Niigataology

Bolognese Sauce (Tomato Ketchup Bolognese. Butter. Garlic. Round onion) Bolognese Dishes: Niigata Italian Yakisoba known as "Italian" features Bolognese sauce with a unique twist on the traditional Niigata dish of yakisoba. It's known as a class B Gourmet dish and is said to be believed to have originated in 1959. The dish is typically served with chopsticks, though the spaghetti is eaten with forks as a much cleaner version of the original spaghetti bolognese. Both Niigata Spaghetti Bolognese and Niigata Italian Yakisoba are not exact replica of a traditional Italian Ragù alla bolognese. It is a local speciality that is the comfort food and comfort sauce of Niigata-ken.

  Burakku Yakisoba is a type of Yakisoba that used squid-ink and Itoigawa City in Niigata Prefecture has its own variation of the B-class gourmet food that was developed by the Itoigawa Umaimonkai (糸魚川うまいもん会). The idea for the dish was Chef Hironori Tsukioka 月岡浩徳さん of Gettoku Hanten where he thought about his mothers dish “Squid Tsutsuyaki” a stuffed squid dish of bamboo shoots, shiitake mushrooms, and grilled with sweet and salty miso. Itoigawa Yakisoba traditionally made the dish to use chinese-noodles, squid-ink, and use local Itoigawa squid which follows the season chart. Winter Yariika “Arrow Squid”, Spring Hotaruika “Firefly Squid”, Fall Aoriika “Bigfin Reef Squid”, Kouika Cuttlefish, and Year-round Maika “True Squid”.  The dish was decidedly developed for the reason that differentiating its food from other regions would be difficult with local ingredients, local traditions, and no exploration of creative dishes. When noodles are sourced locally the noodles can taste rea...

Niigata Yakisoba is known as “The Soul food of Niigata” is something warm, affordable, and delicious to Niigata residents and is well known from its legacy of Niigata-Italian Cuisine. No other is as known as the salty cooked up noodles with vegetables with a poured on sauce as Niigata Yakisoba that is referred to as “Mikazuki Sauce” [Crescent Moon Sauce]. It is said to be a Worcestershire Sauce, however those who have tasted it know that it is a mixture of a complete “Yakisoba Sauce” that is lighter in flavor so that it goes well with sauces while adding a complimentary flavor, so if they are being polite they refer to it also as “Niigata Worcestershire Sauce”. The noodles are a “medium-thick sized” traditionally, however there are “medium sized” noodles, and “thin-sized” that are made of wheat flour noodles. It is standard to eat many of the dishes with a fork. Gyoza is a common set addition to Niigata Yakisoba due to the popularity of the Gyoza from the restaurant “Friend” in 1963 th...