Quick preface. You will no doubtably hear many stories similar to this one in the future. A good friend of mine (Layne) and his wife moved out to NYC about 6 years ago. Before that time they lived in Seattle (In fact, Layne worked at MS with me (that's how we met)). While in Seattle we started a bi-monthly tradition of having a "guys night out". We would pick a night, go out and get totally racked, then do something stupid (usually go to a bad movie, etc...)Note: Crappy movies become exceedingly awesome if you are stinking drunk.
When I arrived in NYC, we immediately decided to restart this glorious and hallowed tradition. Me being newly arrived in NYC, the ball was in my court. Now I am a big fan of Television. In particular, reality and travel shows. One of my favorites is "No Reservations", hosted by Tony Bourdain. The bestway to describe Tony is to imagine Hunter S. Thompson going to cooking school and becoming a chef. His love of food and new\exotic experiences, coupled with with a disdain for the ordiinary has made this one of best travel\coooking shows on TV. In one episode he visited some of his favorite NYC haunts, and a few of them struck me as pretty damn cool. So I thought Layne and I should try these locations and see if they are as great as they appeared. So I met up with him and off we went.
Our first destination was in mid-town. I usually try to avoid midtown like the plague. Too many tourists and way to many preppy yucksters. A good divebar and locals with character is the way to go every time. But we braved midtown because it was the location of Hagi. Hagi is a great Japanese restaurant. Its like going into a local eating den if one were living in Japan. The first hurdle of the evening was finding the place. We had the address, but we couldn't seem to find the entrance. We eventually figured it out (10 minutes). Hagi is a basement restauant, so you have to walk down a long flight of stairs to get there. Additionally, the entrance only has the smallest of signs and is wedged between 2 other japanese restauants, so its very easy to overshoot.
Well, after figuring this out, we entered into the world of Hagi. First impression, we were the only white people in the place, and it was packed. I mean, the place was small, but it was packed with Asians. Well, after waiting like an hour for a seat (kept telling Layne it was worth the wait), we got 2 seats at the bar. I do not remember what we ordered, but it was all amazing and I always wanted more. I do remember sucking down like 12-15 wasabi balls (dumplings here filling is generously coated in wasabi (yum). We got pretty drunk on Sapporo and were ready for the next event.
I do remember that while we were leaving another group of "round eyes" were coming down the stairs, and one of them was saying this would be great (he saw it on "No reservations"). Damn...
Trying to stick with a "Asian" theme, we were off to Sakagura. This was another "reservations" locale that was also dubbed as a "undiscovered gem" in the city. Another mid-town location that was within walking distance on Hagi, Sakagura promised a oasis of endless Saki and more tasty bites. It didn't disappoint. Once again, a bit hard to find. You walked into this office building, then went down some back stairs and there it is. If I hadn't seen it on TV, I would have never found the place. The place was great. It wasn't nearly as crowded as Hagi, the decor was very traditional, and the service was great...
Only one problem, they had like 100+ varieties of sake. Now I know next to nothing on sake, their different tastes and levels of dryness are a mystery to me. I drink sake so rarely, and when I do I usually get the "House Special". So we decided to ask our waitress for advice. She picked out some good varieties, and Layne and I had about 3 glasses each of various Sakes. After drinking and eating for about 2 hours or so, we decided to call it a night. Asked for our check, and felt like the first night of "guys night out" was a tremendous success.
Then we got the bill... $260. HOLY CRAP! What the Fuc! $260... Looking at the bill we didn't realize how much a glassof sake cost. Our cheapest glass was $19, and our most expensive was $39. For $39 dollars you could get an amazing bottle of wine or like 3 6-packs of beer. It was like a bucket of ice water on our drunken stupor. It was then I realized that one of the bennies of being on a popular travel\food show is that you either get comped at every establishment you visit, or the bill is coved by the show. Tony Bourdain, I love your show, but in the future, if you are doing a show in NYC again, please include $$$ ratings at the end of each establishment you visit.
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