You are learning hedging language: you will read the scene it happens in, learn 10 words and phrases, take apart the pattern behind them (hedging: softening claims with modals, adverbs, and phrases), hear them in a conversation, rehearse them, and finish by saying one thing out loud to be graded.
Masa, Columbus Circle, omakase dinner
Masa is arguably the most expensive restaurant in New York. A single omakase dinner can cost over six hundred dollars per person. The question is: could it possibly be worth it?
It seems that the answer depends on what you're looking for. If you want the freshest fish, flown in daily from Tokyo's Tsukiji market — then yes, to some extent, the price makes sense. The quality of the toro, the uni, the wild shrimp tends to surpass anything else in the city.
However, it might also be the case that much of what you're paying for is the experience itself: the intimate room, the hinoki wood counter, the silence, the precision. Chef Masa's hands move with a restraint that could be described as meditative.
Could a sixty-dollar sushi meal make you just as happy? Possibly. It could even be argued that some neighborhood spots in Queens serve more soul. But Masa offers something different — something that seems to exist outside ordinary categories. Whether it's worth the splurge is, perhaps, beside the point. It might be less about the money and more about what you believe food can be.