Super Omakase
by Celia Cheng
May 28th, 2008
KANOYAMA
157 2nd Ave
@ 11th St
212-777-5266
Kanoyama was a bit of a mystery to me. On the corner of 11th Street and 2nd Avenue, I had walked past it a million times, never taking notice as I thought it looked like a run of the mill Westernized Japanese restaurant packed with gaijin (foreigners in Japanese). But the reviews of the restaurant are consistently good so I decided to try it to see if it was as fake a Japanese restaurant as Japonica is. I ordered the omakase sushi set; large pieces of the most generic nigirizushi were served on a platter, along with miso soup and ice cream for dessert. This was “American sushi” and I was not impressed. I was also horrified by some of the large spicy handrolls that were being sent to tables from the sushi bar. Good fish doesn’t get chopped up to bits and obliterated by spicy sauces. If a sushi restaurant serves spicy tuna and other foreign inventions that are blasphemous to traditionalists, I run for the exit.
But when my sushi fanatic friend Jennie, who eats sushi at least three times a week and knows her fish, started frequenting the place and swore by it, I knew there had to be something I was missing. So I tried again. This time I ordered individual onigiri sushi from the daily specials menu, many of them priced at $8 to $12 a piece. The variety and quality of fish was good, but by the end of my meal, I still felt like I had had a mediocre experience for a very hefty price tag. And then Jennie told me the secret. You have to sit at the sushi bar and order the “super omakase,” in which chef owner Nobuyuki Shikanai composes the menu for you and hands you your sushi piece by piece.
Well then, I’d give it another try. While checking Kanoyama’s website for their phone number, I learned that they have a very comprehensive site, including fish facts, a great educational overview. I also found an FAQ entry that explains the different levels of omakase they serve. “Super omakase” is basically traditional omakase where you leave yourself in the hands of the sushi chef. The last sentence reads “with no price limit.” This was a bit daunting, and indeed, the first time I tried the super omakase, the tab came to around $150 a person. But I was blown away! This was the real deal. Chef Shikanai’s sushi creations were delicate and delicious. It was no longer just a myth.
Having returned several times now, I’ve learned how it works best. The super omakase is not just sushi but a combination of chef-chosen dishes from the kitchen and can include both sashimi and sushi. I usually do ask for both as, in my experience, ordering sashimi seems to bring the price down a little as, by the time I’m done with the sashimi, I’m halfway full. But it really depends on what’s good that day and how much it costs, hence “no limit.” Also, Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays are good as there’s fish coming directly from Japan on those days.
I know we are talking sushi here, but I must point out that the seasonal vegetable tempura selection for the spring was amazing and can’t be found anywhere else. On my last visit, I tasted the beautifully opulent angelica flower. It was bitter but paired well with fish. This was served between the sashimi and sushi courses, perfectly balancing the meal. But it’s out of season now, so I’ll have to wait until next year to taste it again. Until then, I look forward to whatever the chef sends my way in its place.
Dessert, which is complimentary with the super omakase, is a choice of chocolate soufflé, grilled banana, or ice cream (the first two are served with ice cream as well). The grilled banana, as simple as it sounds, is a lovely way to end dinner. Once flambéed, the rum evaporates and the caramelized banana is soft and sweet, and it’s a nice complement to the accompanying vanilla ice cream, or your companion’s chocolate soufflé.
Chef Shikanai looks young and is extremely congenial, which adds to the whole experience. Apart from the seven-seated sushi bar, the restaurant caters to those who like American sushi. But business is business, and as long as I know where to find good sushi, I don’t care what others are eating. And there’s no doubt that Kanoyama is bustling night after night, so their balancing act seems to be the secret to success.
Posted in East Village , Japanese , Seafood , Sushi
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Shiromaru Ramen
by Celia Cheng
March 31st, 2008
IPPUDO
65 4th Ave
(9th & 10th St)
212-388-0088
For ramen-crazed New York City, we have another newcomer. Following in Setagaya’s and Santoka’s footsteps, another Japanese ramen chain has ventured into the U.S. market: Ippudo.
A mere two blocks away from me on 4th Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets, I was excited to learn that I had another noodle option in the East Village.
