Sushi of Gari

Because I neglected this blog last week with my lack of Michelin posts (or any posts, for that matter), I’m going to post another Michelin entry this week. I’ll have to do a couple more weeks of double posts because there aren’t enough Mondays to post about all of the Michelin restaurants anymore!

I went to Sushi of Gari with a blog reader, Ada, who also writes her own blog, CollegEats. Ada contacted me and said she wanted to go to a Michelin-starred restaurant together so we picked Sushi of Gari because neither of us have ever visited. I arrived a tad late (sorry, Ada!) but I blame it on the subways:

I reserved seats at the sushi counter and we decided to both do the omakase; the server asked if we had any allergies (Ada had a couple) and also whether or not we liked certain cuts of fish, foie gras, and other things behind the sushi counter. I said I was game for anything and the sushi chefs began preparing fish for us. We started with white fish with lotus root and arugula:

The contrasting textures from the white fish and crunchy fried lotus root paired well with the peppery arugula. We were both excited to try more.

Our second piece of fish was toro with a ginger/yam paste:

The toro had a very fresh and bright flavor but I didn’t like the combination of the ginger/yam paste. If something’s great, don’t mess with the flavor.

Next we had the yellowtail belly with jalapeño:

I’ve had the yellowtail and jalapeño combination before (very recently at Lure fishbar, actually), but there wasn’t enough jalapeño on the yellowtail to equally distribute the spicy flavor; my last bite was a lot spicier than my first.

Next, miso marinated cod:

The cod was finished off on the grill and the miso flavor was intensified; another good piece of fish, but definitely nothing that was absolutely amazing or life changing. Ada actually liked this piece a lot and said she wanted to purchase a blowtorch so she could recreate the flavor at home.

The next piece was one of my favorites -Tuna with tofu:

The tofu puree on top was very creative; it was slightly sweet and very light in flavor and texture that it paired very well with the tuna.

The most popular (or famous?) piece was the salmon with baked tomato, onion, and pepper:

The tomato comes out very hot and the chefs remove the skin before placing it on the fresh piece of salmon. The sugar crystals from the tomato add an interesting texture and taste to the salmon but I thought the flavors were all too light.

Next came the yummy, deliciously briny Uni:

And then the tuna with scallion:

And the squid with uni sauce:

The smooth uni paired very well with lightly charred squid.

Next, tuna tartare:

And the sweet shrimp ceviche:

The sweet shrimp ceviche was one of my favorites from the evening; raw shrimp with bites of acidity.

Our last piece for the night was the Spanish mackerel with mushroom sauce:

Ada and I chatted about her upcoming marathon, MCAT prepping, swimming, and of course, boys. We snapped this picture on our way out:

I enjoyed the meal at Sushi of Gari but definitely felt that it was on par with Sushi Seki (after all, Seki trained with Gari before opening up his own restaurant). The price point was a little steep and the fact that they were preparing takeout containers the entire night also brought down the atmosphere a bit. I think I’ll stick to my other favorite sushi joints in the city.