Ichimura at Brushstroke... the quest continues

Ichimura is hidden behind 2 pieces of canvas to the right of Brushstroke. It's all owned by David Bouley, but so very different. Where Brushstroke is lacking in sushi and sashimi, Ichimura excels.

The meal started off with a bang 9/10: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts: fried lemon fish, lotus root, roe, tuna wrapped in shiso leaf, giant clam, cooked uni, bamboo shoot, and baby octopus. This dish ran the gamut of salty/sweet/savory/crunchy/soft/gummy/creamy/scratchy/spicy.

Baby eel in ponzu sauce 10/10: Okay I gave it 10/10 because you can see the little eyes and it's so cute, but it basically tastes like a protein noodle. I could substitute noodles with this... but it's probably a little too slimy for most people. And most people don't like their food staring back at them.

Chawanmushi 10/10: It's the classic from Brushstroke next door. It's so nice of them to serve it here as well. It lends a little continuity to the experience other than the location and wood panelling.

Next is the sashimi course. Here are some highlights:

Fluke and fluke fin: 7.5/10. It's really hard for me to like fluke. It tends to be too chewy especially when it's not with something citrus, but these were very fresh and relatively tender. the fluke fin was interesting. It had a much firmer texture and was a little heavier in taste.

Striped jackfish belly 7/10: I really liked the colors, but I felt that the flavor was a little bland. Also the much harder silver part was strange to eat with the tender meat.

Ocean trout from Hokkaido 10/10: So creamy and delicious. It was like a less fishy version of salmon, but was a little fattier tasting than arctic char. After this dish was also delicious striped bass, but it looks pretty similar to the fluke, so I did not take a picture.

Aged mackerel 8/10: I thought it was just the right amount of fishy. I wasn't taken aback, and the saltiness of the sauce and the chives cut through the fishy flavor well. I also liked that it was in a separate container so that it did not contaminate the next course....

Aged toro 10/10: Seriously? I didn't like the first bite (which is missing from the picture) because it was cold. But it quickly grew on me. It was like eating ice cream.... The fish was a little on the cold side, but after one bite, it quickly melted and disappeared, leaving behind only flavor.

Next was the sushi course. It was mesmerizing to watch Chef Ichimura make the sushi. Slice, press, shake, dab, wrap, press, press. He collected the fish with one hand while forming the rice with the other.

Everything was great in its own way. The nuanced evolution of flavors should be experienced first hand.

Striped bass belly

Small anchovies, beautiful and lighter than one would think

Ocean perch!!!! Creamiest. Tenderest. (white) Fish. Ever. But now it's out of season. I got the last one.

Jackfish

Needlefish with cilantro. Looked pretty but didn't taste like anything.

Mackerel, aged for 5 days

Sea Urchin

Golden eyed snapper. I think the taste was more delicious than red snapper, but I couldn't put my finger on why....

2 kinds of o-toro, one from the belly, and one from the "neck." So good.

Red snapper with sea salt

Scallop aged 4-5 days a.k.a. most tender and delicious scallop ever.

After all this we were so satiated. We sipped some ginger drinks and watched the chef prepare fish for the next seating.

We took a walk around the area and took pictures of the miniature scenes built into the walls

The detail was amazing! I could see the foods they were eating.

Ichimura's greatest merits are the unique selection of fish, and the incredible one-on-one attention from the chef. Although I've been told that when you do not ask for the attention, you do not get it! I was curious about what a fish was at the end of the meal, and he took out a small booklet from his pocket to point out the fish. Whenever I asked why something tasted a little different, he was more than happy to explain.

Like Peter Wells pointed out, Ichimura was a *discovery.* It was like finding one of the tiny scenes in the walls and being transported to a quiet corner in another town at another time... and maybe occasionally bumping into a celebrity or two.

Sasabune... the quest for NYC's best sushi

After going to Neta and Sushi Yasuda, I began to ask myself. Who has the best sushi in Manhattan? There's a very short short-list, and Sasabune is on all of them. I will not make a judgement until I have tried all the contenders.

