[Pigging by Wilfrid: March 22, 2010]
Kanoyama is one of the better sushi options in the East Village, and recently extended itself by creating a sake bar in the premises next door.
The main attraction for me is the daily sheet of fish specials inserted in the menu - and last week it listed baby eels.
The meal started with gyoza, stuffed with pork and cabbage, and I'd go so far as to describe them as "uncommonly good" (© S. Sifton). My junior assistant compared them with empanadas. No, I corrected her, empanaditas. And indeed so: little, crisp crescents with a tasty filling, served very hot to order.
Now the baby eels were a little bit of a mystery, because by and large they are a very expensive delicacy indeed. So much so that manufacturers now produce fake baby eels, along the same lines as crabsticks. These critters at Kanoyama stared back at the diner in reassuringly authentic fashion (look closely). The sashimi portion served here was small, of course, but not especially costly.
My junior assistant described them as "slithery," and this time there was no debate. A texture food, and an unusual one at that.
The snack concluded with reliably good handrolls (eel and cucumber, salmon skin) and some less exotic sashimi choices - baby shad (kohada) was good. Be warned that ordering by the piece causes the check to rise sharply.
The restaurant usefully posts the daily specials on its website here, and if the pdf is to be trusted, the teensy eels are still knocking around.
