Umami bomb

Best East Village restaurants, Anbā, Double Knot, Kimura Glass, Korin, Okaru, MORE

WORK • Tuesday Routine

Live to ride

MARC SPITZER • executive chef & partner • OKARU
Neighborhood you work in: Roslyn, LI
Neighborhood you live in: Plainview, LI

It’s Tuesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
Okaru, my Japanese-inspired restaurant in Roslyn, Long Island, is closed on Mondays, so Tuesdays are a heavy workload. We’re receiving, checking the quality of, and breaking down lots of specialty fish for the day. I’m also starting to play around with new specials for the week. Most days start at around 9a and go until about midnight, so I try and make Tuesdays set the tone for the week.

What’s on the agenda for this week?
A majority of my time is spent on the line with my cooks. It’s where I feel most comfortable, and being a relatively new restaurant (opened just over a year ago), it’s still about training the staff. Restaurants are a team sport, so having everyone on the same page is so important. We’ve managed to build a great team.

Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
In Long Island, where I live with my wife and three kids, we love Blackbird, 2 Spring, and anything else Jesse Schenker is doing in Oyster Bay. But at some point, we usually get to our favorite local Italian spot La Piazza. It’s casual, but I’ve been going there since I was a kid, so to go there with my kids now is even better.

How about a little leisure or culture this week?
When I get the chance, I try to get on the motorcycle for a ride. For me, it’s therapeutic. So much of my day is spent either talking with staff, yelling out orders during service, or problem-solving, being able to just shut that all off and just go for a ride and appreciate what’s around is important to me.

What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
My new Harley-Davidson bike.

What NYC store or service do you love to recommend?
Korin in Tribeca. I’ve been shopping here for over 25 years and for anything to do with Japanese kitchenware, from knives to ceramics, they are the best.

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WORK LINKS: Sliver of NYC’s wealthy ask for more tax • Coinbase doubling down on NYC office • Uber adding 86K at 3 World Trade • American workers are in founder mode • Could WFH solve the global fertility crisis?

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RESTAURANTS • First Word

Umami queen

The Skinny: Tucked behind a cocktail lounge on the Lower East Side, and opened last month, Anbā is a new sushi counter worth knowing.