Omakase
Posted on July 23, 2008 - Filed Under Business |
Sometimes it’s just better to throw yourself to the wind and enjoy it.
My mom convinced me to treat myself to a special dinner. Contrary to popular belief, a special dinner is not held in some frou frou French restaurant. My favorite is all about simplicity. It’s all about raw, natural taste.
It’s about sushi. Don’t confuse sushi for anything tempura style - like shrimp or the infamous “crunchy roll”. Sushi is raw, real, intimate and “el naturale”.
My chef was Aki, the owner and “old crusty” style sushi chef. English was limited to a few phrases. A few Japanese phrases decorate my language bucket. But only a few.
“Magura“, I ordered. Simple enough. Simple tuna.
Sake starts to make the room spin. ”Spicy Tuna Roll“. Suddenly my inner voice spoke. ”Why not just order a Big Mac. C’mon, it’s a special night. Let’s get funky!”
“Cancel the spicy roll . . . I want omakase.”
Aki smiles ear to ear. ”Sure?”
“Hai”
To say “omakase” is the greatest honor a customer can bestow upon a sushi chef. Essentially the customer is saying that their entire dining experience is solely in the hands of a master chef. Almost like climbing into a roller coaster, not knowing what lies around the next corner but you know it’s going to be good.
Not understanding anything the chef said as he placed the next delectable treat, ordering it again had become impossible. But it didn’t matter. My taste buds were flipping upside down. Sake washed it all down.
“You very brave” the Japanese woman said, seated next to me.
“I very drunk. More sake!”
Taking the omakase path to sushi has opened some real doors, real possibilities. Having the sushi chef continually place his best, his premium in front of you without having to continually ask for it is an experience which cannot be replaced.
Yeah, sometimes it’s fun just to step out into the wind.
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5 Responses to “Omakase”
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mmmmmmm sushi good…
You are brave… I’m not sure I’d be willing to do that in the place we get our sushi… We generally have it delivered so the experience is quite a bit different. (Trying to enjoy the experience with 3 kids doesn’t necessarily work out all that well.)
Our dining experiences generally involve ordering the food as quickly as possible and devouring it, with or without tasting, quickly enough so as to not have the kids entering into a kicking/food fight.
But the next time we go over there, hopefully with kids with a sitter, I’ll be trying it “Clifford Style” or, OMAKASE!
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@Matt: It’s definitely not “Clifford Style”. I discovered the other day the really fine sushi establishments require omakase. No choice whatsoever in what you want to eat. Only the ingredients, typically flown in from Japan that same day. Some day real soon . . .
I just had NYPD pizza that had, spinach, tomatoes, ricotta cheese and clams. It was damn good. First time I had clams on pizza!
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Clifford,
Years ago I had a similar experience in Bucktown, New Orleans. I finally learned the name of that wonderful experience. Omakase.
except the plums. they were bitter.
@Jonathan: That pleases me to no end. From now on, if the sushi chef is Japanese I’m going omakase. Boo yah! Not sure about the plum thing though . . . . plums?