"The food came in a gradual succession so I could enjoy each dish, and I washed them down with the first sake on the menu (miyozakura junmai, $10), ritually served by placing a glass in a wooden box and pouring the beverage into the glass till it overflowed into the box: an exercise in some logic I didn’t understand but thoroughly enjoyed. The guy next to me struck up a conversation, and I wish I’d asked his name. He, too, had looked in the window and ventured in because the place was so chill." - Robert Sietsema