Several years ago, while having lunch in a Japanese restaurant in Rio, I smiled and said "si" when a waitress asked me a question in Portugese that I just assumed was "is your meal okay?" As it turns out, she was asking me if I wanted some sake, even though I already had a glass of wine, and so I ended up with a brimming glass of sake, and I drank it, and departed Rio drunk. It was awesome.
This afternoon, I visited the hip Suteishi, and while not actually aiming to replicate my Rio experience, I did want some sake. I am sure my eyes widened when it turned out I had ordered quite a large bottle of Pure Kizakura, but I thought fondly on my Rio sake, and I drank almost all of it. I also had a Kimono Roll and a piece of yellowtail sushi. Both were fantastic. I will say that the kimono roll, with avocado and spicy salmon and roe and pieces of crunchy tempura, may have benefitted a little too much from the tempura. It was like eating a delectable piece of State Fair food. I don't think it was ideal for appreciating the salmon and roe. But I loved it nonetheless, and that's not just the sake talking.
Afterward I enjoyed hot chocolate and a cheesecake dome at Financier Patisserie (62 Stone Street). I also got a couple bottles of wine with the help of a friendly clerk at the Greene Grape, and was sort of blown away by the marvelous shop Zeytuna, where I got cheese and crackers, albeit at a premium.
All this was in the context of exploring a little of the Financial District. I could see living there. The tall buildings are a bit intimidating but there are still nice shops and restaurants tucked in like everywhere else in New York, as well as historical buildings, streets, and even ships. Being so close to the World Trade Center site was sobering for me, though. And I didn't see all of the neighborhood because it was cold as hell.
So far I have not had any problems with the subway, either in terms of figuring out where I'm going or the availability of the trains. Granted, I have only been here 5 days. This afternoon I was standing on the platform when a delay was announced, and a deranged-sounding woman next to me went off in a strong New York accident to an unfortunate bystander about how the problems are "constant, and I'm not going to stand for it anymore. They take your money and the train only goes to [name of stop.] It's a one-armed bandit. A one-armed bandit!" and then the train pulled up. I had been waiting approximately 2 minutes, and if that's one-armed banditry, then I'll take it.
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I went back to Suteishi with Pat last week, and despite the Wall Street meatheads clogging the nearby bars, Suteishi maintained its Asian spare quality (read: not a lot of diners!) and we waltzed right in and were seated. Why is this place not more popular? It's so good!
I had the sake flight: 2 dry and 1 sweet; the dry ones were better. We ordered the King Of NY roll and the Samurai roll and both were delectable. Pat's piece of arctic char sushi was not as good as the waitress made it sound, but still good, and my unagi sushi was perfectly satisfying.
To top off this great experience, we had an emailed couple for 20% off our bill, but even without that, it would have been worth every penny.
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