Matsuri

[mags]

The fairygodmother who was taking us to Ducasse opted to stay home, so my designer and I took ourselves to Matsuri, which is the new, much-hyped place in the Maritime Hotel. Basically, we loved it. Loved first the decor, which is a clever riff on sushi-bar cliche combined with Asian post-modern, all in vast, cathedral-ceilinged room with yummy comfy banquettes, a giant wall-o-sake, and a very good (and perfectly modulated, to our ears) sound-system pumping out....yes, that's right, Clifton Chenier, the King of Zydeco. Ok, it's not what you expect to hear while nibbling raw hamachi, but hey, it beats the heck outa Japanese pop. All in all, a very nice vibe, helped along by very pleasant and enthusiastic (if not wildly competent) servers and terrific people-watching.

Oh-so-tasty kitschy cocktails (a shiso mojito, anyone?) kicked things off nicely, along with a snack of extremely delicious lotus root with hot pepper, soy, and sesame. That's one recipe I want. Very good and well presented sushi/sashimi platter for two -- no surprises, but top-notch quality and nice presentation. Dull duck with wasabi sauce, delicious miso-grilled black cod (same dish that everybody stole from Nobu, but nicely done), pleasant if slightly odd dessert-platter (great creme brulee and ginger ice cream, but what WAS that odd green goo?).

Summing up: Loved the vibe, the cocktails, the lotus-root, and certainly liked the sushi and the cod well enough to go back.

[SobaAddict70]

The star appetizer is a small bowl of crunchy lotus-root slices braised in a thick sake-soy sauce. The sauce, rich and yeasty with caramel overtones, has its sweetness neatly cut in half by subtle seasoning with hot pepper.

Balancing Act: Matsuri (William Grimes) (from today's DIGEST. You may have to scroll down for the relevant link.)

Matsuri, newly opened in Chelsea, is Tadashi Ono's newest theatrical stage. Chef Ono, formerly of La Caravelle and Sono, offers both traditional and modernist Japanese food in a club-like, high-energy setting.

The beverage of choice at Matsuri is sake, and not just any old sake. The restaurant offers a mind-boggling choice of nearly two hundred sakes. Clearly, this is a restaurant with a mission. (Jinmyo, are you listening? )

That Mr. Grimes rates the sushi offerings at Matsuri in the

upper third for quality and freshness

is a challenge that eGulleteers of any stripe would be glad to take up on offer.

So, has anyone been there, and what were/are your reactions?

Soba

[Bond Girl]

After having heard great reviews from my Japanese hairstylist on Matsuri, I decided to check it out for myself. From the outside, the restaurant was hardly impressive, hidden behind a heavy wooden door on the lower level of the Maritime hotel. Once inside, you find a cavernous interior with breathtaking arches on the ceiling and floating paper lanterns. The place was definitely buzzing on a friday night with thumping music and parading designer labels. However, compared to the setting, the food was somewhat anti-climatic. The menu consisted of the usual assortment of sushi and sashimi that you would find in any average Japanese restaurant, plus the usual cooked entrees like tempura, yakitori and noodle dishes. If you happen to be looking for the chef's omakase, you are out of luck here. What's worse is that if you are indecisive, you won't get any help from the sushi chefs behind the bar.

I first had yellow tail and toro sashimi which just seemed like slabs of fish arranged on my plate, but the toro were fresh enough and yellow tail tasted clean. Next I had: Abalone sashimi, which was so tough that you can't eat it; Giant clam, which were nice and crunchy; a sweet shrimp that melted in my mouth and a piece of sea urchin sushi that was rich and earthy in tone. After that I ran out of luck in getting the sushi chef's attention so I decided to have dessert.

My server did not know much about the dessert menu since he hasn't tried anything on it, but after checking out the desserts of my fellow diners I settled on the Tapioca tart with Japanese Pears. It was essentially tapioca pudding in a cookie cup topped with gingered pears. The cookie was tasty but the tapioca pudding was almost tasteless and the ginger flavor on the pear topping were so strong that it overwhelmed everything. Other desserts sound just as unappealing (chocolate topped chestnut cream with red beans, pumpkin cheese cake with vanilla ice cream etc)

Overall, the menu was uninventive, the sushi was fresher than the average Japanese restaurant but not great, the dessert was terrible, the service very spotty, but the decor was phenomenal.

If you are looking for a great scene with acceptable food, then Matsuri would be your kind of place, but if you are looking for a great sushi restaurant save your money and go to Jewel Bako instead.

[Pan]

Thanks for the review. If I had been planning on going, that saved me a trip.

[madziast]

just got invited there for lunch tomorrow. good thing i'm not paying then... nothing like going with low expectations, it may just be decent. if not, there is always all that sake, he he

[oakapple]

I dined with a couple of colleagues at Matsuri last night. While William Grimes was convinced that the sushi was in the upper third, we considered it merely mid-range — which is to say, neither bad nor particularly distinguished.

We ordered a sushi/sashimi platter that was described as a selection for five people, although the three of us went ahead and ordered a bit more after consuming all of that. A shrimp tempura roll seemed the best item on the platter, with honorable mention to some extremely tender tuna belly.

The post below describes the restaurant's location as Chelsea. Nowadays, one would describe it as "Meatpacking-adjacent," with the main drag of that clubby neighborhood within spitting distance of Matsuri's door.

The restaurant is lovely inside, and we had a perfectly happy time, topping off the evening with Macallan 18's (and one of our party with an excellent creme brulee dessert). But we won't rush back.