GROOVY GROCERY

"Slow down, you move too fast. You got to make the morning last. Just kicking down the cobblestones. Looking for [snacks] and feelin' groovy." It was in such a spirit that I walked near the 59th Street Bridge and happened on Katagiri, a bustling 100-year-old Japanese grocery. Nothing like the spare Japanese convenience stores in my Morningside Heights neighborhood, Katagiri features a tiered display of odd bean-filled desserts along with samples and a counter for ordering steaming hot treats like bowls of udon or fluffy shrimp tempura ($2/piece), which tasted like a savory fish lollipop. Among the prepared bento boxes and artfully arranged edamame salads, I found seared salmon sushi, five fat slabs, each with a miniscule lemon wedge on top ($5). Then I checked out the giant white tank in back, thinking I'd find carp swimming in it, but it was a huge freezer grab bag of potstickers and shumai. I brought my salmon and "Royal Milk Tea," ($1.95) to the Tramway Plaza. While the salmon was a little too subtle, the tea was a revelation: cold British tea in a can! Cherry-colored cable cars swayed back and forth over the East River. "Life, I love you. All is groovy." -- Katagiri & Co. 224 E. 59th St. (Between Second and Third aves.) 212-755-3566 -- Got a snack attack to share? Contact [NBrand@aol.com](mailto:NBrand@aol.com)