Brushstroke, the latest addition to the David Bouley empire

If you haven't been down to Tribeca in awhile, go.  The neighborhood is transforming on a daily basis.  More restaurants, more stores, more of basically everything.  Once a gritty funky neighborhood now a suburb of NYC. 

We stopped by Brushstroke to see if we could get a seat at the bar, no worries.  The place is pretty empty.  You can either sit in the main dining room in seats or at the sushi bar. You can also sit in the lounge that also has a small bar and a few seats and places to sit.  A nice option.  The main dining room serves an 8 course tasting menu and the bar area is a la carte.  We opted for the latter. 

The restaurant is beautifully done.  The walls have stacking pieces of wood that just slightly jut out unevenly.  There is even a small cut out at different places in the walls that show a small diarama of miniature people doing something.  It is very cool.  Light ash wood is the constant color.  The coloring reminds me of Yasuda Sushi. 

We split four appetizers and then had some sushi.  We started with a vodka.  I opted for a slice of grapefruit vs lemon just because I could.  I prefer lemon but it was a new twist.

Our first appetizer was a monster Oyster cut into four pieces that was served in an Asian flavored sauce with black sauteed seaweed.  It was incredible.

The next was a grill Lobster tail served with a white miso paste.  Another total wow.  Served on top was smoked seaweed strings that just melted in your mouth.

This is a warm miso broth with large pieces of custard and uni.  Need I say more?  Warm, delicious and the textures were amazing.

Smoked green tea duck.  I am a sucker for duck.  This was really well done and quite good.

Smoked tasmanian sea trout with roe and some type of sauce that I can't recall.  This was probably my least favorite.

We were still hungry and ordered some sushi.  All good except the octopus which had supposedly been tenderized but really wasn't.  One of these was an egg and shrimp sushi.  Really interesting. 

The attention to detail starts the minute you walk in the door.  The restaurant is really beautiful and serene.  The staff is attentive.  The place is stocked with open refrigerators stocked with interesting sakes and even a few scotches from Japan sitting on the shelf.  The food was quite good and some of it was a definite OMG.  But it will interesting to see if they survive.  Incredibly expensive.  Beyond.  Most Japanese restaurants of this caliber reside in midtown.  There is a reason for that and it is called expense account. 

I will definitely go back and have the 8 course tasting menu but I will brace myself for when the check comes.