I’ve had a lot of sushi in my day, at tons of the best places; Nobu, Morimoto, Yasuda, Tomoe, Yama, even places in Tokyo. But yesterday I tasted sushi that beat all of those places hands down. Sushi of Gari, on the upper east side offers a sushi omakase that is simply mind blowing. Their medium-fatty toro would be the super premium toro any place else. The uni was as sweet and deeply flavored as any I’ve ever tasted. Kumamoto oysters were as perfect as can be. And beyond the quality of the raw fish itself, the presentations themselves were imaginitive, artistic, and incredibly delicious. Various items were “grilled” which resulted in an enchanting smokiness that somehow did not overwhelm the fish. Other items were paired with inventive sauces spiked with flavors like jalapeno, parsely and even garlic. The uni came grilled as well, and was without a doubt the single most sensual morsel of food I’ve ever tasted. You first notice the smokey essence, then you pick up the sweetness of the buttery uni, and it finished with that characteristic deep and earthy aftertaste that you only find in quality sea urchin.

Other highlights include chopped toro, grilled kumamoto oyster, chopped eel, grilled japanese yellowtail, grilled salmon, seared toro, snow crab, and I’m sure I’m forgetting a few others. They’ll keep making sushi until you’re full. I could have kept going, but V got full so I had to call off the troops. Gari seasons the rice more strongly than most, so you actually pick up the hint of sweetness from the rice vinegar. V has a real affinity for sweeter foods, so this really won her over. Too bad her appetite couldn’t keep up with mine though. In retrospect we should have gone straight to the sushi omakase and bypassed the black cod app (very good, but the same as you’d get at Nobu), and the sashime we started off with (also very good, but after seeing the imagination that goes into Gari’s sushi, why would you want just plain old sashimi?). Quite the sensational meal. Oh and as an afterthought, dessert was decent as well. The crepe cake was a Mont-St-Michel kind of thing; a cake made of layers of crepes with a light pastry creme. It managed to be both light and very eggy flavored at the same time. It probably could have used a sauce of some sort, but it was nice on its own. The tempura green tea ice cream was exceptional. They used very intensely flavored green tea ice cream which I love, and the surprise was a raspberry sauce which is something I never would have thought of pairing with green tea ice cream, but it worked very well. Nice finish to a great meal. But since V is just as indulgent as I am, we took it over the top by heading into Queens to our favorite ice cream shop, Eddie’s where we shared an Orange Freeze and a Raspberry Freeze. That was the coup de grace. A fantastic finish to a terrific night of gastronomic indulgence!