Yakitorishin is located on upper east side. I almost never go to that area since it’s so out of the way and everything tends to be sophisticated & expensive. For a classmate’s departure to Florida, we went to Yakitorishin to celebrate with iced tea and skewers.
Atsuage (Deep Fried tofu)- same color as my plate…It’s like the exact tone, saturation and light!
Food at Yakitorishin is traditional & pricey but good. Restaurant is small so reserve ahead of time.
During a 20 minute break of a one shot Sunday class, I found O cafe in Greenwich. Due to proximity, lack of time, sleep deprivation and starvation, I went in and had a cup of Medium coffee (Size is small for a medium) and a croissant.
European portions but deliciously buttery flaky croissant and smooth, strong coffee.
Simple, ecofriendly and comfortable. Very short post 🙂
There is a new Japanese restaurant near the garment district! Yay! The garment district which is extremely close to Times square is devoid of restaurants of any specialty; Hell’s kitchen might seem close but when walking two blocks takes you ten minutes and lunch is an hour long which consisted of getting your lunch and consuming it- you don’t have much time to venture off to Hell’s kitchen. Therefore I was extremely excited to discover Ootoya.
First off, there is an Ootoya down by Flatiron. They offer a wider array of dishes, mostly appetizers. I had been there last year and did not know what to order. The Ootoya at Midtown West offers the main staples minus the appetizers; if I had chance to go back in time, I’d skip all the appetizers and order the main sets instead (although the descriptions make it traditional and boring).
Shodo (Japanese calligraphy) canvas on red walls with beautiful ceramics as decors!
Wooden bar ceilings and paper lights!
Bars with seatings
Sake bottles by the bar, wooden interior
Shima Hokke Ootoya Teishoku set- served with rice, miso soup (pork and vegetables), homemade pickles and steamed egg custard with Shima Hokke (Grille Atka Mackerel) (from web site)- The mackarel is grilled to perfection meaning it’s crispy outside and juicy inside without being overcooked.
Steam egg custard with a bit of salted yolk on top is as light and silky as possible- tastes like fresh tofu in your mouth.
Homemade pickles is lightly pickled and tastes almost fresh.
Miso soup is delicious and healthy with grainy miso paste if you don’t stir well enough.
Kabucha is sweet squash! There is also seaweed and grated radish on the side.
I really like the set; it feels very organic and healthy. Don’t get this if you’re on a date unless you’re an expert fish bone picker! I had to use my hand a few times to get the bones out as the oyaji (old man in Japanese) sitting at the next table looked at me disapprovingly, probably thinking what an amateur.
Zooming in on the wonderful presentation of Steamed egg custard. Yum!
Ootoya “Teishoku”- Buta Shio Koji- Silky Pork Belly is marinated with Ootoya Original Shio Koji (salt-marinated Rice Koji) (from web site)- Naturally seasoned, pork belly is of course very fat and grilled a little bit. It might look tiny on the plate, but this is very filling! Tasty.
Ootoya is a great place for traditional Japanese food. If you want to go during lunch, recommend going at 12 or earlier. We went at 12:15 and had to wait since it is a popular lunch spot. If you want to eat healthy but not sacrifice good taste, I’d go to this place!
Edi & the Wolf is a German restaurant located on the outskirt of Alphabet city on Avenue C. I have read reviews about at least a year ago and had been wanting to try it ever since! Highly anticipated and glad to finally have a good excuse to splurge on a meal, I headed over to Avenue C to find the outside of the restaurant covered in greenery.
From inside of the restaurant. I arrived early at 6:20 or so, the chef was explaining to the servers the dishes they had and the servers were having a tasting of it! I think it’s important the waiters know the dishes so they can give good recommendations.
At each table! Fresh flowers.
WILD LONG ISLAND MUSSELS with Clams- Clams and mussels drenched in white sauce with tomatoes and a bit of green. It is fresh and flavorful.
WIENER SCHNITZEL -Potato Salad, Cucumber Salad, Lingonberry Jam (from website)- Cucumber and potato salads and lingonberry jam are hidden underneath the schnitzel. Pork cutlet is crispy and moist inside, it is the classic dish. If you never had German food before, want to play it safe, this is the dish to get.
Gnocchi with Ox ragu & soft poached egg- gnocchi is mushy in the inside and slightly pan fried in the outside so it has a tad of crispiness, ox ragu is full of beef stew flavor, almost felt like it was braised for hours, with the yolk of the soft poached egg creating a smooth texture and toning down the flavor of the ragu; the egg blends the gnocchi and ragu together creating a sort of bind of texture between saucy and mushiness. The difference in texture mixes well together.
Complementary fries! Crispy with barbecue like sauce and butter sauce on the side.
PARFAIT- Yogurt with Strawberries and granola bottom- Very tarty but creamy and airy parfait. I am not too crazy about the granola crumbs in the bottom but the yogurt is light and tasty.
