We headed back to Ebisu after a Friday night in Ginza at the Tender (Hard Shake Cocktail!) Bar, run by some fancy old guy in a white tuxedo, but also the same fancy old guy, named Kazuo Uyeda, who created the now-widely-used figure-8 shake for mixing cocktails.
Stepping into Tender Bar is a strange experience to behold, as you enter a creepily carpeted fifth-floor lobby of a narrow commercial building. Stepping into the bar is like taking a step back in time, to an age of, well, white-tuxedo’d guys and dark wood paneling and heavy carpeting. But, as routinely surprising as many things Japanese have been, you are slowly plied with tremendous professionalism, attentive service, and delicious alcohol.
So, if you do go, and you should, try the apple-y Miracle.
Once in Ebisu, we stopped to wind down the night at Tatsuya, a lively yakitori-ya where an eclectic gang of neighborhood couples and night-owls, salarymen and party-goers alike.
Although, by winding down, Lucas apparently meant ordering a Lemon Sour. In order to continue, I required food. So we raided the menu of skewers: shishito peppers, gingko beans, cartilage, chicken breast with a teriyaki-like sauce, chicken liver with salt (amazing), and pork belly.
Our neighbor at the grill-side bar even took a break in his eating to nap for about fifteen minutes. But we plowed on, adding a bowl of tonjiru, with soft white tofu simmered in a thick offal stew. I was thirsty, so I added a bottle of Mitsuya cider, which tasted like a light, ginger-y Sprite.
House of Hao's 