New Local Spot: Umai Sushi

As you probably have gathered already, sushi is my ultimate vice. So of course I was keen to try out the new sushi bar on Arthur Ave., Umai Sushi. First of all, in the four years that I have attended Fordham, there has never been one sushi place in this neighborhood. Now there are two! The first one to open was Sake II on 187th St. near Camberling Ave. I have to say that I do love this place and their sushi is pretty decent, also their prices are great-bento boxes are $12.95! You can even make a delivery order online. (They take 10% off your first order!) The only problem with Sake II is it is incredibly small...There are only two tables in the whole restaurant. So if I wanted to make a delivery order, Sake II is the way to go. 

If you're looking for an evening out with friends or a date, Umai is definitely the way to go. It's a bit pricier than Sake II, but the quality is definitely worth it. Another great thing is that it's BYOB so you can grab a cheap bottle of wine from Mt. Carmel and share it with friends. The decor is quaint but trendy...you almost forget for a second that you're not in Manhattan. 

I actually ended up going to dinner here TWICE this weekend; that's how good it was. Both nights they gave us a free vegetable spring roll as an appetizer...The staff is incredibly friendly and grateful to have you there. We ordered a few rolls; I would recommend the Y2K roll, and the Spicy 2 in 1 Roll, although everything I tried I loved. Also, both nights I went they even gave us a FREE dessert- Oreo Tempura which is exactly what it sounds like, Oreos fried in tempura batter. They were absolutely delicious. If you haven't been to this place yet....GO! 

A few people I talked to were questioning whether or not a sushi place in the Bronx could be decent, but give our neighborhood a little more credit! New places are opening up all the time and a lot of them are here to cater to Fordham students so take advantage of them. Although the Italian restaurants on Arthur are unbeatable, if you want a change of pace try Umai Sushi. 

Tanuki Tavern-Delicious Sushi!

Last night, a friend and I had a late dinner at Tanuki Tavern at the Hotel Gansevoort. My parents were kind enough to give me a gift certificate that they had sitting around the house, probably only because it was going to expire at the end of March, but hey, no complaints here!


Tanuki Tavern is a Japanese "gastropub" that serves up amazing sushi rolls, hibachi, ramen, and rice dishes. The decor is adorable, we sat in this pink room that made me think Hello Kitty could have been an inspiration to the designer.

My friend Antonio and I ordered a bunch of dishes and just decided to share them all. It's so much more fun to share and be able to taste a little of everything! To start, we had the edamame which was unexpectedly spicy and unlike any edamame I've ever had. We split two sushi rolls, the Rock Shrimp Dynamite Roll and the Sesame Crusted Tuna Tataki Roll. Both were delicious, but we loved the Dynamite Roll the most. It was drizzled with an amazing spicy "dynamite" sauce that was creamy and amazing. Once we devoured these rolls we shared the steak hibachi which was mildly disappointing. It was about the size of my palm, waay too small and was undercooked a little too much; and trust me, I love my steak cooked medium rare. It didn't come with any sides so we had to order an additional bowl of jasmine rice. If I were to go back, I would only order from the sushi menu...I was so impressed with the quality. Tanuki is a trendy but casual spot that would be great for drinks and a small bite to eat. ( I had an amazing grapefruit cocktail that had tiny cherry blossoms in it...adorable!) I definitely want to go back again and I would recommend it to any sushi lovers.

Tanuki Tavern
at Hotel Gansevoort
18 Ninth Ave (entrance on 13th Street)

Sushi Love

So I briefly mentioned in a previous post that my favorite food ever is sushi. All kinds of sushi. Whenever I'm home in Jersey, my family and I always go to the same sushi restaurant: Nagoya. I won't bother telling you too much about the place because it is an unlikely scenario that anyone will find themselves in Mahwah, New Jersey looking for sushi (but if you do, GO HERE).

My brother, Adrian, is famous at this place though. Whenever he walks in, he gets a freakishly warm welcome from the staff and I feel like I'm dining with a celebrity, probably a B-List celebrity, but still. The main sushi chef and restaurant owner (everyone calls him Sushi Steve) is always giving Adrian free little samples and bottomless amounts of sake. My brother and his friends even made a Facebook group for Nagoya lovers where they plan group dinners about once a month. It's getting a little ridiculous.

Sushi Steve always comes up with the most creative rolls that involve anything from jalepenos to mangoes. The BEST appetizer would be the "Crunchy Crunchy Crunchy" which is basically a slab of spicy tuna mixture sandwiched between crispy seaweed wasabi crackers. YUM.

But anyway, whenever my brother or I end up eating here, we can't help but take pictures because the sushi is just so beautiful! The reason I even thought of writing this post was because I was just browsing through old pictures and started salvating at the thought of inhaling any of these dishes right now. I WISH. I am going home on Sunday, so I think a trip to Nagoya will be in order...

Oms/B Rice Balls

After starting my internship at Women's Health, it has been a goal of mine to find delicious, yet inexpensive places to eat lunch near my office. Luckily, I work in midtown two blocks away from Grand Central so it's really easy to get down there from the Bronx and there are plenty of places to have a decent lunch.

I work Tuesdays and Thursdays. Last Thursday was the treacherous blizzard and I had to work. I didn't remember to bring my own lunch and was not happy. My little cubicle is right next to the window so all morning I was glaring out into the dark and stormy streets, dreading to ever leave the office. But by 12:45 my stomach was begging me for something, anything. So I ventured out. I didn't have an umbrella or anything so I literally ran into the first little place I saw, on the corner of 45th and 3rd.

The place I stumbled into is called Oms/B Rice Ball Cafe and I am so happy I found it. I love love love sushi so this was a perfect spot in my eyes. It's a tiny place with only a few tables and they sell sushi and little rice balls a la carte. Their menu is reasonably priced and they have some pretty interesting things on the menu. When I ate there, I had a spicy tuna roll, a shrimp popcorn riceball (which is shrimp tempura with chili mayonnaise sauce on top of rice mixed with chives, wrapped in green lettuce) and a lobster salad rice ball (lobster salad on top of sliced cucumber and rice mixed with chives). It sounds like a lot, and it is. All of this cost me $9 and it was definitely worth it. Everything was fresh and delicious. I will definitely be heading back here for lunch, next time hopefully not in the middle of a blizzard.

Oms/B Cafe
156 East 45th St. btw 3rd and Lex