"While kids in Japan look forward to summer for school break, adults look forward to eating bowls of unagi (freshwater eel). Dubious health benefits aside, eel is a treat for the warmer months, and few places do it better than Honke Shibato. Known as the restaurant that invented the local eel preparation, 300-year-old Shibato doesn’t steam its eels (which is traditionally the first step elsewhere) before brushing them with brown sauce and flame-broiling them. Combined with a head-to-tail cutting style, the resulting strong flavor and crisp texture make Osakan unagi a summertime dream compared to eel in the capital." - La Carmina, Michael Sosnick