Dearly Departed: I really miss LAN sushi.

LAN sushi was my favorite restaurant. Period. End of post. just kidding.

LAN was my go-to place when I wanted to celebrate a personal triumph like a getting a raise, running a new long distance or when a cute guy winked at me on the subway (this was before I was married obviously). But it was also the place I went when I wanted to drown my sorrows on rainy days & grey Tuesdays, after a stressful day at work or when a cute guy hit on my friend (this was before I was married obviously). In short, LAN was the perfect catch-all restaurant through good and bad times and I really reveled my evenings spent reading on my own or playing follow-the-leader sushi with friends.

The fish was incredibly fresh, the sake selection was really extensive, they had a chocolate molten souffle on the dessert menu and it was perfect. Never so crowded that you had to wait long for a table but never too empty that you felt strange dining alone. So when LAN closed a few years ago it became a challenge to find a replacement but I recently tracked down the man behind LAN, Tadao Mori, at his latest restaurant, Dieci (Japanese Italian food - yes Italian) to find out what happened. While I couldn't get a straight answer about why LAN closed other than "it just didn't work out" it's comforting to see the owner, chef and much of the old staff happily settled at this new establishment.

Anyway, now on those evenings when I'm in need of some celebratory sushi or some drown-my-sorrows sake I make my way to one of the following non LAN spots; Shima when I want no muss/no fuss quality fish, very low key and mid-level good. Kanoyamo when I want to step it up a notch but I still don't feel like getting dressed up. The fish quality is slightly better but the prices go up quite a bit. And relatively new to me is Ushiwakamaru on Houston--friends introduced me to this spot over the summer and I'm really glad they did. It's casual, non-pretentious, absolutely delicious and fresh. You may need to go elsewhere for the chocolate molten souffle but I think these spots have helped to fill the canyon size void that LAN left in my heart.