My Favorite Japanese Places

What are your top three favorite cuisines?

Mine are:
1. Japanese food
2. Vietnamese food
3. and Everything Else!



Here is a list of some of my all time favorite Japanese restaurants (in no specific order): You know the food is good when it makes you dance in your seat! All these restaurants leave a smile on my face even after the meal is over.

1. Yakitori Totto
251 W 55th St
New York, NY 10019
Phone: (212) 245-4555
This is the best yakitori place in nyc. The prices are a bit higher then some places but the quality of the ingredients and the care and detail that is put into the food makes a big difference in the taste. Come with an open mind and order all of the weirdest things on the menu. If you are lucky they will have it all because the best parts run out fast. Go with the chicken neck, gizzard, liver, heart, tail, butt, and soft knee bone. Also don't miss the Kobe beef tongue, but eat it while its hot when its the most tender with a squirt of lemon. The steak is good too, actually everything is good! I also like the deep fried soft fish cake. Oh and don't forget to order the apricot kernel tofu. Get one for each person. Don't share it. It's that good!

2. Hagi's Sake Bar
152 W 49th St
(between 7th Ave & Avenue Of The Americas)
New York, NY 10019 (212) 764-8549
Hagi's is my favorite izakaya bar. It's a great place to go have an cold mug of beer, order some small plates, watch some baseball on the tv and just hang out and have fun. All of the specials are always good. The chicken yakitori is moist and flavorful. And you can't go wrong with ordering the hamachi kama. I also love the salad with the fried little fishies and crunchy radish.

3. Sasabune
401 E 73rd St
New York, NY 10021
Phone: (212) 249-8583
Sasabune is omakase heaven. It's a no frills type of place. You won't even find a menu or a dessert listing here because they don't have one. You walk in and amazing sushi and sashimi starts coming to your table. Just trust the chef because he will take you on this amazing jouney of various fishes and all of the utmost freshness. Each experience is a little different. My favorite is the tuna fish roll that comes towards the end and the semi cooked butterfish? (well whatever it was, it was delicious). The last time I went he served us this amazingly fresh ikura, unlike any ikura I have ever had. I swear it is like sex on a plate.