This past Thursday, I made a personal breakthrough. I finally got over my prejudice against going out to eat alone and booked a few restaurants over the next month. Maybe I can rope a coworker into going with me in the future, but for now I’m excited to experience them solo.

The restaurant

The first restaurant I picked was Sushi Satsuki, a 1-Michelin star omakase sushi bar. It is part of Suzuki, a restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. There wasn’t really any particular reason I chose Sushi Satsuki for my first foray into solo dinners except for the fact that it came up on Tock as available for a 7:30 reservation the next day. Suzuki is run by Yuta Suzuki, the son of Toshio Suzuki, owner of the famed Sushi Zen. It’s a three-part venture. Satsuki is a 10-seat sushi bar presided over by Toshio Suzuki and Kentaro Sawada, who worked at Zen. Three Pillars is a cocktail, wine, and sake bar. Suzuki is a kaiseki restaurant. All three are housed in the same basement space, a bit of a maze.

The beginning

I went to the gym after work and made it to the restaurant right on time. I was the first to arrive for the 7:30 seating. After I checked my coat, I was seated directly in front of Chef Toshio Suzuki’s working area. As soon as I arrived, he brought the two boxes of fish in front of me and named each fish and its source.

I ordered a Kagua Blanc, a Belgian-style beer with a strong aroma of yuzu, and watched Chef Suzuki prepare for the meal ahead as the remaining guests arrived. As each party arrived, he displayed each box of fish again and gave a complete listing. The waiter asked me for any dietary restrictions or allergies. I told him no wasabi (I know, but I hate horseradish).

There were 18 courses in all, to my reckoning. I won’t go into detail for all of them, but I’ll pick out the ones I had comments about.

The appetizers

bluefin tuna tartar and monkfish liver
bonito sashimi salad with yuzu
mixed platter: sashimi and cooked foods

I’m a huge fan of monkfish liver and haven’t had it in a long time, so although it was canned, I enjoyed it. The tartar was fresh but not spectacular in terms of texture or taste. As I finished the dish, the waiter asked me again- no wasabi? Yes, no wasabi. He placed a small paper sign in front of me, facing Chef Suzuki.

Chūtoro was the centerpiece of the mixed platter, which was served with two sauces. The waiter gave me instructions as to which sauce to use for each bite, and recommended leaving the crab meat in tomato water for last. Seeing the beautiful presentation of the platter, I was thoroughly excited to try each small bite, and for the most part I was not disappointed. However, I have to say I was let down by some of the cooked foods. The fried fig with peanut sauce and the fried octopus suckers were mediocre at best. The fig stem was still on, and after being fried and cooled, it was tough and inedible. What was described as “crunchy” suckers were rubbery and cold, and the breading on both bites was stale and unpleasant. To be honest, I had already had my reservations about these two items as I watched Chef Suzuki and his assistant plate them. Deep-fried foods are not meant to sit on cold plates for twenty minutes.

The crab in tomato water was fantastic. The meat was tender and juicy from being soaked, and the water was crisp and refreshing with a light aroma of tomatoes. The chūtoro was just fatty enough that I couldn’t eat two pieces consecutively, but still had a bite to it instead of just dissolving like ōtoro does.

Nigiri

shima-aji
black herring with kelp
ink squid
flying fish with flying fish roe
razor clam
kimedai
maguro
ōtoro
seared nodoguro
Hokkaido uni
anago
[one mystery fish that I forgot to write down]

The platter was the last of the appetizers. Twelve pieces of nigiri followed. I’m a slave to texture, so my favorites were the ink squid and the razor clam. The squid was creamy and had a great bite to it, and the razor clam was crunchy and flavorful.

I did find that many of the other nigiri were a tad too salty for my taste, a problem I didn’t quite know how to address since Chef Suzuki painted soy sauce over each piece of nigiri before serving. It seemed rude to ask for yet another alteration when I’d already asked for no wasabi. Of note was the Hokkaido uni nigiri. The uni itself was already salty, so the addition of salt flakes on top kicked it into the field of extreme saltiness.

