Since Former 15 East alumni Chef John Daley opened Ko in LES, it has been a tough to get into place. The eleven-seat restaurant with only the sushi bar and a small table, Chef Daley do it all by himself. There’s only one other waiter/ server/ host as staff. On a rainy, windy, late September evening, we arrived early for our reservation, but was turned away by the host.
“We’re not open yet” he said.
“Can we come in and get a drink first?” we asked politely.
“You can get a drink at the bar down the street” he replied.
Had it not been their long waiting list for reservation or the $75/pp cancellation policy, I might have walked away.
Both Chef and waiter were attentive, but seemed unfriendly. Perhaps offended by my camera (no flash, I promised), during the 2+ hours meal, both of them have managed not to crack a smile. We had the more expensive $190 full Omakase oppose to the “a little less, still expensive” Sushi Mono. As we approached the sushi part of our dinner, Chef Daley asked to have my camera put away. Something about “food are meant to be enjoy, not photograph…” I honestly don’t remember his exact words, but that was a first. May be Ko would like to adopt Corton’s practice and put their policy on their website?
After the sashmi and the cooked dishes, we had 11 pieces of sushi: Kanpachi, Shima Aji belly, Aji, Saba, smoked Attic Char, Kimedai, Botan Ebi from canada with smoked sea salt, baby sweet shrimp from Japan, Uni from California, Chu Toro from Boston, and Otoro from Boston blue fin. Notice, aside from uni and ebi, all pieces are fish, no shellfish.
Overall, I’d say the sashmi was better than sushi piece. The sushi rice was missing something, the balance was off, and it was falling apart as we picked it up. Yasuda said “rice is the most important part of sushi”, as my dinner coming to an end at Ko, I truly understand the meaning of those words. (Sep, 2014)
Category: <span>Japanese/ Sushi</span>
Masa, the only 3 Michelin Stars sushi restaurant in New York, aka the most expensive restaurant in NY. Unless one is willing to pay a (at least) minimum $500/pp entry fee, one had no chance to set foot in this high court of sushi. We, of course, like many others, are still waiting/saving for that special occasion. Fortunately, Neta opened in the village, operated by a pair of Masa vets: Chef Nik Kim was the head chef at Masa for 10 years and Chef Jimmy Lau was the head Chef of Bar Masa, As soon as we heard that, we couldn’t wait to try it out.
Dark wood trims, pale white curtains, from the outside it is hard to tell that it is a sushi bar; it seems more like a modern French bistro. Behind the doors is a somewhat narrow space. Other than a few tables on the side, is a long maple wood counter that sits 20. The open concept kitchen took up most of the space. It has stove stations by the wall, prep stations in the middle, and sushi bar in the front. Chef Kim and Lau orchestrated in the front, with 5-8 all white wearing cooks prepping in the back. We grabbed the bar seats in front of Chef Kim. From where we sat, we full view of everything that was going on in the kitchen. We could see the cooks prepping our scallop-uni dishes, and Chef Kim carefully inspecting a giant slab of fish that was just brought in. We really enjoyed our view, our eyes were eating the dishes reach our table! There are two Omakase options available ($95 and $135), and there is also an a-la-carte menu. In hope to get the best experience, we went for the more $$$ one.
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Dungeness Crab Salad
Shreds of Dungeness crab tossed with wild parsley and cucumber in dashi vinaigrette. The vinaigrette very well complimented the dish, it added acid and brought out the freshness and sweetness of the crab meat.
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Sawara Sashimi Salad
Another salad, but this time with sashimi. Sawara or Spanish mackerel is usually better in winter than summer, but that didn’t matter here. This sawara was soft, melty and tasty. The sheds of myoga, and tempura flakes sprinkles, added a nice crunch to the combination, and created a nice contrast.
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Grilled Scallop
Sweet, sweet scallop with Uni. My favorite combination. This scallop was grilled with garlic soy butter, and I squeezed in a little lime. Buttery and sweet!
