Good afternoon, Thursday.
If you, like me, are feeling a little freaked out, out of balance, off kilter, and generally on the brink, it is imperative that you follow my advice and go eat at Daruma-ya, a fantastic place a friend recommended for lunch right by where I'm freelancing in Tribeca. It's a discreet spot on a quiet part of Greenwich Street below Canal, but believe me it's worth the schlep from wherever you are.
Maybe you're a bit over the whole Izakaya thing, but I'm not and probably never will be. You all know Tokyo became my Mecca, and any time I can get food that feels authentic to that inspired city, I'm transformed.
Oh and from what I just read in the WSJ in their review on the place, a daruma is a red papier mache doll that the Japanese use to fulfill wishes- you wish for something and color in one eye, and when the wish comes true you color in the other. Clearly, I went in today with one eye filled, and I was not disappointed.
What's great about traditional Japanese restos is the acute attention to detail- from the beauty of the presentation to the weird loungish version of "Emotional Rescue" playing on the sound system, and never too loud. My friend ordered the beautiful cold soba tempura, and I got the mackerel lunch, which was just the perfect piece of grilled fish with some rice and lovely tofu and kobachi. The meal was so elegant and so very perfect on this cloudy day. It as all very traditional and sober and relentlessly fantastic. Divine. I will surely be back, and you're welcome to join me.
Because although life can throw me off on an almost daily basis, I'm grateful that I get to live in a city where I can find so much amazing food, company, and attention to what matters- a simple meal to enjoy when everything else seems to be, well, weird as weird gets. A meal stripped of artifice and gimmicks is so incredibly grounding and centering. For now, I may not be able to fill in that other eye on that little doll in this thing called life, but I'm getting closer, and if the goal was to eat a lovely lunch, then consider both of them eyes dotted and crossed. I so value the simple pleasures.
It's lovely to discover new places in a city you think you know so well- it gives me hope that the best is always yet to come. Cause that's what's up this post lunch victory in my city. How wonderful to find a new favorite thing when you least expect it. Yours, in great taste and high hopes. XO
http://www.darumaya-nyc.com/
428 Greenwich Street
NY NY 10013