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On a busy stretch of St. Marks Place, Zen serves satisfying Japanese dishes in a bare-bones setting. The joint seems like an extension of the NYU dining hall, with its plain wood tables and chairs, tacky banners touting fish discounts, and twenty-something crowds. But there is ocean-fresh sushi to be had here, along with inventive, brightly flavored rolls. A regular sushi platter drapes clean-tasting, fatty slabs of marbled red tuna and plump pink salmon atop soft, hand-packed balls of white rice; the golden dragon roll wraps sweet chunks of broiled eel in crunchy seaweed layered with tart sheets of finely sliced mango; and futomaki rolls fill discs of rice and seaweed with pucker-worthy Japanese pickles and meaty chunks of egg. Hot platters of Japanese comfort food also please, such as the fist-sized mashed potato and ground beef korokke fritters reminiscent of Italian croquettes, and generous platters of crisp pork cutlets steeped in rich, salty brown katsu sauce. A daily 50% discount on all sushi dishes keeps tables full of fish and Zen full of youngish locals until the wee hours. — Laurel Fantauzzo

For the 50% sushi discount to take effect, the total bill must result in a $15 minimum.

Golden dragon roll, $10.25; korokke, $5.95; Pork ton-katsu, $10.95