five restaurants

as part of my 50 for 2008, i made it a goal to find at least five new restaurants i can take friends to (number 19). here they are:


☆Chelsea Club - spontaneous dinner with May and Tea

this is a small little cafe squeezed into the boardwalk-like area in shinjuku south. i had a huge burger with avocado that was delicious. in fact, we all had the same thing. it was a bit difficult to eat and you get a little messy so it was perfect for a girls' only date.


☆El Torito - May's birthday party

let me remind you that i'm from ohio, so i probably don't know what "good mexican food" really is. having said that, i loved the chips and guacamole but otherwise, was too distracted by a particular boy to really have strong feelings one way or the other on the menu. fun atmosphere and there was a birthday sombrero for the birthday girl.


☆Muteppo (無鉄砲) - Tea's farewell party

we took a "scenic route" to get to this restaurant and it's in a neighborhood with a lot of little back roads, so i'm not sure i could find it without a map. we got one of two private rooms. we chose a course (it's so much easier for groups, especially yakiniku places where you don't know what is whose on the grill, just dig in!) and ordered some korean sake too.


☆Trattoria Italia - date with Parker

this is in the same building as TGIFriday's in ueno. parker took me here and we ordered a course menu which included scallops and sashimi, which i ate with no problem! i believe it's the dressing that made a world of difference: so tasty! the atmosphere could be described as casual fine dining. the portions were perfect sized and i remember there being lots of wine options and also an international beer selection (not huge, but more than your average izakaya).


☆Momenya (もめん屋) - date with CB

this place falls under the izakaya category, and it's in a college "town," but it's not the kind college kids go to for beer by the case and rowdy behavior. we sat at the bar and had typical izakaya fair. i invited him out for umeshu and he took me here. we tried a different kind of umeshu every time but they also had a pretty extensive nihonshu menu. not fancy, but perfect for a nice evening of dinner and drinks.