Besides being admirably affordable -- this neighborhood has long been the domain of students and low-status salarymen -- the cooking is assured and the menu remarkably adventurous.

First you pick your wine from the various bottles Tanabe has assembled that week. Your food, all prepared by Kaneko and his team, will be matched with your choices. It is not quite as arbitrary as it sounds, but there's definitely a frisson of ...

Despite the excellent provender, it is still the cellar that is the outstanding feature of Arossa. Takeshita has assembled some 700 bottles, ranging from the simple and basic to the rarefied -- and he says he sells nothing he doesn't like himself. He has ...

This is the great thing about Harmonie. You can settle in upstairs for a full-scale dinner with a grand cru, or you can sit downstairs and snack on light bistro fare. You can drop by early in the evening for a quick pastis, or ...

In our book, anything that's been slowly grilled over charcoal -- and as long as it's not slathered in a thick, savory, soy-based tare sauce -- goes beautifully with wine. And if the kitchen is using fine ingredients and premium charcoal, especially the variety ...

The menu at Shonzui, chalked on a huge blackboard in the cheerfully cramped dining room, includes a generous charcuterie platter built around homemade pates and terrines, stick-to-your-ribs cassoulet and massive wagyu steaks as thick as phone directories. Needless to say, red is the predominant ...

Vin Picoeur describes its genre as "French barbecue" -- and the centerpiece of the restaurant is the charcoal grill -- but it looks and functions much like an izakaya. Think kushi-yaki and oden, but given a totally Western twist.

Oysters this fresh need absolutely no further ornamentation. But lightly cooked -- baked or deep-fried -- they are every bit as good. What can beat classic oysters Rockefeller or fried oysters with a simple tartar sauce? Well, try them with Hisio's patent Chinese black ...

Bread and wine: what a great combination. We cannot live on either alone, but put the two together -- along with an easygoing attitude and a tasty side menu of home-cooked snacks -- and that's the recipe that makes Ahiru Store one of our ...

One of the first highlights of our meal at La Bonne Table is a wonderfully smooth potage made from new-season white onions and adorned with morsels of home-smoked bacon, charcoal-grilled new-potato gnocchi, oven-roasted beets and tender spinach leaf. A signature dish if ever there was ...