MEMORANDUM
To: Professor Abreu, Director of Service
From: Stephanie Santana, Student
Date: September 28th, 2018
RE: New York Times Restaurant Review
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September 18th, 2018 Pete Wells wrote a restaurant review on Shoji at 69 Leonard Street. Just by reading the title of the article Sushi and kaiseki in an exceptional one man show you can tell Pete liked this place. This location which only sits 12 people offers an intimate experience between the customer and the chef. Wells describes this place as a one- man show. The Chef, Derek Wilcox, who originally began cooking in the restaurant as just a pop up chef with a temporary residency ended up maintaining permanent residency at this establishment due to the owner Idan Elkon.
Wells starts off by stating he was in the only customer in the restaurant but this didn’t throw him off he mentions he wasn’t actually unhappy for this because he was able to enjoy more of what Wilcox had to offer. Wilcox, has a lot of experience cooking in japan; 7 years at a kaiseki style restaurant in Kyoto and 3 years at a traditional sushi parlor in Tokyo. Since his experience has made him knowledgeable he is able to use this at Shoji. While Wilcox prepares his meals he creates conversation with the customer. He informs them of the dishes he is creating as he is making them and throws out some information he’s learned growing up. For example wells says, “if you are curious enough you could get a short education in the mineral-rich clay used by potters in the town of Shigaraki.” Wells also mentions how Wilcox changes the menu sometimes due to the season, for example the chawan mushi he had in the spring had been changed to a lobster chawan mushi.
This restaurant got three stars from Wells which means excellent. I personally wouldn’t go to this restaurant because I don’t eat sushi. The price is also very expensive ranging from $190-$295. But to people who like sushi, want an intimate tasting experience and have the funds I would totally recommend it.
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