You know those off-the-radar places that are so good that you don't want to share the news? Well, it's my job, so my loss is your gain. I'd read about Sake Bar Hagi, and had always meant to go, but it was after I saw it on Anthony Bourdain's show that I decided to actually get off my butt and go.

My timing couldn't have been worse: The holiday-shopping-tourist hordes in Times Square are one of the few things that actually turn me into a Travis Bickle-style New Yorker. So it was quite a relief to duck out of the madness, through a simple marked door and down a flight of stairs. The basement space is windowless and undecorated, save for a few bamboo trellises and TV screens. And yet the place is packed by 6:30pm on a Friday, and after munching on izakaya fare like yakitori made with duck, bacon wrapped asparagus and salted eel, you'll understand why. Pitchers of Kirin run $10--you may have trouble getting back out to wrap up your purchases.