Matsugen: Summer Special

My sorority big sis, a rising jetsetter powerhouse, comes to New York City every so often for business and pleasure. This time, she had a huge craving for black cod with miso, so we decided to convene at Matsugen in Tribeca—the (nearly identical-in-appearance) successor of Jean-George's 66—for dinner. Their summer promotion was an elegant and indulgent five-course meal, tagged with a Restaurant Week price. More pics and meal details on the next page!

Sake Bar Hagi

Sake Bar Hagi is one of my favorite not-so-well kept secrets (I love telling people about this place and I hate telling people about this place). For me, it is probably the ONLY restaurant worth going to around Times Square.

EN Japanese Brasserie

EN Japanese Brasserie began their lunch service three months ago and would advertise the menu in my office building's lobby. So every day coming into work, I would walk by it and predictably do a double take on the words: CRISPY FRIED CHICKEN. Well finally today, I got the chance to check it out with my good friend S. We practically had the entire front of the restaurant to ourselves, which made it quite a zen-like experience. I ordered the Unadon (grilled eel over rice, served with mizuna and watercress salad w/ ponzu dressing and housemade miso soup) for $13 and a side of Buta Bara to Renkon no Kinpira (thinly sliced pork belly & sauteed lotus root) for $5. S ordered the Crispy Fried Chicken (served with the same salad, freshly made tofu with wari joyu, chef's selection of obanzai & oshinko, steamed white rice and miso soup) for $13. While I thoroughly enjoyed my unadon and pork belly and lotus root, I was quite covetous of S's lunch set's presentation and variety. Fortunately, she was kind enough to let me sample everything on her plate. It was a great way to end an otherwise dreary (and rainy) Friday.

Bento Box Battles: Koo Sushi

Contestant: Koo Sushi

Location: 142 W Houston St,West Village

Order: Salmon Teriyaki Bento Box

Bento Box Battles: Sushi Samba 7

I've had many "bento box" lunch specials in my day, but have a hard time keeping track of all of them. The objective of this mini project is to determine where are the best places to order bento boxes from in the Tribeca/SoHo/West Village area. First up is Sushi Samba 7!

Tuesday Night Live at Sushi Uo

UrbanDaddy's Sushi Uo's Tuesday Night Live blurb definitely caught my attention.

Chef David Bouhadana's hard-to-find LES  sushi spot announces "Tuesday Night Live," in which a diverse community of octopus, abalone, pen shell, scallop orange clams and surf clams meet their untimely demise right in front of your eyes, before finding their way to your mouth. Management warns that there may be some twitching.

Three trains from the Upper West Side, a few walking blocks, and a wrong turn into a downstairs bar later, I had finally made it to Sushi Uo. I didn't make a reservation since I wasn't sure when A could get out of work to meet me, but the two best seats in the house (alongside the sushi bar where you can see all of the action) were still open. While I waited for my companion to arrive, I tried the Kurosawa Kimoto Junmai Sake (smooth, tad spicy, served at room temperature) and watched Chef David Bouhadana slam pieces of raw fish into the cutting board. Some of the pieces slightly writhed after impact (and silently screamed), but that was the extent of the drama. There was no tank of live specimen nor creatures that would crawl off of your plate. That was probably a good thing for A's sake.

Zuma London

A fabulous contemporary Japanese dinner at Zuma in Knightsbridge, London. Top to bottom: Hamachi sashimi with some diced pepper and pickled garlic slice, ridiculously buttery seared teriyaki sea scallops topped with caviar, and the view from my seat.

Zuma
5 Raphael St
Knightsbridge, London
Reservations recommended

Haru Upper West Side

Spicy sushi at Haru Upper West Side

From the East

Top to bottom: Traditional Japanese breakfast at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo. Soup dumplings in Shanghai. Steamed crab at my parents' house in CT.