Fresh Sushi: The Unfishy fish

Ask 10 people where the best sushi is and you will probably get 10 different answers. If in your inquiries, you get an answer more than twice, it might just be some really good sushi. There are a few places in New York I hear over and over. Some are the trendy places that people like to name drop just to seem like they are 'in the know,' some are places that people just don't know any better not to name, and others I hear over and over...well, because they have the freshest and tastiest fish (some of these places come along with really large price tags- think Masa). One such place that I've begun to hear repeatedly is Sushi Seki, an unassuming little sushi restaurant in the upper east side. From the outside, a passerby would see a sign, a door, and mostly shaded windows, but step inside and there are people waiting for their tables wall to wall with reservations. The atmosphere itself is nothing special; simple tables with white linens and sparse walls, but I guess thats not the draw of the place.

When L-Dawg and I decided to go for a healthy dinner to catch up, the first thing that came to mind was sushi; as fish is one of the healthiest things a person can eat...and then because I know L-Dawg loves food just as much as I do, I thought about Sushi Seki. When we got to SS, there were people hudled around the small countertop referred to as "the bar" as they waited for their tables. I politely asked the hostess for our reservation and she told me "five minutes.." Okay, this didn't seem too bad. But it was so hot inside, L-Dawg and I decided to wait outside. When 15 minutes passed by and we still hadn't been contacted for our table, we decided to check back in. The hostess said, "They are just finishing their last roll..." I thought it was funny to determine the length of time a table would remain seated based on how many pieces of sushi they had left on their plates. In any case, we waited until our table was ready and 30 minutes later when we were brought to our seats we realized just how small th restaurant really was. Our table was one of two lined up along the wall of a narrow hallway that opened up into the "main dining room," which was probably a total of 8 tables. No wonder why there was a wait with reservations!

When we were seated, L-Dawg and I were ready to get down to business. We searched the menu for the Omakase; both of us were feeling adventurous and safe in a place that was rated so well for fresh fish. We queried the server for the difference between the Omakase and the speciality platter; she recommended the speciality platter as it all came out at once rather than piece by piece in the Omakase. We complied with our server's suggestion and started out with a salad each.

The salads were standard and good and the ginger dressing had an original hint of onion. When our speciality platter arrived, L-Dawg and I both had wide eyes. The waitress explained each piece on the menu and we decided to try each piece at the same time...its more fun that way. We started with the Alaskan King Salmon. While I'm not much of a raw salmon type girl, I must say it was great. Not fishy at all, fresh and delic with a bit of soy sauce. L Dawg and I kind of laughed each time we dipped a piece into the soy sauce because while our server said the soy sauce was unnecessary to the flavors of the fish, for some reason everytime we dipped in soy, it added a little somethin somethin.

From the salmon we moved onto the crab piece and onto the toro and so on and so on. Each piece was really good: tuna with tofu sauce, yellow tail with jalepeno, scallop sauteed in butter, spicy tuna, etc. I can't say I hated any of them. We even ordered some additional pieces so we can taste the eel, which seriously was sooo good. I took a bite of LDawgs and was forced by the laws of nature alone to get a piece for myself. It was good eel, the type that melts in your mouth. Like BUTTAH. I have to say, there have been times in my life where I've eaten sushi and felt a sense of well... a gag reflex. You know what I'm talking about! LDawg confirmed this feeling as well. Something just doesn't feel right and my throat is telling me so by closing up. I've felt this way about eel at least 2 out of the 4 times I've eaten it, which doesn't give eel a very good ratio in my mind...but this experience cleaned the slate for eel for me. Way to go eel..your back on my good side.

In any case, L Dawg and I pretty much cleaned house; we felt adventurous in the sushi department, enjoyed all the new pieces we had (even the benito--apparently a standard Japanese fish), and felt satiated after the meal (according to LDawg). Everything tasted fresh; nothing fishy; like a little bearded Japanese fisherman had made some great catches for the day.

To break it down...There is absolutely nothing new or innovative about sushi seki. There is nothing enticing about the atmosphere. Nothing fancy. But if you want really good traditional sushi and sashimi, this is your freshest bet. PS Make a reservation...even if you have to wait an extra half hour, I saw walk-ins turned away!