Izakaya Hagi

It took me some time, but I finally nailed down the major areas in NYC where to find authentic Japanese food, or rather where the Japanese work and eat. First is in the East Village, on St. Mark’s Place there are a large number of izakayas, yakitori and sushi bars, brightly adorned with hiragana and displaying menus in complete Japanese. Don’t forget that the staff all look Japanese as do the cooks.

Second: the midtown Japanese grid. Between 49^th Street and 56^th crossed by an area from 5^th Avenue to 8^th Avenue, you will find some of the more authentic Japanese places. On Friday night, Keith, Mike and I went to Izakaya Hagi on 152 W 49th St, 212-764-8549, to have dinner. It was like stepping back into Japan for a while, as we were the only non-Japanese in there and the menu’s English was completely dwarfed by the kana. The waitress initially greeted us with a resounding irashaimase (“welcome to my establishment”) before correcting her self and asking me how many in English. The food resembled what we eat in Japan, edamame, yakisoba, etc. and the beer is all Kirin and Sapporo. If it weren’t for the ESPN on the TV, I would’ve tried to take the train back to Bentenchou…

A little more sushi would have been more authentic, I felt, but with so many dedicated sushi bars in the city, I can overlook it. I give Izakaya Hagi 3.5 out of 5 happy Japanese people. I’ll be back, but I have a few others to try first.

Wisdom of the Day: Don’t go there without a Japanese speaking person, it can be frightening.