Eating Japanese in New York
The Michelin Red Guide to New York restaurants has just come out and three “Japanese” eateries have made the list. They are:
I’ve never been to Masa because I can’t imagine paying the astronomical price ($350 prix-fixe). Jewel Bako is wonderful. But Nobu? I realize this is a completely unscientific poll, but I don’t know any Japanese in New York who think that Nobu is all that great. The one and only time I went, I was extremely disappointed. The fish was decently handled – not overcooked – but the rice for the sushi was hard, the fish in the sushi only moderately fresh, and the rice in my bowl had clearly been put in with a spoon that scraped the side of the dish, leaving a sticky streak. My Mom sure as heck wouldn’t have let the kitchen staff get away with that!
Lots of people have pointed out that most of the best New York restaurants, according to Michelin, are French, and perhaps that accounts for their rating system. It may also account for the fact that they missed a lot of fantastic restaurants – perhaps they just aren’t familiar with Japanese cuisine. Be that as it may, Japanese food is definitely rising in popularity in this most trend-obsessed city, and New Yorkers are starting to catch on to what is good.
2006 Zagat’s guide, for example. Japanese food is now the most popular Asian cuisine, and new restaurants are opening quite rapidly. Some are sort of gimmicky, like Megu and Ninja, but others are serving really fantastic, authentic food with kaiseki menus. The Japanese language New York based paper, Japion, is constantly advertising for help in these eating establishments. I was talking to a friend the other day, who is contemplating a move back to Japan, but he said he really wants to stay, because things are starting to finally get easier and easier in New York, by which he meant there is more and more good food.
If you are in New York, or coming this way, here are a few fantastic restaurants to try. (And I must give full disclosure; most of these recommendations came to me initially by my food obsessed hairdresser Omae-san, who always knows what is good before anyone else does).
- Aburiya Kinnosuke is the sister restaurant to Yakitori Totto. Kinnosuke is pretty new, and has a great prix-fixe menu for $45 which is kaiseki style. If you call in advance, you can reserve the $60 prix-fixe menu. The sashimi meat here is fresh and will knock you out. The fact that they don’t cook a ton of meat means that the air in the restaurant isn’t oily and heavy; the fish is always light and tender. Check out the matsutake tempura if it’s on the menu. Try the sesame pudding for dessert. The atmosphere is wonderfully relaxed, and the service super nice – attentive but not overbearing. You can get a little side room and have some privacy, which is perfect for stretching a wonderful meal into a long indulgence in conversation and sake (try the unfiltered).
- Try the aforementioned Totto, and be sure to try the beer on tap. There are other yakitoris in New York, like Yakitori Taisho, which I also like. But for food, I have to say, Totto is the best. They used to be something of a secret, but the word has started to get out.
- Learn the word “omakase” (roughly pronounced oh-mah-kah-she). Then head over to Hedeh and ask for it. Trust me. You won’t be disappointed.
- Use the word “omakase” at Kai, which is has a fantastic kaiseki dinner. If the price scares you, try the lunch, which I promise is also fantastic. Kai is an interesting restaurant. It belongs to Itoen, the tea company, and naturally the tea served here is also good. If you sit at the counter, you can watch the staff at work. Everything I’ve had here was amazing, with some photos as proof.
Whatever you do, we at Japundit implore you not to think that Nobu is the epitome of great Japanese food in New York. Nor should you have to pay $350 for a superb dining experience.
Poor Mari….she’s my favorite. If I ever become a j-pop singer and part of the...
Shes definitely at the top of my hot list.
perfeckt 10:10
People who are quite knowledgable when it comes to Western food often fall apart when writing about Japanese food. This may explain why the wrong restaurants are chosen. New Yorkers, in particular, have a habit of slavishly handing their money to restaurants that cater to their vanities in an almost insulting way.
Anthony Bourdain is a wonderful food writer, but way out of his depth when it comes to Japan. I remember reading the London Time critic slamming tataki, because she thought this was a bastardized sushi for people who weren’t “macho” enough to handle the real thing. Imagine that. By macho, she implies that eating raw fish is akin to eating live worms in the jungle, or skinning your own crocodile.
Everything is over the top, whether it be wasabi, serving size or, in Nobu’s case, the price.
