| O Ya |
[03 Jul 2008|07:43am] |
Last night, we went to dinner at O Ya, a newish sushi restaurant right near South Station. Back in March, the New York Times rated them the #1 new restaurant (not in New York), and I had been trying to get a convenient reservation since.
We had the "omakase" (chef's tasting) menu, which is 14 courses selected from their regular menu. Each piece was fantastic; I cannot fault the food in any way... but at $140 per person, I'm not sure when I'll be back next. At half that, I'd be there all the time. Given, however, that it is impossible to get a reservation, I fundamentally can't fault them on pricing.
O Ya is in what seems to be the last part of downtown Boston yet to be redeveloped, the section across the highway from Chinatown. It's across the street from the Chinatown gate, down one lonely street with some construction, and then left onto another. They have a sign, but the actual entrance is an unmarked door around the corner.
Inside, the room is spacious but minimalist. Concrete and wood form a calming, relatively quiet environment. There are about 8 two person tables, and another dozen seats at the counter, where we were seated. The basement consists of a huge, empty hallway with attached restrooms and storage rooms. The kitchen, visible through an open doorway, is enormous and supplements ample prep space behind the counter. I sometimes wonder if there's an inverse correlation between restaurant quality and kitchen size -- Craigie Street Bistrot has a kitchen about the size of a coat closet, and yet creates incredible dishes, while most chain restaurants have huge kitchens and produce, well.. Perhaps it's like veal in small pens, or geese raised for foie gras; with a chef constrained to a small space you can taste the sweet, sweet (savory, savory) adversity?
One oddity of the tasting menu: nigiri items are served as two pieces, sashimi as three. These same menu items are used for the tasting menu. For nigiri, this is fine. For sashimi, we had to figure out how to properly split between the two of us. Our server said this was a common complaint, and it worries me that the chef has not been responsive to this, perhaps upping it to four pieces of sashimi on the tasting menu?
I won't list all 14 pieces here, just some of the highlights. - "Fried Kumamoto Oyster, yuzu kosho aioli, squid ink bubbles" -- the flavors and textures were all perfect. The oyster was incredibly crisp outside, and moist and creamy on the inside. The rice used on all the sushi pieces impressed me; it wasn't too sticky or too granular; we were told it was a mix of two different grains.
- "Hamachi, spicy banana pepper mousse" -- Like all of the fish, the hamachi was melt-in-your-mouth smooth, and the pepper mousse was just the right level of spiciness.
- "Wild Bluefin Toro, republic of georgia herb sauce" -- A beautiful piece of tuna with an herb 'pesto' made with walnuts, cinnamon, and several other flavors.
- "Grilled Sashimi of Chanterelle & Shiitake Mushrooms, rosemary garlic oil, sesame froth, homemade soy" -- I despite Crimini/Portabello mushrooms; they're the only food that I will actively avoid. I did not eat mushrooms for years because of the dreaded button mushrooms, and am glad I was finally set straight on other varieties a few years ago. These were delicious. I think it should be a crime to serve Portabellos to children.
- "Seared Petit Strip Loin (2 oz.), tiny smoked potato, grilled onion, fresh wasabi" -- a small piece of Wagyu beef, quickly seared on the outside and rare on the inside. I've never had a piece of beef melt in my mouth like fish before. The accompanying wasabi is actual wasabi, not the regular horseradish stuff, so it has more flavor than heat. To give you a sense of the ridiculous prices that I mention above, though, the menu also has an 8 oz. Wagyu strip available, which would make a nice meal. I'm sure it's fantastic. It's also $170.
- "Foie Gras, balsamic chocolate kabayaki, raisin cocoa pulp, sip of aged sake" -- served last, and a nice finish to the meal. I've never seen aged sake before. It was interesting, and tasted a lot like a sherry.
At the end of 14 dishes I was not hungry, but I definitely wasn't full. I definitely could have kept going through a few more, and as a small guy I think that means some people would be disappointed. On the other hand, it's nice to have a tasting menu and not feel absolutely stuffed at the end -- I've been to places that go in the wrong direction there. Once we had a seven course tasting menu which had an 8 ounce steak as the sixth course... I couldn't eat more than two bites.
So, would I go back? If I wasn't paying for it, definitely. There are many more items on the menu that I'd like to try. If I'm paying, though, I think I'm more likely to go to Oishii. O Ya's fish is a little bit better than Oishii's, but Oishii has similarly fantastic flavor combinations. Where O Ya focused more on a single piece of fish with a sauce, Oishii seems to combine more ingredients to make the taste.
Of course, the most unique sushi I've had can no longer be found. Several years ago we were in San Francisco and went out to dinner with my friend Geo. He took us to the most interesting, yet most disturbing, sushi restaurant I have ever been to. It was a hole-in-the-wall, strange 14-sided building semi-attached to a hotel. On the way over he questioned whether or not it was still open, as he had noticed strange behavior lately... the chef was a California surfer dude and the restaurant was full of knickknacks and surfboards and a stereo system, all of which seemed to be disappearing slowly over time. When questioned about that earlier, the chef responded, "Less is more, dude."
When we arrived, "less is more" was definitely the theme of the evening, there was only one other table seated, and the room was uncomfortably silent. We decided to sit down anyway. The chef had an extensive menu but suggested that we do omakase. He brought out two or three rolls, and they were all mind-blowing. I still remember one that seemed to involve only salmon, lemon, and sea salt, yet created a taste I've never had since.
After about twenty minutes of this, the chef switched slippers and went to the door. He said he needed to go buy ingredients and would be back. (I'm not sure where one would buy fish at 8pm in SF.) After another 20 awkward, quiet minutes we left a substantial amount of cash and wandered out with a chill in our spines.
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