Jewel Bako - Not a Jewel I want

Located on the Lower East Side and open since 2001, Jewel Bako (literally “Jewel Box”) is a relatively small space with a u-shaped sushi bar and a separate area with regular tables. The entrance is discrete and unassuming and the space is well designed with light wood walls and wooden slats that curve up to the ceiling. Each and every plate of food presented was equally as beautiful as the space. Unfortunately, the flavor of the food didn’t live up to its looks.

Jewel Bako was one of the Michelin list spots for which I had high expectations. Since I first heard of this place sometime in 2002, I really wanted to go there. As I’m sure you all know, there is nothing more disappointing then looking forward to dining at a restaurant for a long time and then being let down when you finally get a chance to go there. In this case, part of me wonders if Jewel Bako is past its heyday. I’ve heard from people I trust undoubtedly with restaurant opinions that they love this place but haven’t been in a while. Or perhaps Susan is right that no other sushi restaurant will ever compare with Masa. Regardless of the reason, Jewel Bako served just okay food the night I was there. And, in a city that has an ever increasing number of sushi spots both high and low end, a sushi restaurant that earns a coveted spot on the Michelin list should be something extra-special.

Susan and I ordered the chef’s omakase, which I believe is the correct choice at well-respected sushi restaurants because it allows one to relax and not worry about picking a medley of regular dishes as well as sushi and sashimi. The most remarkable part of our meal was what we ordered to drink. When I perused the beer list, I noticed it included a sweet potato fermented beer. We both ordered this beer and found that it was amazing and went incredibly well with every course.

The chef’s omakase at Jewel Bako includes a series of small plates, a sushi course, a sashimi course, a main course, and dessert. In other words, it is more than enough food. Overall, the plate presentations were beautiful, but the flavors were nothing that would inspire me to return there anytime soon.

The amuse bouche the evening we were there was a piece of tuna atop a mini ball of fried rice. This was absolutely fabulous. I loved the texture of the fried rice ball combined with the buttery piece of tuna. It was a very impressive start to the meal and one that I thought promised more than what was ultimately delivered. The next item brought to the table was a wonderful bowl of perfectly cooked and salted edamame.

The first course was a microgreen salad with seared salmon skin. I didn’t love this, as I thought the salmon skin overwhelmed the greens with too fishy a flavor. The next plate was a trio of small bites: monkfish liver with a soy dipping sauce, an oyster, and yellowtail tartare with spicy mayo in a tortilla shell round. None of these were wows. The monkfish liver has a bit too much of a foie gras flavor and texture for me, so I didn’t care for it at all. The oyster was average with nothing special to embellish the flavor and no sense of insane freshness that let it speak for itself. The yellowtail tartare was delicious, but I’m a bit suspect that I loved it mostly for the spicy mayo.

The next course was a gorgeous array of sashimi that included mackerel, shrimp, blue tuna, salmon, and a few other fish. These were all very good pieces of sashimi but nothing that blew me out of the water. This was followed by a platter of sushi of about 8 pieces that included tuna, salmon, shrimp, scallop, toro, shiso leaf sushi, mackerel, and jack fish. Most of these pieces of sushi were delightful, but the toro had a bit of a funky taste to it that neither Sue nor I was happy with at all. Honestly, I found this funkiness rather unforgiveable.

For the main course, there are two choices, salmon with miso or scorpion fish. We had one of each and split them. Both entrees were passable, but not extraordinary. In fact, the miso flavor on the salmon was a bit weak, and the scorpion fish was just a plain piece of well cooked fish. Just rather forgettable dishes.

The dessert at least ended the meal on a very positive note. Green tea ice cream sandwiches with chocolate wafer cookies. A very delicious dessert.

For me, Jewel Bako was okay but certainly not worthy of a Michelin star.

Shalezeh - Star Loss

After I set out to conquer the Michelin List, I was on the fence about what to do when the new 2012 list was released when I was halfway through finishing the mission. After much deliberation, I decided that the best course of action would be to complete all the places on the 2011 list, and when finished with those, go to the new restaurants on the 2012 list. Shalezeh was the only one that was completely removed from the list in 2012. Shalezeh’s removal from the list and the fact that it has always seemed to me to be just a random restaurant in my neighborhood, had me showing up there for dinner with low expectations. Overall, I was content with my experience there…the food was good and the service was fine. However, I totally agree with the removal of Shalezeh from the list, as there was nothing in my experience dining there that would merit a Michelin star.

Shalezeh is a Persian restaurant on the Upper East thats owned by a former captain of Café Boulud. I went to Shalezeh with my sister on a random weeknight. We were seated immediately without any reservations. The service was fine, but there was nothing that made it special or remarkable. The wine and cocktail lists similarly get the job done with nothing above and beyond.

After we ordered, a plate of warm pita with hummus arrived. Such an exciting thing to get for free! Sadly, when I dipped some pita in and took a bite, I was disappointed to find that the pita was stale and the hummus flavorless.

For an appetizer, we had the baba, which is baked eggplant puree with goat cheese, walnut, and onion. There was a lovely mint flavor to this warm eggplant appetizer and I really loved it. It was a really wonderful recovery from the mediocre hummus and pita plate.

I had done a lot of research on what one should order here. Everywhere I read, it said that the thing to have was the koofteh tabrizi. The koofteh is a huge Persian meatball that is stuffed with prunes, potato, and fava beans covered in a curried tomato sauce with peas. This was fabulous. The meat itself wasn’t the best I’ve ever had but the sauce was outrageously good. I wish I had had something more worthy to dip in this sauce. We figured we would also get a chicken kebab to try something standard. We ordered the ground chicken kebab which was served with a choice of rice. This was also good but nothing compared to the meatball.

I will say that the food was served very quickly, in a non-leisurely you are just there to have a fast meal way. Overall, I thought that it was a perfectly fine meal at a good neighborhood spot that since I live near I’d maybe go to again. But again, I think it is right that it lost its Michelin star this year.