Jacob King

ended up at Yasuda after all. spent $280 the menu said "sushi bar omekase: $150" so I ordered omekase. the chef kept going, and going, and going... a guy came and sat next to me and racked up a $111 bill and only ate about half of what I ate (he still had quite a bit though). when i decided I couldnt eat anymore, and was way past the point of wondering when my $150 would cut off, I finally let the chef know I was done. thats when my bill of $287 came to me. i knew I had gotten more than $150 of fine sushi, but didn't expect the bill to be almost $300. oh well I should have specified that I wanted a $150 omekase. was it worth $287? absolutely! the chef was amazing. fun to watch him perform; really is an art. i probably had in the neighborhood of 35 pieces of nigiri and a half roll. everything was anywhere from excellent to sublime. i had an oyster from washington that was out of this world. some ikura that was just heavenly. several cuts of tuna (from toro, chu toro to otora). several salmons (white king salmon to scotland to alaskan). some mackerels and bass, several different clams. oh i'm hungry thinking about it. can't wait to go back. oh, and i didnt get to experience Jiro's disciples' tamago, but yasuda was beyond anything i could have expected. so different than what i get here in texas. perfection.

biggest issue with nakazawa is the environment; too western from what i read. and also the "newness" of the place. not even sure i could get a reservation... and its actually more than yasuda. sushi bar omekase is 150 at nakazawa. yasuda has open price, just tell em what you want to spend (lots of people do about $100-135). i may try and give them (nakazawa) a ring tomorrow to see if they have availability for me. i do like the jiro tie in. i'll follow up after i get back!

PS: I thought I would add that this is sort of a big deal to me. I don't get to go to NYC but once every 5-7 years or so. And one of my main goals in life is to eventually make it to Japan to eat at Jiro's place.

I'm a big sushi fan and by no means a novice when it comes to fish. I'm only going to have the opportunity to go to ONE good sushi place while I'm there (IF i can even get a reservation). My question is where do i go? Masa (at $450) is out of my budget. But i am open to spending $100-200 for a lunch or dinner; omekase preferred. I am looking at Yasuda (even though Chef Yasuda himself has gone back to japan; i hear he has very competent chefs that have taken over). Any other recos? I'm looking for the best, most authentic to Japan, sushi place I can afford. Thanks for your help!