I thought this was interesting and I hope to visit on my next trip to New York:
Sushi chef is Shion Uino, who apprenticed at Sushi Saito, Tokyo.
The main restaurant has the chef from Sola, Paris and an acclaimed bartender, too. Should be interesting!
Got excited but tempering my expectations somewhat after reading this.
I’m actually more curious about Mifune, and the result of the collaboration between Yoshitake and Shimano (formerly of Guy Savoy).
Opens today $120 for prix fixe, $250 (+ tax & tip) for sushi omakase
Sigh… michelin stars are soooo inflated in NYC. You’ll be disappointed if you go expecting 1* quality… esp when the basic tab will be in the low 3 benjis.
No way! Sorry to hear about your experience. I haven’t been (had to cancel my NY trip) but I’m kind of surprised. What was wrong with the meal?
Michelin by and large - at least in my experience in the US - has been quite inflated in the past 3 or so years. See SF, where they’ve been on a ridiculous spree, handing them out all over the place, almost formulaically.
I think my expectations were too high given the much touted former association with Saito, the recent star and $250 (pre tax and tip) entry price.
First off, the space is very tight and uncomfortable, it’s a very large restaurant but somehow they decided to allocate a small tight space for the sushi bar in the basement. The back of the seats were only about a foot away from the wall, you’re always conscious of the waiter moving around behind you. Bumped elbows with the diner next to me throughout the night.
The meal generally progressed in a similar fashion as what I’ve seen in pics from Saito. Starts off with a handfull of otsumamis and transitions to nigiri. Whereas my meals earlier in the year at Taka had some real highlights, fish sourcing and execution at Amane was not comparable. @bradford if you go, just temper your expectations and perhaps you’ll have a more favorable experience. Or give them more time to settle down and work out the kinks.
Btw, looks like chef Shion was a full fledged apprentice at Saito vs. their initial press release “he was placed in charge of preparing and handling hand-rolled sushi”
Just got a callback from Okuda for dinner tomorrow, hopefully this new export fares better, We shall see…
Thanks for your response. Hope they can work out the kinks. I heard that they had at times sourced local fish, which, by and large, are not comparable with the quality typically found in Japan or elsewhere (e.g. Long Island fluke not being on the same quality as that from Jeju, etc.). I would hope that technical execution is great. Hmm.
@BradFord very good dinner at Okuda. Excellent QPR in a traditional intimate 7 seater counter setting and full neorest WC. 
. Still under the radar. Will post more details next couple of days.
I had high expectations of Mifune. I was very disappointed in the service and the food.
Service had long waiting time between some courses, followed by serving courses while still eating previous course. It was a chore to get someone to pour more water, or get more beverage. Untrained staff mostly ( except for one Japanese server). The room is big and loud. They do have more private rooms downstairs for more intimate dining and perhaps better service.
We added uni chawanmushi and the Miyazaki Wagyu appetizer to the 8 course tasting menu. The chawanmushi was good, the $40 Wagyu was not good quality and was overcooked. In general nothing was outstanding.
In NYC I prefer the food at Kyo Ya, Hirohisa and Rosanjin ( closed) to Mifune.
I need to revisit Amane, seems to be everyone favorite wonderboy of late.
The style is very different than that of the others I tried. Rice in particular. I liked it though understand how some might not call it their favorite. I thought his formations were quite consistent and efficient.
Yeah folks have noted his technical prowess. Think I got caught him on a bad day during my dinner, will revisit soon.
Interesting note towards the end of the video, he experienced challenges with his original recipes from Japan and had to alter them for NYC conditions (water etc).
