15 East - Is lunch that much worse than dinner?

[97Sperss]

Hi CHers,

Planning an upcoming Manhattan chow trip with my wife from Feb. 23rd-Mar 2nd.
We want to do 15 East as well as Yasuda and Kyo Ya, but some reviews seem to say 15 East is not nearly as good at lunch as at dinner?

For those of you who have done lunch and dinner, can you comment on this?

Thanks,

Sperss97

[foodwhisperer]

I had lunch at 15 East once. Masa was working that day.
It seemed they weren't fully ready for the usual omakase. The assortment of fish was limited. The rice was hotter than usual, and some of the fish was colder than usual. It was still a good meal with all my complaints. But not even close to the normal omakase at night. Perhaps, because in the evening it is more of a ceremony, and much beer or sake drinking along with the food. Plus it lasts for 3 hours. Lunch was maybe an hour at most. Masa apologized for not having as much choice of fish and said "dinner is better".

[SomeRandomIdiot]

I like lunch better than dinner because it's usually quiet. The sushi bar isn't packed so I'm not forced to listen to loud conversations that I have no interest in.

The food is the same to me.

[lexismore]

Lunch is not worse than dinner, provided you sit at the sushi bar and the head chef is working (which he sometimes is not at lunch).

When he is not working, yes, it is much worse than dinner.

[calf]

15 East (100:130) 12-140p

house tofu
- served warm
tako tentacle
- flavorful

1. hamachi •
- surprising lemon aftertaste, and very "hamachi" flavor
2. akamutsu
- brushstroke is supposedly very picky about this fish…
3. arctic char
- okay, very tender
4. marinated tuna •
- nice
5. orange clam ••
- moderate clammy smell, but not unpleasant
- nice chewy texture
6. botanebi
7. hot unagi •
- pretty good
—
tuna scallion handroll [I prefer the plated version, which is further seasoned]
—
8. abalone (u.s.) •
- crunchier than orange clam
9. horse mackerel ••
- juicy
10. saba ••
- velvety
11. ika - spearhead
- good quality but a bit tough
12. otoro ••
- like cherry blossoms

ice creams: green tea, buckweat, sake lees, lemon verbena, cookie

Lunch at the sushi counter is quite nice—if you are a local diner. Keep in mind they are doing prep work during the day, and only until dinner do all the special/unusual sushi come out. Dinner at the table was actually terrific once, too. So since you're coming from so far away I'd suggest dinner, at either the counter or table.