PrintSoto: Best Japanese Restaurant/Sushi Bar in New York?
I've eaten at some (Kurumazushi, Sushisay, Hatsuhana, Nobu, Sushi Sasabune), not all (I haven't eaten at Masa, Sushi Yasuda, or Jewel Bako) of New York's best Japanese restaurants/sushi bars, so I can't definitively say that Soto is the best Japanese restaurant in New York. I can say that my meal at Soto last week was splendid and unique and more pleasurable than any other Japanese restaurant experience I've had here, or anywhere else for that matter.
I requested an omakase, and chef-owner Sotohiro Kosugi obliged with a dazzling array of impeccably fresh Japanese and local fish prepared with as much skill and originality as one could hope for.
Here's what we had:
Dobin Mushi Soup: Clear dashi both with shrimp, sea bream, mitsuba, ginko nuts, yuzu. Served in small dobin pot.
Uni and Yuba: Japanese black bean milk skin with sea urchin, shiitake broth.
Shiro Ebi Tar Tare: Seasonal white sweet shrimp with yuzu, shaved cured mullet roe, caviar, shiitake ginger broth
Shima Aji Carpaccio: Thinly sliced Japanese stripe jack with ginger soy sauce
Chyu Toto Tar Tare: Chopped fatty tuna with avocado coulis, garnished with caviar, chive, served in sesame ponzu sauce
Hokki Nuta: Thinly sliced surf clam with myoga ginger shoots, marinated in sweet miso mustard sauce. I don't usually care for surf clam, but this preparation made be moan with pleasure.
Fluke Usuzukuri: Half live and half one day aged Long Island fluke usuzukuri, sea salt and lime, yuzu zest. A fascinating and delicious foray into local fish that made me wish my co-author and Esca chef David Pasternack was eating with me.
Minute Steamed Tai: Quick steamed New Zealand sea bream with ginger scallion oil.
This dish tasted Chinese.
Steamed Lobster with Uni Mousse: Layers of steamed maine lobster and uni mousse in lotus wrap, garnished with smoked uni and caviar. This tasted like uni confit, like a bite of the sea.
Shiitake Shinjyo: Deep-fried shrimp cake capped with shiitake mushroom
Soto isn't cheap, no good Japanese restaurant/sushi bar is, but at $300 for two people including tax and tip it is reasonably priced, given how much pleasure I derived from my meal there. Masa is two and half times more expensive (at least) and if it provides two and a half times as much pleasure as Soto that would be a great deal of pleasure, indeed.
Soto is currently undiscovered (there were only ten people in it at 8 p.m. on a Thursday night), but I'm sure the Times' Frank Bruni and New York Magazine's Adam Platt will review it before long, so go now while you can still secure a table (or better yet spots at the sushi bar) on a moment's notice.
So if you're looking for a weekend food treat, check out Soto. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Soto
357 Sixth Avenue (Washington Place)
New York, NY 10014
Ph: 212-414-3088
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8 Comments:
Second the motion. If you want to keep the price under control, order the 8-piece nigiri service at around $50. No fireworks, of course, but great fish. And the place is really elegant. Most upscale sushi bars in Japan are positioned as "homey country inn" (even the expense account places on the Ginza or in the major hotels), or "neighborhood friendly". This may be not be authentic, but it executes the minimalist aesthetic beautifully.
gustoct at 11:29AM on 08/24/07
Ed,
How have you never been to Yasuda? I really want to try Soto. It's next on my list.
And Jewel Bako is no longer a contender.
SoundBitesNYC at 12:46PM on 08/24/07
Further comment: Serious Eaters who can afford it should flock to this restaurant as soon as they can. I went back with my wife and we tried the omikase. I have been to Japan many times, eaten sushi there frequently both as host and guest. I have eaten at many of the places in NY and LA that people who know sushi regard as excellent. I can say without reservation that Soto-san served us a meal that has not been bettered in my experience (who knows which is the "BEST"?). The meal cost $220 for two with a generous tip and no alcohol (although with a bottle of -- God help us -- Norwegian water). The restaurant is elegant and the service very attentive. I don't know of any upscale restaurant in New York that would give more overall satisfaction (of whatever kind of cuisine it serves) for less money. Get there while you can and try to reserve two places in front of or what appeared to be even more interesting, in the two places beside, Soto-san, so you can see him work.
gustoct at 1:45PM on 08/26/07
There's no way this place is even in the same league as Kurumazushi.
spsolomon at 3:37PM on 09/26/07
Do tell. What did you eat at Soto?
Ed Levine at 4:25PM on 09/26/07
You're calling me on this? I actually have to go eat at this place to "definitively" describe why on its best night, in its wildest dream, its not in the same league as Kuruma.
Do I have to go eat at the sushi bar of Empire Szechuan as well to be sure it's not as good as Kuruma?
Before you make up your mind though, let me suggest the following. A couple of months ago, a woman for whom I hooked up a job at Lehman in London took me to Kuruma as a thank you (I was allowed to pick any restaurant in NYC, thus I passed over per se, Le Bernardin, Sushi Yasuda, Daniel, Jean Georges, etc.).
The meal lasted about an hour and cost $1,200 before tip. The only non-food expense was a $220 bottle of Minowamon sake.
Since the decor and rent at Soto couldn't possibly cost less than the decor and rent at Kuruma, there exist only 2 possibilities:
[1.] Somehow the Soto guys are able to spend a fraction of the money Toshi Uezu does on ingredients yet magically produce finer cuisine than he does.
[2.] The Soto guys get better stuff than Uezu, but Uezu has had New Yorkers heepnotized for the last 30 years and is able to charge five times the price the Soto guys charge.
spsolomon at 6:36PM on 09/26/07
Ed,
What would you guess is better.
[1.] This place:
http://www.barjamonnyc.com/aboutus_barjamon.cfm
OR
[2.] This place:
http://www.jamonisimo.com/
BTW, I made Dave Pasternack's tuna steak, mackeral, and pancetta bolognese sauce from your book, and it was incredible. Exactly like eating at Esca.
Now THERE'S a great restaurant. (Dave should go to Kuruma).
spsolomon at 7:36PM on 09/26/07
Hi Ed --
Had dinner at Soto tonight. Fantastic! (Nowhere near Kuruma league, though). Sorry, dude.
spsolomon at 12:07AM on 02/20/08