Lots of Goood Fooood!

Over the weekend, I was lucky enough to partake in some major deliciousness. I've been TRYING to eat healthy, and for the most part, I do. But for some reason this was a particularly tasty weekend filled with great and not-so-great for you treats.

To celebrate my friend's 30th birthday, we ventured to Zenkichi, a very unique Japanese restaurant. Tamami (the birthday girl), is Japanese and it is always wise to venture with someone who is in the know. She knew exactly what to order and how to order it. The food was incredible and perfect for sharing.

Here are some of the highlights:
Raw Jewel of the Day: I love sushi, but more recently have forgotten the rice completely and just go straight for sashimi. Zenkichi had a special selection of incredible fresh and delicious fish. This dish came with fluke, yellow tail and sea urchin. I HATE sea urchin, but this was was the best I've "tried" so far. By try I mean I took a tiny spec on my chop stick and winced when it hit my tongue. I love seafood and fish and everything in between, but sea urchin and I are NOT friends. Yuck! But hey, Tamami and her man, Ramon, were in love with it. I'll stick to the fish.

Vegetable Tempura - delicious, perfectly fried with lots of different veggies like pumpkin!

Potato Mochi - OMG delicious fried balls of rice and potato that you dip in spicy mayo. They were ooey gooey on the inside and perfectly crisp on the outside. Must get more!

Camembert & Shrimp Corn Tempura - I wasn't able to partake in these because of the cheese, but everyone said they were really good. They looked pretty!

Grilled fish of the day - Tsukiji was the special and it was amazing. This is the cheek of the yellowtail and apparently the very best part of the fish. I love yellowtail, but always eat it raw. So it was particularly interesting to have it cooked. Probably the first time in my life where I ate something cooked for the first time when I usually eat it raw. Anyhoo, it was amazingly tasty!

Hot Udon - Definitely one of the best udon noodle soups I've had. It was similar to miso soup, but served in a HUGE bowl with the worlds largest chop sticks and a laddle. There was a egg floating around in it, which I choose to ignore. It was fun having Tamami serve everyone into smaller bowls since the noodles were slippery and difficult to grab.

Grilled Riceball with Salmon Miso Chazuke Style - Oh Yeah! This is why you go with your Japanese friends to a Japanese restaurant. I would NEVER have thought to order this. It was AMAZZZZINC! It was nothing but a riceball in the middle of a big bowl with some reddish looking paste on top, then they pour green tea into it. Sounds simple enough, but its so delicious. You then distribute this yummy mixture into smaller bowls to enjoy. It was salty, a little spicy, with the green tea bringing a nice warmth to the dish. It didn't taste like tea to tell you the truth. It was good and I want more.

Now on to DESSERT - the best part of the meal, of course.
The staff was awesome and brought out a dessert with two candles to sing Tamami happy birthday.

This is the Walnut Chocolate Pudding: Rich & creamy dark chocolate pudding with walnuts. It was SUPER rich, almost like a chocolate mouse and it came with red bean paste, not sure why but we ate that too.

Mineoka Tofu
Milk tofu (made with heavy cream and kudzu starch, no soymilk): Azuki red beans

I wasn't able to try this because of the dairy, but everyone LOVED it. Adam thought it was one of the best desserts he's ever had. It was apparently finger licking good, as everyone took turns sticking their fingers in the little cup to get the last bits out. We're classy people.

To satisfy MY dessert craving, we went with the one dessert I was able to eat:
Grapefruit Agar Gelee: Refreshingly tart agar jelly made with Japanese seaweed (no gelatin) served in scooped-out grapefruit

Not only did it look pretty, it was SO good. It was everything that is delicious about a grapefruit. I don't know how they made this, but its creamier than jello, but rich in flavor. We were surprised by how good this dessert was. At no point did I feel bad I couldn't eat dairy. This was an EPIC win!

Overall, Zenkichi was a great restaurant. I didn't even go into detail about the decor. Each table is separated into a booth with a little stick curtain that the staff pulls up when they're speaking to you. You call them over via a button on the table - so you have completely privacy during your meal. Check it out for a romantic date!


On Sunday, after watching a good movie (True Grit - definitely go see it), my bf and I were faced with a dinner decision. Do we use one of my ScoutMob coupons or do we try something different. We decided to venture to Katz Deli in the LES and share pretty much the best pastrami sangwich in the world. Seriously, this thing is good. I doubt there will ever be a time in my life when I feel it's okay to spend $15 on a sangwich. That is some serious money. I eat steak for that price. But this is a magical sangwich famous everywhere and it really does live up to the hype.

We shared ONE sangwich (and remember to tip the guys, they tend to give you more meat and that's definitely a good thing, plus they work hard), a matzoh ball soup and their free pickle plate. All you need a touch of mustard and the rest is bliss. When you're eating this gift from heaven, you really want to eat a whole one but its reallllly fatty. To sum up this sangwich in one word - SUCCULENT! Seriously, drop what you're doing and go there right now. And don't lose your ticket! :)


The soup was excellent too - with a perfectly fluffy GIANT matzoh ball. It came with only one matzoh ball, but it was perfectly seasoned with the right texture. Just enough salt to make it tasty but not leave your blood pressure through the roof. I'm really sensitive to salt, so less salt in my food is a good thing.

Nothing like a weekend of good eatin'!!!