by Elizabeth Gariti
The only menu customers see at Sasabune NY, 401 E. 73rd St, is the sake menu. Your sushi menu is decided for you by owner and Chef Kenji Takahashi as you walk in the door. This is known as omakase, which means “entrust” or “protect” in Japanese. It’s a term mostly used at sushi bars, and it means that you give the chef authority to prepare what he wants to make for you at the price he sets. While this may seem risky, it means that you usually receive the highest quality fish the restaurant currently has in stock at a price cheaper than if it was ordered à la carte.
This is definitely true at Sasabune. Every morning, Takahashi goes to the fish market in search of the freshest and best fish available, which he prepares with his assistant that night at the restaurant. The result is layers of soft, buttery sushi, brought to you one-to-two pieces at a time, delicately seasoned with lemon juice or soy sauce or sometimes a light, tangy tomato sauce. Most slices are served on top of rice that’s heated at the precise temperature to bring out the particular flavor of that piece of fish.
The starter for everyone was a dish of deftly sliced Albacore sashimi in a tart vinegar sauce topped with thinly diced chives. It had a fresh almost tomato-like flavor. This was followed with plates upon plates of sushi, like regular Tuna, White Tuna, chilled Toro, comforting Spanish Mackerel, gentle Scallops, Fluke, Red Snapper, Butterfish and Black Cod, all of it in varying degrees of softness and subtlety.
Breaking this up were oysters in the shell topped with chives and tomatoes in a slightly spicy, tasty sauce. The usual sushi accoutrements of soy sauce/wasabi/ginger were left mostly untouched and used as palette cleansers until the Crab Rolls.
Long rolls of crab surrounded by a healthy padding of rice with a dried seaweed wrapping, the crunchiness of the seaweed combined with the smooth crab and granular rice made the rolls salty and earthy—good enough by themselves, but dipping them in soy sauce made the flavors echo. It was all washed down with rough, piquant hot sake and Hitachino Nest white ale.
I was surprised when our waitress asked if we had any special requests at the end of the meal. I asked for Yellowtail and my friend asked for Eel, which are very basic orders in the land of sushi, but what if someone wanted something that was really unusual, like Monkfish Liver? (Which they have.)
Well, Kenji remembers his customers. He usually remembers most people’s faces and what they order, and he’ll stock rare items for his regulars. And one of the meanings of omakase is that he also prepares different menus for different folks. Turns out my friend and I got the typical American menu, following what Kenji’s Sushi master in L.A. has determined, based on her 30 years of experience, to be the combination of sushi that most Americans like best. Not that we were disappointed by any means, nor have I had Black Cod in other sushi restaurants, but I can’t help but wonder what he serves his Japanese patrons. I imagine it’s then the Monkfish Liver, Sea Urchin and Egg make their appearance.
Kenji is somewhat a celebrity in Honolulu and L.A., where he has other Sasabunes. Fortunately, for us, he moved east to give New Yorkers a taste of what those in Honolulu and L.A. have been raving about for years. The restaurant itself is small, with the sushi bar as the main attraction. There are ten tables, and while it’s admittedly no frills, the space is clean and homey. The staff is excellent, very friendly and proud of the product, and in true, gracious Japanese tradition, anticipate your every need. (They replenished our ginger without us having to ask.)
It goes without saying, if you’re a sushi lover, you probably have an adventurous palette and a broad wallet. You can now put both to test at Sasabune NY. And if you’re really feeling daring, ask Kenji to serve the Japanese menu. He may even accommodate you.