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“Brushstroke”


  Occasion: Cuisine: Area: Cost: Rating:
  Night Out Asian Tribeca Break the Bank Off the Charts

Many years ago, when I was a high school student in the cosmopolitan borough of Queens, I ate my first piece of sushi. Granted, it contained no raw fish. It was a cucumber roll, but it was wrapped in seaweed and I used chopsticks to transport it from plate to mouth (with a stop in the soy sauce pool when I could manage that advanced move). My introduction to "sushi" came thanks to my friend Dayna, a classmate of mine at the Kew Forest School, who was on the cutting edge of cool in every way. For instance, she wore E.G. socks, Ton Sur Ton tops, and shopped regularly at Camp Beverly Hills in Great Neck, obvious signs of true enlightenment to my 16-year old self.

In any case, there we were, Dayna, Marty, Melissa and I (we were a gaggle of four girls on most outings) at Narita, the local Japanese place on 70th Road, right next to the Pizzeria Uno's where I took my first restaurant job, enjoying a taste of a far away land: cucumber rolls all around, and when we got really crazy, a California roll and a bowl of udon! It was 1986, Rick Springfield and Foreigner ruled the airwaves, and we were living on the culinary edge. I thought back to those glory days and had to laugh to myself as I ate my way through a dazzling 10-course Kaiseki meal at David Bouley's new temple of Kyoto cuisine, Brushstroke. Narita, it was not.

Like myself (clearly), David Bouley has had a love affair with Japanese cuisine for many years. His newest restaurant, Brushstroke, is an incredibly thoughtful expression of that passion. It is the product of over a decade of research and collaboration between DB and the Tsuji Culinary Institute in Japan. Indeed, over the past twelve years, the concept has been under development at Tsuji with over 5000 recipes created for Brushstroke along the way.  Talk about an epic process.  

Brushstroke's kaiseki menu follows Japan's traditional 20-phase seasonal calendar, and many of the dishes produced by a team of chefs led by Isao Yamada, a meticulously trained Kaiseki chef who studied the art of beauty, creativity, and umami alongside Kaiseki master Hitoshi Ishihara of Mizai in Gion, would do just fine placed on pedestals alongside works of masters like Picasso and Miro. This food is truly exquisite, not only to admire from afar, but to devour from close proximity as well.

A caveat before I continue. Most of the time, I do feel that words can do justice to the food I have eaten, but ... [more, click below]

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Other restaurants in Tribeca :
+ Lunchbox Food Company--Closed   + 66: THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED   + Ola-- Closed   + Bouley   + Dominic   + Landmarc   + Pace-- Closed   + EN Japanese Brasserie   + Centrico   + Cercle Rouge   + The Harrison   + Turks & Frogs Tribeca   + Devin Tavern   + Dani-- Closed Now   + Bacaro/Smith & Mills   + The Harrison   + Matsugen, By Guest Reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Forge   + Macao Trading Company   + Harbour   + Review text tbd...   + Mehtaphor   + Brushstroke   + Jung Sik   


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