Brasserie 360

[Charles Smith]

Just saw a blurb in Crain's that Yoshida-san is now the sushi chef at Brasserie 360- 3rd Ave. at 60th street (opening today). The chef (Luc Dendievel) is formerly of Bayards. I have no other knowledge of the restaurant, but thought this might be of interest.

Cheers,

Charles

[Liza]

Veddy interesting!

[bpearis]

I was in the neighborhood shopping yesterday and popped in for dinner at Brasserie 360 at the sushi bar. I'm not sure how the idea for this place came to be. The space is your standard brasserie-looking place, lots of red wood, white tablecloths, etc, very nice. Two levels: downstairs is more Frenchy; upstairs is the sushi bar. But you can order off either menu anywhere you eat.

At 6:30, I was the sole person at the sushi bar. I'd eaten enough at Jewel Bako for Yoshida-san to recognize me. He smiled sheepishly and asked, "How did you find me?" I said word gets around.

The seven or eight seat bar is marble and high: more like Sushisay than JB or SY. There were two other sushi chefs who seemed to be handling table orders.

Those hoping for Jewel Bako Uptown will be disappointed looking at the sushi menu. There are only two appetizers: eel salad ($9; with cucumber, japanese yam and that yummy vinegar jelly) and, you guessed it, toro tartare ($12). I didn't get the latter, but saw one being made. It has the avocado topping, but also comes with a couple of garnishes: some daikon and a deep-fried sawagani crab (though it doesn't mention this on the menu).

There are three entrees on the sushi menu. Sushi ($24) features tuna, amberjack, seared salmon, fluke, spotted sardine, fried oyster, botan shrimp, eel and IR spicy tuna. Sashimi ($20) is tuna, yellowtail, salmon, fluke, spanish mackerel and live black fish. Sashimi 360 ($35) has toro, amberjack, salmon, red snapper, needle fish, botan shrimp and fresh octopus.

A la carte has better choices than your neighborhood sushi place, but not overly so: chu-toro, o-toro, three kinds of mackerel, two kinds of salmon, and most of what's mentioned in the entre selections.

Rolls are of the funkier variety: fried oyster, yellowtail w/pickled jalapeno; mozzarella cheese, sun-dried tomato and basil; spicy tuna; tuna, yellowtail, salmon, eel, shrimp, salmon skin (they list this as one but, at $5, i'm guessing it's just pick one fish); and cucumber or avacado.

I got the eel salad (very good, similar to what Jewel Bako has made before) but instead of ordering one of the entrees, I just told Yoshida-san I would like 10 or 12 peices of whatever he thought was best.

Happily, none of what I got was on the menu, though JB fans will find a few of them familiar: the three-day marinated tuna, the minced mackerel with ginger pressed into the shiso leaf, and seared toro. The real differences here were the sauces. The yellowtail came topped with a monkfish liver sauce, live clam with uni sauce and another one (I didn't take notes) had a spicy yuzu mayo... I think. I also got needlefish, a pristine red snapper from Nagasaki, black bass, seared king salmon and fresh sardine (which I really liked). It was all one piece at a time.

According to Yashido-san, for now the good stuff is only available to customers at the sushibar. And, I'm guessing, only to those who know to ask. It was all very good, and in some ways the sushi was better than what I had at JB earlier this week.

Along with more standard fare, Brasserie 360's kitchen menu lhas some interesting items: Braised Veal Cheeks; Crispy Sweetbread Cassolette; Braised Pigs Feet in Black Truffle Sauce and a few others.

Did not have dessert and didn't see the menu.

Not much of a wine drinker, so I cannot comment on their list. Their beer selection was pretty boring (only two Japanese beers -- Asahi and Sapporo) and they offer nine varieties of sake. I had an Asahi. Service was just fine, but the waitress was just there for drink orders and i got exceptional treatment from Yoshida-san.

Again, I dont' really understand the brasserie with a sushi bar thing, but I'm glad Kazuo Yashido is still doing things his way for those who are interested.

-bill

[bpearis]

Brasserie 360 get the Diner's Journal treatment in today's NY Times. Maybe this thread should be retitled to reflect the restaurant...

[stefanyb]

This restaurant at Third and 60th has two floors and two cuisines. Upstairs is Japanese with the sushi chef previously of Jewel Bako. I'm intrigued but want some info from someone who has gone.

[thebaker]

All i know is that they fired there exc chef even before they opened,

[Fat Guy]

William Grimes gave two stars (!) to Brasserie 360 in today's Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/19/dining/19REST.html

What happened to the William Grimes who started out his reviewing career by promising a return to conservative, level-headed sanity in star ratings?

Does anybody remember the Observer piece, written early on during the Grimes regime, which was I thought cause for celebration? Here are a couple of choice quotes:

New York Times restaurant critic William (Biff) Grimes has an opinion about praise. "Praise, when it’s doled out indiscriminately, is not praise at all," Mr. Grimes told The Observer. "It’s just mood music."

