I finally had a chance to visit Chaya, the Japanese place that opened recently on Murray, this evening for dinner. The dining room is very small. I went at about 8.30pm and only had to wait a few minutes for a table, but a short while later the place was completely full and I felt a little guilty taking up a whole 4-person table to myself with the large group of people waiting in the doorway. I looked over the piecewise sushi menu and thought that the prices seemed pretty reasonable ($2.75 and up). Since the menu didn't give much detail, I assumed the prices were for the standard two pieces of nigiri. Figuring I'd get one item as a benchmark and then choose more later, I asked for one order of hamachi. "Just one piece?" asked my waitress. "Yes," I said, thinking that perhaps they were just generous with portions. Ah, no. My one, very small, piece of nigiri arrived in a little sauce dish. It was sort of cute, sitting there all by itself. I popped it into my mouth and it was... really good. Fresh-tasting, delicate, clean flavor, slightly fatty. Yum. But it was small, and it was $2.75. A little daunted, I asked what was the market price for the uni (I /love/ uni). My waitress' English was kind of minimal, so I'm hoping this was just a communication hickup, but I swear I heard her say it was $40. Eep. The upshot is one on a student budget such as myself probably cannot afford to indulge there very often, which is a disappointment because the hamachi was /really good/. I guess I'll go to the strip tomorrow to satisfy what is now a massive sushi craving. The noodles, on the other hand, were a great deal. I ordered the a la carte version of the nabeyaki udon ($10, versus $13 for the "dinner" version which comes I think with a salad and a couple of other items), which came literally boiling hot in a stoneware bowl. The serving was generous (much more so than most other places I've been) not so much in size but in variety-- there were some enoki mushrooms, an egg, some sort of cabbage family vegetable, a large piece of shitaki mushroom, a vaguely broccoli-tasting green that I couldn't immediately identify (gai lan?), a couple of slices of that pink-bordered fish cake (anyone know the name for this?), and two fairly large pieces of shrimp tempura. The noodles themselves were very nice, really chewy with a good flavor, and the broth was light and not overly sweet. I would definitely go back for this. Service ended up being sort of a benign neglect, which was fine with me. Two definite plusses were that my teacup got refilled regularly without my ever having to ask, and that even though I was eating by myself on a busy night, they never made me feel rushed or unwelcome. Certainly worth a repeat visit. Best -SK _________________________________________ I'm checking out of my senses Buying best defenses Fired up on free will Hang up, hang up, hang up
Pittsburgh, PA