Is O-YA really Boston's best sushi?

[adrian]

I live in Paris and write about restaurant trends there where I know my stuffm but I was just wondering what you all (those in the know) thought about O-YA. Or indeed any other place for dinner that would not be any derivation of French (because I can get all the good stuff at home). Groundbreaking or exceptionally done trad places are fine..

[9lives]

I haven't been but AKA Bistro in Lincoln has Chris Cheung doing their Japanese menu.{they have a separate French menu}

Chris was 1 of Uni's best chef's IMO. He was sourcing a lot of fish directly from Japan and I think used some of the same sources as Masa/NYC.

Don't know if it's the "best" but probably belongs in contention.

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AKA Bistro
145 Lincoln Rd, Lincoln, MA 01773

[tatsu]

Chris deserves props but technically it is not sushi. Sushi refers to preserved rice actually and at home we like to make a "loose sushi", a kind of chirashi sushi with no fish at all except maybe tiny dried sardines.

[9lives]

Of course, you're right. not served with rice; but I figured with all the Uni mentions, that some Uni fans might want to try AKA. I know I do.

and I even mispeled his name, Chung.;)

[MC Slim JB]

Uni has always characterized itself as a sashimi bar.

http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/

[tatsu]

Yes they have, and still, people continue to classify it as sushi. Much like hot pots are called shabu shabu. (Some of these places purposely blur the line however.)

[adrian]

Well, I guess O-YA it is... I'll report back shortly..

[cambridgedoctpr]

you might also want to try Clio/Uni and Oishii in one of its various locations.

[MC Slim JB]

If you're going to do Oishii for sushi, I'd encourage you to visit its Chestnut Hill location, the most traditional and in my mind still the best.

http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/

[cambridgedoctpr]

ok, MC Slim, what are your favorite sushi places in order of quality?

mine are O Ya, Uni, Oishii, but i am not MC Slim

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O Ya
9 East Street, Boston, MA 02111

[MC Slim JB]

I imagine you are better qualified to judge sushi than me. Among traditional places, I favor Toraya (by a mile), Sushi Island (also winner of unlikeliest-looking place to have awesome sushi), Oishii Chestnut Hill, and Sakurabana (though it has been quite a while since my last visit). Two places on my to-try list are Oga and Inaho.

On the creative, luxury-ingredient-focused, also-lots-o'-cooked dishes tip, it's O Ya and Uni, with Aka Bistro on my to-try list. Uni is more attractive to me these days with Todd Maul doing cocktails upstairs.

http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/

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O Ya
9 East Street, Boston, MA 02111

Toraya Restaurant
890 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA 02476

[cambridgedoctpr]

thanks, i will call Toraya. My usual stop is Uni on a Sunday night.

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Toraya Restaurant
890 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA 02476

[tatsu]

I've been to all I'd say Sushi Island, Oga, Inaho and Toraya are all very different but good. Oga's kitchen lags behind however.

The one I'm curious about recently is Osushi, the chef is a Japanese guy who I met, actually photographed, and his knife work is good. He was just fooling around while I was doing "action" shots, and he turned a cucumber into a sheet a paper basically.

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Toraya Restaurant
890 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA 02476

Osushi
10 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02116

[cambridgedoctpr]

thanks for the update; if i eat sushi out, i usually go to Clio/Uni, but i will try these suggestions. Clio/uni is great on a sunday night.

[Mike5966]

I really liked Oga's Japanese Cuisine. Their Oga's Sushi special (8 or 10 pieces offered at open price) is basically an omakase of nigiri pieces that is written into the menu. Their agedashi tofu was also great. Foil-yaki sounded great on the menu but was kinda bland. Lots of interesting cooked items on their menu that I still want to try the next time I make the trek out to Natick.

Shiki in Brookline also had unexpectedly good nigiri for a place without an actual sushi bar. Not nearly as much variety in fish compared to Oishii and other sushi joints around town but the pieces here are large and available for a very modest price.

Toraya is on my must-try list. Very excited about this.

[adrian]

My only experience of sushi in Boston was Douzo a couple of months back. As all my trips here are sort of last moment, I really rely on expert obsessives such as you folk ;) Does the new Boston mag Top 50 have any credence?

O-Ya looks really pricey too, and I regularly hit the Michelin stars........

Was thinking Myer's and Chang, Ginger Park..... know they're not Japanese but fusiony things are cool for me too...

