Sakagura

You reach it through an ordinary office-building lobby near Grand Central and down a flight of stairs, and then you are somewhere else: a blond-wood izakaya, open since 1996, with one of the deepest sake lists in the country — more than 200 bottles, organized by region. After work it fills with Japanese businesspeople, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Treat it as an izakaya and graze: sashimi, Japanese fried chicken, grilled black cod, pork belly, a crab clay-pot rice, a bowl of cold soba to finish. At lunch, the set meals are among the best values in Midtown. Ask the staff to steer you through the sake — by region, by rice, by how dry you like it — and let them pour flights.