That being said, although there was a paper stating “no wasabi” placed in front of me, and Chef Suzuki had a system of placing my nigiri in its own column on his work area, I did receive a nigiri with wasabi in it (the flying fish one). With an effort, I chewed, swallowed, and weakly reported the mistake. From then on, I kept close attention.

I also have to critique the preparation of the fish a bit. While most of the fish was sliced well and had the right texture, the seared nodoguro had an uncut tendon that made swallowing uncomfortable and the anago (cooked) had a bone that took me a bit of effort to retrieve (after mashing it all up thoroughly).

Regardless of how it reads, I did enjoy my sushi! The rice was wonderfully flavored, and the ratio of rice to fish was perfect. All of it was fresh and nothing was too fishy. The ōtoro was extremely high quality, though it was a little too fatty for my liking. I think it would have been excellent seared.

The sendoff

tamago and pickled cucumber
daikon and chūtoro hand roll
red miso soup
roasted green tea ice cream sandwich

The traditional tamago, made with whitefish here, was served with pickled cucumber alongside. I would say that it wasn’t my favorite in terms of texture, but I think it was done pretty well. Could have a been a bit more moist, perhaps.

Finally, there was a pickled daikon, chive, and chūtoro hand roll. This actually happens to be a variation on my mom’s favorite sushi. Every time we do omakase, she asks for a daikon, tuna, and shiso hand roll. The three ingredients are chopped together and made into a roll. It seems to be becoming more common everywhere. Chef Suzuki kept the chūtoro pieces fairly large, so there was a bite to it.

While it was tasty, I prefer the chopped version because the mixture becomes more homogenous. However, I found this sushi entertaining because it was the first time I saw someone toast seaweed on an induction cooktop. The iron rack that is usually over coals was placed upside down on the portable induction cooktop, and Chef Suzuki toasted each piece by dragging it over the top of the rack. Curious, but certainly less spectacular than the pot of smoking coals that I’m used to seeing countertop at omakase sushi bars.

We finished up the meal with a red miso soup containing succulent tiny mushrooms and an ice cream sandwich. The sandwich was composed of a scoop of roasted green tea ice cream, soft mochi, and some red bean paste between two delightfully crunchy, airy rice crackers, shaped with a lip so that no ice cream escaped from the sides when they were pressed together. So functional, so delicious.

Closing notes

While it wasn’t perfect, my experience at Satsuki was overall enjoyable. However, the meal was just a bit off the mark for me in terms of flavors and textures. Nothing egregious, just personal preference.

Although I won’t be returning to the sushi bar anytime soon, I do want to try kaiseki dining at Suzuki and drinks at Three Pillars. Seasonal menus are always enticing. Also, the drinks are supposed to be hangover-free, and I’ve always wanted to witness sorcery.

Menu

bluefin tuna tartar and monkfish liver
bonito sashimi salad with yuzu
mixed platter: sashimi and cooked foods
shima-aji
black herring with kelp
ink squid
flying fish with flying fish roe
razor clam
kimedai
maguro (akami)
ōtoro
seared nodoguro
Hokkaido uni
anago
[one mystery fish that I forgot to write down]
tamago and pickled cucumber
daikon and chūtoro hand roll
red miso soup
roasted green tea ice cream sandwich

Japanese terms

I’m not Japanese, but these are some terms that I’ve heard and used over the years. A lot of them are specific to sushi.

akami lean tuna

anago sea eel

chūtoro medium fatty tuna

kaiseki a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner

kimedai red snapper

maguro bluefin tuna, but if you ask for this at a restaurant without specifying what cut, you’ll get akami

nodoguro blackthroat seaperch

omakase “I’ll leave it up to you.” In dining, a meal consisting of dishes selected by the chef. Typically with an emphasis on sushi.

ōtoro the fattiest part of the tuna

shima-aji striped jack, sometimes called striped horsemackerel

tamago rolled egg

uni sea urchin