About Cho-Tabetai

Shoko and I

I love to cook. I love to eat. I love to dance. I love to design. These are serious passions in my life. I thought that I would put a lot of recipes in this blog when I started it, but it seems to have turned out to be mostly about eating—which is fine with me. Eventually I will get around to posting more of my recipes.

I am 30, male, white, pierced, sleeved and living in New York (Brooklyn). I work as a media designer focusing on interactive work. I spin breakbeats & electro. If you are into dance music, stop by my monthly breaks night in New York.

My influences in cooking and eating (in order of favorite) are Japanese, French & Korean. I would have no problems if I ate panchan (Korean side dishes) three meals a day for the rest of my life, and I basically eat Japanese daily as it is. It’s hard to say what my favorite dish is, but I can tell you nattou is some awesome stuff. Cooking heroes would be Thomas Keller (of course) and Morimoto-sama. Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee scare the bejesus out of me.

Cho-tabetai is a very informal way to say “I want to eat that” in Japanese.

If you are interested to see more of my work, my portfolio site is here.

Thanks for stopping by,

~John Politowski

7 Responses to “About Cho-Tabetai”

  1. Jennifer, on January 4th, 2008 at 1:57 am Said:

    Your designs and photos are are just gorgeous!

    I love Japanese food, too! However, I live in Shenzhen, China (just over the border from Hong Kong), so I get more Chinese food than anything. For the most part, It is NOTHING like what we get in North America, except maybe some of the Cantonese stuff you can get in various Chinatowns.

    Keep up the good work!

    Jennifer

  2. John Cho-Tabetai, on January 19th, 2008 at 8:49 pm Said:

    If anyone is interested in what I shoot with, it’s a 8 year old digital camera… an Olympus 3000z. It shoots completely manual, usually in macro mode without the flash. Occasionally I will shoot with my iphone, but the photos tend to turn out grainy indoors.

  3. Alejandra, on January 30th, 2008 at 2:39 pm Said:

    Hey John,

    Just wanted to say that I love the site (content and design). There are so many blogs out there that it’s always great to come across one with a great format like this. Will definitely be back!

  4. foodzings, on March 21st, 2008 at 4:18 pm Said:

    i can only dream of having a food blog this stunning… you’re making me ravenous!

  5. sugarpond, on April 3rd, 2008 at 2:02 am Said:

    awesome food blog, i’m bookmarking you!

  6. ippai yupparai, on April 14th, 2008 at 4:55 pm Said:

    I moved to Philly from Ebisu about a year ago and have been looking for a place to meet some Japanese people and get a good Chu-hi or at least a bottle of Shochu so I can make my own. Does anyone know where to go?

    Thanks
    mm2oleary@gmail.com

  7. John (Cho-Tabetai), on April 15th, 2008 at 3:05 pm Said:

    @ippai yupparai: I was never able to find Shochu in philly. The best I can offer you is Aoi has shochu you can drink at the bar. I have to go up to Mitsuwa market in New Jersey (outside New York City) to get it.

    I know it’s not shochu, but I was also looking in philly for soju the korean liquor which I did eventually find at the liquor store on 69th street (near market). It’s behind the counter, you have to ask for it.

    You way want to try the PA liquor boards site. You may be able to special order shochu.

    Good luck

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