Be Bold, Order Strangely

Sushi Yasuda $$$(204 E 43rd St- Tel (212)972-1001)- Yesterday, a friend and I decided to catch up over sushi. We chose Sushi Yasuda because I had been hearing great things (freshest fish ever, melt in your mouth sushi, etc) and luckily for me, my friend loves sushi as much as I do.  If nothing else, the constant dare by reviewers of "Sushi Yasuda is not for sushi amateurs" was, for me, reason enough to go.  

I called for a reservation and after much confusion and difficulties because of the language barrier, I was able to get a reservation from 7:30 to 9 at the sushi bar. My interest immediately grew as I have never been given a time limit at a restaurant and definitely not at the bar.  

I arrived and was impressed and intimidated by the decor.  Huge light wood panels cover the entire room and little bright lights keep the room elegantly but well lit.  Sushi Yasuda is nothing but clean in atmosphere and presentation.  I have read reviews that say dress casually.  I think they mean business casual as most people were in suits.  This is definitely the type of place to recommend to your boss.

My friend and I both ordered the prix fixe sushi menu which came with salad or miso soup, 5 pieces of sushi, and 2 rolls (everything is picked from the prix fixe menu and therefore some of your favorite choices may not be an option) for $22.50 or a few dollars more with dessert.

We started off with drinks, he drinking a Pinot Grigio (the only option) and I drank plum wine.  He got the salad and I got the miso soup.  I recommend the salad, the soup was a bit bland.  Then it was time for the sushi.  My five pieces were salmon, squid fin, sea scallop (not Himo), cherrystone-clam, and striped-bass.  His included rainbow trout and orange-clam (his sushi pieces pictured above).  The sushi comes with a thin layer of soy sauce painted on and any more soy sauce would have overwhelmed the taste of the fish (a lesson my friend quickly learned).  Everyone was right.  The fish is incredibly fresh, does melt in your mouth, and is not for beginners.  

The rolls were slightly less exciting to my Americanized tongue.  With rolls, and I'm sure that this is the stuff of amateurs, I expect more, well, stuff.  A little roe here, a chunk of avocado there.  The rolls at Sushi Yasuda, like everything else in their establishment, are no-frills and all about quality.  Each roll comes as traditional fish, rice, and seaweed, with a dab of wasabi.  My friend and I each ordered two rolls but the sushi chef had the fun idea of splitting them up so we could try a little bit of everything.  Had we known this beforehand, we wouldn't have chosen so similarly.  The white king salmon roll was a personal favorite.  

Sushi Yasuda is not for the timid.  Be bold, order strangely.  If you do not go for the prix-fixe menu, try the chef's red penned selections of the day.  They are the freshest.  Expect attentive service (if not a bit difficult to understand), and be sure to ask your chef what it is that you are eating.