Sushi Seki: Have I Found the Best Sushi in NYC?
The question of sushi in NYC is always a daunting one. Food is expensive in NYC. Sushi is expensive everywhere. Pair these two together, and it can be hard to discern which sushi restaurants are truly worth their cost. And if you are a true sushi lover, there’s nothing worse than paying money for poor quality fish.
This past week, I tried Sushi Seki for the first time, located at 1143 1st Ave, between 62nd and 63rd street. This is a small upscale sushi restaurant, and I recommend making a reservation (ideally for the sushi bar if you can swing it), and going with people who are ready to cash out for a great dinner (it’s worth it!). I enjoyed my dinner alongside my parents, and we opted for the sashimi omakase–the chef’s selection of sashimi. Sashimi omakase is my favorite thing to order at sushi restaurants: It allows the sushi chef to really play with the food, usually ensures receiving the freshest fish of the day, and everything is sashimi, and I like my fish pure and without rice.
The meal began with a plate of mixed sashimi, pictured above. My favorites on this plate were the octopus, covered in a light miso sauce, and the komodo oysters. The simplicity of the scallops, smoked mackerel, toro, and salmon is not to be overlooked either; they were sweeter than other versions of the fishes I’ve had before. My other favorite on the plate was the smoked salmon, hidden by seaweed in the picture, which almost had a meat-like aftertaste to it that I loved.
For the next round, we enjoyed yellow tail with jalapeños and ponzu sauce, a classic favorite of mine; cucumber topped with uni and toro; and red snapper. Even the pickled ginger tasted different from the unfortunate average versions bought in bulk at most sushi restaurants; it was fresh, crisp, and even slightly sweet.
This next plate was definitely my overall favorite of the night. The bottom dish includes toro covered in a tofu wasabi sauce. The tofu created an interesting creamy texture that added real depth to the fish. In the middle stands three pieces of barbecued coconut tempura eel on top of avocado (I supposed the only thing we ate of the night that might not count as sashimi). It was sweet, crunchy, and the combination of the creaminess from the avocado ,paired with the crunchy tempura, worked perfectly. Finally, I present everyone’s favorite dish of the night: salmon topped with grilled tomatoes with onion sauce and fresh onions wrapped inside. Almost like a play on the classic bagels and lox combination–minus the bagel and the smoked fish–this was sweet and crunchy all at once. The presentation was fabulous; it may be difficult to tell from the picture, but the grilled tomato on top of the salmon looked remarkably similar to bacon.
When we first ordered for the night, our waiter asked if we wanted to end our meal with a hand roll, and I’m so glad we said “yes.” This was the best hand roll I’ve ever had. Since we ordered the sashimi omakase, our hand rolls included no rice; instead, they were filled with an explosion of spicy scallops. The sauce was similar to that used in a typical spicy tuna rolls, but it wasn’t laden with the usual taste of mayo, was fresher, and the roll included bits of real scallops. Plus they had a lot more fish, since they weren’t bogged down with rice. We also enjoyed fluke on top of fresh lemons with wasabi, and tempura mackerel that also included a tempura-fried mint leaf!
The meal officially ended with a cup of freshly made green tea for each of us–complete with fresh green tea powder. Even the tea was elevated to a whole new level from an average cup.
Throughout the entire night, the service was impeccable. The sushi chefs checked in with us multiple times, the waitstaff was attentive, and the fish was the some of the best I’ve ever had. Hurry up. And go. Stat. And prepare yourself to enjoy interesting tastes of classics and the perhaps the freshest sushi on the east coast.
Chelsea Goldinger