Zenkichi is no mere restaurant, it's an experience. A little 80s excess here, 90s slick black lacquer sophistication there, and the kind of gourmet unfamiliar menu for the foodies of today. It's a dark, labyrinthine space full of small private booths with concierge bells. It's very romantic and speaking of romance, we were lucky enough to still have the Valentine's Omakase available to us: eight courses and two desserts… let me see if I can remember them all.
Starting with miso soup, we went on to oysters; tuna carpaccio; beef carpaccio; eel and cream cheese tempura; pork belly; miso cod; two kinds of tofu in sauce; tofu cheesecake, and finally grapefruit glacee. It was all great, all of it. And a comparative deal at $105 for two people. The sake list is extensive and I tried the one described as a marshmallow flavored and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I'm not the only one who has discovered this “secret” spot, be sure to reserve ahead of time, you can do it easily on opentable.com. They also have larger rooms available for bigger parties.
But what do you think?