https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/28/dining/sushi-restaurants.html
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anyone have a gift link ?
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gift link
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I obviously have not eaten sushi anywhere near this level / caliber (for many reasons including $$$), but I thought it was interesting how it sounded like the article-writer was looking for a different kind of novelty, je-ne-sais-quoi show, or otherwise deeply meaningful life experience from the meal.
Like the fish picks I can understand as a criticism of same-ness in bromakases but some of the other frissons of dining:
The sense that anything could happen was sometimes contagious. One night at Jewel Bako, the couple next to us insisted we run off with them for a weekend in Cabo. (We politely declined.) A few years later, at 15 East in New York, on our first night out after our child was born, we bonded with our neighbors over our admiration for the chef Masato Shimizu (who now runs Sushi Masato in Bangkok). The bill never came. These new friends paid for our meal.
I dunno, they declined running off for the weekend in cabo with the couple so I’m not sure why these are posited as examples. I guess they’re offered as symptoms, or just literary quirks of their experiences, but this seems to be looking for something more than just interesting / highly curated and novel and/or challenging fish.
Or am I really missing something and everyone is out there having life-altering experiences at these $$$ sushi places ???
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Idk man I kind of feel exactly the same as her. The diminishing returns between 300-500-750 dollar omakases in NY are more prevalent than ever with menus that start to blur or experiences that feel the same. As opposed to places like mori Nozomi or Sonagi where there is a distinct feel, hospitality, and even flair (even if not a show) to the food that differentiates it from the other counters. A lot of the ones with the rapid proliferation in NY or offshoots of the same place (noz, noz market, noz 17) become a sea of sameness for more $$ and nothing terribly new to offer even if they’re sourcing the best of the best and at the tip of the craft.
this piece resonates with me.
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Author is definitely speaking to my greatest fear when trying a new high end sushi place. In my case it manifests more as: “will the difference in execution be too subtle for me to notice?” Am I just wasting my money on a meal where I am too unsophisticated to tell the why this is worth 2x, or 3x the cost of a more accessible sushiya? Ultimately though, her assessment of Sushi Sho was the same as mine:
You can still find sushi-yas in New York that will teach you. At Sushi Sho in Midtown, where prices start at $450 per person, Keiji Nakazawa brings a scholar’s gravity to the preservation techniques at the heart of the Edomae tradition.
That meal did teach me something, and I found what I had to be delicious. Often noticeably different, and better than what I’d been familiar with from the same fish. I had to reluctantly conclude it was worth the exorbitant price.
Despite the final part of the article that feels weirdly off-topic (like who really cares about your extremely specific early 2000’s era stories about meeting people in restaurants? 
) Like @mzonelli do find myself worrying if I’m not actually the unsophisticated one and instead maybe many places are converging on a more uniform and undifferentiated experience, which may still be high quality.
Or perhaps are the constraints of the style such that one can become used to the breadth of what’s possible within sushi high quality making and we’re so jaded that everything feels the same? Then I return to my experience at Sho and know, that at least for me, that’s not completely true.
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I don’t think it’s a crazy aside for New York. As someone who lived there my entire life until 2021 there was a time that sushi counters weren’t just the richest of the rich finance bros and sugar babies. They used to be places where you’d more readily find either like minded diners or outgoing folks that are likely to connect while still respecting the craft and environment of a sushi counter. Now, even though we are seemingly joined by an interest in high end sushi or craft, the connection point might be more likely to be money or no connection at all that sparks a conversation. Is this the rule? Box but my observations match.
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I also think there is a lot of subtle nuance that goes into omakase thats really really hard to nail down unless you eat it often. Things like the density of the shari, the amount of vinegar, the mix of vinegar, etc etc are often lost on most diners in the west because we just dont eat enough sushi to have reference points (much like most diners in America are lost when it comes to wine, even in fine dining places).
One of the reason the Sho style translates so well in the west in my opinion is that it (edit: at least, this is my understanding of Sho style, not an expert here):
- Alternates between Tsumami and Nigiri, so you get less fatigue from the vinegar
- He varies the amount and blend of vinegar to each piece of nigiri, so you get to taste the entire range in one sitting. And, of course, he is phenomenal at it.
- He includes some funkier pieces in his sequence, like aged fish, which are rarer to find in the west. Completely different texture and flavor to his fresh nigiri
Its a tough thing to do because you basically have to be competent at multiple styles of sorts at once. On the other hand, telling the differences between Yoshino and Sho requires kind of the same memory as telling the difference between two Champagnes you’ve tasted at different times; it requires that you remember characteristics of both of them and have enough base knowledge to log that.
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I wont generalize, but at counter style fine dining restaurants in particular, I often have a blast. The last three times Ive been, Ive made friends at the counter who share their liquor (sometimes extremely expensive) and I sometimes grab their contact info. Made several friends this way. Of course if your fellow diners dont match your style, it can be a dud.
I am generally pretty gregarious though so luckily rarely get dud seatings, and am often confused for industry for some reason hahahaha. I do know others kind of look down on other diners who can afford to eat out at super high end restaurants more regularly talking about other restaurants they’ve been too etc etc, but its a bonding thing for them, especially if they are a regular at a fine dining place.
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High-end sushi is a lot like high-end wine; I like that comparison. All kinds of similarities:
- There’s a lot of pretentiousness involved. Many people do not appreciate what they are tasting.
- Yet there are very real quality differences that are highly correlated with price.
- There is an expensive learning curve to developing a knowledgeable palate.
- Quality differences are less obvious to people with less experience.
- Certain flavor profiles are crowd pleasers (e.g., o-toro = Napa chardonnay).
- Certain flavor profiles are often preferred by connoisseurs (e.g., tai = Chablis).
- Japanese akami = red burgundy. It’s also one of the world’s best wine pairings.
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i don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to be a sushi diner or wine drinker if you know what you like and like what you like but I can’t help but feel the idea of who can appreciate it the most / should be at a sushi counter conversation proves the writers points.
@lighthill i have met plenty of great people at counters and struck up friendships but I think as the high ends get higher this will become more rare.
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This is basically a “dear diary” nostalgia article.. “I miss the way things once were and I’m getting older”. She misses the past and now finds things to be boring. But shouldn’t we be celebrating the expansion and growth of sushi in America? Times progress for the better or worse and adapting to changes is the real education.
She ends the article with positive “personal things”, acting like making acquaintances or talking to the chef was once revolutionary. Then she dives into her past experiences. Naomichi Yasuda left Yasuda in 2010. 15 East hasn’t been top tier sushi since 2015 when Masa Shimizu left. Jewel Bako never reopened after Covid. Further proving the whole article just seems like a whole bunch of back and forth of comparing and is more of a personal nostalgia article of American sushi in the past.
How can she say she went to Sushi Sho and Yoshino and then say hold up, the farmed fish feast at the LA strip mall was just as good. Nostalgia it is. As a fan and enthusiast, sure, but as a NY Times critic?
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I think contextualizing the old boom Of sushi is relevant for the expansion of it today. I don’t think it’s lamenting there is great sushi now - but the rapid expansion has led to a homogenization of food, experience, and clientele.
People in this thread are giving such bad faith interpretations of this article because it’s offending their enlightened sushi tastes
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