I would guess Michelin is trying to be more multi-cultural these days, but it would be nice if they stuck to what they are familiar with.
November 7th, 2005 at 8:59 am
hi
November 7th, 2005 at 9:41 ami’ve been to masa’s old space in LA that’s now run by his former apprentice (urasawa) and if his skill is any indicator, $350 is a bargain. it was the best meal of my life and well worth eating at home several times a week to save up money for a visit. when he was in LA, the prix fixe was about $250 – 300. i think the extra cost of shipping ingredients to nyc from japan as well as rent in the time warner building accounts for the increase.
there are some pictures from urasawa in the thread here…
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=52518&pid=856855&mode=threaded&show=&st=&#entry856855
November 7th, 2005 at 10:19 amSpeaking as a native New Yorker now living in Tokyo, I can say that Tomoe Sushi has the best sushi in New York.
Not the most expensive. Not the fanciest. Just the best.
November 7th, 2005 at 11:06 amA very famous New York Times critic reviewed MASA a few years ago in the most surrealistic, silly, verbose, and totally pretentious way and he has never recovered. I forget his name, but he never goes back there. For me, I live near the Village, and there’s a small kaiten-zushi shop nearby where the sushi goes by on conveyor belts and me and the Missus can eat there for around $15. Screw pretentious Japanese dining. It’s very over-rated. Basta!
November 7th, 2005 at 6:18 pmThe New York Times paper’s timing of Frank Bruni’s review of Masa
was, to say the least, in poor judgment. People should
give pause on how to better spend $350: on an ornate
piece of sushi or supplies to Southeast Asia, where a
loaf of bread may save someone’s life.
Two thoughts come immediately to mind: the ethics of spending $1,000 on lunch when others in the world (and one’s own country and city go hungry), and the “Emperor’s clothes” syndrome which will prompt those who pay $1,000 for lunch to affirm that it is truly fabulous. I’ve been known to feel a bit orgasmic when contemplating and consuming a bowl of pasta or some warm crusty bread. Would it be that much better at an inflated price and served on fine china with linen napkins? I think not…
November 7th, 2005 at 8:43 pmWhen Frank Bruni wrote about a visit to a sushi shop, reported in the New York Times, I almost lost my lunch. What complete crap! How silly! A ten star example of how not to gush over something you know nothing about. And yet, the language, the language…
While most of the brouhaha over Bruni’s brilliant review has been about money and cost and price (especially in view of the Great Asian Tsunami of 2004) — his review came out three days after the Voltairean tragedy shook south Asia [and later New York] — very little has been said in blogs or reviews about his utterly inane language and how he was completely swindled by Masa Japanospeak, which does not translate into Italian I guess.
Frank, wake up and smell the Tsukuji Fish Market for real.
You have become part of what is very very wrong with Western culture. But why have so few commentators pointed this out? Does it take a Zenman in Tokyo to do the trick? Sad. So sad.
Read my comments in CAPS below — all in mere jest, we suggest — to see the final analysis. Frank, get real! And readers, why have you not protested in print?
RESTAURANTS
Sushi at Masa Is a Zen Thing
By FRANK BRUNI
December 29, 2004
TEXT: [annotations by The Zenman in CAPS. All in fun, of course.!]
Bruni wrote (you call that writing, I call that writhing):
“I could reach deep into a heady broth of adjectives to describe the magic of the sushi at Masa. PLEASE DON’T, FRANK. THE WORST IS YET TO COME.
I could pull up every workable synonym for delicious. PLEASE.
Or I could do this: tell you about watching a friend bite into one of Masa’s toro-stuffed maki rolls. YES DO TELL US.
His eyes grew instantly bigger as his lips twitched TWITCHED? into acoyly COYLY? restrained grin. Then the full taste of the toro, whichis the buttery belly of a bluefin NICE ALLITERATION, B- B- B, FRANK tuna, took visible hold.
Forget restraint: OKAY WE WILL.
he was suddenly smiling as widely as a person with a mouthful of food and amodicum of manners can. NARUHODO! His eyes even rolled slightlybackward. DID THEY NOW?
This play of emotion mirrored my own toro-induced bliss. BLISS NOW?
