Kasadela

I went to Kasadela on a Saturday night. There is a bar section as you walk in where they can serve you food, then the place opens up into a warm space with brick walls. The decor is East Village meets Japan, with sake bottles on the brick walls, mismatched chopsticks, and chalkboards hung up on the walls with today's specials.

The Japanese waiters and waitresses are very attentive, and knowledgeable about sake and food. Kasadela has an extensive drinks menu. I tried three bottles of sake, and they were all great. I had the Shunsetsu (literally, spring now), a light, smooth sake, perfect for the start of a meal, followed by Summer Snow (an undistilled sake with a voluptuous flavor), and Masumi (another smooth sake).

We started out with renkon chips (lotus roots), which were very yum, salted just right. After that came the saikoro salad (green salad with steak), nasu dengaku (eggplant with miso), pumpkin croquettes (one of my favorite dishes of the night, shaped like a heart for valentine's), chicken tebasaki (like the Korean fried chicken, Japanese style), and shrimp donburi.

We thought the dishes would be small, and that we might need to order more, but we were stuffed and unable to finish the donburi at the end. The food was fabulous, though, and so was the warm staff. We stayed at the restaurant for three hours, and didn't feel rushed at all.

I'm definitely going back to Kasadela. They take cash only, so make a trip to the ATM before you go. If you forget or go over budget (as we did), there's an ATM around the corner. It's a great gem for foodies and sake lovers.

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647 East 11th Street (close to Ave C)
New York, NY 10009
212-777-1582
http://kasadela.com/

Penelope

I went to Penelope for dinner around 9pm on a Saturday night with a friend. My friend lives in the neighborhood, and thought that 9pm was late enough to avoid having to wait. We opened the doors to the restaurant, and walked into a queue of eight people. We were told the wait was a half hour, so grabbed a drink at Banc, a few blocks away and returned at 30 minutes later.

The line of people had disappeared by the time we returned, and we were welcomed by a friendly host and waiters. I was surprised at how cute and quaint the restaurant was. I felt like I was in West Village, not Murray Hill. The food is comfort food, great if you're a brunch person like me. The menu has salads, sandwiches, mac & cheese, and pot pies.

We ordered a spinach artichoke dip to share, and I ordered a chicken pot pie for main. My friend ordered the "nice chicken meatballs" sandwich. The spinach artichoke dip was delicious: hearty, with just the right amount of all the ingredients (not too creamy or cheesy). It came with three different types of bread, which were all delicious. The sandwich (yes, I tasted it) and the fries that came with it was great, and so was the chicken pot pie.

The service at Penelope was great. The waiters were courteous and friendly. It feels like the type of place you can linger at for hours (if you ignored the huge line out the door). The menu is very reasonably priced. If you're up for brunch-type food, this is a great option in Murray Hill.

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159 Lexington Ave
(at 30th St)
New York, NY 10016
212-481-3800
http://www.penelopenyc.com/