Category Archives: Japanese

Japanese, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Matsunori

April 8, 2023 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

First and foremost, check out my Ride & Review video HERE on YouTube:

This small sushi counter offers an $88 omakase, which consists of two appetizers, ten pieces of nigiri sushi, two hand rolls and a bite of dessert. Here are the two apps:

The nigiri:

This tuna with truffle oil was so good:

Scallop with uni – delicious:

Since my wife can’t have scallop, they gave her this uni piece instead:

This salmon with shaved manchego cheese was wildly unique:

Below is the chef, and the final piece (which was our favorite): Fatty tuna belly with caviar and truffle oil.

The hand rolls (eel + foie gras, and tuna) and dessert (melon):

This is probably one of the best deals I’ve come across when you line it up with quality and portion sizes. I left full/satisfied, and every bite was better than the last. The staff was super nice and offered us a free shot of yuzu sake in return for us offering the chef a glass of our wine.

I highly recommend this place, and I will definitely be going again, as their BYOB policy is a very attractive lure!

MATSUNORI
151 Allen St.
New York, NY 10002

Japanese, Korean, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

DDO Bar

March 18, 2023 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

First, check out the Ride & Review video of this joint!

Okay, now on to the written.

I heard about this place through a food friend, and it sounded enticing. I love tofu skin, for some weird reason, and this Korean style omakase features a majority of the pieces served upon fried tofu pockets called yubu tarts.

$75 gets you 13 high-quality pieces. See them all below, with my highlights for favorites.

Cacio e pepe.

Citrus cured bass.

Scallop.

Squid was swapped out for my wife, since she can’t do scallops.

Hiramasa.

Smoked duck breast pastrami – a top piece.

Shrimp – a top piece.

Ponzu salmon, everything spice with horseradish – my favorite.

Poached lobster – a top piece.

Beef tartare – a top piece.

Pork belly “ssamjang” – a top piece.

Tuna tataki hand roll – a top piece.

Crispy chicken on a stick.

Sea salt + earl grey tea ice cream.

I would definitely do this omakase again. It was good!

DDO BAR
Olly Olly Market
601 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10001

Downtown, Japanese, Restaurant Reviews

Shikku

February 14, 2023 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

Shikku is a small, elegant sushi counter inside the Tin Building down by the seaport. I took my wife here for an early Valentine’s Day dinner, since she likes omakase meals. Check out the Ride & Review video HERE:

The meal started with this sashimi salad. Very light, crisp and refreshing due to the avocado sauce on there.

Next, another sashimi salad of sorts, this one made even better by the presence of ikura, uni and shrimp.

Next up was six pieces of nigiri. All were delicious, but the otoro (fatty tuna belly) was my favorite.

This hand roll was awesome! Probably my favorite part of the meal.

Or perhaps this sliced A5 wagyu rib eye from Miyazaki was my favorite?

Either way, it was a great meal, finished off with a surprisingly rich miso soup, and a blackberry and chocolate mousse heart.

I would definitely go back here again. This was one of the better omakase meals we’ve had.

SHIKKU
96 South St
New York, NY 10038

Brooklyn, Japanese, Restaurant Reviews

Ume

January 15, 2023 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

I took my wife to Ume for her birthday. This place serves an Omakase set of 12 pieces for $73.

Everything is really delicious, but my favorite three bites were the red snapper (center, with broccoli florette), the fatty tuna belly, (bottom center, with truffle) and the quail egg with crispy fish skin (center right).

We also grabbed this “literally everything don” bowl, which was better than the actual omakase (and more killing) for just $60.

Really enjoyed that.

A few negative things to note here: the enclosed outdoor garden area is too cold for winter dining. They leave the door open between the inside area and the garden, so even if you’re sitting inside, you’re going to be cold. To make matters worse, they double down on that chill factor with their “no shoes” concept (my toes were icy). Sitting on the floor isn’t too comfortable either but I’m not really gonna complain about that. I didn’t mind it so much.

UME
237 Kent Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11249

Japanese, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Takumi Omakase

December 19, 2022 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

This little joint serves up a very affordable and tasty 15-piece omakase for just $89, and on Sunday at the 5pm seating you also get free sake!

Here’s a look at everything we had. They were kind enough to swap out the scallop piece for my wife who is allergic.

TAKUMI OMAKASE
181 Essex St
New York, NY 10002

Japanese, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Zest Sushi

September 10, 2022 Johnny Prime 1 Comment

Weird name, great happy hour.