It also explains why Masa, despite its chosen peculiarities and pitiless expense, belongs in the thinly populated pantheon of New York’s moststellar restaurants. Simply put, Masa engineers discrete moments ofpure elation that few if any other restaurants can match. SIMPLY PUT,FRANK, YOU WAS HAD AND NOW YOU TRYING TO HAVE YOUR READERS TOO!
If you appreciate sushi, Masa will take you to the frontier FRONTIER? REALLY NOW? of how expansively good a single (and singular) bite of it canmake you feel.PURE CLAPTRAP. COME TO TOKYO AND EAT SUSHI AT ONE OFTHOSE CONVEYOR-BELT PLACES, JUST AS GOOD, ONLY 800 YEN!
If you don’t, you have no reason to visit this restaurant, which stakes its claim for the most part on a narrow patch of culinary turf. IT STAKES ITS CLAIM ON RICH DUMMIES AND TRUST FUND KIDS. The unyielding boundaries of a meal here are just one of many ways in which Masa bucks the increasingly wobbly traditions of fine dining in this city. MASA BUCKS NOTHING. IT’S A WASTE OF MONEY. BY THE WAY, FRANK, WHO PAID FOR YOUR MEAL? YOU or the TIMES? [http://www.gawker.com] chef and owner, Masayoshi Takayama, who operated Ginza Sushiko in Beverly Hills before relocating to Manhattan, does not present you with a menu or choices. You are fed what he elects to feed you, most\of it sushi, in the sequence and according to the rhythm he decrees. YES BECAUSE HE IS GOD. You do not seize control at Masa. You surrender it. YES BECAUSE YOU ARE STUPID. You pay to be putty. TRUE. And you pay dearly. SO TRUE. The price fluctuates with the season and the\availability of certain delicacies. It now stands at US$350 a person before tax, tip and sip of sake or bottled water. Masa, which reopens Jan. 11 after a holiday break, is arguably the most expensive restaurant in New York. Lunch or dinner for two can easily exceed $1,000. COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS PRICE AND PEOPLE ARE STARVING AROUND THE WORLD, FRANK!Justifiable? NO!
I leave that question to accountants and ethicists. THE ANSWER IS NO.
Worth it? NO. The answer depends on your budget and\priorities. But in my experience, the silky, SILKLY? NICE ORIENTAL WORD, FRANK! melting quality of Masa’s toro and uni and sea bream, coupled with the serenity of its ambience, does not exist in New York at a lower price. NICE FRANK NICE!
Masa is not merely sushi. YES FOLKS IT IS MERELY SUSHI. OVER PRICED SUSHI. GET OVER IT.
The first third of a nearly three-hour meal here
entails other indulgences, presented at methodically paced intervals and in prudently restrained portions. There may be an ”uni risotto with white truffle” SPEAK ENGLISH SIR!;
dollops of a perilous OH\”,1]
);
//–>
If you don’t, you have no reason to visit this restaurant, which stakes its claim for the most part on a narrow patch of culinary turf.IT STAKES ITS CLAIM ON RICH DUMMIES AND TRUST FUND KIDS.
The unyielding boundaries of a meal here are just one of many ways in which Masa bucks the increasingly wobbly traditions of fine dining inthis city.MASA BUCKS NOTHING. IT’S A WASTE OF MONEY. BY THE WAY,FRANK, WHO PAID FOR YOUR MEAL? YOU or the TIMES?
The chef and owner, Masayoshi Takayama, who operated Ginza Sushiko inBeverly Hills before relocating to Manhattan, does not present youwith a menu or choices. You are fed what he elects to feed you, mostof it sushi, in the sequence and according to the rhythm he decrees.YES BECAUSE HE IS GOD.
You do not seize control at Masa. You surrender it. YES BECAUSE YOU ARE STUPID.
You pay to be putty. TRUE.
And you pay dearly. $$$$sO TRUE.
The price fluctuates with the season and theavailability of certain delicacies. It now stands at US$350 a personbefore tax, tip and sip of sake or bottled water. Masa, which reopensJan. 11 after a holiday break, is arguably the most expensiverestaurant in New York. Lunch or dinner for two can easily exceed$1,000. COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS PRICE AND PEOPLE
November 7th, 2005 at 8:50 pm1. How people want to spend their $350 is up to them (I’ll take five days of lift tickets at Snowbird, thanks very much).
