04.02.09
Review of Jin, Monday March 2009
252 Broome & Orchard/Ludlow Sts., 212-979-0989
Great for: special rolls, tuna amazing roll, good sushi near Chinatown
My snowboarding friend M (from the Fat Hippo post) ended up asking me out. Something about shared thrills, I guess. :)
He loves Jin and I live practically next door to it, so it was the obvious choice one cold Monday. To start, we got the mini Japanese pizza, salmon slices, spicy sauce and jalapeño on a rice cake, which was enjoyable though I’d have liked a smaller rice cake. It was a bit hard to share because they just cut the rice and then draped the salmon on top, but that gave me a good excuse to “accidentally” take extra sashimi.
The tuna amazing roll is everything its name suggests. It’s a fantastic concoction of spicy tuna, white tuna tempura, black pepper tuna, avocado and scallion that I can only describe as genius. The black pepper, especially, lifts it considerably above ordinary. The tempura somehow integrates seamlessly – the whole thing just goes together wonderfully. We kind of wanted to order another one but the waiter told us about a special tuna and yellowtail jalapeño roll that sounded great, and was. I could have done with less avocado but then I always can. I didn’t mind it, actually; I think it helped balance the spiciness of the peppers. All the special rolls are generously sized and come eight pieces each, so we just got one more little thing. The agedashi tofu with bonito flakes and scallions was super hot; the outside nice, though the inside needed a bit of flavor.
I’ve been here a couple other times, too. The regular rolls are fine, not as big or delicious as the specials. I like their selection of sakes; fiscally reasonable as well as tasty. The staff are actually Chinese, but attentive and nice. I think they did a good job with the décor, the music is always chill and fun and it’s rarely crowded. Plus it’s open until 12 on Fridays and Saturdays (as of April 2009). They’re definitely getting another visit soon.
Rating: 7.5 / 10
Our cost: $55 (1 tall beer, 2 apps, 2 special rolls)
Noise level: good
Chance of walking in: not too bad.
