sushi + sake = karen's bday

Karen and I went to Ozumo's last night to celebrate her birthday. While the food was pretty fantastic, I'm not sure that it was worth the $200+ tab - $100 of which was in sake alone!

Ozumo is interesting in that it has sushi, as well as a huge variety of robata dishes. We were so confused by the enormous menu that we literally had to focus on one section at a time. It also didn't help that our server was one of the most gorgeous creatures ever! :-)

Eventually, we decided on 1/2 dozen oysters on a half-shell and a warm unagi and foie gras dish to start; a watercress salad with enoki mushrooms and bacon; the roasted duck and yellow tail collar for main courses; and just a smidge of sushi with an order of hamachi and amaebi sashimi. The duck we could have done without - the portions are actually quite large there - but otherwise the food was pretty darn good. My favorites were the two appetizers: they garnished the oysters with ikura, a combination I'm surprised more places haven't tuned into, and foie gras is always amazing.

Since the main purpose of the evening is to drink sake, we take the server's recommendation and order the unpasturized samplers - a spring and a summer one. The Gokyo Arabashiri is amazing - simple and powerful. After dinner (and a surprisingly good dessert of green tea ice cream, mochi and chocolate sauce), we met up with Carol, Agnes, Eric and Alex in the lounge for more sake.



Eventually, the staid crowd and ridiculous prices drive us to livelier pastures, so we head out to the The EndUp - but not before I discovered that I lost my debit card. I'm so pissed! I guess its God's way of telling me that I've been spending too much money recently.