Benemon

Japanese Freshwater Eel Slithers Onto the New York Dining Scene | The New Yorker

"I went to the newer of the two, Unagi Aburi Ittetsu, which opened in December in Nolita on Kenmare; the brightly lit little box seats only seventeen and was nearly empty around eight o'clock. Live eels are kept in circulating-water buckets (the restaurant imports eel live from Japan weekly), and the unaju here makes for a decent meal: each eel is charcoal-grilled until its gray skin chars and silvers and the flesh becomes soft and flaky, basted with a sweet-but-balanced tare that candies the chewy grains of rice. Each lacquered box comes with a cup of average miso soup and a few slices of pickled radish, and can be supplemented with blanched vegetables and overcooked edamame. One eel costs $45." - Hannah Goldfield