Japanese – Page 6 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Soba Koh

309 East 5th Street between First and Second Avenues
212/254.2244
$25 each for three, with three beers, with tip
♥ ♥ ♥

As soon as the the Dr. had a slurp of Soba Koh’s broth, he said, Sobaya has been crushed. Now, we like Sobaya, our usual Sunday lunch destination, but we’ve been wanting something new. Unfortunately, Soba Koh only opens after 5pm, so when we were looking for a place to eat one Thursday night, we agreed to walk over the east side for some hot bowls of soba with a couple bottles of Sapporo.

The kinoko soba is filled with three kinds of mushrooms–enoki, shimeiji and shiitake–and its broth was rich and earthy but subtle at the same time. I ordered the soft-shell crab tempura soba because I’ve been seing fresh soft-shell crabs in Chinatown lately. My broth tasted different from the kinoko’s, a tad lighter and cleaner, even with the deep-fried batter and shellfish on top.

We also got some deep-fried shrimps with their heads on and chicken wings with sansyo peppers for appetizers. Both only whet our appetites. The chicken wings were a little slimey to me, only because I expected them to be fried but instead they were broiled and moist inside. The shrimps were crunchy and even tastier with a squeeze of lime juice. Soba Koh might not have a soba maker on display like Sobaya and Honmura An, but their firm noodles easily compared while their broth exceeded expectations.

Related post/s:
Sobaya before Soba Koh opens up

Gari

370 Columbus Avenue off 78th Street
212/362.4816
$130 for two, with three drinks, with tip
♥

I was craving sushi but did not want to go home too late, so I looked for a sushi place around the upper west side. I found Gari on Columbus Avenue with all its Frank Bruni and Food & Wine writeups on the window and I thought, this could be promising. Because we walked in without a reservation, we weren’t able to sit at the bar. I love ordering the omakase only if I can talk to the sushi chef so that I can watch what’s he’s doing. For ten pieces at about $65 (about $75 if you also want sashimi), I opted for the sushi-by-piece instead. This is my only problem with Gari: the price. We started with the octopus ceviche but I only counted four slivers of octopus in my glass bowl; that comes out about $3 a sliver. I ordered the shrimp and crab rolls because it included woodear mushrooms. I needed to take the rolls apart to look for the mushrooms. I know it’s du jour to be all minimalist, but I’m hungry!

The sushi was pretty good. We ordered our usual favorites: fatty tuna, yellowtail, mackerel, smelt roe with quail egg, fluke and shad. The $14 roll of uni, though, was questionnable. It was fresh but it looked like it was whipped so they ended up looking like melted Kraft cheese. Was this a Zen presentation or was it to save on the uni? The damage with two Sapporos and a glass of Prosecco? $130 for two people. I went home and all I wanted was fried chicken. Next time, I’ll stay in midtown and go back to Sushiden.

Related post/s:
You’ll spend less money at Sushiden

Momofuku Ssam Bar

207 2nd Avenue corner of 13th Street
212/254.3500
$9 for one, with a drink, without tip
â™¥ â™¥ ♥

Remember when the Lambs were all over 5th Street opening up to five restaurants in the area? Two of them, a Korean grill, now Degustation, and Makimono, now occupied by Jack Oyster Bar that was around the corner, have since closed. So can the east Village only be conquered by one person–or one couple–at a time? And is it David Chang’s turn this year?

Every time I walk by Momofuku, it’s packed. I like my Berkshire pork as much as everyone else, but spending $13 on a bowl of somen is hard to swallow at times. Besides, when I am in the mood to spend that much for a bowl of noodle soup, any one of my white guy friends are not available to eat with me–a white guy is the accessory-du-jour at Momofuku if you’re an Asian girl. (Look up from your sticky steamed buns when you go.)

I wish Chef David Chang all the luck now that his second restaurant has opened. From bowls of noodles made fancy by adding Berkshire pork and seasonal ingredients come Korean burritos called ssam made fancy by adding, well, Berkshire pork and other seasonal ingredients. To me, though, a burrito is a burrito: a whole mess of rice, beans and meat wrapped in soft tortilla even if there are Asian touches to it. At Momofuku Ssam Bar, edamame, shiitake mushrooms and kimchi are the culprits. I was ready to surrender towards the end of my heavy lunch but I was with three other boys who thought another half would have made the $9 worth it.

Momofuku Ssam is so much better for dinner. After an hour wait in a pub down the street, we returned to be seated at the bar. The warm veal head terrine reminded me of Babbo that I almost forgot David Chang became famous because of his noodle bowls. The sweetbreads were grilled, complete with burnt stripes, and were excellent beer food with pickles. I loved the roasted mushroom salad with crosne, or Chinese artichoke, in a pistachio-based sauce. The grilled lemongrass pork sausage was much better and lighter than its soft tortilla counterpart. The lettuce is fresh and crunchy, and like Korean kalbi, is used to pick up the soft sausages. David Chang just can’t help but go back to his Asian roots and I commend him for that.

Bond St

6 Bond Street between Broadway and Lafayette
212/777.2500
$155 for two, with four drinks, with tip
♥ ♥

Several years ago, you would have caught a glimpse of Leonardo DiCaprio dining at Bond St. Today, the bouncer in all-black suit is still standing outside and all the beautiful people are still inside, but instead of Leo’s posse, you’ll see the suits and the loud groups of bankers eating on, most likely, company money. Ah, the life. We went one Wednesday night at 8:30pm without reservations. As soon as we asked for a spot for two, they led us to the sushi counter! Ah, the life of those without expense accounts!

It gets loud in Bond St but the energy is intoxicating. The sushi chefs scream a greeting when diners walk in and a goodbye when someone leaves. We opted for the sushi and sashimi omakase with a bonito-crusted scallop appetizer to start. From what I can remember, we had the pike eel, the otoro, the shrimp topped with caviar and the uni. While nothing is sublime that made me swoon and roll my eyes back, the fish is still sushi-grade. They still melt like butter and they still taste insanely fresh.

Several years ago, Leonardo DiCaprio switched to Moomba after he got tired of Bond St. For normal people like me, Bond St is still a pretty good Japanese place.

Menkuitei

63 Cooper Square on 3rd Avenue
212/228.4152
$30 for two, with two drinks, without tip
♥

Astor Place is filled with restaurants serving Japanese comfort food. I go to Menkuitei for their grilled fish neck. Their ramen selection is good, too, plus you’ll deal with less of a crowd here. The house special is one of my favorites but I must say I find it hard to say no to the curry bowl.