It's holiday time and the Food File is off for a break, but not before tidying up a few loose ends. This column is a summer miscellany — call it a chop suey (from the Cantonese shap sui, meaning "odds and ends") — on a few of the places we've visited and enjoyed in recent months.
One of our most enjoyable discoveries this year has been the new Nogizaka branch of Uoshin. Fish is the focus here, as it is at the other venues of this excellent izakaya chain. What sets this place apart is just how funky and friendly and down-to-earth it is, especially for such a ritzy neighborhood.
A short stroll down the road from the grandiose Tokyo Midtown complex in Roppongi, Uoshin sits on a busy corner that was until recently occupied by a gas stand and cola-specialist cafe. Instead of developing the site, they converted what was left behind, cramming tables into the existing building, tacking on a low extension to house the open kitchen and filling the rest of the forecourt with outside seating.