By Kara Rota
Shortly after moving to the Upper West, I had a truly memorable and truly exorbitant dinner at Sushi of Gari, one I enjoyed but probably won’t repeat. I’m firmly of the belief that good, expensive sushi never beats out good, affordable sushi, and the UWS has plenty of the latter. Raku is always a fantastic bet; you can splurge on the sushi for two and a carafe of sake for a date night that’s about as expensive as a standard drunk brunch. Ivy’s Cafe serves up well-constructed rolls, many around $5-$6, alongside some of my favorite General Tso’s tofu and broccoli with garlic sauce this side of the park.
With these standbys firmly tucked in my dinner arsenal, it was with curiosity but without any desperation that I stopped in Sushi Yasaka on 72nd St. between Broadway and West End Avenue for dinner on a recent weeknight. The atmosphere is simple, the service is attentive, and the food is absolutely a deal.
I’ll admit that half the time I go for “sushi,” what I’m really going for is the rest of the menu: crispy tempura and agedashi tofu, tender teriyaki, seaweed-laden miso soup, that magical carrot-ginger salad dressing. Yasaka excels on all of these fronts.
We started with miso ($2.50), generously jam-packed with scallions, tofu, and those chewy white enokitake mushrooms I adore.
Spicy salmon ($5) and cucumber ($4) rolls were platonic ideals, with the salmon boasting a hefty fish-to-rice ratio.
Then we moved on to entrees. Hearty portions ensured leftovers to take home for lunch the next day, and the construction of the dishes walked a happy line between familiarity and innovation. Organic grilled chicken teriyaki ($17) was accompanied by vegetables three ways: smokey sauteed zucchini and yellow squash; crisp, bright green steamed broccoli; and refreshing pickled baby carrots and asparagus.
Veggie tempura udon soup ($10) consisted of a huge umami-laden bowl of udon noodles, snow peas, meaty shitake and enokitake mushrooms, and a mound of salty, black seaweed, bathed in a rich broth to rival Ippudo’s. The “four pieces of vegetable tempura” that the menu promised atop the soup turned out to be a pretty paper-lined bamboo basket with at least six pieces of delightful tempura: perfectly crisp on the outside without the slightest hint of greasy sogginess. The vegetables inside (including lotus root) were each cooked to their individual point of ultimate crunchy tenderness.
It’s easy to get a veritable feast at Sushi Yasaka for under $20 a person, and while you’re less likely to spot Elliot Spitzer at the next table down than you might be at Gari, you can always use the money you’ve saved on dinner to buy a shake at Shake Shack and spy on the local celebs through the window.
Sushi Yasaka
251 West 72nd Street
(212) 496-8460
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Kara is a professional food enthusiast at Cookstr, a freelance food writer (about.me/kararota), and a sporadic livetweeter @karalearota. She lives across the street from the AMNH with her boyfriend and their cat, Mel.
