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“Soto”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	Asian	West Village	Moderate	Great

k the entire time (pushups included). Next time, I’m sitting at the sushi bar and putting myself in his hands for the night. Kosugi is a third generation sushi chef who was a Food & Wine Best New Chef in 1997 and was the chef and owner of a spot in Atlanta of the same name. He shuttered his Atlanta restaurant last year and took his show up to the Big Top, New York City. Thank you Mr. Kosugi, from the bottom of my heart.

Stacey and I took a seat at one of the tables facing the sushi bar and looked at the menu, a simple bifold of flimsy copy paper printed daily with the chef’s menu. (The menu includes a page from the sushi bar, a selection from the kitchen and then a back page of sushi nigiri and omakase ($48/$58). Plates are priced in the $10-$28 range, all were large enough to share.) As Stacey looked over the sake list, I took in the room. It’s brightly lit with pinpoint lighting and there’s not much to distract you from your food. Designer Hiro Tsuruta (Chickalicious & Momofuku Noodle Bar) built a space as spare as they come, with floors, tables and chairs cut from glossy wood the color of creamery butter. Walls are stark white and one is hung cut with a large red rising sun in relief, which tends to make the wall look like a large Japanese Flag. But you won’t spend much time looking at the décor. Your gaze will go straight down, towards your plate.

Even something as simple and mundane as edamame—a gift from the chef—were exquisite. A half dozen cool pods are nestled one on top of the other in strict order, each one filled with fat sweet tender beans, seasoned with the complex flavor of the deep sea, not just a dose of salt. We started with the chu toro tartare ($24), a disc of finely diced lusciously fatty and tuna capped with a thin layer of avocado coulis, garnished with just a teaspoon of caviar and a delicate flurry of minced chives. The disc was served in the center of a pool of sesame ponzu, a fresh bright soy citrus sauce that cut the fat of the tuna and gave the dish the right amount of sharpness. Once I had a bite of the second course, a half dozen slices of pristine Atlantic salmon sashimi cured briefly in citrus and topped with a fluff of cilantro and scallion ($16), I decided it was the greatest sushi bar creation I’d ever had. Stacey and I were literally closing our eyes and moaning at this point, smiling at Mr. Kosugi after each bite. Poor man probably t ... [more, click below]

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Posted: July 23, 2007

Other restaurants in West Village :
+ Jefferson-- Closed   + La Palapa Rockola   + Sumile   + Babbo   + Tasca   + AOC Bedford   + Home   + The Spotted Pig   + Barbuto   + Numero 26   + Mas   + August   + Alta   + Cru   + Blue Mill Tavern-- Closed   + Employees Only   + Lassi   + Metropol--Closed   + Turks and Frogs   + Bellavitae   + Yumcha-- CLOSED   + Gusto: SEE EARLIER REVIEW; THIS CHEF HAS LEFT GUSTO   + Perry Street   + Home   + Ditch Plains   + The Little Owl   + Cafe Condesa   + Cafe Cluny   + Gusto   + The Waverly Inn   + Morandi   + P*ONG   + Perilla   + Soto   + Market Table   + Centro Vinoteca   + Barfry   + Dell'Anima   + Bar Blanc   + Smith's   + Commerce   + Elettaria   + Bar Q   + Cabrito   + 10 Downing   + Minetta Tavern   + Braeburn   + Scuderia, by guest reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Bar Blanc Bistro by Guest Reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Joseph Leonard   + Bar Henry, by Guest Reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Kin Shop   + Monument Lane   + Wong   + Bin on Bleecker, by Dara Pollak   + Ristorante Rafele   + Cole's Greenwich Village by Guest Reviewer Claire Jaffe   

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