Oh, happy: after a disappointing experience at Poke, I found a fabulous sushi joint on the Upper East Side that I will now be frequenting: Amber, on 80th and 3rd. I checked out the place on Sunday night, and holy yum: beautiful, fresh sushi, to-die-for appetizers, and some of the most interesting “special rolls” I’ve seen.

Recommended: the yellowtail/serrano chile appetizer and the Triple Toro roll (tuna toro, salmon toro & yellowtail toro atop a spicy avocado/cucumber roll).

Pictured above: the Upper East Side roll (a lobster salad/avocado roll topped with kiwi slices and mango sauce) and the Ocean roll (a rock shrimp/avocado roll topped with spicy snow crab & dry seaweed), and 2 pieces of the Salmon Tuna Rollover (a spicy tuna/avocado roll topped with salmon and salmon caviar).

I’ve never eaten at Zum Schneider before, but was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, so was everyone else in New York…and so after a three-hour (yeah) wait (their very delicious, very cheap beers persuaded us to hang around until almost 10 before finally leaving in frustration), we headed down the block to Caffe Pepe Rosso. Pretty standard Italian food, but well-priced (about $11 for most pasta entrees) and quick: they had all 12 of us out the door and on our way to the last stop, Ella, by a little after 11.