Day 1 Natori, the 12th Street Ale House

I landed in New York around 5:30 p.m.. I turned on my phone and James Call was calling asking if I wanted to meet him for dinner. We decided to meet up around 7:30 after me and Kirstin dropped our stuff off in Brooklyn.

We met up with James at the 12th street Ale house, a place that deserves at least a passing mention here, even if we didn’t eat anything. The less than hour I spent there was very pleasant. It’s a very spacious bar, a classic wood paneled New York Tavern. The best part though was when I got a drink and offered to pay for James’ the two cost me less that $10. They have a half off happy hour from 4-8 p.m.. It felt good to buy my first drink in New York for $4.

Dinner was at Natori; a nice homey style Japanese place on the strangely deserted block of St. Marks between 1st and 2nd avenues. I’ve been to Natori many time, I discovered it my last year living in New York and try and pay a visit every time I come back.

There atmosphere is super laid back. There placed a few steps down from the street in a sort of semi-basement type set up. It feels a little like being in someone's east village apartment.

As far as food goes they rarely let you down. There sushi is simple and fresh, everything else is prepared with love and care. I don’t eat wheat anymore but when I did they had pretty much the best Nabe Udon in the city.

On this visit my apatite was not up to snuff. I’d slept less than two hours in the last twenty-four. A lot of the food we ordered I found hard to finish. Still there are two items that I ate eagerly. Both these items I first ordered for there novelties sake. The grilled alligator with plum sauce and the deep fried muenster cheese. The alligator, a meat somewhere between fish and chicken is the perfect carrier for the sometimes overly intense Japanese salted plum Ume. The cheese, wrapped in nori, dredged in panko and lighty fried, is the perfect match of gooey, crunchy and lightly fishy. It’s odd that two such unusual foods would serve as comfort food but for this night that’s the role they were filling for me.