TAKESUSHI
Within walking distance from my doctor's office, my first stop was Takesushi for lunch. I've written about Takesushi before, and they continue to be great value.
$17 is on the high side for a lunch set, even by Manhattan standards. But just look at that bowl of uni! It seemed like there was at least half a tray of uni on there! While they sometimes get Santa Barbara uni which I generally prefer, Takesushi usually gets most of its uni from Maine. Maine uni tends to not be as sweet and creamy as the Santa Barbara version, but has an added depth of umami flavor. This may have been the most uni I've ever eaten in one sitting, and it was glorious!
LOURO
I happened to have an out-of-town friend visiting that same night, so I took him to Louro in the West Village. Here are some of the highlights:
Louro also has one of the best happy hour deals in the city, with beer, wine, and cocktails at $4,$6, and $8 respectively. Each drink also gets you a plate of petiscos, which are the Portuguese equivalent of tapas. When in season, they also have excellent, meaty oysters at a dollar each.
My friend absolutely loved this dish, especially the delicious dashi that it swam in. The fragrant mushrooms worked well with the subtle yet umami-rich custard and dashi. I'm not really a big chawanmushi guy, but this was excellent.
One of Louro's signature dishes, this hearty plate of pasta has been on the menu since they opened. It was as delicious as it was comforting, with occasional bursts of boar pancetta livening up the rich octopus ragu.
UNI, CRISPY SWEETBREADS, KABOCHA SQUASH
UNI, PORK BELLY (for comparison)
This was an absolutely special dish that currently ranks among my favorites of 2014. I suggest getting everything in one bite to experience the great interaction of textures featuring the crispy sweetbreads, creamy uni, and soft, yet not mushy, squash. The earthiness of the squash provided a great base and brought together all the flavors of this unique rendition of surf and turf. Great uni dishes are not new to Louro, as last year's uni with pork belly was also excellent in combining flavors and textures. This dish, however, featured layering, balancing, and interplay that was far superior, in my mind, to that already excellent dish.
I actually ate even more seafood as we also had Louro's signature piri piri shrimp and the kimchi fried rice featuring calamari, clams, and shrimp, which was just as delicious as it sounds. Louro is one of my favorite restaurants in the city, and one of the places I frequently recommend to people. I've never really written about it on the blog however, as they change the menu so frequently (including a new, unique themed menu EVERY WEEK) that it becomes hard to use one meal as a snapshot for a review.
What a great day! From lunch to dinner, this delicious day of seafood surpassed even my burger-pizza bang-bang in terms of indulgence!
Takesushi
43-46 42nd St
Sunnyside, Queens
Louro
142 W 10th St
Manhattan
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