Sushi Ishikawa

Sushi Ishikawa Restaurant Review:

About the restaurant: Sushi Ishikawa isn’t for the faint of heart when it comes to sushi exploration. The small, upstart sushiya on the Upper East Side is a showcase for chef Don Pham’s creativity, a natural offshoot of his time spent at the inventive o ya, Geisha and Morimoto. The small, brick-walled restaurant seats 23, with the choicest 11 spots at the sushi bar. Do say hello to Don – he’s one of the most personable sushi chefs in town.

Likes: Mind-blowing combinations, like the Tasmanian ocean trout smoked with cherry wood, with truffles, caviar (kaluga and osetra), gold leaf and foie gras.
Dislikes: Very difficult to get a reservation.

About the food: This is not sushi by the numbers – you will not get a spicy tuna roll, California roll, or yellowtail with jalapeño here. With the three choices of omakase, either 12, 15 or 16 pieces, you will receive the gift of chef Don’s expertise, and a set of superior fish flown in from Japan, Mexico, Chile, Spain, Russia and the U.S. (California and Maine), all lovingly enhanced with artistry and ingredients that will have you saying “ah” from the first look (or bite). Each morsel is tweezed, molded and composed as carefully as a Jenga tower. Using the ingredients of the season and the freshest fish available on that day, the chef might give you chutoro and otoro together with truffles. Or it might be some other fish spackled with the likes of micro chives, shiso or Thai basil. A box of micro greens sits at the ready for plucking to accentuate the beautiful pieces. Some are torched, others are not. Seven-day dry-aged tuna is a novelty, in a concept similar to dry-aged beef, but without using salt, and instead put in pieces of paper that are changed regularly throughout the aging process, which increases the richness of the fish. Three kinds of uni are used to different effect, from Hokkaido (brinier), Russia (sweeter and creamier) and California (sweet and creamy). There isn’t much shellfish on the menu, but what is used includes Kumamoto oysters served tempura style along with Dungeness crab, and botan ebi with foie gras, bottarga and yuzu. If money is no object, you should definitely choose the 16-piece version that includes an A5 Wagyu portion with truffle. Happily, unlike other sushi restaurants, a hand roll bulging with chutoro, ikura and uni accompanies an actual dessert that finishes the small plate progression: coconut panna cotta with matcha green tea the color of an evergreen tree. It’s served with a tiny cup of yuzu saké.

About the drinks: Sakés by the bottle and glass are featured to complement, as are a selection of mainly European wines and a handful of Japanese beers.