When I reach New York one day (with wads of cash in hand, of course),
I would head straight to Nobu, Masa and Per Se. Oh and a reservation
made months in advance too.
Nobu
Chic, casual and pulsing with energy, Nobu cannot be compared with any
other restaurant. The spirit of invention of its chef-owner, Nobuyuki
Matsuhisa — incorporating new ingredients into old dishes or retooling
traditional recipes — lighted a spark in the kitchen, igniting each
chef to new and increasingly daring feats. The result is something
that seems like a Japanese dish but is not.. The best time to eat at
Nobu is lunchtime. Order an omakase meal and let the chefs choose your
meal for you. No kitchen turns out a more spectacular plate of sushi.
Desserts include a warm chocolate soufflé cake with siso syrup and
green tea ice cream that comes in a bento box. Popularity may be
taking its toll. On a recent visit, the Benihana overtones, a weakness
for gaudy gimmicks, and the tourist clientele, added up to a less than
deluxe experience. Edwyn Ferrari, the new chef, can both dazzle and
dismay with his omakase. The sushi maintains a high level of quality,
however, and the black cod with miso is still one of the most
luxurious taste experiences in New York.
Masa
Masa joins the thinly populated pantheon of New York's most stellar
restaurants for one reason above all others: with the superior seafood
it serves you, it engineers discrete moments of pure elation that few
if any other restaurants can match. Those moments mostly have to do
with sushi, which Masa does to perfection, its chefs carving and
molding and anointing each piece with painstaking, ritualistic care.
The restaurant is less extravagant theater than hushed, minimalist
temple, but that suits the simple, pristine fish, much of which has a
silky, melting quality that, in my experience, cannot be found in New
York at a lower price. The pitiless price here is more than $400 a
person once tax and tip are factored in and quite possibly more than
$500 with sake or wine. You pay to be putty, eating only what the
chefs give you but knowing, as you sigh and even begin to feel
flushed, that you are experiencing something divine.
Per Se
One of the most eagerly awaited restaurants to open in Manhattan over
recent years, Per Se faces dauntingly great expectations and, more
often than not, it meets them. A multi-course, mini-portion
extravaganza here is virtually guaranteed to yield a few dishes — and
more than a few bites — that instantaneously bring a crazy smile to
your face and suffuse you with pure joy. The ingredients here are that
superior; the cooking is that diligent and disciplined. And the
attention to detail, in terms of everything from the decor to the
plates to the silver stirrer in a gin and tonic, is awesome. Sybaritic
to the core, Per Se traffics in luxuries like caviar, foie gras,
lobster and Kobe beef, but its greatness shows in simpler
compositions, like a warm potato salad using bite-sized marble
potatoes and an exquisitely balanced mustard-seed vinaigrette. To top
it all off, there is vast space between the tables — only 16 of them —
and a lovely view of Central Park.
All reviews from NYTimes.com
