Takahachi
Rating 5/5
Price: $260.00
(Ample Sushi and Sake for 4 people)
Atmosphere Hole in the wall sushi, perfect for date night
Cuisine: Sushi
In a city where your ability to use chopsticks is a close second to navigating the subway lines in the ranks of what constitutes a “True New Yorker”, it is no surprise that high-end omakase style restaurants continue to open with regularity, bearing dinner prices comparable to a month’s rent. Just last week food critic Pete Wells of the New York Times highlighted Yoshino, a 4 Star, 10 seat restaurant that will run you $646.00 before drinks - featuring Cod Semen (not a typo) as one of its marquee dishes. While I enjoy over the top Sushi temples from Yoshino to Yasuda as much as the next guy, my favorite New York sushi joint is Takahachi - a nondescript destination in the East Village where the bathrooms are spray painted and the sake is reasonable.
Over 30 years ago then owner Hiroyuki Takahashi opened Takahachi, a no-frills neighborhood sushi restaurant on Avenue A. Hiroyuki was joined shortly thereafter by Chef Jack Hlaing. After 19 years of working with and for Hiroyuki, Jack was given the opportunity to purchase the restaurant in 2019, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Over the years Jack and I have developed a friendly rapport; I rarely look at a menu but instead trust him blindly, and I am by no means the minority in this regard. On any given night nearly half of the intimate venue seems to be filled with regulars meeting Jack with hugs, kisses, and stories about their kids.
On my most recent trip to Takahachi we started with charred shishito peppers and sipped Sake from traditional Masu Sake boxes, sought out for their cedar wood that pairs nicely with the wooden casks in which the rice-based grain is brewed. From there Takahachi’s talented team of Sushi Chefs took the reins on an assortment of rolls and nigiri. Fresh uni and scallops flown in from Japan were a cut above (for obvious reasons) but local pieces like King Salmon, Fatty Tuna, Yellow Tail Belly & Red Snapper held their own. Takahachi is a welcome outlier here in New York where you can blow the doors off the menu without having to pawn your watch. Each piece of nigiri - plated in the order of which it should be consumed - seems to melt in your mouth, more than the last.
There is no question that high-end Omakase style restaurants with price tags obtainable only to those with a trust fund or business account will continue to pop up and flourish in the big apple; but fortunately for the rest of us in search of high-grade sushi at a gentlemanly price, there is Takahachi.