The Underground Gourmet’s Favorite New Food in NYC

"Although dinner there can run about $450 per person, takeout lunch boxes provide a more accessible way to experience the cooking: a $100 box or a $60 takumi chirashi (limited to 20 per day, reserve on Tock at least a day ahead). Opening the lacquered box releases a savory-smoky scent from well-seasoned components layered on seaweed-sprinkled rice — sweetly glazed black cod sits beside shredded hairy crab and five tiny wedges of snappy cucumber, while the centerpiece is three slices each of bluefin tuna and mackerel cured in a blend of soy, konbu, onion, and herring roe. Discoveries like ebi-oboro (a granular shrimp-and-fish mince) and tidbits of simmered clam and scallop recall an old-school Edomae sensibility." - Tammie Teclemariam