Opens tomorrow, review forthcoming?
Are you going to answer your own post? Lol
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Pics or it didn’t happen!
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price of each menu?
Keiji-san usually doesn’t allow for photos until the restaurant location is more seasoned.
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Ah ok. We never had a problem with photos at the hnl location but I guess that has been open for awhile
still the best omakase i’ve had in the states. the okonomi is 35 each.
some random notes:
- pictures aren’t allowed
- gratuity is included with no extra tip line
- there are two seatings, 6 and 8:30.
- ask to sit with nakazawa san
- when you first arrive you’re escorted to a waiting room/bar for drinks until it’s time for dinner. after dinner you’re led to the jindai counter in another room for dessert and tea
- the main dining room is beautiful with a curved counter that seats 10 similar to hawaii.
- the area behind the counter is much larger than hawaii’s and fits a prep area with room for a few more chefs.
- watching nakazawa san front and center is like watching a conductor conduct an orchestra.
- nakazawa san with help from his assistant chef, serves the 6 guests in front and to his right, another chef serves the other 4 guests
- the staff to guest ratio is at least 1 to 1.
- similar to hawaii there’s a relief carving of hanaya yohei in one of the hinoki ice chests. i forgot who was carved in the other one, perhaps someone who can woo with wisdow can find out.
- nakazawa san’s daughter is working the tea room
- they plan on doing takeout chirashi and vegan futomaki for lunch
- if you’re not getting ooe okonomi (aka “YOLOkonomi” or “YOLOoe” as some would say) i highly recommend the different hon maguro cuts from the okonomi menu.
- the chiai gishi, kuragake style, was incredible and full of umami and sweetness
dining room (from tock)
dessert/tea room, jindai counter (from tock)
toto neorest nx1
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Wow, sounds like it’s worth the journey indeed. Thanks for reporting back and for the nice notes. A meal there sounds like a real performance.
I’m curious who the other figure is. Just a guess without having been to Sushi Sho NYC, but maybe it’s Fujimoto Shigezu, given his contributions.
I love the nod to tradition with the himuro chest (and better for not drying out the fish, too).
And in general, I like the abundance of wood, with the arced ceiling like a loose reference to gasshozukuri inns, suggesting hospitality and omotenashi.
This is a good idea that I believe we’re going to see implemented more.
They had this at Sushi Sanshin in Osaka, and using a separate room was an elegant way to handle the bill and your own pace of dessert / tea while diners are eating extra pieces, perhaps on their way to “YOLOoe” as you might say. I also had this discussion at Sushi Hashimoto about using a separate dessert / tea room in the future, given Hashimoto-san’s wife’s fondness of cafes, and since there’s a ton of extra okonomi items on offer as well. It also makes the seating logistics a little bit calmer at the start start and end of a meal.
This piece is interesting to me. Horseback style is more a presentation of tamago, but since Yoshino and Sushi Sho NYC use it for maguro (and it’s one of Yoshino’s signature pieces), I wonder what the significance is. Like with the “ohagi” minced nakaochi toro or “rice cheese” iburigakko/fermented rice (a play on iburigakko with cream cheese drinking snack), Nakazawa-san seems to like to reference other foods in presentation. Actually some koi fish have back patterns described as kuragake, but I think that’s just a coincidence 
.
I think it’s to maximize the surface area. Sugita-san does this with akamizuke by cutting a large rectangle and folding it (as some have said it looks like a “fruit roll up”) and I’ve had eaten at multiple places this year that layered thin slices of neta. Actually, there was a triple-layered thin saba nigiri at Sushi Sho Waikiki in a previous visit. Taking a bite, you get an explosion of flavor but the proportions are still balanced because the neta isn’t too large
Sounds like a winning combination. Their chirashi and futomaki in Waikiki have excellent QPR and I wish that more sushi restaurants offered this.
This is the way.
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hi @pomodoro
yah, thanks for the wisdom.
I believe the second carving is of someone known for izushi/narezushi. is there a person credited with “inventing” izushi as hanaya yohei was with edomeaezushi? thanks.
this is exactly what I was wondering too when I saw him preparing the exact cut and style as yoshino. an homage?
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Quite possibly.
Gee, I’m not aware of who specifically is credited with izushi in the way that Hanaya Yohei is known as the godfather of edomae nigirizushi’s success. The ministry says a fishing family started izushi around the first snow in a late autumn in Hokkaido (a different season and origin area than those of funazushi, which is kind of the original form of narezushi, honnare). Izushi, as distinct from other forms of narezushi, began to incorporate koji for a quicker fermentation in colder regions, and added vegetables, too, presumably to balance for this relatively shorter / colder / less complete fermentation. But I don’t know if there’s a singular person who’s credited.
At Sushi Sho Waikiki, the moi fish is reimagined to eat like a kohada of sorts after various fermentations, one of which alludes to funazushi preparation. I believe the wood relief depicts an apocryphal tale of Hanaya Yoehi fishing for moi.
I wonder if there’s a signature piece for the New York location.
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“Yasuke” is the name of the person credited the founder of izushi. This is the carving at the restaurant. I also could not remember the name and asked manager Kyoji-san via email.
I’m returning for the second time this evening.
I understand that pacing of the “main” course may have improved and the okonomi are now variable. $25-60 each.
Congrats on the Sushi Shokunin signature. I got one too!
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I really wanted to go here on my upcoming trip to NY but can’t abide a pricing model that offers a $450 “short” omakase, and compels the customer to order hundreds of dollars more of nigiri a la carte.
Gonna go to Yoshino for the first time instead, and return to Sushi Noz.
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I went recently as well and have to say, I agree with @PorkyBelly that it is easily the best omakase in the United States. Each piece of fish just tastes perfect. Walked away spending $800 per person without drinking alcohol.
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Ryan Sutton’s review:
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Turns out I could, and did, abide the pricing model. And I’m glad I did, as this was the best sushi meal I’ve eaten, in the states or Japan. The breadth of fish, the variety of techniques, and the novelty of so many of the bites put it in a league of its own IMO. Not only delicious, but an interesting and eye opening meal.
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which okonomi pieces did you get?
I did:
Squid
Aji
Iwashi
Salmon roe - still attached to the sac
Tsukimi ikura (trout roe)
Hamaguri clam
Botan shrimp - prepared two ways, raw and lightly steamed
Soy marinated Akami - it was marinated for days, much longer than I’d seen before
Monkfish liver roll
Apple kanpyo roll
Highlights of the okonomi were both of the silver fish, the botan ebi two ways, the salmon roe and the clam.
All the others nigiri were superb with the exception of the squid, which was merely good. Whatever herb they used with it (I think it was sancho pepper leaf) overshadowed the squid’s flavor.
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