Day one dinner at Torien. Service was good and ingredients high quality but health regulations make certain skewers overcooked by Japanese standards 8/10
Day two lunch at Aquavit. Mild flavours, well cooked but nothing exciting 7/10
Day two dinner at Yoshino. Exceptional meal and wines/sake as always. One of the top sushi restaurant in the world including Japan 9.8/10
Day 3 dessert at Lysee. Decorated well, taste sort of bland 7.5/10
Day three dinner at Sushi Sho. No pictures or photos allowed. Standard omakase course was long but very small pieces. Excepted for patrons to have add on options (okonomi), which were 35 each and superior to the standard course. Very traditional edomae sushi done well 9/10
Day four lunch at Le Bernadain. Classic three star experience. Cooked well, classic flavours 8/10
by balldem824
19 Comments
Also shabu shabu was from Odo Lounge.
Not pictured: brunch at Sundays in Brooklyn, Joes Pizza.
Insane champagne bottles. Hope they were worth it!
Damn no sake at torien??? Dom p tho
I bet you were still hungry
How much total did you spend?
i agree with your assessment of lysee. most of the pastries are actually kind of bland and not in a nice “not too sweet” way. i have found that they do viennoiserie better than their pastries/cakes though. i also really like the banana cookie
dat Champagne spread. Fuck off.
Respectfully. (:
Call me wrong, but if I’m going to nyc, I’m getting whole pies at John’s and Lucali, chicken cutlet subs, and lox bagels with a thick schmear. I don’t really care for this stuff. But you do you OP
KEEP THE DOWNVOTES COMING LETS GOOOOO
Just eat the fucking food, don’t take pictures of it for social media.
This is why people shouldn’t be allowed to make so much money. Complete lack of taste here, all rich people spend huge money on the same goofy status symbol bottles, endlessly driving the price up, like you spent what the average person in NYC makes in 3 months on Krug and Dom, goofy tasteless excess.
Highly recommend Kono if you like yakitori. Torien is ok but isn’t even a close second to Kono. Kono sources a very different kind of chicken and actually buys and butchers the whole birds themselves. Every part is always cooked perfectly there. Torien serves really basic bland skewers for what they’re charging. I went once and will never go back.
Can’t speak to Sushi Sho just yet but Yoshino I’ve been to and personally I think Sushi Noz is just way better, even though it might get less accolades. There is no one doing the same level of sourcing and inventive and ever-changing otsumami week after week. Noz is just on another level even versus other top tier sushiyas in nyc.
Is 6 gefilte?
I know enough about wine to know how comparatively broke I am.
Curious about your thoughts of Yoshino vs Sho?
That’s an interesting comment regarding health regulations re: Torien. Kono had to change cooking practices due to a health department shutdown and isn’t the same (to be fair, people were getting sick so it’s probably a good thing). I’d be interested what you’d say about Torishin (with Tatsu-san at the select counter) and if they have the same issues.
Regarding Yoshino, could you elaborate more on why you think it’s a 9.8 and one of the top sushi restaurants in the world? Also, where did the final 0.2 go? I agree that it’s very good but I don’t like the restaurant (have been twice), think it’s overpriced, and not perfect.
Yoshino successfully captures the ‘New York Style’ dinner theater experience. From the hikarimono and tuna display to the sabazushi searing ceremony, Yoshida-san and Sous Chef Gang grab and hold diners’ attention. Though, at times, Yoshino suffers from a lack of harmony. On my first visit, I was underwhelmed by the heavily French-influenced otsumami; one that still bothers me was a plastic bag filled with clams and tasteless shaved truffle. While the otsumami were significantly better on my second visit, the shiro amadi, kaki, kegani appetizer missed the mark even if the culinary techniques and presentation were high-class. Despite the hype, his signature dishes like the saba pressed roll and karasumi mochi are not more delicious than his other offerings. In fact, the mochi lacked flavor and was slightly burnt with poor distribution of karasumi inside. I’ve heard many diners complain about Chef Gang’s shortcomings and how he burns the mochi.
Furthermore, Yoshida-san spends so much of the food budget on the tuna and doesn’t always have Oma (sure, we can debate whether or not the Oma *brand* is over-hyped anyway). In fact, the experience that the diner has seems to be heavily influenced by Yoshida-san’s ability to source (or choice, for regulars), which means that there is an unacceptable level of inconsistency at the price point.
Of course, I’ve left out the excellent ankimo, nodoguro egg yolk rice that explodes with liquid fat and flavor that coats your tongue and mouth, beautiful ko-aji, smooth iron-laden maguro, rich miso soup, delicious handrolls, excellent uni, picturesque chiaigishi, and special desserts but I’m focused on your score.
Yoshino delivers but does not over-deliver, in my opinion, and does not hold a candle to Sushi Obana or Sushi Hashiguchi in Japan. I have plans to try Tenzushi, Sugita, Sawada, Sanshin, and Inomata this year and imagine a couple of those will be better too.
Since it’s clear that you have significantly disposable income, I do wonder how price factors into your decision making and if cost-performance is important to you in your scoring.
Instead, I thought Sushi Sho was much more impressive, even if I don’t care to eat some of the otsumami/chimni again. I agree with you that the okonomi overshadows the “shorter omakase” (terrible name) and that patrons who don’t budget for it may leave disappointed.
Seems like you had a great trip filled with excellent food and wine. Looking forward to a more detailed overview of what you think makes Yoshino so special. Thanks!
I went to torien for my birthday. I liked it. My fave non Japanese yakatori is in London at humble chicken. Excellent time at the counters
I thought torien was a little pricey for what it is. At the end fit the day, it’s chicken. Good experience though.
white tee-shirt with a duck on it 🤔 – not what id wear to a high end restaurant lol -great post otherwise
*sees your dining companion wearing a graphic tee to a restaurant like this*: “oh you’re RICH rich.”
Is this sub a satire?