FROM AKINA'S KITCHEN
ADDRESS:
424A EAST 14TH ST
NEW YORK NY 10009

TELEPHONE:
212-388-1127

FAX:
212-388-1135

ONLINE MENU:
akinasushi.com

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OPEN HOURS:

MONDAY-THURSDAY
11:30 AM - 11:00 PM

FRIDAY-SATURDAY
11:30 AM - 11:30 PM

SUNDAY
12:00 NOON-11:00 PM

Dine In or Take Out
Delivery Available
Grand St. - 34th St.
Sixth Ave. - Avenue D
by Joel R. Simon
If this essay has still not convinced you to at least try sushi, you still can leave Akina well-fed and happy.  The menu has a great selection of cooked dishes, well prepared by the chef behind the scenes or by Tim himself.
One part of the cooked menu consists of noodle-based dishes.  The noodles may either be soba or udon.  They may be served with chicken, beef, pork, vegetables, seafood, etc. either as soup or sauteed ("yaki").  Nothing on the menu is outrageously expensive, but noodle dishes are a great way to have an inexpensive but tasty and filling meal.
Grilled entrees are called "hibachi," and include chicken, beef, scallop, shrimp, salmon, or various combinations of the above, grilled in Akina's special sauce along with grilled vegetables.  Teriyaki dishes are cooked in delicious teriyaki sauce, and again may be chicken, salmon, etc., or even tofu (bean curd).  "Katsu" are cutlets, and "tempura" is kind of a batter-covered shrimp, vegetables, or chicken.  "Negimaki" is beef or chicken rolled around scallions, a very tasty dish indeed.  You can even order Chilean sea bass or Fillet Mignon prepared Japanese style.
Appetizers, soups, and salads compliment and supplement the entrees.  Some hot appetizers are smaller versions of the entrees, such as shrimp tempura.  Others are unique, such as gyoza, pork dumplings (or you can have vegetable dumplings if pork is not part of your diet), or my favorite, "Crispy Duck," which is pieces of duck on pancakes with a plum sauce.  Yakitori is traditionally chicken parts on skewers.  In Akina, the chicken yakitori has pieces of tasty red pepper (not spicy) between the chunks of white meat chicken.  The "tori" in "yakitori" means chicken, but at Akina, you can get shiitake mushroom, asparagus, beef, seafood, etc. yakitori as well.  Various cold appetizers are also available, such as oshinko (Japanese pickles) or hiya yakko (cold bean curd in a special sauce).
A caveat:  Tim and his staff like to serve most entrees and appetizers with sesame seeds, which apparently pleases most customers, but if you, like me, prefer not to have them, you must make this clear to the waitress when you order.
VEGETABLE ("YASAI") DUMPLINGS
SHIITAKE AND CHICKEN YAKITORI