Soba-Ya

On 9^th st. bet. 2^nd & 3^rd

Unlike with Thailand, I have no basis with which to measure the authenticity of this place. I have not been to Japan and tasted regional specialties. Still, I find I have some deep rooted affinity for Japanese cuisine. I do not know exactly why. I am, however, able to compare Soba-Ya to the typical eating experience, and they rise above it in every way.

Starting with the character of the place, they are honest and relentlessly polite. They do not take dinner reservations, so if there is a wait, and there usually is, they do not round down your estimated wait time to get you to stick around. 20 minutes is usually 20 minutes, and an hour, an hour. Upon arriving, they take your name and number, and when your turn arrives, they call you and hold your table until you get there. I appreciate their honesty and lack of favoritism. I mention this because it is one of peeves when a 15 minute wait at the bar becomes and hour and a half, and obvious late comers are seated before you.

That said, the food and service here are also exceptional. You start with four menus in front of you, which seem overwhelming, but are really straightforward.

There is an appetizer menu, my favorite one of the bunch. It is two full pages of various Japanese plates. Things you’ll recognize from many Japanese menus, and things you’ve never heard of before. Tuna Yuba Maki ($8.50), a tuna tar tare, wrapped in tofu skin, with spicy avocado, is delicious. They have numerous vegetable preparations, but you can order a sampler and pick any three ($11). Kimpira, sautéed marinated burdock, is one of my favorites, along with the lotus root, and the fried eggplant in dashi. A less-than-common broiled sweet miso ($5.50), it’s literally a pile of mild miso paste, placed on a wooden spoon and then broiled. I have not tried everything on this appetizer menu, but I have yet to find anything I didn’t find exceptional.

Then, you have a main course menu composed of noodles and various meat & fish over rice. They have great soups, that come in a yummy aromatic broth you can choose between the soba or udon noodle. I love the salmon “Mizuke” as well ($9.50), flakes of cooked salmon over steaming short grain rice, with just a little too much salmon roe . . . the way it should be. But the soba noodles, obviously, are their staple. They are homemade and If you’re there at lunch, you will see them cut by hand in the dining room. I prefer them cold. It was several visits before I was politely informed that I was eating them incorrectly.

Zaru soba ($9.50) are served with a side of tsuyu, a dipping sauce made of dashi, sweet soy sauce, and mirin, that I poured over my noodles like it was a dressing. Later in the meal some soba-yu, is delivered, this is the water that the soba is cooked in. It is supposed to be added to the remaining tsuyu and sipped reverently. . . I was adding it to my tea. Despite having learned the hard way, I confess to smirking at other ignorant “white folks” trying soba for the first time.

There is a third menu of seasonal specialties and daily specials, mostly drawn from the first two menus, but there are still a few items that come and go with new seasons and ingredients. Scan it closely for things that might not have been in the previous two, and if it sounds interesting at all, get it.

The forth menu is the sake list. I happen to love sake and they have some hard to find ones. This is the only place where I feel like Soba-Ya pushes the limits of value. 17 bucks for a box of sake is a little steep, so it is only every so often that I treat myself.

Overall Soba-ya is an incredible place to eat. The service is great, and the food comes fast. The prices are very reasonable and the quality does not cease. It is one of my favorite places to eat in New York city. For this reason it is hard to imagine going to Japan and not holding its cuisine to the standards of Soba-ya.

Update: Soba ya has since condensed their menu into one. They still have the great variety and the same great food.