Drink Japan Without Leaving Little Italy
Sake has been the next big trend for so long that we’ve been loathe to recognize it now that it’s actually arriving. If, like us, you’re utterly mystified by the stuff (not being able to read the bottle is part of it), check out the Joy of Sake next week. The city’s biggest sake event will hit the Puck Building on Thursday featuring 300 different sakes, at least a third of which aren’t available outside of Japan. The restaurant lineup looks good too: Seventeen restaurants are creating dishes meant to be paired with sake, including wd-50, Sakagura, and 15 East. Tickets are $75 in advance, $90 at the door.
Joy of Sake [Official Site]
Neighborhood Watch
Preemie Martini Cooler Than You Thought in Clinton HillBoreum Hill: The Jamaican restaurant Brawta has been shut down by the Feds and branded for tax evasion with a neon sign. [Eater]
Clinton Hill: Jelani Lounge’s preemie martini vindicated! The apple martini served in a mini-glass is named for the owner’s premature-born, now-strapping son. [Clinton Hill Blog]
Cobble Hill: Stinky Bklyn cheese shop has expanded with a series of seminars that will begin in May. [NYDN]
East Village: There’s a gay man trapped in the body of a fembot on Broadway near Houston who is supposed to make you want to drink vodka. [Copyranter]
Upper East Side: This Friday and Saturday evenings Guastavino’s will host a “wine rave” that aims wine education at the young and single. Tickets are $65, but for $100, you get perks and a goody bag. [Grub Street]
Upper West Side: Gael Greene dishes on her Life of Delicious Excess with excerpts from the recent memoir noon tomorrow at Makor. [NYM]
West Village: Through May 6, En Japanese Brasserie will serve a cherry-blossom tasting menu. [NYT]
User’s Guide
Reika Yo on Where (and What) to Eat During Japanese Restaurant WeekSharpen your chopsticks: Many of the city’s best Japanese eateries are offering prix fixe meals and signature dishes for Japanese Restaurant Week, which starts Sunday and runs through March 10. (Get the details here.) We asked Reika Yo, the owner of EN Japanese Brasserie, to give a primer, in her own words, for those who think Japanese cuisine begins and ends with sushi (and what’s sashimi again?) and provide picks to go along with it. (The excellent EN Japanese Brasserie, by the way, is an elevated version of an izayaka, where you find many small, rustic dishes.)
