Really, Tabelog readers? Tokyo’s 6th best izakaya is a standing place in Kita Senju? Might as well find out (especially since we went to #2, 3, 4 and 5 in the last few weeks. Some were repeats. I disagree about #1, but it’s mostly an illustration of the broadness of the category.). We rolled up […]
dinner
Kushiya, Kiyosumi Shirakawa (KUSHIYA こぬた)
Thassit baby, kinjo-jiman. I don’t give a good goddam if it’s lower-class, it’s my home. We rolled around a lot on this balmy summer night, speculating on whether we would be caught in the rain. Eventually we ended up back at the original intention, where they seemed to have been saving seats for us. This […]
- bar
- ...
Sakaoto, Yotsuya (日本酒BAR 酒音)
Someone’s on the go. Part two of our Arakicho adventure…honestly, it was part 4 after we walked out of the first two places without ordering. Finicky we are. This ‘Sakaoto’ place caught my eye on the first walk around the half-dozen blocks that make up Arakicho. It looked small, cute, maybe friendly, and after all […]
- bistro
- ...
Bistro 18-ku, Arakicho
Aaaaaaarakicho. We finally made it here, months and months after starting to think it was worth a return visit. This was really the first time I’ve explored it seriously, and it turns out to be a ‘difficult’ neighborhood. The places that look good also look scary in the no-menu-no-prices way. Believe it or not, we […]
- bistro
- ...
Chez Andre du Sacre Coeur, Ningyocho (シェ・アンドレ・ドゥ・サクレクーレ)
Chez Andre, or Chez to his friends, has been making homey bistro fare ever since immigrating from his native Bangladesh following the poultry riots of ’89. He’s managed to put together a long-standing restaurant that captures a little bit of the magic of the Sacre Coeur, which is a Bangladeshi ritual involving chicken hearts and […]
- izakaya
- ...
Inonaka, Kinshicho (井のなか)
Yooooooshta. It’s official. I have now been to all of the good sake places in Tokyo. Think you know another? Nope. Not good. This is the last one. Boo-yah! Good, I’m glad we could all agree on that. Back to work. A few months ago, I spent a chilly evening on the bike exploring Kinshicho […]
- French
- ...
Les Enfants Gates, Daikanyama (レザンファン ギャテ)
The style and food at the now-departed Les Enfants Terrible in Juban were both good; didn’t you always wonder what the main shop was like? Wonder no longer. It’s s stylish place, pitched a bit to appeal to stylish women, but with food good enough to keep anyone happy. And terrines. The point here is […]
Narita sushi, Monzen Nakacho (すし 成田)
A couple years ago, this place Sushi Yata popped up south of the river in Monnaka. I went there and got really excited, because I thought it was reasonably-priced, sorta creative, and really delicious. Over time, I came to feel like the master was weird, uncomfortably so, and that he had a solid habit of […]
- izakaya
- ...
Ajisai, Kanda (味彩)
Yooooooshta. It’s official. I have now been to all of the good sake places in Tokyo. Think you know another? Nope. Not good. This is the last one. Boo-yah! Good, I’m glad we could all agree on that. Back to work. This one has been settling in and gathering rust just above Iroha Sushi, on […]
- izakaya
- ...
Ta, Meguro (和創作 太)
Yooooooshta. It’s official. I have now been to all of the good sake places in Tokyo. Think you know another? Nope. Not good. This is the last one. Boo-yah! Good, I’m glad we could all agree on that. Back to work. Chalk up another one, Jimmy, another of Tokyo’s best i-zaka-ya’s gone under the bridge. […]