Lady of Grand’s Pick: The Flamingly Delicious Hotate Butter at Yopparai
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If you haven’t noticed Yopparai in the two years that it has been here on Rivington Street, it’s most likely because it sits above the ground floor surrounded by late night drinking dens. After you buzz, enter through the sliding door and sit at one of the blue cushioned bar seats. The food at Yopparai accompanies the well-curated sake list, but the small bites don’t play second fiddle.
帆立バタ Hotate Butter is a simple dish. A scallop is grilled with dashi, soy sauce, and sake then topped with butter and a mitsuba leaf (or Japanese wild parsley) served in it’s shell next to a mound of salt which stays aflame by a dash of alcohol.
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Pictured above, it is paired with the sake that Obama drank in Japan. Kamotsuru’s Diginjo Tokusei Gold from Hiroshima. This sake is known for the two cherry blossom-shaped gold leaves you can at the bottom of the bottle.
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As previously noted, the owners of Yopparai are opening Azasu this coming Sunday. One of the first restaurants to be selling what Japanese train commuters drink all the time–cup sake. By the look of their instagram, I will be in there very shortly for their ham katsu sandwich.
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Yopparai
151 Rivington Street