Eating Japanese in NYC

Two friends asked for an “authentic Japanese food experience” in New York. And to go all out. Here was the itinerary for our six hour, three restaurant, one Michelin star evening. Yum.

*Update Dec 2013 -- Sadly, Restaurant Tokyo closed its doors at the end of 2013. Tori Shin and Sakagura still strong though.

7 PM – Restaurant Tokyo
First stop was Restaurant Tokyo on Lexington between 39th and 40th. This is one of the older Japanese establishments in NY, and is usually packed with Japanese businessmen. They have an extensive izakaya menu, and "hire zake" which is hot sake infused with braised blowfish fin. I thought this would be a great place for appetizers. Here's what we had...

• Hire zake 鰭酒 - cup of hot sake with blowfish fin. They light a match to burn off the alcohol


• Tako wasabi たこわさ - raw octopus with wasabi, great dish to try fresh wasabi, really brings taste out


• Ankimo あん肝 - monkfish liver slices with tofu


• Uni yamaimo うに山芋 - sea urchin with yam matchsticks, delicious


• Kuwai chips クワイチップ - 'kuwai' is a root vegatable, "arrowhead" per wikipedia. Made into a savory chip


• Sashimi moriawase 刺身盛り合わせ – an 'omakase' plate of sashimi came with fatty tuna, tuna, mackeral, octopus, fluke, and two other white fish. The buri, or mature yellowfin, was oily and delicious


• Shouchu ume wari 焼酎 - for our second drink, we got shochu (Japanese vodka) with hot water and a ume (pickled plum)


• Shungiku gomaae 春菊胡麻和え - shungiku is a Japanese green, a little thick and lightly bitter, but great blanched with sesame and light miso sauce


• Satoimo agedashi 里芋揚げだし - fried satoimo, a yam that melts when it's cooked, in a dashi broth

9 PM – Tori Shin
Tori Shin is an amazing yakitori restaurant on 1st Ave between 64th and 65th. They just got a Michelin star, which is pretty amazing for a place that does chicken skewers. It smells amazing the moment you walk in.

The restaurant recommends their set menu course - appetizer, six meat skewers, two vegetable skewers, rice dish and dessert for $55 per person - but since this was our second stop and I wanted us to sample as many kinds as possible so we went a la carte.

• Hakkaisan 八海山 - we had a bottle of Hakkaisan, one of my favorite sakes


• Chicken sashimi - think slices of chicken with yuzukosho (paste of citrus and pepper), divine
  
• Thigh かしわ - just chicken thigh, but juicy and perfectly cooked, one of our favorites


• Thigh with saikyo miso, yuzukosho - miso is a little sweet, the citrus yuzu with pepper


• Breast meat with umeshiso - pickled plum and shiso leaf paste


• Harami, bonchiri - rib and tail, respectively. Bonchiri is one of my favorite, savory and flavorful


• Hatsu, sunagimo - heart and gizzard, a little tougher, gritty texture and great flavor
• Liver - it's liver, so you have to like the texture and taste, though it's worth trying once at a yakitori place
• Kawa - skin, a bit fatty but wonderful crispy outside


• Tebasaki - crispy chicken wing on a bone


• Tsukune - chicken meatball and dip in a egg yolk and sauce mix, favorite!


• Ton toro - pork belly with garlic miso


• Uzura no tamago 鶉の卵 - quail egg, yum


• Duck w asparagus 鴨アスパラ巻き


• Wagyu - fantastic beef with wasashi soy sauce


• Ginnan, shishito - gingko nuts and green bitter pepper

11 PM – SakaguraSakagura is an amazing sake bar and restaurant, hidden away in the basement of a nondescript office building on 43rd Street between 2nd and 3rd. Their kitchen is open until 12:30 AM on Saturdays, so great spot to finish the evening with some snacks and sake tasting.

We started with a three glass flight – we asked for more dry than sweet, and the waiter gave us a Otokoyama junmai daiginjo, a Suishin junmai, and Kikusui honjoushu.

One of my favorite dishes of all time is the onsen tamago, or hot spring egg, which is soft boiled egg in a dashi broth with ikura (salmon roe) and uni(sea urchin). It is an amazing broth and the combination of the decadent ingredients with the soft yolk is out of this world.

I had the Matsukura for my second glass, another very rich and syrupy sake (like Chardonnay)

We finished the evening with some onigiri, or rice balls - ikura (salmon roe), mentaiko (spicy cod roe), and a grilled miso rice ball

Other places
There were some other restaurants that were in contention for the itinerary

• Totto (55th bet 8th & Broadway) has the same yakitori quality as Totto, nicer, and close to the other places


• Aburiya Kinnosuke (45th bet 2nd & 3rd) has a good izakaya menu like Restaurant Tokyo, along with their grilled foods


• Hatsuhana (48th bet Madison & 5th) is a solid choice for sushi


• Sake Bar Decibel (9th bet 2nd & 3rd) is the younger, hipper sibling of Sakagura. Same owners but in the East Village and much more casual