Ippudo officially opens on March 31st, but since it’s soft opening on March 24th, it’s been packed. I popped in at lunchtime yesterday to see if I could grab a quick bite, but there was a ten-minute wait and I was in a rush. Determined to have my Hakata ramen, I went back today and found myself sitting at a round communal table, full of strangers all equally eager to try this new joint.
Seating at Ippudo includes three large booths, a long rectangular table, a round table made out of a tree trunk, a bar-like seating that wraps around a pillar, and a hidden back room with tables that seems more like a lounge area. The atmosphere is that of a lively izakaya with modern décor and loud J-pop (Japanese pop) playing in the background. Both the atmosphere and the prices show that they obviously spent a lot more money on the place than their competitor, Setagaya. Also in contrast to Setagaya, whose wait staff seem to be mostly clueless, the all-Japanese wait and kitchen staff at Ippudo are polite and enthusiastic.
The man to my left speaking Japanese on his cell phone was saying that the ramen was overpriced and that it was targeted toward non-Japanese. He didn’t think Ippudo was going to survive based on the prices. Indeed, $12-13 for a bowl of ramen is high, and if you add any sides, lunch is easily over $20, which is pricey for fast food. Yet the restaurant was packed and bustling with activity. To my right, another lone diner stayed on his cell phone until his food arrived. I was annoyed at all the cell phone activity, but I suppose this is not a place that encourages true comfort since the ramen business is based on quick turnover.
Ippudo specializes in Hakata (Kyushu-style) tonkotsu (pork bone soup) ramen. The original flavor of tonkotsu ramen or Ippudo’s original version, shiromaru (white) moto-aji (original flavor), is served in a rich white broth with scallions, roast pork, cabbage and seaweed. They have two other types of ramen: akamaru (red) shin-aji (new flavor) that is even richer with a heavier umami flavor, and karakamen, which is spicy. At lunch, you can add a rice dish, such as mentaiko (spicy cod roe) rice or roasted pork rice, for an additional $3. I chose the former. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the rice to be that spectacular. According to their website, the overall menu has been modified to accommodate the American palate, but shreds of cabbage in the rice instead of the traditional Japanese pickles and seaweed just taste wrong. Like the side rice dish included in the lunch set at Soba Totto, these seem like afterthoughts and don’t really match in flavor with either the ramen or soba that they are meant to accompany.
Since my visit, Ippudo NY seems to have made other non-traditional modifications to the menu by adding shoyu (soy sauce) and miso ramen (both $12) and tsukemen ($16). These are not part of the repertoire at Ippudo’s Japan stores as they are not Hakata style ramen. My ramen fanatic friend Sarah told me that New York’s Ippudo is also missing all the table condiments that they have in their Japan stores, including karashi-takana — pickled leaf mustard with chili commonly eaten with Hakata ramen. How can they shaft us on the good stuff?! They need to get those condiments into the New York store! She’s also a stickler for katamen (al dente) and recommends getting an order of the kaedama (extra) noodles if you like your noodles extra springy.
You can read thorough descriptions of Ippudo’s history and philosophy as well as the history of ramen itself on Ippudo NY’s website. I hope they add their menu to the site soon; that’s what always gets my mouth watering. For the time being, here’s a look at the goods on the Japanese site.
All in all, the ramen and soup are good, and I’m sure, despite my neighbor’s comments about price point, Ippudo will do just fine. I’m glad it’s here, but for all this hype around it’s opening, I feel it’s just an ordinary neighborhood noodle shop.
Posted in East Village , Japanese , Noodles
Uni & Yuba (sea urchin & black bean milk skin)
by Celia Cheng
September 13th, 2007
SOTO
357 6th Ave
(Washington Pl & W4th St)
212-414-3088
Josh Orzesky of Grub Street (NYMAG.com) recently asked me if there were any restaurants that truly blow me away. At the time he posed the question, I couldn’t think of any, which proved his point about my overly critical palate. Had he asked me the same question a week later though, my answer would have been quite different because that was when I had dinner at Soto. I was so wowed by this new Japanese restaurant in downtown Manhattan that I dreamt about it the night of my first visit. Hard to believe, but I had never (literally) dreamt about a meal in such detail before then.
