Blog
Stories from behind the bar: cocktails, ramen, Japanese culture, and life on the Lower East Side.
CommunityJul 31, 2026What Is an Izakaya? It Is a Format, Not a CuisineThe word describes how you eat and drink, not what. Which is why there is an Italian one in the Japanese countryside, and why the best one I have been to did not have the best food in it.FoodJul 30, 2026The Best Takoyaki in This City Is Not OursTakoyaki cooked properly needs one person doing nothing else. That is why it comes from stalls, why izakayas fry theirs, and why the best in New York belongs to somebody who is not us.CommunityJul 29, 2026Almost Everything on These Walls Came From a CustomerWe chose the antique signs and the darumas. Nearly everything after that was given to us, including a wall that now has its own neon sign.CocktailsJul 28, 2026Midori: Suntory's Melon Liqueur, and Why It Is That GreenLaunched in Japan in 1964 under a different name, renamed for its 1978 US debut, and made with Yubari King and muskmelon.CocktailsJul 27, 2026Hennessy Paradis: A Blend Maurice Fillioux Compared to a Symphony OrchestraCreated in 1979 from rare aged eaux-de-vie, and named for the cellar where a cognac house keeps the ones it will not sell.CommunityJul 26, 2026The Most Redneck Asian in New YorkHalf Japanese, half Scottish German, raised five miles up a dirt road in Lake County. My grandfather cooked tempura in Ginza. I got here the long way.FoodJul 25, 2026Goya Champuru and Taco Rice, and the Tin of Spam That Connects ThemMy two favourite Okinawan dishes. One is bitter melon and egg. The other is a taco served on rice. Neither would exist in its current form without the American bases.CocktailsJul 21, 2026Seifuku Coffee Liqueur: Coffee Built on an Ishigaki BaseThe Ishigaki house behind our undiluted awamori also makes a coffee liqueur, and the base spirit is the reason to try it.WhiskyJul 20, 2026Mars Iwai Natsu: Japanese Whisky Finished in Umeshu CasksA limited annual release from Mars Komagatake in Nagano: Iwai Tradition finished six months in Japanese plum wine casks, with a sweet-and-sour plum finish built for summer.CocktailsJul 14, 2026Oka Yuzu Liqueur: The Third Yuzu Bottle From TsutsumiOKA already makes a yuzu vodka. This is the liqueur version, and the difference between the two is worth understanding.CocktailsJul 13, 2026Garappa #01: A Gin Made With Shochu Technique, Not Gin TechniqueYamamoto Shuzo builds this on honkaku shochu and distils each of its five botanicals separately, using the methods they already use for shochu.
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