Todd36

I had lunch there last week, a table away from Ed Koch. It was OK,not great. Same as the old place. My grandfather first took me there about 1980.....

My guess is that no one source of tune is going to be consistently high or low in mercury. Tuna is a carnivorous fish, which means it eats other fish. Those fish contain mercury, which stays in the tuna because mercury tends to become embedded within any creatures body, it is not excreted with waste. The bigger and older the tuna, the more other fish it ate, which means more mercury. And usually, the bigger and older the tuna, the more expensive, which makes for more expensive tuna. So your higher grades of tuna have more mercury. They didn't mention toro, I bet because of the fat content (I bet the tuna in mercury is fat soluble), it has more mercury. To know what its in the sushi, someone would need to test on a fish by fish basis and I bet that isn't happening. Still, cheaper sushi I bet has less. Cancer isn't the risk one worries about with mercury, brain damage is, and we know for a fact that if you eat enough mercury, you will suffer material nervous system damage.

To update my own review. Had the tasting menu Friday night, with the wine pairing. Mixed this time. The mixed app plate was not interesting, except that the two oyster dishes were fantastic. On the fish course, lobster was tough and not what it should have been. Salmon poached in olive oil was fantastic. The pork schnitzel was OK, I've had better for 10% of the price. Baby pig was decent. Desserts were fine. Service was off. A disappointment overall.

Its pretty amusing that in July 29 of last year, I gave my mini-review of Mesa Grill on this thread, which at the time met with some disbelief, and my mini-review seems rather consistent with Frank's.....

Barney Greenglass is the best in NY in my opinion.

1. My one experience with 15 East suggests that it is a fashion oriented restaurant and not a place to spend money in search of good sushi----its well overpriced for what you get. 2. I'm suspicious about anyone who says that shipping costs make live uni too expensive. For one thing, they frequently sell live uni at Citerellia. And its not that expensive. They cost $5 a piece on Cataina Offshore's web site. And I've seen them for around $15 at restaurants in NYC. 3. There are several different species of uni that people eat---the ones from Maine are different I believe from CA and both are different from those in Japan. I know that at least some of the time, they've been from Maine at Sugiyama.

The use of the rice cooker to heat towels didn't bother me, where it was located did. You were trying to make the point that perhaps the health department was harsh on them. My point is that to the untrained eye without the benefit of establishment wide access, it was obvious there were issues. Whether or not there are dirty places in Tokyo that serve good sushi has nothing to do with your initial point, that Ushiwaka wasn't perhaps really that much of a health problem. I first ate at Ushiwaka on the night it opened. I knew about it because of his prior place in NJ. I presume you'll now say you ate there before it opened?

The people who run Landmark have actually tasted everything they sell---try finding that at Mitsuwa. I'm also not sure that Mitsuwa has more types of Sake, I was at Mitsuwa a few months ago and they selection didn't look bigger or better than Landmark. Raji, have you actually been to Landmark recently.

I'd disagree with that assertion. Everything there is Japanese, which costs more, but you get a much higher quality. for booze, it should be cheaper than anywhere in the city. they are simply the Costco of Japanese groceries. if you buy stuff on sale and in bulk, you can save really big bucks! but even small stuff is cheap. you end up buying more there because the variety is so great. Read the 'get thee to NJ' thread for more on mitsuwa ← Landmark on 23rd probably has a better sake selection than does Mitsuwa. Landmark without a doubt has better and more knowlegable staff.

I would say that Jean-George is much more innovative than Per Se, but neither are in the class of WD-50 in that area. I think people either tend to like innovative restaurants or they don't. ← I'm sure there are quite a few references out there that trace innovation in food---its clearly not a static area. But I'm not so sure that food trends advance quite as quickly as some would have us to believe. And I don't think the entire menu advances at once. Some things that people think are "new" may not be so new. It's currently popular to add Asian flavors such as tamarind and fish sauce to western dishes. Sounds new, right? Worcestershire sauce is a fermented fish sauce with tamarind and Lea & Perrins have been making it for almost 200 years. Or mashed potatoes with lots of butter, that's new right? Ever read James Beard's recipe? To me, a restaurant like the original Gilt or WD-50 is contrived. Newness for the sake of newness does not a better dining experience make.

The reputation remains a mystery to me. I've had dinner there twice, and while its been OK, it wasn't worth the trouble to get there or the size of the check. It reminds me of the original version of Gilt, where I had one dinner. New cooking techniques or ingredient combinations do not necessarily lead to good food. It reminds me of modern art. I often wonder what people will say about Jackson Pollock or Ellsworth Kelly in a hundred years; my guess is not much, because few people will know who they are. With respect to higher end non-Asian restaurants in NYC, my best experiences have been at Bouley, Danube, Daniel, Jean Georges, Perry Street, the former Alain Ducasse, Blue Hill and Per Se. They all have fairly traditional menus and cooking methods---Per Se, which is probably the most "innovative" on the list, was not in my opinion as good s the hype.

Petrossian was very good, don't think it is as good as it was.

Much as I liked their Sushi, that hot towel they gave you came from a jerry rigged rice cooker on the floor and over time, their mens room began to need more and more maintaince. I am quite sure they had issues that if you knew what they were, you would be upset. The clothing issues may relate to not washing those traditional outer garments. From the very first time I ever ate at Ushi Wakamaru (and I think that was before anyone else who posts on eGullet), it was clearly not well managed.

Bouley Bakery makes a good one.

You all might want tp read the Saucier's Apprentice by Raymond Sokolow, 1976. He was a former food editor of the New York Times. His core recipe is for Demi-Glaze, which is 50-50 beef and veal. Its a very interesting book with much historical information.