raji

I wish they'd issue me a pass now that I've been a few times so I could go back and order a la carte. Honestly, I'd be in and out in 20 minutes.

Have you been there recently? The service is much improved. Also, apples and oranges on cost cuz Stone Barns is in Tarrytown.

Meaning places that server fillets?

Did anyone else notice this article? http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/science/...gin&oref=slogin "In a tale of teenagers, sushi and science, Kate Stoeckle and Louisa Strauss, who graduated this year from the Trinity School in Manhattan, took on a freelance science project in which they checked 60 samples of seafood using a simplified genetic fingerprinting technique to see whether the fish New Yorkers buy is what they think they are getting. They found that one-fourth of the fish samples with identifiable DNA were mislabeled. A piece of sushi sold as the luxury treat white tuna turned out to be Mozambique tilapia, a much cheaper fish that is often raised by farming. Roe supposedly from flying fish was actually from smelt. Seven of nine samples that were called red snapper were mislabeled, and they turned out to be anything from Atlantic cod to Acadian redfish, an endangered species." I can tell you I have seen this in practice; it can be a sushi bar whose chef may be lacking in training and/or morals, it can even be a place simply looking to cut cost, but certainly most Japanese can distinguish fish by appearance and certainly by flavor, and I've developed this talent, but it took time..

Really, you think so? Maybe in Aoyama, Ginza and other touristy places... that place would be considered huge and unique by Tokyo/Japan standards... Wow, what neighborhood were you inhabiting in Tokyo? I was living in Akasaka and there wasn't a robatayaki/izakaya that nice. Maybe only in the toniest parts of shinjuku, ginza, etc. Aburiya being a high-end robatayaki/izakaya, yes.... but a closer approximation of your neighborhood izakaya is very much so Riki, donburiya or yokocho... Any opinions of the Platt review? It was pretty negative...

Hehehe well I only really CRAVE soba twice a year and by then I'm back in Japan for one reason or another. I have a good friend who frequents that place so i will try it out. I know I've seen articles about the soba-maker at Soba-koh. Also, believe it or not, by accident I caught an Emeril Live from a few years back (obviously) where he does a piece about Sobaya. They are both pretty dedicated, and persistent about introducing good, real soba to New Yorkers, as is the team at Totto, and as JG espouses in his press. Sarariman is a term seen with mostly affection in Japan - plus, most good Japanese know to follow the sarariman because they know where the good food is. Totto executes everything on a very high level and also tends to use very high quality ingredients, especially in terms of Japanese vegetables, spices, seasonings, pickles and sauces. Obviously their special with a bowl of soba with toppings AND a rice-bowl with their famous chicken parts on it is the way to go there - I imagine if I get a 7pm reservation at 15 East and all I order is a bowl of soba, I'm going to get that horrible waiter you all seem to hate in my face....

You might not like this answer, but after Honmura An closed, based on their basic soba skills alone, Sobaya, sobakoh, and soba totto are pretty much on an even playing field IMO. They all make, AFAIK, their own soba-ko (buckwheat flour), and make their noodles properly and authentically. For straight-up soba, broth, toppings and tempura, I'd give the edge to sobaya. For service and everything ELSE you can get there, I much prefer Soba Totto. I have not been to Sobakoh. Hot or cold is a personal preference, but for myself, and most of my Japanese friends, cold soba or somen are in order in the summer, whereas if you want something to warm you up, hot udon or ramen are in order. As a general rule, think noodle thickness as directly proportional to ideal temperature served. That said, I love me some thin-ass kyuushu-style ramen noodles, so, rules are made to be broken.

So most people are saying that the soba just isn't that good? Or is it that maybe Americans just don't like soba that much? I see attempts to dress it up, lather it with uni, but soba is best eaten with very minimalist accoutrements... also for some reason it works really well with tempura

Well, if you look at the marketing; let's take some Soba masters from Japan, have them bless the place and then leave for good...let's try to class up soba while offering a rounded, Japanese menu, at TriBeCa prices... then it makes a little more sense. There's enough Japanese ex-pats tourists probably willing to go there for a while, for the setting, for the novelty, the same way one laughs off paying $9 for a can of beer at a baseball game. And there's enough American Japanese food eaters with deep pockets willing to go - hence you must have sushi on the menu. Where it might fail in the long term is if they don't really bring the focus back to the buckwheat... the soba must really stand alone as the star This is what the Totto empire does so well. Yakitori totto - let's cook chicken better than anyone else in the city - done Aburiya - let's do a robatayaki better than anyone else in the city - done ...This is not exactly rocket science Soba Totto - Let's do a standard japanese soba menu better than anyone else in the city - have they been trumped? I dunno, but totto's soba were pretty solid After all is said and done, it's only buckwheat, people

I was planning on getting dinner with 3 in Woodside tonight, was wondering what the current stars are - I have done some searching but it's tough to know what is currently good. Besides Sriprapai (which we've been to several times already), anyone have any other recommendations?

Someone else was asking, I picked up a MELONPAN at Zaiya today. I was going to take a picture but I'm tired and it pretty much looks like the picture I posted. It's also pretty much as anpanman describes it, "Your version of melonpan is a specialized variation the standard melonpan, which is not a filled pastry, but a slightly dense and chewy bread." There is a faint melon candy flavor to it, the same one you'll find in a lot of Japanese melon candies. I've never seen a filled on in the states, rather they're pretty common in conbini in Japan. Here's my advice: If you're really slick, you might be able to convince the gals at the Beard Papa stand across from the bakery @ Zaiya to fill your normal melonpan with custard. It's certainly worth a try.

