craft, both back home in Japan and here in the States, apprenticing first with tough-love Japanese hospitality giants and, later, among the kings and queens of the craft cocktail boom in New York City.
Techniques, Recipes & Food
Meguroni cocktail photo credit Eric Medsker
The drinks themselves are broken down into two parts consisting of five chapters. Part One is Katana Kitten mainstays: Urushido’s unique way with highballs, boilermakers, and other classic and not-so-classic cocktails. Here, things range from the very, very complex (if you’ve never considered trying your hand at making cranberry sous-vide aquavit, now you can), to the satisfying, artful simplicity in making a perfect Japanese highball (super-chilled whisky; quality, chilled soda water; 1 to 5 ratio of whisky to bubbles; expressed lemon garnish). Part Two is a wonderful compendium of recipes from Urushido’s mentors, friends, teachers, compatriots, and colleagues, and they are deliciously fun. Part Three? Food! And the “secret sauce,” as he dubs it, of the all-important Japanese flavor, umami. It’s just enough of a tidbit—10 recipes total—to make you hungry, and each is both familiar and fascinating enough to make them entirely likely to hit heavy rotation for your own home entertaining.
You may not really know where to keep this tome—with your cookbooks or cocktail books. Or maybe even on your bedside, to read about the ritual of millennia of drinking and eating traditions all compounded here among the words, wisdom, and gorgeous photos (so nicely done by Eric Medsker). “The art of the cocktail is still something that I endeavor to improve and perfect each and every day,” writes Urushido. “So it is in that spirit of deep humility that I offer this book to the drinking world.” And so, in turn, we should gratefully accept.