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Japanese Pub Fare

Ariyoshi, at 226 E. 53rd St., is an izakaya, a traditional Japanese drinking establishment with small plates to accompany your sake or shochu or beer. It's a tiny, casual place, and I'm told very much similar in feel to izakayas in Japan. An izakaya is pretty much the Japanese equivalent of a tapas bar. At Ariyoshi a wide variety of items, generally in the $5-8 dollar range, is available, including stewed, grilled, or fried meat and seafood dishes, sushi and sashimi, and salads.

I dined at Ariyoshi with a couple of friends, including Masa, who is Japanese; he was able to confirm the authenticity of the place as well as help with the ordering. Three of us shared about a dozen items.

The quality of the food ranged from decent to very good. Among my favorite dishes were the stewed pork belly (the staff recommended this over the grilled belly), fried chicken chunks in a vinegar sauce, and tempura smelts. Also excellent was a negi-hama roll (yellowtail and scallion) from the sushi bar. In the next tier were marinated fluke fin (raw, with a crunchy consistency), tsukune (chicken meatballs), and grilled squid legs. In general, the cold vegetable items--a seaweed salad and spinach with tiny fish--were bland and disappointing. Also disappointing were the grilled beef tongue, which looked great but was rather tough, and some limp gyoza.

The food at Ariyoshi is generally simple, homey fare. Nothing fancy. In other words, Ariyoshi's a pleasant place to chow down on some tasty food, have a couple of drinks, and feel like you're doing it all in Japan, but otherwise expectations shouldn't be too high.

Bananaphobia

There once was a man who was afraid of bananas. There are common and uncommon phobias, and while bananaphobia may be an uncommon one, it's a phobia nonetheless. You might find the idea of a fear of bananas funny, but to this man it was no laughing matter. He was more afraid of bananas than he was of snakes, heights, or even death itself. Any time he saw a banana the man would scream, "Eek! A banana!"--and run away.

This man had many enemies, and when they found out about his phobia they began to taunt him with bananas. But it wasn't only his enemies who taunted him with bananas. Sometimes his enemies would hire banana hit men to taunt him. Everywhere this man would go, he'd see strangers walking around with bananas. Sometimes they'd be eating them, and sometimes they would just carry them around, menacingly. And if that weren't enough, he noticed that many new fruit stands were opening near his home and place of work, all prominently displaying their bananas, clearly in order to make his life a living hell.

It's not as if the man lacked perspective, though. I'm just afraid of bananas, he thought. There are plenty of real nuts out there.

It's Cretan to Me

"Would you like me to take a picture of all of you?" the waiter asked, after watching me shoot photos of all the dishes we ordered--and there were quite a few, as I ordered solely from the extensive appetizers menu for the five of us.

"No thanks," I said, "I only do food."

"You only do food!" he repeated, amused.

The waiter and the owners at S'Agapo were impressed by the quantity of the food we ordered as well as by our particular choices. And I was impressed by the quality of just about everything we ordered, as was everyone else in the party, including one Greek-American, if that counts for anything.

S'Agapo is a laid back, friendly, family-run Cretan restaurant in Astoria, Queens (where you'll find New York's largest concentration of Greek restaurants). It's somewhat more upscale than most of the local competition, but a steal compared to high-end Manhattan Greek eateries like Molyvos or Periyali for food that's of near or equal quality, and, I think, with more character.

While the many of the dishes served at S'Agapo can be found at other Greek restaurants, there are noticeable differences, perhaps due in part to geography, Crete being, I believe, the southernmost part of Greece. A mixed dips plate featured some of the usual suspects like tzatziki (yogurt/cucumber) and taramasalata (carp roe spread), some Cretan specialties like parsley, red pepper, and grape leaf dips, an olive tapenade, and hummus, which I don't usually associate with Greek menus. The freshness and variety of flavors was breathtaking, but my favorite spread was one we ordered separately, made from fava beans with wonderfully aromatic olive oil. I found the gigantes (large white beans) and the dolmades (stuffed grape leaves), common on most Greek menus, much less exciting, though only in relation to the stars of the meal.


Small fried cheese pies, described as raviolis on the menu (I forget the Greek name), were served with honey, apparently another Cretan tradition.

The menu includes several varieties of saganaki (melted sharp (and usually, I believe, sheep) cheese), and we had a version with portabella mushroom. We accepted a recommendation for an off-menu special of flat green beans with potatoes, which were delightfully seasoned with a dill-leaning herb mix.

My favorite among the meat items we ordered was leg of lamb chunks cooked with white wine. We also had some excellent loukaniko (sausage) and keftedes (officially meatballs, but actually grilled patties at S'Agapo). The grilled octopus was quite good too. The quail were somewhat disappointing, though, not nearly at the level of the quail I fell for at Amazing 66 in Chinatown, and arranged helter skelter on the plate.

We certainly could have done without dessert, but that didn't stop us from ordering the cream cake (the waiter's recommendation) and a galaktoboureko (custard pie, and a particular favorite of mine). On top of those, we were comped with a plate of cookies.

I mentioned Periyali and Molyvos above. I've been to Periyali once and found it rather disappointing. I've been to Molyvos once and found the food fabulous and the service impeccable, but to be honest I prefer the homey atmosphere of S'Agapo. And, as I also mentioned above, it's plenty more affordable.

S'Agapo
34-21 34th Ave
Astoria, NY

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