Good Japanese food is hard to find.  While there is an overabundance of decent places to choose from, I find it oddly difficult to come across authentic Japanese cuisine in Manhattan.

Then I discovered a restaurant on the Upper East Side, at the cusp of Midtown, called Wajima.  It’s an unassuming place — so low-key that I didn’t even know it has existed for three years in my own neighborhood.  But what surprised me was that this restaurant isn’t a typically Upper East Side Japanese joint.  In other words, Wajima is a very traditional restaurant, run by Japanese people, and full of Japanese patrons.  And you know it’s a good sign when the cognoscenti are there.

What makes Wajima great is not just its authentic cuisine, but its $9.95 lunch specials are also an amazing deal.  There are several to choose from, and all consist of a sampling of dishes that arrive on a lacquered wooden tray.  My favorite is the Sanmizen: little bowls of chirashi, tempura shrimp, cold soba noodles, steamed egg custard, and miso soup.  Each dish is delicious and distinct from the others—a veritable Japanese smorgasbord.  I love having a little bit of everything, especially when the price is right, and Wajima is the perfect place to get it.

This new money-saving strategy led me to Fish in the West Village. A small, neighborhood seafood restaurant, Fish is an unpretentious place – ocean traps, huge cans of Old Bay Seasoning, and cracked marble table tops give it seaside New England charm. The young waitresses call patrons “hon” and “babe,” and, covered in tattoos and donning Chuck Taylors, seem to represent some sort of postmodern reimagining of a bygone dining era.

I did not even look at the menu when I arrived. My snacking companion had taken me there for one reason and one reason only: the Red, White, and Blue Special. Possibly the best deal on Bleecker Street, Fish offers six clams or six oysters plus a PBR or a glass of house red or white wine for $8. Our oysters arrived in a large aluminum tray filled with ice and served with the traditional cocktail sauce, fresh lemon, and mignonette garnishes. I picked up an oyster by the shell and held it over my mouth, letting the crustacean glide out of its home. Admittedly, I was a wary of what I was about to experience (cheap seafood is a little scary), but was pleasantly surprised by the clean, sea-fresh flavor of the blue points and the amount of liquor they came in. I sipped on my chardonnay – not the best, but crisp, cold, and satisfying. Sided with a basket of homemade rolls and cornbread, the deal almost constituted a whole meal. A far greater catch than the price.

Fish
280 Bleecker St # 4
New York, NY 10014
$8 Red, White, and Blue Special: 6 oysters and a beer or a glass of house wine for $8 (for $2 or $4 you can upgrade to your wine choice). Served all day.

I’m no cupcake slouch. I know a good one when I taste it.

And those at Butter Lane are good. In fact, they’re better then good, and others seem to agree. A recent New York Times article even noted that Butter Lane is on the “street of superlatives,” a block of Seventh Street between First Avenue and Avenue A in the East Village that boasts several eateries that offer some of the best food in their niche.

One thing’s for sure: Butter Lane puts Betty Crocker to shame. Each of the three vanilla cupcakes I’ve tried have been perfect — the cupcake by which you judge all others. Cupcakes often suffer from being too dry or too moist and rely on the icing for flavor. Not these. Best of all, the top of the cake where it meets the frosting is just a little crunchy,which adds a nice texture to every bite.

The cake itself keeps me coming back to Butter Lane for more, but the frosting holds up its end of the bargain well. The American buttercream is sweet and comes in a variety of flavors (like the one I chose, blueberry). In addition, Butter Lane offers a couple of flavors of French buttercream, a meringue-like icing made with egg whites.

Cupcakes are $2.50 to $2.75 a piece. Discounts are available for bulk orders, such as the Ten Buck Taster (four cupcakes for $10) and the Sweet Sixteen (six cupcakes for $15). For some even better deals, I’m a fan of Butter Lane on Facebook.  In the past month, Butter Lane has notified fans of a day-long two-for-one cupcake special, an Owners Night with free champagne, and an icing contest with free samples and icing demonstrations. It can’t get much sweeter than that!