Edi and the Wolf does not disappoint with its fresh ingredients, amiable staffs and traditional dishes. I love the interior with its rustic decorations which are also functional. For example in the restroom, there is a huge pan they used as the sink, two different hoses serve as faucets for cold and hot water. The food is good and the ambience is great, it could get a bit loud as there are mostly parties of 4 and not really so many couples. The menu also changes seasonally so the one on the website may not be the one you get when you go there; the staples like schnitzel will be there.
Located in Alphabet city, with beer posters hanging on the wall, Ramen banners outside and a simple but hearty menu, Sapporo East is a hole in the wall restaurant with many locals and lots of choices. On a tiring Saturday day after our trek to visit galleries that were not open and galleries with not much to see except disappointment, it was an ideal day for comfort food.
Interior as your typical ramen/sushi/Japanese restaurant. Practical and no nonsense.
Beef Sukiyaki!!- tofu & various vegetables cooked in soy sauce base sukiyaki sauce (from website)- Sukyaki sauce is made with soy sauce, sugar & mirin (Japanese vinegar). It is a bit salty sweet with a tinge of sourness but with rice on the side you can balance the taste. It’s nothing out of the extraordinary, hot pot with a lot of vegetables and meat. The portion is actually quite big and probably enough for two! (Guess who ordered this and had to eat it by herself?!).
Sapporo East has a huge variety so on a day you can’t decide between sushi, ramen, rice dishes, or appetizers, you can go in case you want to change your mind last minute. Everything including the price is decent.
Dream of Japan- Acrylic on 18 x 18 canvas
On Friday, we had an exciting tour of a an award winning interior designer’s office. He was working on an atlas painting for a restaurant he was designing. It was really amazing and it had never crossed my mind as an interior designer you will get to paint!!!!
This painting is inspired by just being able to paint and dreaming of trip to Japan next year…
There is a Dinosaur BBQ located on Union street; the neighborhood is unlikely since the name is loosely associated with motorbikes and BBQ in its unrefined state. If you think of Harlem, then Union street, it’s really two ends of a spectrum. With its famous name and bottled BBQ sauces available anywhere (not to mention my cousin’s fascination with the place since a year or two ago), we decided to give it a try.
Interior with Rustic decorations
Huge selection of draft and bottled beer
Beer Sampler is a great way to try out the variety of beer they have before deciding to settle on one.
To be honest, I just remember the Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale- It’s memorable and tastes more like Bourbon than beer; sweetness of bourbon slowly dissipates in your mouth and leaves a smooth and light bourbon aftertaste.
Sampler for 1-
Drunken Spicy Shrimp Boil – Cold and full of spices but not really anything extraordinary.
• Chicken Wings- You get to choose the sauce you want and we chose honey bbq. Typical wings with great flavor.
• Fried Green Tomatoes- We couldn’t figure out what this was and thought it was fried onions. Any battered and fried can rarely go wrong.
• Deviled Eggs- Standard with creamy yolk.
dino PouTin e- hand-cut fries topped with beef gravy, housemade pimento cheese and pulled pork (from website)- Have never tasted poutine from Canada, but the gravy is much too much heavy and salty. We wished we had skipped this dish.
3 Combos-
Ribs- The sauce is good but the ribs do not fall off the bones. Still go none the less- it’s really hard to describe bbq food because of the singularity of the taste.
Briskets- A bit tasteless and the jalapeño just doesn’t help except to serve as mere garnish.
Chili- Flavorful but does not have that spicy kick.
Mac n cheese- Standard mac and cheese.
Corn bread- light and sweet.
Maybe it is just not my cup of tea, but compared to the bbq joints in Florida, Dinosaur BBQ is mediocre at best. Would I go again? Sure. Am I impressed? Not really. I like the rustic interior with old license plates, vintage posters and its huge selection of draft and craft beer. It’s a nice place to watch a game and just hang out.
The spectators are definitely a part of the show. Upon entering the space, you stare at the seamlessly morphing colors, changing gradually, with rapid rhythm speeding up and so forth, your eyes adjust and at one point, you cannot keep up with the colors. The LED lights are continuously changing colors, you change positions, find yourself an empty spot on the rug in the center of the room. What you see is a monotonous vortex, taking up space physically above you, then mentally, emotionally- shifting your moods. From the soft echoes of the pink lights to the darker shades of purple, it keeps changing until it engulfs all of the space around you in a deep blue color; coming off as black. Sensorially, you feel it. It is in the space of this huge room with so many spectators like you that your mind itself naturally carves a space for your thoughts and attributes meanings and emotions to each emerging color. It’s overwhelming and definitely spiritual as though this space is godly and transient, impossible to contain.
It’s a magical collaboration between the dead artist and the live artist; Turrell and Wright who are not only talented, passionate but understood the magic of space and did not disregard the visitors. They transcend time and space and make you feel like you’re part of their Art and work. It is simply amazing.
nanansa 