Sasabune is on the upper east side and practically in the East River. It comes with an interesting message: "No california rolls! No spicy tuna rolls! Trust me!", the restaurant commands on its door.

The sushi bar is extremely cramped, and since I was there with others, I didn't make too much of a row about staring at the chefs. We were seated in a separate rickety little room with green chairs and little disposable plastic-wrapped hand wipes.

Oysters: 7/10 Kumamoto oysters are not my favorite. I also didn't understand what the little round things were. they were filled with shredded crab meat?

I couldn't understand a word the waiter was saying, but I think he said it's mussels, octopus, and baby abalone on the half shell: 5/10 Everything was okay and bordering on too crunchy. The abalone in particular was like chewing through a carrot.

Monkfish liver: 8/10 it had a really mild texture but strong taste - like fois gras of the sea. We also found out during this course that monkfish is not kosher. My friends found out what they look like in its entirety - they are fugly.

No idea what this was. It almost tasted like snail in that it had the same texture as shellfish but was softer and "muddier" in flavor. 8/10. I like snail or whatever it was.

While I was eating all the shellfish, my kosher friends got white tuna, which is pretty cool.

2 types of tuna 8.5/10: I didn't think the o-toro was as good as other places, but it's still very very good. I also didn't understand why they put sauce on the regular tuna but no sauce on the toro. I also now understand all the complaints about loose rice.

I used my fingers for the rest of the meal. Even with my fingers, rice was falling apart and sticking to my fingers.

Clockwise from the left: red snapper, black seabass (?), fluke 7/10: The fluke was good. I find that I like fluke best with a citrus sauce, and this one was rather sour. Red snapper was somewhat tasteless, and what I heard was "seabass" tasted mostly like sesame seeds. I like sesame seeds, but I don't think that was the point.

Clockwise from left: Miso black cod, fluke fin, albacore belly. 8/10: The albacore was very bland, and the cooked fish... were well cooked fish. They were both extremely tender and delicious, but I would have liked them without rice. I love that Sasabune served the fluke fin... the most tender meat is always the hardest to get to, and I'm happy to see them served more often in restaurants!

I was starting to get full here from all the rice... but we must carry on.

Clockwise from the leftmost sushi in the top row: Clam, scallop, giant clam (?), salmon, no idea, striped bass. 7.5/10 The shellfish tasted very similar with varying sweetness and textures. It was fun to eat... except for the giant clam, which had a shiso leaf hidden inside. I love the flavor, but the leaf hit my tongue like sandpaper. The bottom row was good, but nothing too special. The salmon was probably as good as anyone else's salmon.

Clockwise from the top left: Yellowtail, amberjack, uni, salmon roe, mackerel. 7-10/10 The yellowtail and amberjack were good. The uni was great! But was it greater than the other uni? It's hard to say. The mackerel tasted aged and very very fishy. There's something about this kind of mackerel vs. the mild flavor of spanish mackerel... I do wish someone warned me. Luckily I didn't eat it last.

Thank the lord we're almost done. I got a hand roll with shredded crab, and my friends got a hand roll with chu-toro. We were so full at this point that we were about to burst! 6/10: Sasabune did not have the best crab. Maybe they're out of season, but then I'd still take points off for serving off-season seafood.

Overall for a place that asks so much of our trust ("Trust me!" is on the shirt of every employee), the restaurant has an odd delivery of its message. It is as if someone has drawn a masterpiece on a napkin, or perhaps it's the astronomer in the Little Prince with the funny clothes, or perhaps they are just testing our trust. Some of the best quality sushi in town is served with wasabi mixed with mayo or some other paste, and soy sauce from a kikkoman dispenser. Roll after roll comes on plain white ceramic or even plastic dishware. Not to mention, they didn't have hot towels, which are ubiquitous even in mid-level restaurants.

Perhaps the biggest testament of all to the chef's quirkiness is the restaurant's refusal to tighten up the rice after years of complaints. But if you trust the chef, and in a sense I do, then come and sit and enjoy the sushi. Come hungry.