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Douzo
131 Dartmouth St, Boston, MA 02116

[RoyRon]

Having lived in Japan for 7 years and been travelling regularly there for well over 23 years I think I can speak with reasonable accuracy about izakayas. O-Ya would qualify as a high-end izakaya but in my mind it is more near what are known as ryoteis. Ryoteis are very high end restaurants that focus on serving only the best seasonal indgredients artfully prepared and presented usually on dinnerware chosen to match the particular dish. Most meals are multi course affairs that cover most of the most common Japanese cooking styles. So there would be a sashimi course, a steamed course, a tempura course, a grilled course, etc. Dinner at a famous ryotei is truely an experience a foodie passionate about Japanese food would never forget.. I have always enjoyed O-Ya and would probably go more often if my budget could afford it but I also agree with the other posters about Toraya although my personal favorite tends more towards Sushi Island in Wakefield. I enjoy Toraya because I always feel like I am really back in Tokyo. The size of the place and, as someone said, the itamae-san driven menu is very authentic. Izakayas in Japan run the gamut from very inexpensive down and dirty places that are primarily drinking spots for the locals to very high-end places that serve excellent traditional and seasonal specialties. I have never found a restaurant in Boston that I would say is a true izakaya.

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Toraya Restaurant
890 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA 02476

[enhF94]

I don't know from ryotei and learned good stuff from your post. Although - how is this a ryotei when the ingredients seem not to change with season?

and re: earlier in thread,
"fauxmakase" - awesome. Plus, say it quickly and you include molecular gastronomy.

[RoyRon]

I feel O-Ya is more like a ryotei only because they serve very high quality indgredients in very inventive ways. They do miss the seasonal aspects that a ryotei in Japan would have but overall I have always enjoyed the dinners I have had there. They also do a few little things that are reminiscent of Japan like when you order sake they present you with a box of different sake cups and let you choose the one you like. It is a small thing but is something I had only seen done in Japan. Also, I always enjoy talking with Nancy Cushman about sake.

[Jolyon Helterman]

In my experience, dishes at O Ya change slightly with the seasons, especially with seafood. For instance: that beautiful Nantucket bay scallops dish with coconut milk and lime, and the one with Maine sweet shrimp that I can't recall exactly right now. Not that a few examples here and there disprove anything being said in this thread.

That said, when you're spending big $$ to import certain species of fish and other ingredients from around the world, locavorism and seasonality becomes less of an ingredient-quality concern than they might be otherwise—in other words, it's Thai basil season *somewhere*. There's really no difference (other than carbon footprint) between grabbing something from the local farmstand and having it overnighted from the other side of the world, in terms of quality. You just get into trouble when farming practices have been designed around ensuring something is durable enough to last through a prolonged distribution cycle (insipid asparagus, pre-ripened tomatoes, etc.).

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O Ya
9 East Street, Boston, MA 02111

[tatsu]

I have had the option of my own sake glass at Kai. It was one of those life is short meals, about a year before they closed their doors. I still like to browse those pictures.

[lipoff]

Have you tried Shiki in Brookline? I would say Shiki is pretty much an izakaya.

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Shiki
9 Babcock Street, Brookline, MA 02446

[Bob Dobalina]

I am probably in the minority, but I guess for the price I was expecting a bit more. O Ya is unique, different, cool but overpriced and overrated at the same time. I perceive a lack of seasonality and an almost assembly-line like quality to the offerings. Should you go? Definitely - but I can't remember the taste of a single thing I had at O Ya, while the quality of the sushi at Toraya still sticks out in my memory. And I was *sated* at Toraya without being stuffed - not so much from O Ya.

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O Ya
9 East Street, Boston, MA 02111

Toraya Restaurant
890 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA 02476

[StriperGuy]

Count me amongst the underwhelmed.

[markmoleary]

Out of curiosity...what "blows you away" in Boston?

[MC Slim JB]

I like O Ya a lot, but the price prevents me from making a habit of it: it's hard to call it a great value. I think Toraya is among the best traditional sushi places in Greater Boston, with the idiosyncrasy and unique-each-time experience of a truly itamae-driven venue. O Ya sacrifices that idiosyncrasy for a certain consistency and need to serve more than a handful of bar seats. But I still think some dishes are plenty memorable, and I have always ordered in such a way to leave feeling happy but not logy, generally with their faux-omakase capped at about $100, no Wagyu.

http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/

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O Ya
9 East Street, Boston, MA 02111

Toraya Restaurant
890 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA 02476

[MC Slim JB]

O Ya is amazing, but I wouldn't call it a sushi restaurant. They call themselves an izakaya, which doesn't capture how luxe the cooking is, but does reference the mix of sushi, sashimi, and cooked dishes they feature, including noodle dishes and real flown-from-Japan Wagyu beef, along with a nice little sake list and beer. It's a good-looking room, but doesn't feel formal.

http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/

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O Ya
9 East Street, Boston, MA 02111

[Gabatta]

Agreed that it is not a sushi restaurant, but it is very good. Maybe sashimi and japanese small plates is an appropriate description? If the OP has ever been to an actual izakaya, O Ya's self description will be misleading. The misuse of foreign restaurant terms is endemic in Boston and beyond. As has been commented before, (e.g. Bistro du Midi is NOT a bistro, Coppa is NOT an enoteca (except for the rare slow lunch service), O Ya is NOT a izakaya). None of them are even close to the authentic article, despite being excellent dining establishments in their own right.

