Let the KushiQ Backlash Begin…
KushiQ (3rd Ave. btw. 45+46th) opened on Monday, introducing their special brand of fast food yakitori, in a hip setting. I’m all for meat on a stick, and I’ve been pretty pumped up about this opening. Grub Street gave it a nice write up yesterday, but it looks like the early word on the street is not so great.
First the mixed…
The food was okay. They sell a box combo, where you can choose a base of rice, salad or bread (that looked terrible) and then three skewers on top of it. I tried the combo with 1 chicken, 1 salmon, and 1 beef stick. The beef and the chicken were both very good, the salmon was eh. They put a whole bunch of crap on the rice (sauce, sesame seeds, seaweed) and also those yellow pickles that you get as banchan in Koreatown.
Is it a good deal? No. My box, with tax, was $8.56 (it did come with miso soup, which was fine.) Is it worth a try? Yeah, [but] I absolutely refuse to pay for a stick with literally only three pieces of vegetable on it. Lame.
By far the coolest thing is the skewer cooking machine, which mechanically lifts and dips each skewer into some sort of cooking/marinating liquid -Sara (via Email)
I am intrigued by this meat on a stick dipping machine. At least she ordered something. Comments from three walkouts- after the jump Read more »
Posted by Zach Brooks at 7:02 am, May 9th, 2007 under *3rd btw. 45+46th, Japanese.
There seems to be a new trend emerging in Midtown. Korean food is taking over! It seems as if everywhere you go, someone is serving Korean food in an unlikely place. It is almost as if the Korean restaurant owners in Midtown have realized, “We don’t have have to serve Mexican food and Sushi! Our food is delicious, and people will eat it!” Sure, a lot of people still don’t know what Bulgogi is (it is Korean BBQ’d beef by the way), and Bi Bim Bap sounds like weird Jazz… but it doesn’t change the fact that if you like Asian food, you should not be afraid of Korean. It’s delicious, and this is a welcome trend. 
For me, the whole thing started with 
Pro Hot Bagel, a deli on 56th btw. 5+6th has been taken over by Korean & Japanese food. It started slow when a few months ago they added a small sushi bar to their mammoth list of sandwiches (and bagels). But recently they have gone all out, adding a Udon/Soba station, that also serves Bento Boxes, Bulgogi Boxes & Bi Bim Bap.
Ever since Wu Kong closed on 46th btw. 5th & 6th, I’ve been searching for a cheap sit down Sushi restaurant with a good lunch special close to the office. Sure, Wu Kong was one of those split Asian restaurants, half Japanese/half Chinese (always a bad sign), but the sushi was good, and for under $10 you got two rolls and a miso soup. Their Chinese food specials were good too, they gave you free peanuts while you waited for your meal, and once, awhile back, my wife and I were convinced we saw Lindsay Lohan eating there (that means it had to be good!) It wasn’t the best, but it was our place- and since it closed there has been a cheap lunch special sushi void in our lives.
Well, salvation has come in the New Year. As 
If Sushi or Sashimi is your thing, they have very nice, generously portioned sushi lunch specials for a pretty decent price. The Sushi lunch is $8.95, Sashimi Lunch is $9.95 and the Sushi/Sashimi combo lunch is $12.95. The table next to ours ordered these and they looked better than average. They also have various Udon Noodle soups ($6.50 apiece), Don Buri specials (sweet Japanese stews) and all the usual Teriyaki, Katsu, Tempura and Negimaki specials you would expect. Everything comes with miso soup and a salad (except the soups, which only come with a salad).
Right before Thanksgiving I posted 
When I first found this amazing street, Cafe Zaiya was like a dream come true. Fun, exciting and packed with tons of amazing foods at super cheap prices. Chiyoda, in contrast, seemed like a slightly nicer sushi place, that was trying to mimic the success of Cafe Zaiya by offering a limited selection of rice balls and bento boxes in addition to pre-made sushi. In the past few months they have undergone a subtle makeover, and have now come into their own- offering upscale (but still inexpensive) treat, including small dishes like an avocado and salmon tartare, interesting looking Omusubi (rice balls) and an assortment of delicious looking salads, tempura, odon and more… all available to go. But more on Chiyoda another time… this is my Thanksgiving post!
Here we go again. I love the buffets… and on Friday I visited another one (with my wife and a few of her co-workers). I had actually been to this buffet back in March for my brother’s birthday- when it was known as Minado. We went for dinner, and it was pretty good. Decent sushi, some good hot things, not too crowded- but things were still fresh, and a huge selection. A couple of months later, I had read that it was sold to Todai, a Japanese buffet chain with locations mostly in the west coast, Texas, Illinois, Virginia & New York. My one previous visit to a Todai (in Los Angeles) left me with a bad taste in my mouth (literally). The rice they used to make the sushi was disgusting, and the warm food was not so great either.
With that in mind, we went to the New York Todai, hoping that some of the Minado goodness was held over in the transition. Todai is what is known by buffet aficionados as a “Super Buffet”. It’s a very technical term, and might be difficult to understand for the buffet lay-person. “Super” refers to the awesome size and nature of the buffet in question. Most Super Buffets have many stations, and at least 50 items (I just made that up… I don’t think there is any real measure). 