Saturday, March 29, 2008

Drive-bys, March 29, 2008

Sorry I've been away for so long. This will continue until May, most likely. In the meantime here are a couple of notes:

*A reader emailed me to say that Banyan Tree has closed. I am very sorry to hear this. It can be very hard to establish a small and unique restaurant any place where it is affordable to do so. (If anybody heard further news -- good or bad -- please leave a comment.)

*Midori is under new management. They have changed their sushi menu, and though they will make the old rolls if you ask, watch out for anything with cream cheese in it. They use a whipped and sweetened cream cheese that totally overwhelms everything else. (The Futomaki, which did not have cream cheese in it at all before, was like sushi with frosting in it.) However, they have added some great new rolls of their own. We had the B.S.C.R -- baked scallops on top of a bed of California Roll with a little sauce dribbled on top. Very nice. And it looks like the "Lady Roll" has the same fillings as the old Futomaki, but with a bean skin wrapper rather than nori. We will go back, but we seriously miss the old Spicy Shrimp Tempura with good old sour -- and solid -- cream cheese.