Last Night's Dinner

Yesterday after work Youthlarge and I met up for pedicures in the East Village. Originally, our plan was to go to Dashing Diva on Smith and Dean (has anyone ever been to one of these?) and then hop on the B65 to Taro to finally check out the omakase situation, which came highly recommended to us by a PSG reader several months ago. Sadly, we had to abandon our perfect plan because Dashing Diva was completely booked. I usually only go to Rescue Beauty Lounge on Centre Market, but its location just wasn’t that convenient for us in terms of what we wanted to eat, so after much deliberation and kvetching, we decided to go to Spa Belles in the East Village. In addition to not being at all thorough, the pedicures there were not even that inexpensive (approx. $40 w/ tax and tip). Also, Youthlarge’s pedicurist was being really mean to her… Don’t worry - this is not becoming a beauty services blog. I just wanted to describe how fully down in the dumps we were after our Spa Belles experience in order to emphasize how much Kenka really saved the day.

Most readers probably know that Kenka is a favorite here at the PSG. Like my co-blogger said in a previous post, Kenka is not great, but it is really solidly good and never disappoints. Everything there is super tasty, absurdly inexpensive (a Sapporo or Kirin draft is a jaw dropping $1.50) and the little tapasy size dishes allow you to sample lots of different goodies instead of having to commit to just one.

Per usual, I got the kaki fry teishoku (fried oyster combination served with a refreshing little salad with deliciously creamy sesame dressing and miso soup). I also got the miso grilled pork and eggplant off of the specials menu. I’ve had this before and loved it. This time was no exception. Youthlarge got the saba (mackerel) combination and the grilled squid (the squid sort of tasted like lobster last night). We also shared an order of fried tofu sprinkled with bonito flakes, which was a surprise favorite of the meal. Toward the end of the meal, we were still feeling a little hungry, so we ordered some french fries (I love how they come here, with cute little lines of mayo and ketchup crisscrossing over the crispy goldeny mound of lightly seasoned fries). Youthlarge did not want to partake, but I also got an order of grilled chicken skin. I know that sounds disgusting, but I had been wanting to order it ever since I spied it at another table a few times ago. The couple who ordered it looked like they were on a second date, so it went almost completely untouched! YL offered to reach across and grab a skewer for me, but we both chickened out. So this time, especially since I was feeling disappointed by my pedicure, I finally pulled the trigger on the chicken skin. It was ok, but could have been grilled for longer. I don’t think I will order it again, but now at least I don’t have to wonder.

Anyway, thanks to Kenka to for coming through for us yet again!