I recently moved to Ebisu and there is a plethora of dining options and I've been coming to the neighborhood to dine for years. One of the top rated dining attractions according to Bento.com is Cardenas Grill. So recently while a friend was in Tokyo from out of town we made a visit. It has an impressive high ceiling interior with low lighting and stylish decor. We opted for the course menu, which was reasonably priced at ¥4800 and consisted of the following: capraccio of the catch of the day, followed by a mango pottage, foie gras, grilled white fish, and fillet of steak, and dessert. They served bread with maple syrup butter throughout the meal.I don't remember the exact way that the menu items were prepared, but much of it was inventive and fusion inspired and in small portions. My only complaint was that the drinks service was slow-those drinks should be replaced immediately during the meal and we had to wait for the coffee to accompany the dessert.
The first time I visited Devil Craft it had just opened and was fully booked on a Tuesday, so all we could do was stand in the aisle on the first floor and try a beer or two. They have 20 beers on tap. It is mostly small batch craft beer mainly from Japan and the US. This time I had Diamond Knot Industrial IPA from Mukilteo in my home state of Washington, which was fine, but I think these days I prefer lighter less hoppy beers like Pilsners. So next I tried the North Island Wheat, a beer from a microbrewery in Hokkaido, which was more of what I was looking for to go with the heavy pizza. For appetizers we had Utsunomiya gyoza, spicy buffalo wings, and a Greek salad--all of which was serviceable. But what we came for was the Chicago style pizza and went with The Abe Froman, ¥2,400 for a large that fed 3 people easily. It had mozzarella, parmesan, provolone, Devils’ Original marinara sauce, sausage, pepperoni, and salami. It did not disappoint, I haven't had Chicago style in a long time, so I forgot that there's more sauce than cheese, which is good since it is sometimes overdone in the US. The crust was crispy and sturdy. I'm glad I gave it a second chance.
I miss Ebisu, it always had a ton of great restaurants. Remember that rooftop Thai place we used to go to?
Posted by: Blendy | August 23, 2012 at 09:56 PM
Yeah, I think you're thinking of the Monsoon Cafe, which is actually in Daikanyama--but only a hop, skip, and a jump away and still operating.
Posted by: MC | August 24, 2012 at 12:36 AM