Fideua

Fideua is halfway between paella and pasta. It's usually made with thin noodles in a paella pan.

Why not make either paella or pasta? Well it's about 45 minutes faster than paella, and it's drier than pasta, and has a special stickiness that only comes from something cooking in its own gluten.

Fideua is usually made with a thin pasta, so I used angel hair. It's also the fastest to cook! The protein is also usually a medley of seafood, which is *also* super fast to cook! Since we lost an hour this weekend, the faster cooking is definitely appreciated.

Make sure to dry all of the seafood in paper towels before cooking. This will prevent burning hot oil jumping up at one's face.

First, lightly cooked the calamari rings and shrimp in olive oil.

Once the shrimp is pink, remove the seafood from the pan.

Time to make a flavor base for the pasta. Sometimes it's good to keep things simple with some garlic and onions.

And some chili, salt, and pepper. You can add white wine, fish stock, veggie stock, whatever you want. I had leftover dashii, which is practically fish stock, so I used that.

The next step is to add crushed tomatoes. I get the whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes from a can and mush them up with my fingers. You have to be a little careful to not squirt tomato juice all over yourself.

Let all that goodness simmer for a couple minutes to marry the flavors. At this step, you would usually add saffron to make everything taste more like saffron and a nice bright yellow. But I didn't have any saffron, and didn't want to pay for ridiculously expensive saffron at Whole Foods.

Then add some fish. Those are chunks of cod pictured above.

And pasta... make sure to add enough stock to just cover the pasta so that it cooks properly. I used angel hair, but you can use linguine, spaghetti, or vermicelli.

It takes a little longer than the box says. Once you have the pasta all mixed in and separated, *stop stirring*. Just like with paella, you want a little crustiness on the bottom. After about 6 minutes, I put the shrimp and calamari back on top, turned off the fire, and let this sit for 5-10 minutes.

A nice light seafood dinner. I guess it would have looked a little more authentic with some saffron, but maybe next time when I want to pay $15 for a gram of saffron!

Ichabod's Tavern

Excuse my sudden hiatus. I took a few bad pictures, had a few bad nights, and now I have fallen many restaurants and even more days behind. But do not worry, March is teeing up to be one heck of a culinary journey, and I cannot wait to share it with you!

Tonight I went to Ichabod's Tavern. There are many places in New York like Ichabod's. It could have distinguished itself with a headless horseman, but it did not. In any case, the dinner was short and sweet.

Broiled oysters with parmesan and stuff. Cheese overpowered the oysters. It's a pass.

Mushroom toast. It was good, but the mushrooms were overly creamy. It probably has more fat than one would think!

Squash dumplings. Big winner. The squash was deliciously seasoned, the dumpling skins were like a thinner version of ravioli. It has more water content and bounce than pasta skin. The fried bay leaves, warm roasted nuts, and truffle oil were great additions.

Tuna tartare with chips. Pretty standard.

Duck leg. They served literally one. But I was quite full from appetizers, so I didn't throw a fit. The duck came hot enough to cook my fellow diner's fish. the polenta was delicious. The duck had great flavor, but was a little dry... probably from being lit on fire.

Although it looks like a melting disaster, this apple and caramel dessert was actually quite good. I was never a fan of pie crust, and was a little worried that this dish would lack balance without a dry ingredient. But it's great on its own. Who needs pie crust!

This was brilliant. Ice cream, peanuts, and caramel topped with toasted marshmallows. When people tell me that they're going to give me toasted marshmallows in my dessert, I find it hard to believe. It's almost always under-toasted! But Ichabod's must have held those marshmallows to the skin of the duck because it was beautifully browned and gooey. I had to use my newly cleaned teeth to scrape the sticky residue off my spoon. What a great way to end the meal.

Fair warning - I only have a few more light and fun places to visit this month before we visit some of the best restaurants in NYC. I went to a pretty nice one last week but my camera ran out of battery... oops.