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Softshell Crab Karage
Softshell crab was perfectly crispy and juicy but not oily. The shiso leaf karage was a nice refreshment. And there was a little surprise underneath. A little pile of corn karage, sweet and crunchy, great combination.
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Chopped salmon with Sichuan peppercorn oil
An unique take of spicy salmon. Salmon chopped and mixed with Sichuan peppercorn oil, has a little kick but not too spicy. Salmon was press onto a plank of crispy rice, and cover by shaved bonito flakes. Again, very nice contrast, mushy and crispy. Bonito flakes were all curled up, slightly moving, as if it was going to take flight.
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O-Toro– fatty, melty, lightly brushed with soy, just heavenly.
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Sawara
Sawara again, this time as sushi, garnish with ginger. Sweet and delightful.
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Kanpachi
Kanpachi was sweet, lightly brush with soy sauce and garnish what with appears to be fried dry scallop. Creative, and tasty!
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Sake
Personally, I don’t like salmon much. I think it is boring, and overrated. I normally don’t order it at sushi place. This salmon is soft as usual. The little mustard mayo on top did add a bit sweetness to it.
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Suji
Grilled Toro Sinew (neck). Melty with a smoke effect. Very, very good.
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Softshell Carb Karage
Softshell carb karage from earlier was very good, and we have a repeat here. This is complimented with a piece of dried plum on top. Very interesting combination.
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Uni Porridge
A spoonful of uni risotto, with shaved truffle. So dense and rich, plenty of uni. Perfectly executed. I only wish I could have a whole bowl.
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Unagi roll
Eel roll with cucumber. Very ordinary, although the eel was not overly sweet like other places. The seaweed, however, could be crispier.
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Plum Granite with fried duck skin
This was surprisingly amazing. The sweetness of Plum granite was just right. It is very refreshing. And the duck skin, reminded me of a good piece of Peking duck. I would never have thought to put the two together, but they completed each other.
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The signature, Bluefin-rich Neta roll– BEST tuna roll ever!!!
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Ume Shiso
A vegetable roll as final piece. It’s a good end note for a great meal. Leave a very good aftertaste.
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Butternut milk ice-cream
Neta was very well worth the hype. It met our expectations in many levels. The uni risotto was just to die for. Everything was creative, delicious, and beautifully arranged. However, I do wish to have a little more varieties since there were 2 karage and 2 sawara, not that they were bad. i also think it was a little odd that we had granite before the neta roll, as if the rhythm was broken off a little, not sure if that was intentional. For $135 a person, this is a great value alternative to Masa. Not long after our visit, we learned that Neta has earned 2 Michelin stars. Congrats Chef Kim and Chef Lau! (June, 2012)
note: We went to Neta back in June, 2012. Since then, both Chef Nik Kim and Jimmy Lau have left Neta together. The place is now manned by a former Per Se vet, and we have yet been back. Also, since Chef Kim and Chef Lau’s departure, Neta has lost its 2 Michelin stars.
While Sushi Ko‘s Chef John Daley call Chef Masato “Master”; Dojo’s Chef David Bouhadana and Chef Hiromi Suzuki met while working at 15 East. Conindiently, Daley and Bouhadana had also spent time at Sushi Uo (now closed).
The 14 seater Dojo specializes in classic edomae sushi, each piece is served on a Ti leaf. We went for the $80 sushi omakase: 16 pieces, and a hand roll. Included in the 16 pieces, there were 2 kinds of uni, and one lean toro (no chu toro, nor otoro). While price was reasonable, fishes were top grade, nothing really stands out. It was orindary, in a good way. Everything was overall good, but nothing screams “I have to come back for it.” (Dec, 2013)
At Yakitori Totto, they took the Japanese street fare to the next level. Using premium grade chicken, made to order, grilling it skewer by skewer, crisped and charred outside, succulent within. Although Yakitori means grilled chicken, but at Totto, the menu go beyond chicken. Pork loin, smelt, shrimp, shishito peppers, and lamb chop are a few of the popular items. If you are heading to Totto, go early, some of the specials like Hiza Nankotsu and Ton Toro are in limited quantity, often sold out before 8pm. (Aug, 2014)
