the first rule of tekka is that there is no tekka

I had tried to take Miwa to a certain unnamed sushi restaurant during each of her prior three visits to the city. Tonight the sushi gods smiled upon us and we prevailed. And availed ourselves of the famed omakase menu. Following is a blow by blow of our three hour meal. I'm still full hours later but also deeply regretting the fact that I didn't have room for the yaki onigiri. Kampai!


First course: tiny clams in the most lovely clear broth.


Second course: a trio of vegetables. This is the asparagus with miso sauce and seaweed salad, and a spicy kanpyo salad.



Third course: tuna tataki.


Fourth course: Kabocha squash tempura.


Fifth course: Agedashi tofu with eggplant and shishito peppers.


Sixth course: tuna poached with ginger; marinated gobo (burdock root)


Seventh course: the obscene plate of sashimi. Maguro, bluefin tuna, albacore, hamachi, salmon, scallop (the best thing i've ever eaten in my three decades on this earth), saba (a close runner up to those scallops), and squid.

are you getting full yet?

We were. We tried but just couldn't eat the last few pieces. My heart broke a little bit at this point.

But then we kept going. Eighth course: enormous shrimp and mushrooms coated in panko and deep fried.

At this point Miwa gave up and resigned herself to sipping some green tea. I was busy mooching beer off our neighbors and gearing up for course number nine: the largest and sweetest piece of barbecued unagi ever. Seriously, I think it must have been 5 inches long.

There was still the spicy tuna to be had, and the salmon skin, and the grilled squid, and those yaki onigiri they only serve after 10pm... but it had been three hours, and it was time to throw in the towel until next time. Tenth course: fish-shaped pastry filled with red bean paste and vanilla ice cream. Oof.