I expected Soto’s focus to be sushi, so I was surprised to find so many other cold and warm items on the menu. I thought that these would be side dishes like an opening act to the main attraction, but upon reading through the menu carefully, and later tasting some of the offerings to verify, I found that most of the dishes were stunningly playful and delicious, making them stars in their own right. My companion and I settled on three of them: uni and yuba, minute-steamed tai, and miso soup with lobster and uni broth (to be served after the sushi course, so as to not ruin my palate). We would then move on to the twelve-piece omakase to test out the sushi.
Yuba, traditionally thin sheets of tofu skin made from soybean milk, is usually a light cream color, but this black bean version is light gray. It is delicately served, with the uni (sea urchin), in a small bowl of cold shiitake broth. The waitress handed us tiny spoons and asked that we please drink the broth for fear that we would let it go to waste. Being the uni fanatic that I am, I was delighted by its pairing with yuba, which, because it’s so light and smooth, is one of my favorite soy products, and the shiitake broth was perfectly savory and rooty to complete this union.
Chef-owner Sotohiro Kosugi is the head sushi chef and also in charge of the cold plates while his wife helms the kitchen and prepares the cooked menu items. I was pleased to find that she is as skilled as her husband in creating tantalizing treats. The minute-steamed tai came as four small pieces of New Zealand sea bream, quick steamed, so it was really still mostly raw, topped with ginger, scallion and oil. I thought it was absolutely ingenious to use traditional Chinese fish preparations — steamed with ginger, scallion, oil and soy sauce — for slightly cooked sashimi. My mouth continued to water even as I was eating it.
Sitting at the sushi bar, we didn’t quite understand why there was such a long pause after the first two dishes and the sushi, but it turned out that they had somehow lost our order. Service is indeed pleasant but not yet organized. The portions at Soto are very small and our meal should not have exceeded an hour and a half but it was extended to twice that at three hours due to disorganization. However, service snafus are not uncommon in new restaurants, and I have no doubt this gem of a place will be serving patrons seamlessly in no time. Personally, I was enjoying the food so much that I didn’t mind our long leisurely meal, but my companion, who had been starving from the get-go, felt like the dinner was torture as he was taunted by scrumptious-looking and fragrant food all around him, getting bits and pieces of it over a three hour period but never actually satisfying his hunger. :( I felt bad for him, but I must say the Japanese-portion sizes suite me perfectly.
The sushi was also delicious but small in portion. As it’s made, each piece of onigiri is placed one by one over the counter on your sushi tablet. It’s seasoned by the chef, so there is no need for soy sauce dipping, which is a good way to prevent those who don’t know how to eat sushi from ruining it. And if it’s any indication of the chef’s skills, twelve pieces came and went like they were six. I could have had another round. We added an order of the tar tare tuna roll — spicy tuna tartar with Asian pear, cucumber, avocado, sesame, pine nuts and scallion wrapped in white kelp. The roll was a gorgeous work of art with the unconventional white kelp skin instead of regular seaweed, but the pine nuts were overpowering, and the flavors in general just didn’t work together. The roll, however, was the only glitch during our meal, but honestly it would be a shame to waste your appetite on rolls at Soto anyway when the rest of the menu and the nigirizushi are so outstanding!
I’m ecstatic that there is a high caliber Japanese sushi restaurant around the corner from me right in Greenwich Village! Unfortunately, I won’t be able to treat it as a casual neighborhood joint as it is out of my daily dining budget. The prices are not unreasonable compared to top Midtown sushi restaurants, but it can’t be an everyday splurge for me. A drink or two with a dinner that leaves you reasonably full would range from $150 to $200 per person. I do plan to visit regularly, perhaps on a monthly basis, but in between, I can always dream about the food at Soto.
Posted in Greenwich Village , Japanese , Sushi
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Obanzai (daily special side dishes)
by Celia Cheng
August 24th, 2007
HIBINO
333 Henry St
@ Pacific St
Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
718-260-8052
Hibino is a sweet little Japanese restaurant on the corner of Henry and Pacific Streets in Cobble Hill. They don’t accept reservations, so on a Friday night, my companions and I waited for a good hour before being seated at this bustling, minimalist (it’s truly clean and simple, as opposed to designed to look clean and simple) neighborhood restaurant.
