Let's best of restaurants

Here's something a little different.

One cool thing that happened this year is that I met Gwen Bell, an American entrepreneur with a past in Japan.  She's running a reflect-a-thon (my word, don't throw things at her) called Best of 2009 from her site. She's got a theme a day. Why don't you try it, too?

December 2 - a memorable restaurant experience.

The most outstanding restaurant experience of the year is one I've barely talked about. In February, Jim and I had dinner at the New York Grill in the Park Hyatt in Shinjuku.

We can see the hotel from the north windows of our apartment, and we could just about pinpoint our place in the midst of the city lights from a window seat. We were close enough to hear the live jazz singing, but far away enough from it that it wasn't too loud.

The food was amazing. I had a beet and goat cheese salad. I rarely see either of these on a menu here, let alone together. It was huge, too, an entire goat's worth of cheese. I had a short rib that looked like it came from a dinosaur. I usually eat meat in small quantities at most and found it a bit horrifying, but it was unbelievably flavorful and tender. Like with every bite I thought, no, it couldn't have been that good. Let me try it again. And it was that good. There was dessert. It was good. I can imagine it was a crisp and creamy creme brulee, a flowing chocolate lava cake, or a selection of tart seasonal sorbets, but the fact is that I don't remember. What I remember most is the conversation. Despite the table for two being a bit too wide, we had such an intimate time talking about the year behind us and the years ahead. We were giggly reminding each other about the dinner for days afterward.

I didn't mention it partly because the place is little cliched - it was the lounge in Lost in Translation -  and mostly because it is expensive.  Much more so than anyplace I or my friends go regularly, or, really, ever. I felt embarrassed that we were having such a splurge while friends were looking for work, even though it was the confluence of our first Japanniversary and Valentine's day. Looking back, it feels like maybe it was a bargain, after all.