NYC Tastes

Wednesday was an extremely busy day at work for me- so busy I never got a chance to eat lunch. Luckily I was able to leave a little earlier than usual and on my way home I intended to stop and have a decent meal. I walked my usual route through Union Square and up Park Avenue, all the while looking for some food option to jump out at me. Then all of a sudden it was there- a big board outside of Butai advertising a seriously affordable and delicious sounding lunch special. It was pretty late in the day, almost early supper time rather than lunch, but I inquired about the special and they said it was still going on. Score one for me! I took a seat in front of the big window and ordered their short rib lunch box set. Within minutes I had this huge platter of food set in front of me. Sushi, salad, rice, dumplings and short ribs all in one nice platter. This is pretty much my food eating dream come true. There’s nothing better than having a variety of little bites to choose from. ...

I was walking around my neighborhood the other day and noticed that both Japonais and Butai have happy hour specials that seem like a pretty good deal. I was craving some sushi so I stopped in to Butai to check out their deal. I walked in around 6:30 and was the only person besides two men having beer at the front. I grabbed a seat at the bar and ordered a glass of their Pinot Grigio and asked about the specials. They had the usual rolls; tuna, salmon and California on special, but they also had some kushiyaki. I decided I had to do a little of each. To start I ordered a spicy tuna roll. This was a pretty good roll. The rice was a bit too sticky for me on the outside but tuna had a great flavor and the size was perfect. A minute later my skewers came out. I ordered the pork belly, asparagus with bacon and cherry tomatoes. The pork belly skewer was awesome!!! It was a juicy crispy bit of belly that sat a top some ponzu dipping sauce. Really tasty!! The bacon wrapped asparagus was pretty...