I've been working my way through the most highly regarded sushi restaurants in New York and thought I'd share a few words on the most remarkable one of all,
Masa. Masa is a temple of sushi. I was troubled by the set-up because it is located in the middle of a shopping center. It is a higher end location than it sounds, since other tenants include the NYC location of Per Se. Once inside, it is like another world. The room is small and sparsely furnished, in a classic clean lined Japanese style. We were seated at the sushi bar, which is an enormous single slab of blonde hinoki cypress sanded to a velvet texture that probably costs more than my car and had to be 30 foot long. It is not stained or polished, just a perfect specimen cared for meticulously. It seemed a talisman of the entire experience, simple and perfect. Speaking of expensive, Masa really redefined expensive. Dinner for two runs about $1,000 unless you don't drink. You can't save money by careful ordering, because there is no concept of ordering. There are no menus. Masayoshi will give you what he wants to give you and you'll like it. For this kind of cash, you expect every element to be perfect and I was not disappointed. Every ingredient was perfect. Masa told us that ingredients are flown in each day from all over the world and rejects many of them. We watched one of the apprentices slice up a thick slab of toro and reduce 20 pounds of tuna to two small triangular wedges. When asked, he said that the rest was not up to their standard.
The meal was served at a nice slow pace, with a variety of interesting dishes. Particular standouts included a risotto heavily flavored with Uni that made me really want to lick the plate. The tuna tartare was loaded with caviar and was so good I was literally unable to eat it without closing my eyes. I don't understand why, but it is true. There was a shabu-shabu fish, blowfish served both raw and tempura, grilled eel and others I can no longer remember. I was lulled into a kind of happy stupor, not knowing what new dish would arrive next. They brought hot towels three or more times during the meal and were always nearby with a refill of the glass or anything you could want.
Finally, after an hour or two of small dishes, we moved on to the sushi proper. It was dazzling. Each piece was served one at a time, while the chef judged our reactions and pondered the next selection. He urged us to eat with our hands and nodded in approval when we looked on in horror when the people next to us in the bar submerged their rice in soy sauce so that it was completely brown and dribbling. They also asked if he could serve the pieces without wasabi. This would be my only quibble with their service. In my view if you are willing to pay the bill, they should treat you as if you are the king. Masa was openly disdainful of their request to be served without wasabi. He asked us if we were OK with the fresh wasabi and I told him I wanted to eat it in whatever way he thought was best. From that point on, he never spoke to the other two customers. Each piece was seasoned and brushed with soy sauce or sprinkled with sea salt and dusted with lemon zest and one more delicious than the last. There were many items I've never had before or since. Of course, there was toro and otoro, but there were also clams and mackerel and varieties of mild and sweet whitefishes that apparently have no ready English translation. There was a ball of sushi rice rolled in diced black truffle (truffle made many appearances). When we hit the wall, he finished with a simple maki of chutoro that I manfully struggled to finish. There was some kind of fruit at the very end, but I could only manage a bite or two.
I don't think I've ever eaten at anywhere close to this good. We've also tried Sushi Yasuda, Jewel Bako and Sushi Gari. Seki and Kuruma are next up. We love Nobu and Morimoto, but consider them a different category altogether.