Mr. Grimes said one of his New Year’s resolutions was "to reinstate a valid star system in which the stars meant what they said and said what they meant. The one star’s purpose in life is to reward the good, solid neighborhood restaurant that’s operating at a high level, but is never going to be a Daniel." At one point in the conversation, he characterized himself as "administering tough love."

http://www.observer.com/pages/story.asp?ID=1879

I guess Grimes is no better than the rest of us at following through on New Year's resolutions. Today's review of Brasserie 360 does not even make a prima facie case for two stars. Talk about devaluing praise! At best the review makes the case that Brasserie 360 is "the good, solid neighborhood restaurant that’s operating at a high level, but is never going to be a Daniel." The only way I see this working is if he gave a star to the sushi part of the restaurant and a star to the brasserie part, and added them together to get two stars. But, having been there, I can tell you that even one star for either would be generous.

[newguy]

Is there some type of "political" editorial pressure that really does not enable critics to do what they wish? When he first arrived at the Times, he consistently seemed to administer, firm but fair reviews, but now he just gives 2 stars all over the place. Why is this? I have the same argument about Otto. I enjoyed my meal there this past Sunday, however, I don't believe that was a 2 star experience.

But for some reason, I can't stop reading these reviews, no matter what I say.

[Fat Guy]

The thing is, he's not giving two stars all over the place. He's just giving them on occasion, but those occasions are bizarre.

Meanwhile, some of these one-star reviews make a strong case for two stars, like the review of Lamu:

http://query.nytimes.com/search/article-pa...752C0A9659C8B63

I can't explain it.

[newguy]

Didn't Ruth Reichel have the same "syndrome?" But she passed out higher star rankings. I was looking forward to Grimes coming in and seriously trimming down from the past, and being a stern reviewer. There was another thread I read on here which stated that there is such a fine line between the great 2 stars and the lower grade 3 star places. Who can tell the difference anymore?

Maybe I just don't understand these reviews anymore.

[Fat Guy]

I'm slowly coming to the same realization, or lack thereof.

[bpearis]

The only way I see this working is if he gave a star to the sushi part of the restaurant and a star to the brasserie part, and added them together to get two stars. But, having been there, I can tell you that even one star for either would be generous.

If you sit at the sushi bar and basically tell Yoshida-san to give you what's good, you're going to get all sorts of stuff that's not on the menu -- fish to rival what you got when he was at Jewel Bako. At least that was the case when I went shortly after it opened..

[Fat Guy]

Bpearis, thanks for that link -- I've merged the two threads so we now have just one on Brasserie 360. Here's the thing: nobody is questioning that this guy is a talented sushi chef. What I'm questioning is 1) Grimes's review, and 2) the sushi that I ate. Did he eat any of the off-menu things you're saying were so good? If he had, he should at least have given that piece of advice to the readers. If he hadn't, and if he was simply evaluating the sushi bar based on the mostly generic and unremarkable stuff that comes out into the dining room, I can't see even one star, no less two.

Let's look at what he said:

Upstairs, Mr. Yoshida does quality work, quietly, with dependably fresh fish. He works with about 20 species, which include two grades of fatty tuna, excellent Japanese botan shrimp and one or two less common fry, like spotted sardine. He has a sense of fun. Yellowtail with pickled jalapeño, one of several house rolls, introduces a fresh New World heat to yellowtail, a rich, buttery fish that responds well to the treatment. I am not sure that mozzarella cheese, sun-dried tomato and basil need to be forced into a sushi roll, but there it is, an Italian-Japanese co-production. It's not bad.

I believe that is the sum total of the case he made for Mr. Yoshida's sushi representing a component of a two-star dining experience. "Dependably fresh fish"? That's not what you get stars for. That's just what keeps you from getting closed down by the board of health. Personally, I think the yellowtail with jalapeno is a poor dish, with the jalapeno totally overwhelming the delicate fish -- and I like heat, but this was too much for yellowtail. The flavors were not in balance as they are at, say, Nobu or BondSt or even Sushi Samba. Likewise, while my mackerel may have been fresh, it was also dried out.

[bpearis]

I agree with you about Grimes' review -- that there was no mention of dining at the sushi bar and doing it up right and the review didn't seem to really reflect the star rating (nothing new it seems).

That yellowtail/jalapeno roll didn't sound good to me. Pickled jalapeno just makes me think of movie theater nachos.

-bill

[rozrapp]

Here's the review in today's New York Post. The reviewer, Steve Cuozzo, splits up his stars.

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/nycuis...rants/71157.htm

[Fat Guy]

That approach seems sensible when two completely different restaurants are operating under one roof, as is the case at places like Gramercy Tavern, Aquavit, Tabla, et al. The difference, I suppose, is that you can theoretically order from both menus anywhere in the restaurant, in any combination. Still, I favor the split.

One contrast I found interesting:

Cuozzo says:

Lots of decent Manhattan bistros tack on a mediocre sushi bar; Brasserie 360 grafts a C-minus bistro onto a first-class sushi operation.

Grimes says:

It is simply an oddity, and it is safe to say that nowhere else in the city can you order onion soup followed by chu-toro sashimi.

So, who is right? Are sushi bars in bistros and/or brasseries (Cuozzo seems to use the terms interchangeably) commonplace? I can't say I've seen any, but I'm interested to hear some examples. Or is Grimes correct?

[rozrapp]

Adam Platt reviews Brasserie 360 in next week's New York Magazine.

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/food/r...535//index.html

[newguy]

Another 2 star review from Grimes. Seems he is moving on from 1 stars to two...