November 7th, 2005 at 10:38 pm2. Anyone who’d spend that kind of money for a few bites of what I expect would rank as third-rate sushi (for anyone who’s lived in Japan, at least) is a complete and utter fool.
3. People have the right to be fools. Pontificating about how they’re not making the `right’ choice is the mark of someone just as stupid as those who spend their money at Masa.
Wow. Well, if I had the chance to eat at Masa, I certainly would (and I’d report back to Japundit).
I certainly didn’t mean to be bossy in my post about where to eat. I suppose I should have said, “Here are some alternatives to consider.” I just think that there are some very good restaurants which get overlooked. I have mixed feelings about writing about these places; I don’t want them to get too popular, but they also deserve to be recognized!
We are quite blessed with a number of good sushi restaurants at all price points in NYC. If I remember correctly, the DK guidebook to New York now lists “sushi” as a classic New York food. It’s that popular.
November 8th, 2005 at 12:04 amMarie, my comments certainly weren’t directed at you (just in case you thought they were). Personally, I think Bay Ridge offers way better value for money than midtown.
November 8th, 2005 at 11:14 amJapan-Focused Sites Blend Visuals, Advice, Opinion and One-Click Access
Japundit doing well in the blogosphere
Webposted by Funky Puffy Lad
For people obsessed with all things Japanese, the advent of
Japan-focused Web journals, or blogs, has been a wonderful, terrible
development.
Wonderful because these idiosyncratic Web sites, in which specific and
frequently updated content is filtered through an individual blogger’s
sensibility, give devotees an opportunity to indulge their obsession
at the click of a computer mouse. Terrible because, as anyone who has
ever discovered a favorite blog already knows, the impulse to hit the
“refresh” button every five minutes to see what has been posted most
recently can take over one’s life, putting things like social
calendars and professional advancement in peril.
In the past few years, blogs such as Japundit and SparkPlugged have
emerged to constitute a bona fide Japan-focused district within the
blogosphere, the collective noun denoting all the blogs to be found on
the Internet. (Estimates of how many blogs exist vary absurdly, with
some analysts guessing around 3 million, others closer to 30 million
– a discrepancy rooted in these analysts’ inability to agree on the
definition of “blog.”)
Think of the typical Japan-focused blog as equal parts bulletin board,
cocktail party, garage sale and aesthetic manifesto. On any one of
them, a visitor might find a sequence of posts celebrating a new
Japanese movie or manga from a major studio, soliciting opinions on
where to find a good hot springs in Hokkadio, or decrying a new
building that has been much ballyhooed by the architectural press.
Upon discovering a Japan blog, you’ll likely be directed to others
that are similar to it via internal links; once that has happened,
you’re helplessly, happily stuck in the Matrix, and there’s no getting
out.
“They’re a great interactive resource,” says one blogger in Canada.
One unique aspect of blogs is the way in which their creators and
consumers are always switching places. Most blogs, including most
Japan blogs, are solo operations administered by an amateur blogger
who adds new posts whenever he or she can find the time. Larger blogs
such as Japantoday.com have teams of editors with different
bailiwicks, and actually make money — or at least try to — by
selling space to advertisers. (
Japundit, which launched in January 2004, boasts 3,000 visitors daily.
At sites large and small, readers are encouraged to submit content in
the form of comments to existing posts, or quite often in the form of
full-length posts of their own. In this way, Japan blogs are truly
democratic media, to which everybody is free to offer a critique,
share a clever idea or shed light on an unsung talent or little-known
product.
Japundit is thinking bow about adding a new feature that will allow
people to submit photos of whatever catches their eye — a cool window
display in Tokyo, a great new sushi restaurant in New York, anything
really — by taking a picture with a cell phone and e-mailing it to
the site, where they will appear in series of four with brief comments
by the photographers. The pictures will appear instantly, and will be
bumped only when new ones arrive to take their place.
Of course, compared to blogs, the editorial process at magazines and
newspapers is inevitably slowed not only by printing and distribution,
which take a significant amount of time, but also by the intervention
of legions of editors, diligently checking content for accuracy,
balance and tone. Most blogs have no comparable infrastructure. News
and opinion often bleed into one another — but no one seems to mind.
In fact, it’s one of the things readers love about them.
[With a tip of the hat and online apologies to Jeff T., of course!]
December 8th, 2005 at 11:57 am