I knew I had to try Hibino when I learned that they serve obanzai ryori (Kyoto home-style daily side dishes). Having lived in Kyoto for a year, I am always nostalgic for the poetic delicacies that come from the ancient Japanese capital (hence Omen being one of my favorite Japanese restaurants in town). The “obanzai” at Hibino, however, is not traditional Kyoto-style but rather the name used to describe the restaurant’s own daily home-style side dishes. Today the specials were pork kakuni (a thick cut of pork belly stewed in a mixture of soy sauce; mirin, a rice-based Japanese cooking wine; sugar and sake), takoyaki (octopus balls), and a nimono (foods simmered in a seasoned broth) of sliced eringi mushrooms (a type of oyster mushroom) with renkon (lotus root). While these are not considered traditional obanzai, all three dishes were excellent and delicately prepared.
The kakuni, served with a dab of Chinese mustard, was the best I’ve tasted in New York. Not only did the fatty part melt in my mouth, but the lean was also tender. My friend, Jennie, is not fond of fat, so we had decided that she would eat the lean, which I often find overcooked, and I would take care of the fat. Of course, that is not the ideal way to eat kakuni. You should have a bit of both because it’s the combination that makes the dish special. We ended up splitting it evenly because, after tasting it, Jennie didn’t mind the fat and I found the lean to be wonderfully juicy and the perfect complement to the fatty part of the pork. Bravo!
You might be familiar with octopus balls as they’re sold at Otafuku on 9th Street across from Sobaya (I don’t recommend them though). The octopus balls at Hibino, however, are the most refined I’ve tasted. A street food popularized in the Kansai (Western) region of Japan, octopus balls are baked batter with pieces of octopus, tenkasu (tempura batter balls), pickled ginger and leeks. The cooked balls are usually dressed with okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, bonito flakes, and aonori (green laver). The takoyaki at Hibino came undressed, which I preferred as all the sauces and spices generally overpower what they are supposed to complement. In addition, rather than being baked in the traditional cast iron griddles lined with holes to make perfectly round balls, these smaller than usual balls were deep-fried like croquettes, so the layer of skin is thicker, and the octopus is in a mashed potato purée inside.
Hibino’s menu is rather varied; in addition to the obanzai specials, the regular menu offers a number of appetizers, entrées and sushi. Another highlight of the evening was the homemade tofu (tofu is a key player in obanzai cuisine), served either hot or cold. We tried the cold, which was adorably served in a miniature glass milk jar with Hibino’s logo. We scooped out individual servings of tofu with little spoons and poured the accompanying soy sauce over it. It was like eating a delicate dessert. The tofu was delicious! Many Japanese restaurants in New York City now make their own tofu, and it’s wonderful to see so many doing it well. This was a real treat. Although next time I think I’ll get a portion just for myself.
I have to give the sushi a mixed review. The regular onigiri sushi was not good, mainly because the fish literally lacked luster. There was no glimmer or sheen on any of the pieces of fish and they tasted dull, too — not as fresh as sushi needs to be. However, Hibino also prepares hakozushi, pressed sushi, the Kansai specialty in which vinegar rice, fish, and other desired ingredients are placed in a rectangular wooden box, pressed with the lid to secure the form, and then cut into pieces. We tried the Kyoto hako sushi — pressed sushi with grilled yellow tail, shiitake and shiso. While I had reservations about ordering cooked yellow tail (a nontraditional hakozushi ingredient, and also like scallops, generally better raw), the flavors all worked and the presentation was beautiful.
For dessert, we shared some green tea azuki (red bean) ice cream, green tea ice cream and the soy milk pudding. The green tea ice cream was a pastel green so light that it almost looked white. I wouldn’t usually care what color the ice cream is, but I do when it tastes as weak and washed out as its hue. The green tea azuki is green tea ice cream with azuki beans — also rather unspectacular. One of my pet peeves is green tea ice cream that doesn’t have the deep, rich taste of real matcha (green tea). It was a good thing we ended the meal with the soy milk pudding, also served in the signature Hibino milk jar. It was actually more like a mousse. The consistency was fluffy, rather than smooth like pudding, but, like the homemade tofu, it was delicious.
