09.03.08
Review of Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill, Friday July 2008
308 W.58th St. & 8th Ave., 212-397-0404, reservations for parties of 5 and larger
Great for: service, fried chicken, playing the odds on getting a seat in one of the Blue Ribbons without waiting
Blond Hedge Funder lives way uptown. About 70 blocks too far uptown, if you ask me, but the silver lining is that I go to restaurants further north than I would otherwise. Is it weird that I look for geographical diversity in my dates for the benefit of this blog? Anyway, that’s why I found myself by the Time Warner Center one Friday.
BHF is a serious health nut and didn’t listen when I told him Bruni said the sushi isn’t the best in town. Fortunately for BHF, the two sashimi each of salmon belly, chutoro and yellowtail belly were good. The waitress accidentally brought us sushi (atop rice) instead of sashimi at first. We were busy talking and didn’t notice until she apologized and said she’d bring the sashimi immediately. The sushi would have been fine but she brought the sashimi anyway and let us keep both dishes. The yellowtail by itself was a bit more rubbery than its rice-covering counterpart. The other fish pretty much melted in our mouths.
The medium blue fin belly chutoro tataki with quail egg was fresh, salty and yummy. Be careful, the wasabi is very hot. The dish should have been called tartare, I think, since it was basically minced and not seared. (Beef tataki always seems to be slightly seared; I’m just going by that.) The pulled pork special app with black vinegar, Napa cabbage with crispy rice was also good. I found it stringy, crunchy and heavily spiced – yum.
As you may or may not know, I am obsessed with fried chicken. Plus, it came with wasabi honey sauce! I had to see what that tasted like. I didn’t think the chicken orgasmic, but it was tender with crunchy skin and very well executed. The sauce was crazy and spicy. I liked it a lot. I don’t know that I’d travel 60 blocks just for that, though I would definitely go out of my way if I were in the neighborhood.
BHF knows my love for all things steak and insisted we also try the Bruni-recommended NY strip on Asian broccoli with miso pepper sauce and salty onion tempura. The broccoli came across as too salty after I had a lot of it, though for a big leafy vegetable that has to be crammed in the mouth in giant bites to avoid leaving any hanging from the mouth, it was really quite enjoyable. The sauce was good and so were the onions but you should eat them when they’re hot. I liked the meat despite the big vein/tendons on the side.
We had a tasty bottle of the Blue Ribbon jun mai. The service was completely lovely – the waitress was wonderful, especially the way she handled the sashimi/sushi mixup. The décor is very Japanese, with lots of wood. There are lots of seats and you can put your name down ahead of time so it’s much more likely that you’ll get a seat in a reasonable time. It’s definitely a good choice if you’re within 15 blocks.
Rating: 7.5 / 10
Our cost: $240 (one bottle sake $48)
Noise level: quiet
Chance of walking in: not too bad, place is quite large.