Butter Lane
123 E. Seventh St. (between First Avenue and Avenue A)
New York, New York  10009

Tacos [from Serious Eats]

• Goat belly Tacos at Cabrito in the West Village
• Pork bulgogi tacos at Seoul Station in the East Village
• Egg-and-potato breakfast tacos at Downtown Bakery in the Lower East Side
• Al pastor tacos at Taqueria Coatzingo in Queens
• The taco trucks in Sunset Park
• Fish tacos at Pinche Taqueria in Nolita
• Tinga tacos (a Pueblan recipe of shredded chicken in a smoky orange chipotle sauce) from La Superior in Williamsburg
• Or the tinga from Metropolitan taco cart, also in Williamsburg
• Lengua tacos (yes, this is tongue, but fear not—the experience is akin to expert-braised short ribs) at Taqueria El Gallo Azteca in Staten Island
• Another tongue option at Super Tacos on the Upper West Side
• Chicken tacos at Lupita Grocery in Astoria
• Chapulines tacos (and yes, these are grasshoppers, but the bugs are crunchy, nutty, and slightly salty) at El Globo in Queens

Margaritas

• AGAVE — Innovative Southwestern eats served with style and a smile.
• Florencia 13 — West Village hideaway offers authentic SoCal Mexican and powerful margaritas.
• Dos Caminos Soho — More margaritas and upscale Mexican cooking at this sexy cantina’s downtown outpost.
• Rosa Mexicano — Restaurant Teaching New Yorkers about the complexity of Mexican food since 1984.
• Mercadito — Some of the city’s freshest and most authentic Mexican fare, in a snug spot in Alphabet City.

I moseyed up to the dark wood bar. Attractive twenty- and thirty-somethings crowded around the dimly lit space, and biodegradable paper containers — filled with the hype that I was myself about to order — littered the countertop. I picked up a menu and read its contents.

Delicious cocktails? Check.

Affordable beer and wine options? Check.

Korean-influenced Mexican fare? One big fat Check.

Kogi: Korean BBQ-To-Go, the company behind this masterful marriage of East-West cuisines, first became famous with its taco trucks out of which it sells this delicious street food. The owners also came up with a very web 2.0 gimmick: Twitter the location of the truck. It quickly became a sensation.

Because of it’s unbelievable popularity (long-lines are common and Kogi has over 18,000 followers on Twitter), a second Kogi truck now graces the streets of LA, and at night the company takes over the kitchen at the Alibi Room; since I generally like beer with my kimchi, that’s where I decided to order them. The menu offered three Korean tacos for seven bucks. One spicy pork. One short rib. One BBQ chicken. Each variation had its distinct flavor — sesame oil, spicy and vinegary-chili sauce, the umami yumminess of slow cooked meat — and came with a cabbage slaw and cilantro topping that was illegally good.

For five days, I had been pestering my brother, who I was visiting and staying with, about finding these tacos. For five days he put it off. But now that we were at the bar with our beers and our overflowing tortillas that dripped with meat juices and hot sauce, he was happy. “You’re right, these are freaking delicious. I’m bringing my friends here,” he said. We finished our meal with a basket of salty and spicy Korean-seasoned fries that were accompanied by a trio of hot sauce, catsup, and mayonnaise. Pure genius.

For under $35 we left the bar with our stomachs filled with just the right amount of food and drink — a deal that no LA visitor can afford to miss.

(Recent news for New Yorkers: rumor has it that Kogi might come here soon, too.)

My husband and I won $25 tickets in the Metropolitan Opera’s weekly online drawing for orchestra seats to a Saturday night performance. The only issue: where could we eat a pre-opera meal in keeping with our thrifty seats?

The price tag wasn’t our only consideration. The weather was, too. It was sunny and in the ’70s- one of those perfect spring days to eat outdoors. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea, and I certainly didn’t want to miss the start of the opera because we had waited too long for an outdoor table.

The solution was about 15 blocks north of Lincoln Center: Zabar’s Cafe, on Broadway at 80th Street. Zabar’s itself may not be much of a secret, but it’s rarely on lists for pre-performance dining. Nevertheless, for less than 10 bucks total we got a filling meal for a leisurely picnic at Theodore Roosevelt Park, just a few blocks east of the cafe at Columbus Avenue.

We arrived at Zabar’s shortly before it closed at 7 p.m., so the choices were limited. My husband got his first pick: a Cuban panini ($5.50) with porchetta ham, Swiss cheese and other goodies. I settled on the potato latkes with apple sauce (3 for $2) and the last remaining knish ($2).

