Profile

Why they named this Japanese cur­ry shack for the number on Hideki Matsui’s back, we don’t know. (Go, with or without the exclamation point, means “five” in Japanese.) But they take every opportunity to play it up: The telephone number’s last four digits are 5555, the busi­ness day starts at 10:55 and ends at 9:55, and there’s a smattering of sports memorabilia like the jersey donated by some hockey player who is also a 55 on display. The specialty of the house, of course, is the thick, gloppy, slightly sweet brown sludge that fortunately tastes a lot bet­ter than it looks, served with sticky white rice and a choice of deep-fried toppings of which the pork katsu, or panko-battered pork cutlet, is the best. It’s doubtful that the slugging colossus himself comes here to cel­ebrate after he hits a home run, but if you do, you are entitled to a free topping coupon. — Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld

Related Stories

Featured In

• New York's Best Cheap Eats 2007 (7/30/07)