food comas

Sushi Azabu

Chef: Mikio Yoshida
Cuisine: Japanese, Sushi
Neighborhood: Tribeca
Price: $65 per person Azabu course (cheaper options available as well as an à la carte menu)
Phone: (212) 274-0428
Address: 428 Greenwich Street, NY, NY 10013

Sushi Azabu has been on my to-try list for a while. Not only is it another neighborhood Tribeca restaurant, but many sushi lovers and connoisseurs have raved about the quality of the food. Azabu is actually the downstairs portion of Greenwich Grill, which is a Japanese- Italian fusion restaurant. I’ve eaten at Greenwich Grill a few times before, and have enjoyed the fusion fare. It is a nice neighborhood date spot, but gets a bit too dark (too dark to read the menu sometimes) and my favorite Japanese-Italian place in New York is still Basta Pasta. The restaurant group Plan Do See that owns Greenwich Grill and Sushi Azabu also owns TriBeCafe, a casual wine and Japanese tapas bar a few blocks away where Jen and I have been known to frequent several happy hours.

Once you get into Greenwich Grill and walk past the bar, you take the stairs down to Azabu. It is very simply decorated, has several booths and a chef’s counter. My friend and I took a booth and had the Azabu course, but I think next time I’d like to sit at the chef’s counter and focus more on the sushi and sashimi.

APPETIZER
Avocado Uni Soe
Avocado and Sea Urchin on top with Wasabi
This appetizer stood out to me on the à la carte menu so we ordered it in addition to the Azabu course. Loved the combination of smooth avocado texture, salty uni and wasabi.

AZABU COURSE

Starter : Japanese eggplant with fish flakes
I was pretty hungry, and this aubergine morsel was such a tease.  I devoured it pretty fast, so I don’t remember the sauce it was in or other details, but it was tasty.

Sashimi – fluke and bluefin tuna
Very fresh fish, I’d love to try more at the chef’s counter!

Yaki-mono – red snapper
Loved the simplicity of this dish. It was just a fish served warm with no bells or whistles. I prefer flakier fish, but this snapper was fresh, fleshy and tasted healthy

Suno-mono – clam with cucumber
My friend went nuts over this dish. He loves clams and was in awe over the texture — so smooth and velvety. The cucumber was slightly picked and the tartness complemented the sweetness of the clam.

7 pieces Nigiri and Maki-mono – tuna roll, big eye tuna, snapper, mackerel, jumbo shrimp, clam roe, egg custard
I’m not huge into rolls, so that was not my favorite. But can’t complain about anything – with nigiri all I care is the quality of the fish and it was excellent and portion size very fair.

Miso Soup
I love miso soup, and rarely have it at the end of the meal, but I was getting full so the light savory soup was a nice way to bookend the meal.