I know I’ve posted about Sushi Yasu a number of times – it’s literally my favorite neighborhood sushi place, though I would say it’s even my favorite sushi place and worth a trip to Forest Hills. I actually “make” people go there with me, because I think it’s that good.
One such occasion recently, I finally finally found someone who was willing to get the omakase with me. I’ve been trying to go for it again since the first time I went! but no one was ever into it. It starts at $40, which I believe is where we stayed this visit, but is an amazing deal.
Round 1: octopus, cuttlefish or squid, fish roe, sweet shrimp, and fried shrimp head. My favorite was the cuttlefish with this dab of sweet soy sauce… it was incredible. I didn’t use soy sauce at all – pretty much through the entire meal, as Chef Yasu puts on his own mix or it’s just good enough to eat on its own. I’d never had a fried shrimp head, and thought it was interesting… not my favorite but good to try, definitely.
Round 2: bonito, tuna, … I should have taken notes. Each piece was delicious and fresh, a tiny kick from the wasabi Chef Yasu already included, and needed nothing but my teeth.
I thought it was funny eating with someone who took pictures of everything because honestly, I don’t eat with many bloggers anymore. For our final round, we were given options; I chose uni while my friend chose eel. Buttery, creamy, briny uni… again, super fresh, delicious, and made me very, very happy. A nice touch to end the omakase portion of our meal!
I always get the Marilyn Mon-roll when I go, and this time was no exception. This was a great finisher for our meal: helped get us to the “full!” mark, without putting us over. I thought it was a great meal, as usual. Service has still been a bit slow, sadly, but I know they are trying… I have faith they’ll get used to the larger, split space and get it together soon!
***Also funny, I noticed that a woman who’s served me in the past was actually behind the sushi bar, making rolls. It wasn’t a busy night but it wasn’t slow either – and she seemed pretty calm. I mean, I’d be freaking out if I had to make rolls next to him. She is definitely super novice beginner, but our roll seems OK! I wonder if the other guy who’s usually behind the bar left or was just on vacation. Yes, I go there a lot. Also funny- the restaurant is split so you can’t see the dining room from the sushi bar and vice versa. I found out later that my best friend was dining in the dining room while I was at the sushi bar – and that we were both in a hurry to eat and go to the movies right after. We didn’t see each other though because I went to the theater across the street and she went to the bigger one around the corner… we both love this place! (I believe my first time was with her, or my second time? she introduced me to the Marilyn Mon-roll!)
Go here. Eat it. Love it!
All photos taken with my Samsung Galaxy S III…
CheeeeEEEEse says
I need to just suck it up and do an omakase sometime. I’m usually too content to order my usual chirashi or just a butt-load of tuna/fluke/salmon. Also, some of the things that seem common in an omakase, while don’t really turn me off, may not quite get me exited either.
How do you eat a fried shrimp head? Also, the large roe…the texture. Ack.
Feisty Foodie says
I’ve done a number of omakase around the city, and while I believe Masa and Sushi Yasuda both practice the traditional omakase (which we discussed briefly last week), most places around the city just use it to mean “Japanese tasting menu”. Sushi Yasu (above) practices the more traditional method – as you can see, we didn’t really make any choices minus the very last piece. I also find the prices here to be super reasonable relative to other places, and highly recommend it… if you want to go, let me know, we can watch a movie too and make a night of it. 🙂
The fried shrimp head question is the exact one I had. You put it in your mouth and chew/crunch. It’s a lot like eating really crisp potato chips. It was interesting and nice to try, unique (though I’ve seen it at other places), but I wouldn’t go out of my way to insist on eating it again.
hungry says
Hola! Omakase Princess here. Places do it differently as Yvo said. Yasuda allows you to work with your sushi chef if you sit at the bar. He’ll work the omakase to your liking. Don’t like uni? He won’t give it to you. Like tuna? He’ll give you different kinds, cuts, and preparations. Oh and Yasuda omakase is charged by the piece. Spend as little or as much as you want. But definitely sit at the bar. 15 East does something similar as well. Those 2 are the best I’ve had so far. And yes, worth the money.
Feisty Foodie says
What Hungry said – she knows what she’s talking about.
Dessert Zombie says
And as long as the chef is not a Caucasian guy…
I could use some rolls and hot tea sometime soon.
Feisty Foodie says
What is this, the League? At Sushi Yasu, they speak Japanese… not sure any of the staff isn’t Japanese, actually.
Dessert Zombie says
All signs lead to promising sushi. 😉
I’ve never done omakase either. Oh well.
Feisty Foodie says
The offer stands for both you and Cheese – I like this place enough that I’ll keep going back, even if the service can sometimes be a bit slow. I don’t always want omakase though so it would be great if we could combine both outings 🙂
Ted says
That samsung galaxy is seriously not doing these dishes justice. Comp me a yellow tail roll and I’ll show you how it’s done 🙂
Feisty Foodie says
I’ve used the dSLR for other photos taken here… this was just a refresher post. But I’ll bite: what do you use to shoot?
Ted says
Oh I just saw your reply here.
I haven’t seen all your other photos with the DSLR. I just saw your camera phone shots and thought it didn’t do it justice. I don’t have anything fancy. Camera phones are basically one dimensional, don’t you think? Just an opinion. They have all sorts of neato filters and stuff now, but as they say, you can put all the lipstick on a pig you want, but it’s still…
Feisty Foodie says
Heh, I don’t know if one dimensional is the word. There’s a definite difference in quality, but I think some of the photos I’ve taken with my Samsung are better than some I’ve taken with my Canon point & shoot. No comparison to my dSLR would be fair, so I won’t go there.