New York City College of Technology, CUNY
Department of Hospitality Management
Janet Lefler Dining Room
MEMORANDUM
To: Professor Abreu, Director of Service
From: Elizabeth Chantes, Student
Date: September 28th, 2018
Re: Sushi and Kaiseki in an Exceptional One-Man Show
Pete Wells had the opportunity to critic Shoji at 69 Leonard Street on September 18th. He gave Shoji Restaurant 3 stars, which means the service and food was excellent. Wells talk about the restaurant being empty throughout the summer season and the fact that he doesn’t understand why. Shoji restaurant is one of the top tier of the city’s Japanese restaurant, they are known for one-man show and their kaiseki-derived menu. Kaiseki-derived menu is a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner. A normal kaiseki menu with service included comes out to be at least $252, a longer version with service can be up to $295 and a shorter version with services is at least $190. This restaurant is highly expensive but with good quality food. “Mr. Wilcox took over the restaurant- at first his work there was termed a residency or pop-up…” (Wells, 2018). Mr. Wilcox was born in Virginia and cooked in a Kaiseki restaurant for seven years. He had been working with Kaiseki style for a while. Pete describes some dishes, one of them was a “squiggle of what looked like short, thick noodles and turned out to be lengths of chilled eggplant; Mr. Wilcox had given them a cool bath in the light sauce in which icy coils of somen noodles are dipped in summer…” (Wells, 2018). Knowing that the restaurant has quality food to offer, there is no reason for people to not make reservations.
I personally would be undecided to reserve a table or not, because it is way too expensive to go with my family , but I would go to restaurant just to have an experience of what the kaiseki-derived menu is. I had never heard of a kaiseki-derived menu so it would interesting what full service mean and the quality of food being served. The noise level is serene and the atmosphere is a Japanese style tasting counter with seating of 12 guests. The entire meal is prepared and served by the chef. I would need to work more in order for me to enjoy a good meal at Shoji Restaurant.