Restaurant: Kenka
Location:
East Village (St. Marks Place near Second Avenue)
Occasion: Meeting with a couple of friends with the mutual realization on a Friday night that if this level of drinking continued that we would all be hospitalized so perhaps we should eat.
Cocktail(s): $1.50 Sapporo's!
Wine: A bottle of sake
Appetizer: There are over 100 items and we ordered at least eight appetizers for three people. Everything married very well with "oo's" and "ah's" for every dish as it arrived to the table. A favorite was an eggy item that was fluffy and spicy. Octopus balls met with trepidation, but it could be an issue of the name alone.
Entree: Again, dishes were shared and there was booze in the system, so detail are sketchy. The pork tenderloin was memorably awesome.
Dessert: On departure, you are given sugar with which you can make your own cotton candy.
Service: There is a wait for tables and no reservations are taken on weekend nights. After a 45 minute wait, entering the packed place the expectation is for some stutters in the service. That expectation is met, but the $1.50 Sapporo's assuage everything.
Atmosphere: Some focus is required as you are surrounded by great traditional imagery and music out of Tokyo radio of the 1950S. With the packed room full of a mix of Japanese and NYU kids and assorted others the key thing to note that although this is the East Village of the middle aughts, there is nary a twat nor a douchebag in sight. The crowd is there to have fun.
Pricing: Amazingly cheap. We ate like pigs and drank like fish and paid like (some animal that is frugal).
Rating: "Yeah, so totally".
Image from ptuft on flickr.
