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Restaurants
Best Vacation Dinner Bites – Honolulu
08.26.10 | Permalink | 4 Comments

In Honolulu, we went casual for dinner. Nothing fancy. Most evenings David and I would tumble out of the ocean when we were hungry, and then drive somewhere to eat; clothes damp from our bathing suits underneath, sand still clinging to our hair. Imanas Tei, an izakaya in Honolulu, was recommended by a Japanese desk clerk at our hotel in Waikiki. I don’t usually trust hotel people for food recommendations, but he seemed to have good taste. He told me he was married to a Korean woman. David may have thoughts to the contrary regarding this subject, but on Imanas Tei we both agreed it was delicious. MORE »
East Village, Small Shops
Yakisoba Sandwich at Panya – NYC
07.09.10 | Permalink | 10 Comments

After ten days of eating giant Hawaiian lunch plates consisting of lau lau, kālua pig, Portuguese sausage, ham, and bacon, I’ve been eating light since I got back. (Why everyone in Hawaii isn’t obese is beyond me.) Yesterday, lunch was a Yakisoba Sandwich ($3.25) from Panya. MORE »
Alphabet City, Announcements, East Village, Restaurants, Small Shops
Moving to the East Village – NYC
04.08.10 | Permalink | 8 Comments

For those who were interested in my apartment hunt, I have great news. I finally found an apartment, and I’ll be calling the East Village home at least for the next two years. I’ll miss the Lower East Side and the close proximity to Chinatown (I did a late night walk through Chinatown yesterday and it was indeed very sad), but I’m consoled by my new delicious neighbors: Porchetta, Luke’s Lobster, Momofuku, Ippudo, and Veloce Pizzeria. (The pizza part I’m especially excited about. Nights when I craved pizza, it was torturous when all my favorite pizzerias refused to deliver below Houston. I will be pizza-less no more!) The next two years should be quite tasty.
East Village, Restaurants, Small Shops
An East Village VDay: Sapporo East & Milk Bar – NYC
03.19.10 | Permalink | 6 Comments

I’m a month late or one year early with my Valentine’s Day post. I like to think the latter. Valentine’s Day is an annoying day to begin with. When you’re single, VDay is annoying because advertising, friends, and your mom will make you feel like a troll because you’re alone no matter how fabulous you are, and when you’re in a relationship, it’s annoying because it’s impossible to get a reservation anywhere, and even if you do, the restaurant will only offer mass-produced pre-made food from an overpriced prix-fixe menu. Saint Valentine, you suck. Anyway, since the last disappointing Valentine’s Day meal in 2005, David and I have been avoiding all restaurants requiring reservations, especially those offering “special” prix-fixe menus. This Valentine’s Day, we went to Sapporo East, my favorite cheap East Village Japanese restaurant since college. MORE »
Flushing, Restaurants
Live Fluke and More at Yuraku – NYC
02.17.10 | Permalink | 3 Comments

By now most of you probably know how much I love pork and duck, but there is another side to me. A fishier side. Growing up, I actually preferred seafood over red meat. I was a weird kid, and unlike my brother who loved Big Macs and galbi (갈비, Korean beef ribs), I loved vegetables, ice cold naeng myun (냉면, cold buckwheat noodles), and hwe (회, Korean-style raw fish). (By the way, I believe this is one of the reasons I’m vertically challenged and my brother is not, lack of good ole’ American beef. Alas, I’m sure my childhood fondness for coffee and jumping from great heights also played a part.) So a few weeks ago, when Hannah (my sister-in-law) told me Yuraku, her mom’s restaurant in Flushing, started serving “live fish” flown in straight from Korea, I knew a trip to Queens was in my not-so-distant future. MORE »
LES, Restaurants
Recession Sushi at Sachiko’s on Clinton – NYC
04.08.09 | Permalink | 4 Comments

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or ensconced in a gated community, you probably know it’s a recession. Some say we’re even in a depression. And although I’m lucky enough to still have a job, you never know what may happen next. (Look kindly upon me corporate gods of Midtown!) As a result, I’ve been trying to be more conscious about cost when going out to eat, even more so than before. Last week, David wanted sushi and suggested Le Miu (which unbeknownst to us, closed recently), but not wanting to pay at least a hundred on a regular work night, I suggested Sachiko’s, which was right around the corner from where we were standing. (We had just finished looking at another crappy overpriced apartment in the Lower East Side. It turns out after a few weeks apartment hunting, our crappy overpriced LES apartment is slightly less crappy and less overpriced than we actually thought.) David didn’t seem too excited as usual, but he agreed after some coaxing, and five minutes later we were sitting inside Sachiko’s on Clinton. MORE »
Restaurants, TriBeCa
Restaurant Week at Megu – NYC
03.22.09 | Permalink | 4 Comments

I’ll be making this post short, because I don’t want to waste more time with Megu than I already have. Basically, I went to Megu New York last week because it was Restaurant Week (i.e. participating restaurants offer a 3 course prix fixe meal for $35) and had a very mediocre meal. And for those who’ll say, it’s because I had the food from the Restaurant Week menu and not the regular menu, that wasn’t the case. David, of course, stubborn as he is, refused to order off the Restaurant menu and ordered from the regular menu. In fact, had he not done so, I would have thought Megu wasn’t all that bad. Surprisingly, the non-Restaurant Week dishes were actually worse than the Restaurant Week dishes. It was quite bizarre.

In addition, interpret it as you will, but when we were given menus, the Restaurant Week menu was not given to us. It was after the waiter came to take our order that I had to ask if there was a Restaurant Week menu. When I did, he stuttered a bit, and then returned with two heavily creased menus. No apologies. Was it an honest mistake? I doubt it. MORE »