そば ^ max

Name: 香り家 / Kaorika
Style: Soba
Neighborhood: 恵比寿 / Ebisu
Website: None, but see http://r.tabelog.com/tokyo/A1303/A130302/13001653/

My friends Naoco and Nick introduced to this awesome soba restaurant, which is surprising considering it's right near my house and not near theirs! I have nothing but props for this place. They have a whole variety of interesting drinks (an awesome nihonshu whose name begins with kiku, nigori umeshuu, and sobayu+sobashochu among others) and a lot of good food to warm up with (the dashimaki was really good, as was the chicken tataki). But of course it's a soba restaurant so the highlight was the soba at the end. As advised by our guides we order the gomadare (sesame sauce) soba, which is thicker than typical soba but oh-so-good. And of course drinking the leftover sauce with sobayuu afterward is equally awesome.

After this win-win experience I can't wait for the next place they've promised to introduce me to, Spoon in Shinjuku 3chome.

The Pie that Mama Makes

Restaurant: Mama Tarte Daikanyama / ママタルト代官山
Neighborhood: Daikanyama (duh) / 代官山
Style:Pie Shop
Website: http://daikanyama.st/mamatarte/ but http://www.coocle.jp/sh/21499/ has more info

Oops, I realized I never posted about this place. When you have a hankerin' for full-on American-style pie, this is the place. There are a sprinkling of pie shops all over Tokyo, but to be honest, most of them aren't all that good. This place, despite being busy, has a pretty relaxed feel and a great selection of pies. It was awhile ago when I went, so I don't remember the exact items we got, but every piece of pie was great.

They do have non-pie "real food" items as well, which were tasty but very limited in selection, so go here because you want some dessert!