KOI

[nikkib]

Anyone eaten at Koi? Can't find any mention of it on the forum here which leads me to think it is best avoided?

[BryanZ]

Some friends went several months ago before I could dissuade them. They were uniformly underwhelmed.

[raji]

Koi holds all the people who couldn't get in to Nobu. Their menu is just about as dated too. Rock-shrimp tempura! hamachi carpaccio! tuna tartare!

[nikkib]

yeah i thought as much... just trying to dissuade my friends

[daisy17]

What's the draw for them? Fun night out kind of thing? Cause we can tell you about other places that have that and good food. (Immediately coming to mind: Bar Blanc, Spotted Pig, Boqueria, Mercat)

Edited March 25, 2008 by daisy17 (log)

[nikkib]

i wish it were that simple - we have been to sushi samba, megu, buddakan, nobu etc as one fo my friends is partiularly keen on asiatic cusisine but she is fixated on koi and i am running out of excuses! Am planning on spotted pig as we have been there before and are staying in meatpacking district and i suppose this will be my trade off for ssam - in fairness i get to choose every other place for the 5 days we are there and have done on every other trip (will be putting in appearences at public, tailor, the modern, EMP, union square, ssam so all in all not too bad ...)

[raji]

Well the problem is you're going to all the fauxpanese that have great rooms and/or scenes but formerly fashionable food or food that was never all that good in the first place. Megu is impressive to go to once, and then you go back and you realize the place is all sizzle.

In your situation, I'd take her to Matsuri, it's food is good enough and very fashionable, certainly better than Ono, Geisha, all those type places

[nikkib]

Thanks - i will check matsuri out!

[LPShanet]

Well the problem is you're going to all the fauxpanese that have great rooms and/or scenes but formerly fashionable food or food that was never all that good in the first place. Megu is impressive to go to once, and then you go back and you realize the place is all sizzle.

In your situation, I'd take her to Matsuri, it's food is good enough and very fashionable, certainly better than Ono, Geisha, all those type places

←

Another one you might check out is En Brasserie. Although it's got the splashy-looking room a la the Fauxpanese places, the food is very good, and is genuinely Japanese (the original is in Tokyo). It's not a sushi place, but serves a wide variety of authentic dishes. Barring that, I'd second Matsuri.

[raji]

Fauxpanese

Did I just coin a phrase?

[nikkib]

Whats jewel bakao like?

[Sneakeater]

Over.

[Nathan]

yeah, if it's sushi you want...15 East, Yasuda and Soto (though more for the creative cooked dishes) are the way to go.

[Sneakeater]

The problem you're having here, Nikki, is that your friends are recommending places that no one in New York would even think about going to. Which makes sense, since your friends aren't in New York. But that's why we're all having trouble responding.

I mean, as Nathan said, if any of us wanted sushi, there's a whole list of places we'd go before current Jewel Bako. I could add a few to Nathan's, but it would hardly be necessary. But frankly they (including the ones on Nathan's list) might not satisfy your friends, who don't seem primarily interested in food.

For instance, I would never go to Jewel Bako if I could go to Yasuda (or any number of other places). But your friends might not think Yasuda (or our other recommendations) are buzzy enough. Even though Jewel Bako's buzz is definitely over.

Edited March 28, 2008 by Sneakeater (log)

[Sneakeater]

Maybe you should all go to Tao.

[sarcastic face]

[Nathan]

Soto might be reasonably hot enough.

Jewel Bako was last hot sometime in the Garfield presidency (ok, more like 5 years ago).

[Sneakeater]

Word travels slowly.

[nikkib]

Thanks for all the advice - soo much to think about! I'd be glad to give sushi a miss altogether but we'll see!

[raji]

Thanks - i will check matsuri out!

←

Hope you do - En is definitely a good recommendation, and if you want to go more authentic, Aburiya or Totto is a great adventure.

If you wanted a "sushi" place I would make different recommendations along the lines of Nathan's, but that's not really what you first said