Long story short, this place is great.
That’s the whole place, 12 seats. One seating Tuesday through Thursday, two on Friday and Saturday. The first people to arrive get seated at Sasaki-san’s station. Everybody gets the same dish at the same time.
Notice the beautiful fresh wasabi. I should have taken a closeup of the lovely house-pickled ginger. I told him I was going to try to make it at home, he said I wouldn’t be able to get the right kind of ginger, but I’m pretty sure they have it at Berkeley Bowl.
$180 seems steep but it’s plenty of food, mostly labor-intensive, and the staff-to-customer ratio is high.
I’m not sure what this amuse was. Dried fish with salt plum and cucumber? Two photos for scale.
I didn’t photograph the zuke maguro or the other nigiri except for a couple of the prettiest ones. Insanely good. The rice was slightly warm.
Octopus (nidako). Tender and creamy.
Sawara (Spanish mackerel), I think the most delicate mackerel I’ve ever had. Lovely.
Kinmedai (golden eye snapper). Crazy good. Very delicate pickles.
Tara shirako (cod milt) in a sauce that had a smoky note from katsuobushi.
One of the prettiest of the nigiri. I was having too good a time to keep notes. One of the most memorable was a black throat sea perch.
Partway through the nigiri they served a little palate cleanser of clam broth, then switched to rice made with a different kind of vinegar.
Another pretty one.
Tuna tartare from which Sasaki-san made the best hand roll I’ve ever had.
Looks like dessert but it’s actually ankimo (most delicate preparation I’ve ever had) and some sort of winter squash on daikon.
Akadashi, subtle but deep flavor.
Some kind of special lunar new year dessert. Reminded me of panforte but starchier, maybe had some kabocha in it? Not my thing.
Drinks menu is Champagne, sake, and one beer. I splurged on a bottle of Krug NV since the markup was only 50% over retail. Next time I’ll pay the $40 corkage, not only to save money but because I prefer other types of wine with sushi.