High quality sushi for a pretty penny (and then some)
Friday, March 17, 2006
After living in the neighborhood for years (and having been a sushi lover for even longer), I finally tried Nishino this week. Granted, it was a trip to feel out the place using the 25 for $25 promotion as an excuse, but I was happy with even that meal. I decided that I'm still happy with my usual haunt (Chinoise on Madison) for my daily sushi needs, but will be back to try the omakase (roughly translated, "leave it to the chef") fixed price dinner. I could tell there were subtle differences in the quality of the sushi as well as in the nori. The fish was just a bit fattier, fresher, and a touch more tender, but the differences weren't pronounced enough for me to make this my regular sushi restaurant. Besides, Jae puts so much more loving care into his presentations than I saw Kazu do at Nishino. Maybe it was an off-night? All things considered, I still savored my meal.
The restaurant seemed really busy when we came in mid-week and it took a few minutes before we spoke with the hostess. That turned me off at first, but the polite and attentive service that followed made up for it. The decor wasn't particularly Japanese and was more "classic" in the 80's sense of the word. The art was a little incongruous, too, all bright and abstract in contrast with the dim lighting and beige walls.
The 25 for $25 deal got me and my husband each our choice of three appetizers, three main courses, and three desserts. The meal also came with miso soup. I ordered a dungeness crab cake as an appetizer, the sushi assortment for my entree, and sorbet for dessert. My husband ordered the yellowtail sashimi as an appetizer, sushi for his entree, and mochi for dessert. We also started with an order of albacore sashimi (5 pieces), well-priced at $9, melt in your mouth delicious, and significantly thicker than the yellowtail sashimi that came with the 25 for $25 meal.
The crab cake was generously meaty and moist, although my husband thought it was too wet for his taste. The napa cabbage-mayo salad on the side was limp and bland. The "salsa" for the crab cake was also unnecessary and needed to be chopped more finely, besides. I much preferred the seaweed salads that came with the yellowtail. The sushi entree came with more sushi than I expected: two pieces from what appeared to be a maguro/salmon roll with avocado and tobiko, three pieces from a pickled vegetable roll, and one piece each of the following nigiri: amaebi, maguro, hamachi, and salmon. The sorbets were fine, but the shiso-flavored one was very icy when compared to the mango and strawberry. My husband's mango and strawberry mochi were little cold to start with, but defrosted a bit as we ate them and turned delightfully gummy and creamy.
I left stuffed, happy, and ready to come back for the omakase dinner.