One of my favorite things about eating out in NYC are those random nights when you go out without a game plan and end up having one of your all-time favorite meals. Last night, I had one of those delightful evenings.
I met Karen for a leisurely outdoor happy hour cocktail down by the seaport. We quickly decided that sushi was the only option either of us wanted to entertain for dinner. Karen, having been to SUteiShi previously, insisted that we dine there. I will forever be glad we did.
We were seated just by the open windows with a scenic view of the brooklyn bridge. I wasn't feeling much like choosing my own adventure and I was elated to find that Karen was equally into ordering the omakase. The very reasonably priced ($85 for two people) omakase is generous - 1 appetizer, 20 pieces of 10 different sushis, and 2 different rolls. It's so generous in fact that our waiter expressed his amazement that we were able to finish the entire thing and order a dessert to top it all off.
I personally think that beer is the best pairing for sushi and opted for one of my favorites - Hitachino, which is an excellent japanese white beer. Our adventure began with a grilled calamari and seaweed salad over glass noodles with a ginger citrus dressing. The squid was the perfect texture and had a really nice flavor, but the rest of the salad was a bit too seaweedy for me...Karen disagreed completely and finished the plate.
But enough about all that, what I really want to talk to you all about is the sushi at SUteiShi. Our plate of 10 different sushi pieces for each of us arrived and our waiter enthusiastically walked us through each piece. He was genuinely excited about each one and clearly has had and loved each (seriously, I almost thought he might pull up a chair and join us). We ate them in the order he presented, which proved to be the right decision. Each and every piece of sushi was the most tender melt in your mouth sushi that I think I've ever had. My favorite pieces from the dish were salmon with a onion sauce, tuna with garlic chips, red snapper with a vinegar jelly, and the super white tuna with a thin slice of ripe mango. The salmon with the onion sauce sort of rocked my world a bit. I want that onion sauce on all my sandwiches from now on and was amazed how well it went on a piece of sushi. The super white tuna with mango was a nice, sweet buttery bite that I wish I had had two of. I have listed my favorites, but there wasn't one sushi on my plate that I didn't love. After we finished the sushi, we moved on to the rolls. They gave us two of their most popular - Spicy tuna with tuna and spicy mayo on top and spicy salmon with salmon and spicy mayo on top. These were excellent...the fish on top of both rolls was equally as good as each piece of sushi we had on our other plate.
To finish our meal, we ordered a scoop of the green tea ice cream. A great sweet way to finish one of the sweetest meals I've had in a while.
I can't wait to go back to this spot. I have to say that we spyed some people at other tables doing the hot stone grill dishes in which you get a hot stone and grill your own meal and I was a bit jealous. I just don't know if I can go back and not order the omakase.
Even if you're not down by the seaport, find yourself there. It's more than worth a trip to have this sushi.
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