I was especially happy with the broccoli knish. Not only were the flavor and texture right, but it stayed warm for the next half hour — more than enough time to find the perfect park bench. We watched the sun set over 81st Street and still had plenty of time for a stroll before the 8:30 p.m. curtain. Even better, we had plenty of money leftover for a big slice of cake!

Crawfish Boil at Flatbush Farm
Sunday, April 26 — 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Chef Browning cooks up a Louisiana-style Crawfish Boil, outside on the patio: crayfish, corn, potatoes, and assorted creole and southern delights.
76 St Marks Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11217
Tel: (718) 622-3276

Sunday Dinner at Paradou
Three courses for the price of one — Purchase any entree and your choice of any appetizer and any dessert is on the house. As an added bonus this Sunday, Nancy Danino and her band will be performing R&B & Jazz-influenced originals and covers.
8 Little West 12th St
New York, NY 10014
Tel: (212) 463-8345

In a city abounding with Vietnamese sandwich shops selling Banh Mi for $3.50-5.00 a pop, it normally would be hard to justify a Banh Mi priced at $8.00.  At least, that’s what I thought until I tried An Choi’s Banh Mi Thit Heo Quay.  Translation: a warm Vietnamese baguette stuffed with chunks of moist roast pork belly and slices of crispy skin plus other yummy stuff like aioli, cilantro, pickled carrots, daikon and cucumbers, etc.

I’m not going to use superlatives to describe this sandwich, but what I can say is: “imagine the love child of a Porchetta sandwich and Momofuku’s Ssäm’s pork bun”.  The inclusion of the crispy skin was a pleasant surprise that added extra texture and the hoisin sauce was a great complement to the pickled veggies —  a delicious step away from the traditional Banh Mi that we are accustomed to, with paté and Vietnamese cold cuts.

As far as I know, An Choi is currently the only shop to offer this particular Banh Mi. And though you may argue that it is rather on the high end of the Banh Mi cost spectrum, I would retort that the closest comparables are the two aforementioned sandwiches, which cost $9 each. So no, it’s not cheap by Banh Mi standards, but it’s a dollar cheaper and much more satiating than D-Chang’s Pork Bun, and definitely worth all 8 dollars.

An Choi, which opened about two months ago, came onto the restaurant scene with a Vietnamese redesign of the soup and sandwich combo.  For now, this LES eatery primarily offers Banh Mi, Pho and appetizers, but word on the street is that a new menu including entrees in the works.

An Choi
85 Orchard Street
(between Grand St & Broome St)
New York, NY 10002
Tel: (212) 226-3700

HEA Restaurant is changing things up a bit by introducing a new menu and giving diners a 20% break on their bill — Tuesday through Sunday from open to close. Chef Ichigaku Gonai, formerly of Bond St and Town has now taken the reins as executive chef and is “wok”-ing up exotic dishes from the Far East. The new menu is Japanese themed with a southern French flair.

Not hungry? HEA’s got a deal for you too. Drinks are half priced daily from 5-8pm. This includes all specialty cocktails. Now that’s my kind of deal! Here’s a preview of the new menu.

Apparently, a brunch menu is also in the works, but we’re still waiting to hear more on that one.

HEA Restaurant
145 E 13th St
New York, NY 10003
Tel: (212) 982-1688
Open Tuesday through Sunday

Whether you can handle sugar, flour and butter cream deep in your tummy, you know deep in your heart that you shouldn’t indulge in cupcakes.  But when you’ve got a case of the Mondays, sweets are hard to resist. Thankfully, at Babycakes, the specialty bakery on the Lower East Side, cupcakes are 1/2 off on Mondays.

Babycakes is famous among the delicate tummy set for the all natural, organic and delicious cupcakes free of evil allergens: wheat, gluten, dairy, casein and eggs.  For those of us who happen to be able to handle allergens, but can’t handle the tooth-achingly sweet butter cream at Magnolia Bakery or at Sugar Sweet Sunshine nearby, Babycakes offers cupcakes made with responsible sweeteners, like agave nectar, used sparingly, instead of white sugar or worse, chemical sweeteners.

It’s a responsibly sweet way to start off your week!

Babycakes
248 Broome Street (Btwn Orchard & Ludlow)
New York City, NY 10002
Tel: (212) 677-5047