Recently, I've come across one of the neighborhood's best lunch options: the lunchbox special at Lenge, on 69th and Columbus.

After miso soup and salad appetizers, you can choose from a number of options to configure your own lunchbox. I choose the chicken teriyaki over any kind of tempura. I don't really believe in tempura. It seems to me that with the exception of authentic Southern fried chicken, frying food is a way of watering down the authenticity of honest, well-crafted flavors. The people who order tempura seem like the people who load up on fried cod or haddock while on the Maine seacoast, and then feel like they are participating in the true Maine seafood experience.

The chicken teriyaki is simple but flavorful, cooked perfectly so it is textured and moist. It comes with a combination cucumber/seaweed salad, six small vegetable dumplings, and of course, a maki roll (either California, tuna, or, I think, yellowtail). The sushi is not glamorous but it is consistently excellent.

All of this used to price for $11.50; they've just raised the price to $12.50, and it's still worth it.