Yakitori Totto

i used to live on east 7th street in alphabet city, so whenever i felt like eating little skewers of grilled meats and veggies, i'd go to one of the yakitori places on st. marks. usually my yakitori cravings with hit me at 2am after a night of drinking somewhere in the hood, so i'd go to whichever one had the shortest line. even though i had always heard good things about Yakitori Totto, trekking up to mitdtown west was, well, a trek so i never went. silly me.

with 3 friends in tow, i went on a yakitori field trip to midtown and was not disappointed. i recommend eating early for this and making a reservation (only accepted before 7:30pm) because this tiny place gets packed. pick your dining companions carefully for this place because it's a bit like dim sum. sure, a person can order on his/her own but it's way more fun and satisfying if everyone is adventurous and willing to try everything. with a group of 4 we were able to get a semi-private dining area and order almost everything that looked good on the menu, which was a lot. overall, this place was so damn good, it has won a spot on my favorites list.

favorites of the group include: Shirauo No Kara Age (deep-fried silver fish w/green tea powder and salt) - i think that green tea powder has crack in it because it's addictive; Tori Dango (steamed rice dumplings w/organic chicken meatballs inside); Miso Dare Mune Niku (chicken breast topped w/scallion and special miso paste); Kuro Buta Negi Pon (organic pork w/scallion and ponzu); Shittake mushroom (w/shaved bonito); Yaki Nasu Miso Dengaku (egglant w/miso paste); Nagomi Maccha Purin (green tea pudding w/azuki beans) - i HATE pudding but i liked this; Yawaraka (creamy apricot kernel tofu) - imagine soft tofu that is very subtly sweet and apricot-flavored. those were probably the most unique dishes we tried but there wasn't a single dish that i didn't like a lot. everything was fresh, seasoned perfectly or perfectly unseasoned so you could season it yourself with the condiments on the table, and artfully prepared.

don't miss out on the fruit juice soju cocktails. i ordered the grapefruit soju cocktail and was ecstatic when they brought out half a grapefruit and a juicer with my huge glass of soju.