Oishii, Basho, Fugakyu (among others) also mislabel themselves as izakaya's, so in Boston (and the US) maybe izakaya does mean 'americanized sushi restaurant'.

[MC Slim JB]

I believe there are some rather higher-end izakayas in Japan, but their menus aren't likely to faintly resemble what O Ya is doing. I agree that this usage is in the same boat with most local usages of bistro, trattoria, and enoteca.

http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/

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O Ya
9 East Street, Boston, MA 02111

[tatsu]

If a restaurant in Japan aspired to be more than an izakaya, the first thing they would do is drop the izakaya label I would think. ;P

I'm lately annoyed with the many fusion chinese-run "shabu shabu" joints that don't really resemble shabu shabu at all.

[lipoff]

Yes, O Ya is Boston's best sushi. Oishii, Uni (for sashimi), Oga's and Toraya are also excellent places for sushi. Clio is perhaps a derivation of French, but is pretty molecular gastronomy-y. L'Espalier and Menton are also French derived, but also have a lot that's unique to New England about them. I'd understand if you aren't as excited about them if you live in Paris, but just realize that they are not the same as French restaurants in France. Locke-Ober is very uniquely Bostonian, and Grill 23 is an outstanding steakhouse.

Further afield, Boston has great strength in Chinese food (which Paris sorely lacks), from Fuloon, to Sichuan Gourmet, to Jo Jo Taipei in particular. There is some good Thai (especially Dok Bua), good Indian (especially Tamarind Bay), some nice Ethiopian food (I particularly like Asmara), Afghani (the Helmand), and more.

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L'Espalier
774 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02199

O Ya
9 East Street, Boston, MA 02111

Toraya Restaurant
890 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA 02476

Sichuan Gourmet
502 Boston Rd, Billerica, MA 01821

Tamarind Bay
75 Winthrop St, Cambridge, MA 02138

Locke-Ober
3 Winter Place, Boston, MA 02108

Grill 23 & Bar
161 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA 02116

JoJo Tai Pei Restaurant
103 Brighton Ave, Boston, MA 02134

Menton
354 Congress St, Boston, MA 02210

[StriperGuy]

Have you had Jo Jo since Formosa Taipei spun off? I am dying to know how Jo Jo is holding up.

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Formosa Taipei
315 Marrett Rd, Lexington, MA 02421

[barleywino]

The soup dumplings (xlb) at jo jo were still good the last time I was there after the spinoff, although Dumpling Cafe is giving them some competition now

[Nab]

There has been a slight misconception that Jo Jo somehow dropped way off in quality since the Formosa founding. Not true. I haven't done a lap thru the entire menu, but everything I've had has been the same as it ever was. Changes in menu offerings, sure, but the quality is still there in my experience.

[StriperGuy]

Cool, thanks for the reports.

[lipoff]

I totally agree with Nab.

[StriperGuy]

Okay, hit Jo Jo today for lunch and it was spot on excellent, whew.

[tatsu]

Well I will try it but I'll have to do it alone, because my DC from Beijing does not like Jo Jo. She loves Formosa however. She likes the XLB there in particular, which is not dumplings, but a leavened bread baozi. They are topped with some scallions and sesame seeds, slightly pan-fried only on the bottom. Very pretty.

[barleywino]

those sound like shen jian bao, right? hard to find a really good version of those around here (I haven't tried Formosa's yet)

[tatsu]

yes, those be the ones. formosa's are perfectly spherical. not terribly juicy inside but the combo of soft bread and a crispy bottom is crazy good. ms. beijing says 7.5 out of 10.

if you are into them, i would RUN over there my friend. i have mentioned these before here and in my yelp reviews, but no one seems to have picked this up.

[barleywino]

I remember now you *did* mention them-- thanks for the reminder!
(ground zero for shen jian bao: http://rasamalaysia.com/juiciest-bao-... )

[tatsu]

This chinese reviewer had a pretty nice blog, with nice pics, but he has sort of dropped off. None the less, here are FT II's XLB, the ones I had at FT in Lexington were a bit nicer, to be honest.

http://areyoueye.com/a/index.php?opti...

[barleywino]

the best ones are so airy/ fluffy that it's almost like eating cotton candy with a crunchy bottom (and juicy meat interior)

[cambridgedoctpr]

A succinct answer: O-Ya

Here are three threads that might help understand what is unique in Bostonl

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/724829?tag=main_body;topic-724829

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/743054?tag=main_body;topic-743054

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/7414...

my favorites posters are striperguy, food dabbler, MC Slim JB, and Kathryn - a visitor from NYC who is the Striper of NY.

[adrian]

Thank you!