Chef Anthony Genovese loves a good challenge. Holding a plate of raw mizunasu eggplant, he bites into a slice and regards the vegetable with the amused admiration of a chess master sizing up a worthy opponent.
"Buono," he says with a wry smile. "I've never had this before. We're going to use it, but I have no idea how."
He gives the same answer when I ask what he'll do with the dried sakura-ebi shrimp that he'd purchased earlier at Toyosu wholesale market. Each no larger than the joint of a finger, the pink crustaceans have an intense saline bite underscored by lingering sweetness.