Sushi of Gari is one of the most celebrated sushi institutions in NYC…and luckily for L and me, its Hell’s Kitchen outpost (Sushi of Gari 46) is a five minute walk from our apartment. I’d only ever ordered a la carte there before though, so I was excited when L took me there for a birthday omakase dinner last week. One word: WOW. It was unexpectedly innovative and chocked full of surprisingly delicious flavor combos. In my book, it’s currently tied with Kura, 15 East, and Sushi Yasuda as one of my favorite omakases in NYC.

We sat at the sushi bar with Chef Oyama, who hails from Yokohama, Japan. He was highly personable and effortlessly whipped up some of the most delicious sushi pieces I’ve ever had the pleasure of tasting – no exaggeration. When it comes to omakase, chefs always serve up piece after piece of pre-dressed sushi…but Sushi of Gari took that to a whole new level.

Similar to Sushi Yasuda, omakase cost isn’t set at Sushi of Gari but rather, an eat-until-you-tell-them-to-stop mentality. To give us some kind of bearing, I asked the waitress approximately how many pieces $120 would get you, and it seemed that 12 pieces aka $10/piece was a good measure to go by. We ended up having 17 pieces each and a nice bottle of wine, totaling just over $400 all-in when all was said and done.

My favorite piece, shockingly, wasn’t the uni! Although that was of course delicious.

My favorite bite was actually the bluefin tuna topped with tofu sauce and homemade chili…yes you read that correctly. I truly cannot emphasize enough how divinely mouthwatering this flavor combo was (disclosure: I love spicy food). The buttery tuna, creamy smooth tofu, and crunchy kick of spice all mingled together for an eyes-roll-in-the-back-of-your-head DELICIOUS. I even ordered a second one for dessert I loved it so much.

Another piece that 100% stood out was the torched Seattle fluke fin topped with white truffle oil and a poached quail egg that basically exploded in your mouth. Holy cow. Just look at it.

Another favorite was the last piece of the night, when I asked Chef Oyama to surprise me with something fun for the finale. He delivered with this meaty Seattle snow crab leg topped with uni…and BOTH were lightly torched. Staggeringly good.

Here are all of our other courses from the night:

Sushi of Gari – Pros:

• Loved how innovative every single course was. Just when we thought we’d seen it all, Chef Oyama would surprise us with yet another flavor medley we’d never experienced before.
• As expected, the quality of the fish was flawless.
• The meal felt extremely relaxed. We had a 7:30pm reservation and never once felt we were being rushed to finish.
• And of course, the ample amount of uni. The chef listens to what you like (and don’t like) and serves up pieces accordingly, so I was presented with uni three ways: by itself, atop Seattle snow crab, and as a tempura. So good.

Sushi of Gari – Cons:

• It was truly a flawless night. If I had to pick at anything, I’d say the sushi bar felt a tiny bit crowded.

Rating [out of 5]: ★★★★★

Address: 347 W 46th St, New York, NY 10036