Sakamai, Japanese-Inspired Small Plates and Sake on the Lower
East Side   Cream cheese anchovy. [[Photographs: Paul Yee]
Lobster, caviar, foie gras, black truffles, sea urchin: The
ingredients featured on the menu at Sakamai are what I imagine
would be served at an upscale wedding banquet with champagne
fountains, not in a sake bar in the Lower East Side. But Chef
Takanori Akiyama is using such provisions to make intensely
flavored and smartly constructed Japanese small plates.   Egg on
Egg on Egg.  "Eggs like sea urchin. Sea Urchin likes caviar.
Caviar likes eggs. So I thought they would go well together."
Chef Akiyama describes the inspiration for his Egg on Egg on Egg
($18), and he's right, it's an excellent combination of slowly
scrambled, nearly curdless eggs nestled in a sea urchin shell,
coated with a clear dashi glaze and topped with white sturgeon
caviar and uni. The eggs are creamy and the uni custardy; salty
caviar lends pop.   Lobster croquettes.  Equally intense are the
croquettes ($14), in whic