I for one did consider this. Why Yakitori Totto and not NY Noodletown. You can get full at either and for a whole hell of a lot less in Chinatown. #3 was a consideration but I was thinking more situationally. Where would I take date that was going really well? Part of it is service - one thing, for instance, is the Japanese restaurants will be atomically accurate by their "last order" time. If they tell you they're open until 1am and last order is at 12:45, there will BE A WAITER at your table at 24:45:00 with perfect posture asking you if you'd like anything else because it's last order. If not, they're just not Japanese. can't say the same for anywhere else. While I think there's places in Koreatown worth mention, they are all essentially the equivalent of Korean diners.... BBQ or not... which is why I excluded them. There are plenty of _decent_ "izakaya" of the Yokocho, East, Taisho ilk.. which is why I mentioned the places that have better than average kitchens. Late night asian dining is an adventure!

Aburiya Kinnosuke 213 E. 45th St., New York, NY 10017 Mon-Fri, 11:30am-2:30pm and 5:30pm-midnight; Sat, 5:30pm-midnight; Sun, 5:30pm-11:30pm Yakitori Totto 251 W. 55th St., 2nd fl, New York, NY 10019 Mon-Thu, 5:30pm-1am; Fri-Sat, 5:30pm-2am; Sun, 5:30pm-midnight Riki/Donburiya/Sakagura - Are all open until 2 or 4am on any given night. If one is shutting at 2am, they will send you to one of these others that is open until 4am Typhoon Lounge 79 Saint Marks Pl Sun-Thu 5pm-2am, Fri-Sat 5pm-3am I'll post some non-Japanese places if I find some time... whatever happened to places like Match, La Jumelles, etc... besides diners, 10 years ago there were only a few places that were open until 4 or 5am with decent food...

Aburiya Kinnosuke Yakitori Totto Riki/Donburiya/Sakagura Typhoon A lot of Japanese places that serve very good food also happen to be open quite late... Tsukushi and Seki are also 2 very good ones

Lupa!! cue Nathan in 5...4...3...

Unfortunately, the quality and size of meat is about the same

I think that's a potentially offensive question whether you ask before or after the meal.. I just don't know a good WAY to ask that... but you know the answer - it's taste AND tradition. Another answer is, so that you can try different kinds of fish through the meal without filling up too quickly. I think most Japanese are surprised at the size of sushi in this country - so in Yasuda's defense, he is a purist and this is what you'll find in Japan. Also thicker slices often is the result of an inexpert chef. A funny trend in Japan is that some of the more popular sushiya actually do feature LARGE sushi like you'd find in America. It's a gimmick to draw people in, but it's also a testament to their stagnant economy. People would rather spend $50 to get filled up than $150 to go on a journey. I might get an Ippudo ramen after the sushi - my friend's working there tonight. My Japanese friends laugh at me for this, for being TOO Japanese

I doubt they bring the real deal on a consistent basis from Japan, but you never know... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakuriko Katakuriko is now often processed from potatoes, which are much cheaper, as true katakuriko is now quite costly and is rarely available in stores. An old friend decided she wanted to get schooled and is working in the kitchen at Ippudo, so I'll ask her. btw I overheard a local Japanese businessman talking about opening a Kyuushu-style ramen shop in midtown, bemoaning the price and Gyukakization of Ippudo. If so, you heard it here first.

After a layoff of several months, I'm back at Yasuda tomorrow night, any intel I can gather for you folks? There have been several uni, anago, unagi-sourcing discussions and people also PM me questions... tomorrow night, I'm actually in front of Yasuda, which I haven't made a point of doing in perhaps a couple of years....

What would you do with the bike while you were eating? ← Bike rental shops will lend you a lock too.... naturally... in this city....

Nowhere is really more than an hour away from anywhere else, by any means, in Manhattan... If it were me, I would rent a bike ** edit: , and a lock**, because you could pretty much stay on the greenway - the only parts where you'd have to get off would be from 12th to 10th avenue for Tia Pol and FDR to 1st Avenue for Momo. If it were me, that is.

I know 2 restaurants that will be open exactly on schedule... Blue Smoke and Shake Shack @ Shea! Play Ball!

Yah I've noticed this too. Most places seem to use the minimum amount AC necessary, and perhaps not at all if they can get away with it. Sounds like some places are getting overzealous with it. On the other end of the financial fortunes spectrum, I guess, is places with wasteful energy practices, like doors open with AC ON - there was even a city council bill proposed to deal with that: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...756C0A9619C8B63 There is a general campaign that Con Ed is waging on my fronts to get certain neighborhoods to actually LOWER their power usage - counterintuitive, I know. You'd think they make more money on our already stupidly high bills. But their grid is at capacity, and it's not going to grow enough to handle all the new NYC residents pouring in. For instance, they've offered to replace all my lightbulbs in my apt. with compact flourescents.

I think the "fresh" saba you had was still slightly pickled or processed in some fashion, so the flavor of the fish probably depends on that particular chef's method - it has to be, or, according to one of my Japanese dining buddies who worked in a sushi bar, you'll end up on the can with a butterfish-type situation... I'll ask him to post about it (I've been goading him to join the board for some time now); it's funny cuz we were just talking about this the other night as we were enjoying Kamui Den's fine rendition of it - the chef there is formerly of Hasaki and he does a really good job with it. I also picked up a very nice whole Spanish Mackeral this past weekend, and I was going to attempt it, but he told me it was too much of pain in the ass and just to grill it.

I'm really glad to hear that... immediately after the DOH and renovation, it was not, but I knew with that location it would pick up sooner or later.... and in general I see people who like to go out in that area graduate from Tomoe to blue ribbon to Ushi