East (Japanese)
251 West 55th Street (between Broadway and 8th Avenue), 212-581-2240
354 East 66th Street (between 1st and 2nd Avenue), 212-734-5270
137 East 47th Street (between 3rd and Lexington Avenue), 212-980-7909
210 East 44th Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenue), 212-687-5075
9 East 38th Street (between 5th and Madison Avenue), 212-685-5205
366 Third Avenue (between 26th and 27th Street), 212-889-2326

With outposts of this restaurant all over Manhattan, we find that we never have to go out of our way to find a reliable place for fresh and reasonably-priced sushi. Sushi aficionados may want to head straight for the sushi bar. Everyone else will be directed toward the main part of East's dining rooms, which are decorated in a traditionally minimalist style.

Make sure you wear clean socks without holes because you will have to surrender your shoes prior to being seated. You should also be prepared to sit on the floor, Japanese-style (although concessions are made for Westerners -- there is a hole in the floor for your legs and back supports are available upon request).

The Menu
As soon as you are seated, you will be handed an over-sized menu with photos and detailed descriptions of the various appetizers and entrees. You can order sushi (raw fish on vinegared rice) by the piece or in an assortment as an entree. There are plenty of other choices as well, including chicken, beef and salmon teriyaki; vegetable or shrimp tempura (lightly battered and deep fried vegetables or shrimp); or soba (buckwheat noodle) or udon (white, thick noodle) soup.

Recommendations
Our favorite appetizer at East is Gyouza, a panfried dumpling stuffed with a spicy ground meat and vegetable mixture and served with an excellent dipping sauce. For your entree, we recommend the assorted platters of sushi, such as the sushi deluxe, which comes with ten pieces of sushi and your choice of California (crab, avocado and cucumber) or Tekkamaki (raw tuna) rolls.

If you want to ease your way into trying sushi, consider the Maki combination platter, which includes California rolls, Boston rolls (filled with shrimp, Boston lettuce and avocado) and East rolls (filled with shrimp, caviar, egg, cucumber and avocado). If you plan to avoid sushi completely, try the chicken teriyaki combination box, which includes a mixed green salad (with a delicious dressing), several pieces of vegetable and shrimp tempura, hijiki (cooked seaweed) and, of course, pieces of chicken teriyaki. We find that the combination platters are not only a great way to sample several different items, but they offer generous portions at a reasonable price, too.

Our favorite beverages to accompany a meal at East are hot sake (rice wine) or a glass of Sapporo (Japanese beer). Campai ( Japanese for "Cheers")!

Dessert
If you are hankering for something sweet at the end of your meal, try some red bean ice cream, which we find is rich and much better than green tea ice cream. Or you may want to pass on dessert all together and just have a small glass of sweet plum wine, which is one of our favorites.

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