Warning: Tons of photos!
Arrived at Sushi Ishikawa at a friend's recommendation. True New York fashion, it is tiny, and when they said your seating is at 8:30p they really meant it because the place is so small, you're better off going to a Starbucks to hang until it's time.
We were lucky that we got to sit at the sushi bar and watch owner and chef Pham at work.
First round: Korean Live Float.
This is Hokkaido Scallop (it literally melts in your mouth like butter)
Pipe Mackerel - from Chiba Prefecture, it is only available 2-3 months out of the year, and it was the end of the season.
Chef Pham showing off mad skill of cutting fish.
Baby Barracuda - it also melts in your mouth... hey, not everyone get a chance for that. What's more interesting on this one was that he used a homemade mix of soy sauce, yuzu sauce, and Vietnamese fish sauce, so it has a bit a kick to it.
Shrimp with wattage mollach (not familiar w/ that) but as a non-shrimp person, this is the best shrimp I've ever had.
Shijimaji - It is a tad spicy, it is model after Chef's version of Vietnamese fish pot stew, so it has a tad of fish sauce kick.
Tasmania Ocean Trout - it was soaked in butter miso, very nice and balanced.
Chefs busy feeding hungry diners. All the while, Chef Pham is still talking and joking with us.
Seabream soaked in homemade mix with watermelon skin. I've never eaten watermelon skin before. I've taken it in powder form, used it to wash my face when I was a pimpled teenager, never have I eating it in a shaved format before.
Shio tempura with uni and truffle. The uni was super fresh and not slimy at all.
Very underrated dish: chawamushi with mushroom and truffle. Very light, not heavy at all.
This is an interesting dish, it is Blue Fish Tuna, Fatty Tuna, white scallion, with sliced truffle. The bottom was soaked in yuzu soy sauce.
Madai at the bottom, uni and bottom is the ceviche sauce that has a little zing to it. Yet very refreshing to have a bite in your mouth.
This is King Salmon with Thai Chili Sauce. As a person not much of a fan of spicy stuff, this is good enough for taste, not meant to be spicy, as in hot, at all.
Scallop with Uni and Sliced truffle, this is a bit creamier than the others due to the sauce, which of course is made in house.
Slice of Abalone - it is from Australia and has been cooked for 3 hours. Very meaty, not chewy, and totally different from any abalone I've had before.
This is fancy: Tuna, Otoro, wasabi, Beluga caviar, gold flake. The meat and the fat together is pretty decadent, the caviar really did it for me. Of course the gold flake is all pretty for sure.
Last piece of sushi, Chef Pham was busy mixing this that or another. All the while just chatting with us, his hands were busy doing stuff, next thing we know we are presented with...
A fancy handroll, this is by far the fanciest I've ever had. It has tuna mix, uni, masago caviar and scallions.
For dessert: This is coconut panna cotta style with matcha layer on top. Chef Pham said he sweat the coconut meat, root and dilute the coconut milk back into it. I was just super impressed with the matcha layer, that looked like it's roasted matcha and mix with the coconut taste is not too harsh.
To cleanse the pallet, we were given Yuzu Sake. I've also have never had that before. It is actually very good, very low alcohol content.
As a throw in bonus, which this was not the only one, Chef got the last of the Melon from Japan. This is super sweet all to itself, doesn't need much scooping and it comes out easily. Imagine the super sweet taste when a honeydew is super ripe, except this texture is not mushy like a super ripe. That's the best way to describe it.
The restaurant does nothing but Omakase, they come in 12 courses ($85), 15 Courses ($125), 16 courses ($155). The 16 courses has a waygu beef with foie gras as one of their courses, which is why the cost is more. Frankly, we got the 15 course, but as you can see, there was more than 15 up there.
Chef Phan was so energetic and was entertaining us as he was making our food. He was telling us how he came from Vietnam and started his family here. It's really a true American Dream story, he worked hard, used to start out as a sushi chef working along side his father. Slowly earned his way to work along side the big leagues, Morimoto and Ripert, just to name a couple. But, Chef Pham is not the one to name dropped, he just mentioned that he had the opportunity to learn from a lot of people and got the skills that he got.
He mentioned that in NYC, there's a lot of big name sushi places don't open on Mondays because
Tsukiji Fish Market is closed on Sundays so the fish can't catch a flight to make it to New York for Monday's open. And if the quality were to be compromised, a lot of sushi chef won't even take the chance. However, Chef Pham, get his fish from Kyushu, just as fresh, less competition, and they are open on Sunday and willing to fly the fish and get there on Monday. If he sold out that day, he's done, to ensure quality is always fresh. If you ever get a chance definitely make a reservation at Sushi Ishikawa, it is an experience of a lifetime.
Sushi Ishikawa
419 E. 74th Street
UES
New York, NY 10021
212-651-7292
https://www.ishikawanyc.com