Zest Sushi has a very extensive menu of items for just $5.50 during happy hour, which also includes their beer and sake offerings as well. My wife and I tried a bunch of stuff, and pretty much everything was great. Here’s the run down:

Mini salmon don.

“Salmon Dream” torched sashimi.

Skewers of crispy squid tentacles.

Crispy oysters (this was the only item I wouldn’t get again).

Takoyaki (fried balls of octopus with bonito).

Crispy salmon skin roll.

For drinks, the better bet is to get the sake. They give you about 10oz for $5.50, and it’s pretty good.

ZEST SUSHI
249 Broome St
New York, NY 10002

Food Halls, Japanese, Restaurant Reviews

Gouie

August 16, 2022 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

This new sushi counter at Essex Market / The Market Line offers a fairly reasonable sushi dinner that consists of 8 pieces, a hand roll, ikura with rice and uni with rice – all for $85.

I usually love hand rolls, but I didn’t really enjoy this one. I think it was a mix of the Japanese pickle and a too thick/chewy seaweed wrapper.

The sushi pieces were great though, as was the ride. But the real star of the show was this salad that we ordered as a special. It was basically sashimi with some nice veggies.

Pass on the cauliflower, crab, uni and okra cold “soup” that they have on special as well. It was slimy and not soup-like at all. It also needed seasoning.

The light cocktails are a hit. There’s no hard liquor, but they’re made with apertifs, liqueurs and digestifs.

GOUIE
115 Delancey St.
New York, NY 10002

Brooklyn, Japanese, Restaurant Reviews

Chef Katsu Brooklyn

August 16, 2022 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

This place is great. Some of the guys from the NYC Zooz Club and I hit this spot after riding around for a bit. Their curry sauce covered fried chicken thigh sandwiches are amazing.

I got mine with cheese. It was perfect, and the fries were bangin’ too.

Get over here and try this place. I’ll definitely be back for sure. Also, if you want to see some video of our bike gang ride from the day, check out the below:

CHEF KATSU BROOKLYN
143 Greene Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11238

Chinese, Food Halls, Fusion, Japanese, Korean, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Other, Restaurant Reviews, Thai, Vietnamese

Essex Pearl

July 17, 2022 Johnny Prime 1 Comment

This place is incredible!

My wife and I have been dying to come here ever since we saw them setting up shop at Market Line soon after we moved in. It’s a beautiful seafood bar, done up really fancy as a place you’d love to just sit and have a cocktail, but also with open view to the kitchen and prep stations for all the delicious food.

We tried a lot of shit, so let me get right into it.

Raw littleneck clams topped with crispy shallots and a fish sauce mignonette. Perfect way to open up the meal. Pair this with their pickled ginger, shochu and gin martini.

Dry aged rib eye tartare, coarse cut. So tender and flavorful! The shrimp chips make for a perfect vehicle for mouth entry, and they add a great textural crunch.

Cumin lamb belly skewers. I really loved these. If you love cumin lamb noodles at places like Xian Famous, you need to try this. It’s LAMB BACON!

Tiger prawns. You’ll want to drink the sauce! This item was the whole reason my wife wanted to go, and it really delivered. It was her favorite dish (along with the hamachi collar).

Crispy baby octopus with Thai lemongrass curry and fried Thai basil. Ask for a small bowl of rice so none of that curry goes to waste!

The grilled pork jowls were next. This was probably my favorite of the meal. It comes with a lime pepper sauce that acts like a Carolina style vinegar BBQ sauce, almost, but Asian style as lime and pepper are common in places like Vietnam and Cambodia. It cuts the fat of the jowls so perfectly I can’t even describe it properly!

Turmeric dill hamachi collar. This is so delicious and large, it’s enough to share among two people. Light, flavorful, and amazingly aromatic.

Laotian ginger pork sausage over garlic noodles. WOW! The sausage is made in house and it’s so fucking good!

We washed it all down with this watermelon and lychee slushee. So refreshing and just the right amount of natural sweetness.

I can’t wait to go back and try the rest of the menu, especially their surf and turf!

ESSEX PEARL
88 Essex Street
Cellar Level
New York, NY 10002

Japanese, Restaurant Reviews, West Village

Omakase Room by Mitsu

February 19, 2022 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

Last night I took my wife to Omakase Room by Mitsu. This was a 12 piece sushi omakase featuring some of the best pieces I’ve ever had. Some of our stand out favorites:

Fatty Tuna Cheek (I ordered a second of this!)