Going to New York for...sushi!

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I found out this week that I will have to go to New York in a week for about 10 days for work reasons. As much as I love New York I am sort of dreading the hot weather. But on the brighter side of course, New York is nirvana for a foodie and I plan to enjoy that side of the city as much as time and budget allow.

I was idly thinking of what restaurants to try while I'm there. Sam recently went to New York and her descriptions sounded yummy. Balthazar? Babbo? WD50? Which ones can I afford to try? (You know that planning these things is half the fun.)

But then I slapped myself. What's the food I miss the most here? It's sushi.

I've yet to find sushi that's anything more than simply okay here in Switzerland. As a whole, New York sushi is much, much better. (Yes I know, Tokyo is better, but we don't have any clients there.) So, given a limited food budget, I'm going to spend most of it on sushi. Sushi. Sushi! (I may leave a bit for a visit to Craft though. Oh yes, and there have to be several lobster roll sessions. Land-bound Switzerland is not big on seafood.)

I'm going to one of my favorite old haunts, Tomoe Sushi for sure (to put it in geeky terms, it has a great price-performance ratio), but I'm open to suggestions for other places. I was not impressed by Sushi Yasuda (rated as best sushi by Zagat's), by the way, and I am a sushi purist...no funky nouveau sushi for me. And gasp, horror, Nobu is sort of "eh" for me. Is the new Morimoto restaurant worth a try?

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Submitted by maki on 2006-06-30 10:38.
Filed under:  food travel japanese restaurants sushi new york

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Comments

Tina

30 June, 2006 - 15:38

Can I recommend to you, Doo Zo? It's also on Thompson Street (216 Thompson).

The atmosphere is very leisurely, it's hardly ever crowded and the prices are very resonable (I usually have the Sashimi Deluxe, which is $18 for 24 pieces of nummy nummy fish)

We have been going there for years and never had been disappointed.

I've included a link to their profile on Menupages.com.

I enjoy reading your site. Take care :)

(now I'm craving sushi and it's not even 9am here, lol)

yoko

30 June, 2006 - 16:20

If Morimoto in NYC is anything like the one in Philadelphia, the sushi is pretty good, but not their main attraction. What is the best there are the fusion dishes that can be had omakase.

The family favorite for sushi for us for a long time was Hatsuhana, although I haven't been there since I was little.

Have fun in New York!

C(h)ristine

30 June, 2006 - 18:27

my husband swears by blue ribbon in NYC

C(h)ristine

30 June, 2006 - 18:29

here is a write up on blue ribbon sushi

Gary

30 June, 2006 - 22:45

You're probably right about sushi in Switzerland, but as I remember from my Basel days, the Migros fish market is a pretty amazing place for fresh fish. Maybe you just need to make your own. But then, that sort of takes half the fun out of it. Being served great sushi is a pleasure!

Paul

1 July, 2006 - 02:11

Sorry no tips for sushi in NYC try chowhounds.com. Babbo is wonderful. I will be in Zurich, Geneva and Gstaad area this month and wondered if you had any tips for eating? We don't really eat much meat and I don't know much about other local food outside of cheeses. Mid to lower end prices with a local kid friendly atmosphere. Thank you -love the site- I can help if you get to Alaska, LA or Hawaii.

Rachael

1 July, 2006 - 05:04

It's not Japanese, but I have to suggest Camaje. It's fantastic. 85 Macdougal Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 673-8184.

Have fun!

maki

2 July, 2006 - 22:51

Thanks for your suggestions everyone! I will put together a list of places to try and report back.

Paul, we wrote up Zurich food spots recently here for not-to-expensive restaurants and such here.
There are also a lot of good recommendations on the Wiki Travel page for Zurich:
here. (I know they are good since I wrote about half of the food part...)

Local Zuri food does tend to be meat (as in sausage or veal) centric but you don't have to have that. Actually, most people under say 50 do not each veal in cream sauce much anymore I think. If you do like cheese there are tons of varieties sale all over - you can have more than enough even at the supermarkets, together with great bread.

One restaurant we forgot to mention before is the Hiltl, which is the oldest vegetarian restaurant in Europe, and is really quite good though not exactly cheap. They have a self-service/fast-food place too called Tidbits. You can find their exact addresses and location on a map at local.ch (english is a language option).

I can't say much about Geneva or Gstaad I'm afraid, but you can try searching on local.ch which covers all of Switzerland. Also (for Geneva) you can try the forums in Geneva Online, which is a community site mainly for anglophone 20somethings in the area.

Remember also, no tipping needed! The price you see is what you pay, period.

maki

2 July, 2006 - 23:06

oops I forgot to add this: Gary, Migros' fish counter is very good but i don't think most of it is sushi grade unfortunately...they do have sushi grade tuna though, which i do use sometimes, e.g. for this pasta dish.