kimberly ah

Naoto’s birthday was full of friends, food and fun (and cocktails…)

We had a huge dinner at Izakaya Sankyu (Naoto & I are pictured above in a very un-flattering Instagram filter). I discovered my new favorite sushi roll, Tekka…which is sliced tuna with wasabi. It’s like a nose-clearing surprise in every bite. Just when I didn’t think I could love Sankyu more!

After dinner, we all came back to our place and had cocktails, Japanese beer and Portillo’s chocolate cake. Portillo’s is a Chicago chain of hot dog/Italian beef restaurants. If you are ever in Chicago (or the suburbs–they are all over) you should eat at Portillo’s…you really can’t go wrong: get a Chicago-style hot dog, an Italian beef (my dad never visits without getting one…or two), cheese fries, a milkshake…but definitely get the chocolate cake. You can buy it by the slice, or the whole cake (get the whole cake).

The birthday guy approves!

And we all enjoyed the Adami-Hasegawa signature cocktail, the CAP cocktail. I will be sharing the recipe later in the week…two and a half batches were mixed up on Saturday night (that’s about twenty cocktails), so there’s no denying that the CAP is a hit among our friends. I think this night was a perfect start to Naoto’s year!