Spanky's Place

We had run into them just outside of the Holiday Inn in Soho. My wife and I were in one of those horse-drawn carriages with the driver in the 1800's English dress (complete with top hat) that you sometimes see in the city. We were headed to for one of those quiet rides through the park when I saw Oz and Sharon emerge from the Holiday Inn, followed by Dave and some various hangers-on. Their car had not yet shown up, and the crowd of fans was quickly getting too large to manage. I shrugged at my wife and gave her my "what can I do? they need help" look, and she smiled (what a gorgeous smile) and told me "Oh, all right, go ahead." I tapped our driver and told him to pick them up. The look on Sharon's face when we pulled up to whisk them away from the crowd was priceless. Oz held her hand as she climbed in, then climbed in himself, followed by Dave. The rest of the crowd were quickly left behind as we trotted up Broadway.

It was a bit crowded with the five of us, in the carriage, but we managed to enjoy the ride in spite of the cramped quarters. The park was beautiful; a late snow had fallen, the air was crisp and clean, but not cold enough to be uncomfortable. After the ride the driver dropped us off in front of at Yoshi's. I slid him an extra 100 for the smooth way he handled himself. He was classy enough to snatch up my friends without mentioning any extra fare, I figured he deserved it. He thanked me and drove off into the evening, and I headed inside.

As I passed through the door being held for me by Dave, I marveled at the restaurant. If you ever get a chance to visit the city, you need to go to Yoshi's. It is decorated in a roaring 20s / art-deco style, and has the most eclectic mix of recipes you'll ever find. Juan Xavier Antonio Yoshigawa "Yoshi" was born to a Japanese father and a New York Puerto Rican / Italian mother. I've met them both. His dad is and always will be "Mr. Yoshigawa", and his mother is "Mama" to everybody. His mother enlisted in the U.S. Navy right out of high school, and met Mr. Yoshigawa while stationed in Okinawa. Mr. Yoshigawa was a chef working at an Italian restaurant, and when Mama tasted his eggplant parmigiana, she fell in love. The two of them were married, and Mr. Yoshigawa became a U.S. Citizen. She finished up her tour of duty working as a recruiter in Dallas Texas, and the two of them decided to stay there after Yoshi was born. Yoshi grew up there, but went to college at Arizona State University (which is where I met him). He majored in architecture, but after college ended up going to Paris to study at Le Cordon Bleu. After finishing his apprenticeship, he moved to the city and opened Yoshi's; where he serves his insane mix of traditional Japanese, Puerto Rican, Italian, French, and Texas (the smoked pulled port is unbelievable) BBQ dishes to the sounds of ZZ Top and Lynrd Skynrd. It's a crazy, but very successful, restaurant.

I see this posting is getting a bit long, so I'll have to finish the rest tomorrow.