New York 2010 - OH!Taisho

Our host took us to the St. Marks neighborhood, which turned out to be a really cool hangout place and everybody else thought so too because it was packed. We chose Oh!Taisho, a Japanese restaurant for dinner because it was less packed than others, but that just means the wait was moderately long isntead of ridiculously long.

Caught you! The only picture I have of JL is her trying to dodge the camera unsuccessfully. She should've just hid behind this huge delicious pitcher of Kirin. mmm yummy beer.

Pitachu's chicken karage bento box. Pretty good chicken. I find it so weird how sometimes Japanese restaurants throw in a little Italian food, like the above pictured spaghetti and mashed potatoes. The spaghetti wasn't half bad. The sauce was a little sweet, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just different.

My yakisoba with pork? It was really good and authentic. The sauce had a sort of seasoning to it that just tasted different than yakisoba you'd get at oh let's say...Panda Express. Twas good yakisoba. But it was eclipsed by the awesomeness of the bonito shavings on top. The shavings shrivel with the exposure to the heat from the food causing it to look like it's moving. I was super impressed so I looked it up online:

Bonito (aka Katsuobushi) is fermented and smoked skipjack tuna. Who woulda thought. You can read for yourself here.

 Bonito shavings also garnished the Takoyaki appetizer (dumplings with diced baby octopus inside). Sounds incredibly crazy and a little PETA unfriendly but it was pretty good. I remember not liking it at the time but something about staring at this picture while I write this review makes me want some...

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

While I really liked the food at Oh!Taisho, I want to discuss mostly the neighborhood of St. Marks. It is like heaven for college students. Decently priced foods and lots of options. Tons of people just walking around on the street. Where else can you find a nightly block party happening? There was also a bar with a huge banner that said "buy 5 shots for $20." For sure it was some cheap deal that would get you ridiculously effed up. St. Marks was really fun and trust me, we'll be revisiting this in another post soon.

Oh!Taisho on yelp