It was super warm today, a real 80 F day in New York City, so we knew we wanted to dine outside today. We decided to go to Sushi Nonaka, a Japanese restaurant that opened right before the pandemic began on the Upper West Side. They offer two types of omakase menus and also outdoor garden dining, which I thought would be good given COVID-19 still penetrating our lives.

While it was a bit windy, it felt soooo nice to finally eat sushi and hand rolls again, to have a tasting menu after over a year. The time almost went too quickly because instead of serving one piece at a time, the restaurant decided to group three pieces at a time. If I had no self control, and if they offered a la carte pieces, I could have easily eaten 10-15 more pieces of handrolls and raw fish. But, no, we exercised some self control and declined to order more (that also helped the wallet). But we did get the hoji-cha panna cotta, which was an incredible end to what felt like a real dining experience — the first real dining experience out since before the pandemic. It’s so crazy that over a year has passed since this all began.