I’m excited that there are many interesting, modern Japanese restaurants opening in Brooklyn. Like Zenkichi of Williamsburg, though, I wish Hibino were in my neighborhood — Greenwich Village. But then again, if not in Cobble Hill, Hibino probably wouldn’t be as laid back, hip and charming. For local Brooklynites, Hibino is a good destination for Japanese comfort food. If I lived in the neighborhood, I’d probably visit at least once a week for their delectable specials.
Posted in Cobble Hill , Japanese , Small Plates
Uni Sushi (sea urchin sushi)
by Celia Cheng
August 1st, 2007
SUSHI YASUDA
204 E 43rd St
(2nd & 3rd Ave)
212-972-1001
Since returning from Greece, I’ve been on a sea urchin kick. I want to eat fresh uni (sea urchin) every day! The Greeks eat sea urchin with olive oil, lemon and bread. So when a Greek friend of mine, Alex, mentioned that she loves to buy sea urchin from Citarella, open and clean them herself and then enjoy them leisurely at home, I headed straight to the market. It sounded easy enough; unfortunately, sea urchins are not in season on the East Coast right now, so I was out of luck. This only fueled my craving.
In the August heat, I didn’t want to venture far and thought that I should give my neighborhood (seemingly more authentic) sushi joint, Ushiwakamaru, another try. For a variety of reasons — one of them being that the restaurant always feels rather dingy to me — I was once again not impressed. Since I am focusing on uni, I’ll skip the fish head and the rest of my gargantuan meal. As part of the starter, I was served steamed sea urchin with jelly. Unless it’s in pasta, I like my uni raw. I like the gooey texture and the strong, virulent flavor. When it’s steamed, uni seems to lose its personality; it becomes too solid and bland. I also had uni sushi at the end of the meal, and though it was better than the steamed, it didn’t hit the spot like I had hoped it would.
The following evening, on a whim, I decided to go to Sushi Yasuda, looking to remedy the previous evening’s experience. I wanted to make sure I had delicious sushi. About five years ago, I was at Yasuda-san’s counter on a weekly basis. In the past couple of years, I haven’t been able to go as often as I would like, but on this night, the stars were perfectly aligned. Without a reservation, I was able to get a seat in front of Yasuda-san, and though it’s been a while, he remembered exactly what I liked. Of course, I can’t go to Sushi Yasuda without starting with the morokyu (cucumbers with moromi miso). The monkfish tempura was not necessary, but it was a nice appetizer to whet my appetite. “The usual” for me is sushi matsu, twelve pieces of sushi and half a roll, omakase (chef’s choice) at Yasuda-san’s discretion of course! Yasuda-san must have magical hands because any fish he touches is just divine. The meals I’ve had at the restaurant when I didn’t sit in front of Yasuda-san’s station were, in my book, a waste of time.
My two MUST HAVES are hotate (scallop) and uni. Without having to remind him, the hotate appeared in the middle of the meal and after putting it in my mouth, I was floating on a cloud to heaven. For my last two pieces of sushi, Yasuda-san brought out two different varieties of uni, one from Sakhalin Island in Russia and the other from Santa Barbara. Both were orgasmically titillating, and I fear that having a preference for one may be blasphemy. The uni from Sakhalin Island was creamy, buttery and sweet and though it glided down my throat smoothly, I savored the taste until the end. It’s kind of strange to think that the Santa Barbara uni, which is generally considered sweet, was bitterer by comparison. I commented on how different the two uni tasted and Yasuda-san replied, “But both are delicious, which is what makes it interesting.” The meal concluded as perfectly as it had begun with one each of the green tea and red bean mochi ice cream.
It’s been a week since the meal at Sushi Yasuda, and I can still visualize, taste and smell the uni. And I am reminded why a weekly visit really is a necessity!
Posted in Japanese , Midtown East , Seafood , Sushi
