Results tagged “soba”

This week Frank Bruni double-fists it with a review of two sushi places: Kanoyama, in the East Village, and Sushi Azabu (pictured), in TriBeCa, that both "stand out in part because they’re navigable in ways that aren’t too financially wounding." Kanoyama’s "brimming, glistening combination platter...is first-rate, and doesn’t give you the sense you sometimes get at other restaurants that what you’re saving in money you’re sacrificing in freshness." The clandestine Sushi Azabu, accessed via a secret staircase in the meh Greenwich Grill, is "erratic. Get the scallop sushi or the spicy tuna roll, lavished with sesame and a chili-spiked mayonnaise, and you’re in heaven. Get the crispy fried squid and you’re in a strip-mall sports bar."

This week finds the Times's Frank Bruni rhapsodizing about Matsugen, the new haute soba restaurant in Tribeca from chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who's kind of a big deal. Actually, as Bruni makes clear, only half the place is Jean-Georges; the other half, which includes the kitchen, is run by Taka, Yoshi and Masa Matsushita, brothers who also operate Matsugen restaurants in Tokyo and Honolulu. "Their soba, condiments, dips, broths and interlopers... are so clearly and cleanly flavored that you feel, as you use your chopsticks to drag the next tangle of soba through them or to twist it around them, that your senses have been sharpened, that your palate is more alert. Superior Japanese food has that effect."

This week the Times’s Frank Bruni hands down a generally favorable verdict on Persimmon Kimchi House, the 20-seat, communal table restaurant from chef Youngsun Lee, who cut his teeth with David Chang (Momofuku). Bruni admits that “…at least a third of the dishes I tried prompted yawns or head-scratching. But at least another third riveted me, and all in all I enjoyed what struck me as the polar opposite of a cookie-cutter, fashion-driven meal, the Momofuku invocations notwithstanding. Persimmon is an adventure, and the bumpiness of the trip – including spasmodic and sometimes confused service – is in large part redeemed by the price.”

Mad 46: If you’re stuck in midtown and desperate for a little air, the location of this new rooftop lounge in the Roosevelt Hotel is easy to remember: Mad 46 = Madison at 46th Street. The press release promises that the place is “urbane without being absurd,” with western views, specialty (read: expensive) cocktails, and eats downstairs at the Roosevelt Grill. Just so you know what you’re in for, Zagat Buzz promises “waitresses in itty-bitty black dresses.” Also, it seems it’s only open Monday through Thursday from 5 p.m. to midnight and Fridays from 3 p.m to midnight. Saturday and Sunday are for private parties or receptions. 5 East 45th Street, entrance on 46th Street, (212) 885-6095.

For a pair of diners with zero romantic involvement, Soba Totto proved the perfect refuge from the relentless Valentine’s Day spirit. Thanks to owner Ryuichi “Bobby” Munekata, the man behind upscale yakitori joints Yakitori Totto and Torys, Soba Totto is one of the few Japanese spots in town offering both top-notch soba and top-flight yakitori. In a begrudging acknowledgment of the so-called holiday, two juicy skewers of hatsu, or chicken heart, were ordered.