OH! Taisho (Yakitori, beer and fun in new Little Tokyo)

Have you been on either St. Marks Place or 9th street between 2nd and 3rd avenues lately? If not, well, you should go and if so, what the fuck happened down there? It used to be all schlock jewelry stores and used CD stores--okay, there are a few of those left--but now it's like Little Tokyo dining. Not that I'm complaining, cuz, like, I'm not.

If you haven't been, head on down to St. Marks and walk on the north side of the street. When you get to number 5 St. Marks, stop, turn left and walk down the short steps to OH! Taisho. You will not regret it. Unless you're a sushi snob, and by this I mean someone who only thinks of sushi when you think Japanese food.

OH! Taisho is an authentic yakitori joint and if you've never been in one--I was in one in Tokyo in 2001--you need to check it out. This place is small in the front, with some small tables directly right of the door when you come in and seats around the yakitori bar (think the sushi bar in a sushi restaurant and you have the right idea). But there's a big, open room in back where you can sit in relative comfort (but not style; yakitori joints are not about style).

The menu is brightly colored and has pretty nice photos of everything the place has to offer. I was only so into yakitori on this particular evening--I'd just come from the gym and was starving, but wasn't really thinking of yaki until my friend and I passed the place--but I decided on quail eggs rapped in bacon and the unagi tofu, at least to start. Oh, that and a 21 oz. Sapporo Ichiban, cuz, well, who the hell can pass up a 21 oz. beer for $7? Now, the unagi tofu is eel, egg, rice and tofu cooked up in a pan in a light broth (of all things!)%