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Heh, if it were a contest, Kuruma wins hands down. Here's the photoset: Photoset on Flickr I don't know what else to say but that it was the best sushi meal of my life. There wasn't one piece that I didn't enjoy. I'm missing two pics - one of two sashimi whose name has escaped my mind and one of a maguro sushi.

Since there's no separate thread for Kuruma, I'll report on the dinner I just had there here. 5 of us went. We had no set limits. We all had omakase, which consisted of sashimi first, then sushi. 1 person was full after the sashimi and stopped. The rest of us continued with several pieces of sushi after that. The price is outrageous. It ended up being $1266 for omakase, plus some sake. Total of over $1600. I can honestly say... this was the best meal of my life. Best fish by far I've had anywhere. I would gladly come again for the omakase. While some have said that Gari, Yasuda, and Kuruma are on the same level.... Gari isn't even close, and Yasuda's fish cannot compare to that of Kuruma Zushi's. However, Yasuda's rice is still infinitely better. I will post pictures and a more comprehensive review once I have the pictures sorted....

Interesting that Gari-san allows pictures but Sugio-san of Gari doesn't.

May 24, 5:30, party 4 of is available on Opentable.

May 26 party of 4 5:30 is open Yesterday I had two reservations, April 26 and May 21. I'm keeping the April 26 and gave up the May21 but I guess someone snagged it already.

I recently read a recent Wall Street Journal article which stated that most sushi restaurants in NYC get their fish from Yama Seafood and also True World Foods. Seeing that True World Foods has a website, and that Yama Seafood has an office (warehouse maybe?) in Jersey City.... is it possible for a normal consumer like myself to purchase high-end fish, like a slab of bluefin toro?

1 - question: Is the $30 supplement for foie gras worth it? And for those who have been looking to get a reservation... I've been looking on Opentable and have seen many 5:30 sittings open for a month and more in advance.

Everything is pretty expensive. I don't remember the exact cost but compared to other places like Yakitori Taisho everything on the menu is basically more expensive than Taisho, but tastes better as well.

Its expensive, but well worth it. I definitely consider it the best yakitori in NYC. Their specialty items like the tail, cartilage, etc sell out quickly. Their Kirin on tap is also really good.

おまかせ - no syllable is emphasized

Any top sushi place in the city (Kuruma, Yasuda, Sushi of Gari, Ushi Wakamaru, etc) will have a great omakase.

Second vote for Gennarro

The food is still great, but pretty much has stayed the same. If you've never been, you'll have a great experience.

Have you tried the red velvet at Amy Ruth's?

My experience has been a little different. I think there are a number of amazing items (painstakingly enumerated above) and quite a few poor ones. For example, the basil beef, basil chicken, basil anything: the sauces are sweet and gloppy, reminiscent of bad American-Cantonese food from the 1970s. I've found that to be the case with many of the entree dishes from the heart of the menu. Whereas, on the whole, most appetizer, soup and noodle/rice dishes I've tried from Saigon Grill have been exceptional. ← Well I suppose it depends on how you define "amazing." For me, its something that I crave and will remember for a very long time. Nothing at Saigon Grill is like that, and I've eaten there many, many times, being a CU student.

Yep, it moved a few years ago. 90th and Amsterdam now.

Almost everything is good there. Solid everytime. There's nothing amazing though.

Suprisingly (or maybe not so) I had a great creme brulee at Gennaro on the UWS.

I've been to East several times. It used to be very good, but the quality has declined severly over the past few years. Their dim sum during lunch is still good though.

It can no longer be considered a top sushi spot.

The taxi cabs were ridiculous last night. At 10 pm I went out with a friend from the UWS and wanted to go to Babbo to see if they had any empty tables. We get in the cab, and the cabbie says it'll cost us $20 each from UWS to Babbo. Ridiculous!!

Let me just interject that financing is not really a huge issue. I've pitched my restaurant and bakery ideas to the parents of some of my classmates (CEO level people) and they are very interested. My father, an HBS grad, is also well connected within the VC industry. Right now for me, I'm focusing more on learning more about restaurant operations.

I am a male, 21 yrs old. My ultimate goal is to open my own restaurant as well as a bakery. I plan on starting business plans for these two ventures in b-school. I also have a few finance related venture ideas. My end goal is to own my own restaurant, but I figured that having business development experience at a larger restaurant group might help.

I can easily make six figures..... doing something I hate. When you have a passion for something (food), and work hard at it, I truly believe that success will follow.

wow, incredible pictures!