August 2010: Beer Kitchen then Beef Kitchen Nakameguro

First stop: Nakameguro Beer Kitchen
Nakameguro Beer Kitchen is like a really awesome college hangout—cheap, casual, and filled with cool staff who don’t mind if you play drinking games (ask them about the “789 game”). The “cheap” part owes to the fact that NBK offers “outlet beer”: bottles that are less than three months shy of their expiration date. The result is a rotating selection of imports starting at just ¥420; on a recent trip, we began with the light, wheaty Paulaner from Germany (¥790) and a creamy Murphy’s Irish Stout (¥980).

While the food menu features dishes like beer-steamed mussels (¥720) and wine-marinated spareribs (¥1,200), the real specialty is the “coconut BBQ-style” yakitori. The name is slightly misleading: it actually refers to the fact that the meat is grilled inside coconut shells.

Toward the end of the evening, finding ourselves with time for a last round, we were tempted by the Karate Chop (¥450), and the a Violet Fizz (¥520), described as “the standard drink for making a pass at a lady during the Bubble era.” Not to be confused with the cocktail staple of gin fizz plus crème de violette, Nakameguro Beer Kitchen’s version was a bright purple concoction that tastes something like a liquid Jolly Rancher. We can see ourselves heading back for more.

Last stop: BEEF KITCHEN...they put the Kitsch in Kitchen

Not only is the interior cool, all the most handsome single college men on earth work there (For Ed's benefit...) Was a blast to not fit everyone at the table and have spill over as this was a rare event which grew from four to five to twelve....

The kimchee was lovely as was the bean sprout salad. But the BEEF from the KITCHEN was really succulent. All to be washed down with gallons of grapefruit sours until they brought on the liquid nitrogen to make our Blue Hawaii sorbet with blueberries...