Aaron and I go to "Typhoon" on St. Marks Pl. in search of Asia:


I finished shooting my school play for the evening a little early. I was at Dalton, shooting "Street Scene" with Mike Piaker. Mike and I made it back to my place from the upper east side by 10:30pm, to find Richard sound asleep back at my studio. Not much fun to be had there. Richard had to wake up early the next morning to start working on a small independent film shoot in NYC for a couple of days. Mike and I tried to think of something we both wanted to do, for fun, outside of my apartment, in the big city. But we came up with nothing, mostly limited by Mike's desire to not spend more money, as he had blown a wad the day before on a concert and lots of booze. So, we called Aaron to get him to come up with a plan. He came up with little. So we all met at a Deli between Water St. (their dorm) and my place, and tried to think. In the end, Mike was tired, full, and poor, and wanted to go home. So Aaron and I walked Mike to Water St, got an uptown M15 bus, and went to "Typhoon." LiCalsi and I had discovered this place on night after trying to go to my favorite sushi place, "Kura," after they closed.



"Typhoon" is a Japanese lounge/sushi bar. St. Marks place (8th St.) at 1st Ave. Very unique looking, both on the outside, and inside:


The clientele is entirely Japanese. Both times I've been there now, I've been the only party of not-Japanese people. Is there a Yiddish word for "not-Japanese?" Probably.


They even have a Blair witch thing hanging, which at first looks like Asian art, but then.... not.



Aaron and I were feeling daring:


So we decided on a few small Asian dishes that we hadn't had before. Aaron was real excited to try "Octopus Balls", but they were out. So we got some other things:
On the left is a spinach dish that had a light sauce reminiscent of the stuff they put on Cold Sesame Noodles. It was awesome. We also tried something that consisted of chunks of sushi tuna in another amazing sauce. And I tried their sushi, which is not as good as Kura's, but just fine. And I had sake. doesn't put me to sleep like wine does. Keeps me warm in the winter, though.



Aaron tries some things. We also got some seaweed in vinaigrette with Yam potato, which is the yama in "Yama Kake," one of my favorite dishes. It was goopy and stringy. Amazing texture. You could put some in your mouth, start to slurp, and it would just keep coming out of the bowl. Not a date food. The taste was ok. But it sure was fun to eat! So much so, that I forgot to take a picture.


Aaron tried Plum wine. Interesting. Sweet. Unduly expensive. I had sprite, and was delightfully surprised by the presentation. I'm a sprite connoisseur:


Overall, a good time. Some wonderful new foods to keep getting, and some others to tell stories about. I'd definitely go back, and probably will, as LiCalsi really wants to as well. It appeals to him. Perhaps because they still allow smoking?

So we left. Here's Aaron outside the place. Having conquered:


And here, on the M15 bus. What a ride: