I am not the best candidate to spend $600 for dinner at Masa. My brief brush with Masa is the conversation I had with Danny of Year in Food in which he revealed he’d dined at Masa. “How was it?” I asked. “Was it worth it?”
“It is,” he said, “if you really like sushi.”
Well I’m not sure that I really like sushi. I like it the same way that most Americans seem to like it in that it’s a fun dinner playset: oooh fun sticks to eat with and green hot stuff and little packets of soy sauce. Sushi cravings creep up on me now and then, but I can satisfy them quite well at Whole Foods. Give me a pre-packaged spicy tuna roll or a salmon roll and I’m set.
James Felder, however, has set my sushi life on a new course. When Masa came up in conversation a few months ago, James balked and said: “The best sushi in New York is Tomoe Sushi.”
So yesterday when James and I were chatting online, I said: “Let’s eat lunch tomorrow. Let’s go to your favorite sushi place…what’s it called?”
“Tomoe,” he said, or wrote. “Let’s meet at 1—I’ll get there early because there’s usually a line.”
How right he was! I arrived before James (I am constantly early, it’s a real problem) and there was already a crowd of people waiting. James bumped into his friend Bobby who he invited to eat with us. Can you spot James in the crowd? Can you spot Kirk (of The Daily Kirk) coming to meet us too? It’s like Where’s Waldo in Sushi-land. Do you see the wizard with the cane?
Eventually a tall Japanese man with long hair came out and asked us how many there were in our party. Parties of six were asked to split into smaller groups. We were led in and sat at a table by the front. The place is very quaint, with two windows looking out on Thompson and three men behind a sushi counter slicing fish with great concentration.
James suggested we order the sushi lunch plate—you get a nice variety of sushi. In addition we ordered–are you ready for this?–shrimp head guacamole.
“Oooh this should be fun,” said James, “We’re adventurous eaters.”
After a little while, the shrimp head guacamole arrived. Here it is in all its glory:
Who among you would dare to eat these spiny critters? Eye balls and creepy crawly legs deep fried and then dipped into creamy guacamole… I hear the squeamish among you falling out of your chairs in shock. But be not shocked: these tasted quite good. They were salty and crisp and the texture, as you can imagine, is quite unusual.
Here’s Kirk with shrimp legs sticking out his mouth. He’d already swallowed the shrimp head, but somehow it was trying to fight its way out his body:
It eventually crawled up his face and made a home in his hair.
After our shrimphead guac, we settled down for our lunch sushi platters. The sushi in front is the lunch sushi platter, the sushi behind it is a bunch of special rolls James and Bobby ordered:
Now here’s the part where I have a big breakthrough and I realize that sushi really is remarkable, that I really do like sushi. This sushi WAS reamarkable: it was so fresh, I’d never experienced sushi like it. The fish in particular was slick and tender–almost buttery. Kirk and I had trouble keeping the long strips of fish in our chopsticks, so we eventually settled upon using our fingers. I had that sticky sushi fishy flavor on my fingers all day and I didn’t mind. I’ve entered a new state of sushi consciousness, and I owe it all to James Felder, who you can visit at Snapshot Artifact. Maybe he’ll raise your consciousness too.
I’ve never been to Tomoe Sushi (passed it a bunch of times, probably when it was closed) but Win49 is run by the same people and if you haven’t been there and feel like eating yummy fried meat on a stick, you should try it. They have loads of stuff besides meat on a stick, but…meat on a stick! Mm! I’ve only been there once but it was really good (and inexpensive).
yay for good sushi! and don’t worry about eating with your fingers – i grew up using chopsticks (even for our non-asian meals) but when we get sushi (except for sashimi) i always go utensil-less (that’s why they give you a hot towel to wipe your hands)
also – this is so funny – who knew there were so many dang rules about sushi??!
http://homepage3.nifty.com/maryy/eng/howtoeat.htm
I LOVE sushi…if only I could find a nice sushi restaurant near me in Kaiserslautern, Germany!
I’m going to Greece next month…shall I pick up anyting for you?
I haven’t been to Tomoe in years, but I agree – it is the best sushi in New York. And I’m so glad you went there and posted about it! Those “insider” bests of New York are always my favorites. I’d just like to remind you of DiFaro’s pizza in Midwood, another favorite of “real New Yorkers”. Do you think you might go there someday, Mr. Gourmet?
Mmm, I love sushi. I know nothing about it, really, but I crave it all the time now. I have even learned to use chopsticks, and I’m from the Midwest!
Your sushi plate looks delicious, Adam. I’m jealous. :-)
I love that a sushi place can open up with a line, like some fancy club. That’s great! I’m in Seattle, but I’ll have to tell my brother about this place.
Love the shrimp leg pic!
I love that everyone has a moment like this about sushi–where you suddenly get what everyone has been raving about and soon you want to eat it for every other meal. And by the way, I recently read that it is perfectly acceptable to use your hands.
That shimp head guac looks pretty damn awesome. Was it called that because you eat the fried head or because the innards of the head were used to flavor the guacamole?
the best thing about living in vancouver is that the only thing we have more of than coffee shops is sushi bars… on most given downtown streets they are stacked one upon the other, so you just have to walk along and pick the one that has the most potential. not to mention the fact that, being right on the coast, most of the time the fish is so fresh it’s still flapping about :)
you MUST try their o-toro the next time you’re there.
The craziest restaurant ever with the best sushi ever was in New Haven, Connecticut and it was called MIya’s Sushi. Chef Bun Lai performed the seemingly impossible – speaking spanish to his sushi help, japanese to the kitchen and joking with us hilariously in french accented english all while he assembled the most incredible combination of food stuffs, turning out one brilliant invention after the other. Every dish was spectacular and original. We begged him to come and make sushi an Vancouver and he promised he would – or else he owes us his first born.
If you are from Connecticut, whenever the conversation moves to the topic of best sushi, Miya’s Sushi comes up. The sushi there is funky. Where else can you have a roll made of catfish, okra, fontina and blue cheese fried whole in crispy cornmeal? – Orgaaasmic! These guys are at the forefront of “new American sushi”and if you are in Connecticut you gotta go.