Momoya

Sushi has become a staple.  Who would have thought 20 years ago that sushi would become as accessible as pizza and chinese food.  Well, it has.  To me, there are varying degrees of sushi.  There is the local spot which I have stopped eating at.  I always taste like a can of soy sauce the next morning and I don’t even use soy sauce.  Then there is the primo sushi, like Masa and Sushi Yasudo which is a treat and delicious.  But, I rarely come across something in between.  I am thrilled that I finally did.

Momoya recently opened in Chelsea on 7th avenue and 21st street.  They took over a space that had a sushi restaurant there for years, Meriken.  Meriken was good about 15 years ago.  I was not sorry to see it go.

I tried to get to Momoya 2 other times but 3 was the lucky number.  They do not take reservations.  They are also not open on Sunday night.  So, keep that in mind.  The restaurant has a really nice vibe.  Wooden ceilings, simply decorated, good service.  The food is really good.

We split a variety of appetizers to start.  The mushroom salad is delicious.  The standard salad with the carrot ginger dressing is always a hit.  The shumai is quite large but the shrimp mixture inside is good.  The gyozo were a bit too strong tasting.  I’d pass on those.  We also had an order of agedashi which is tofu.  It was soft and in a really good sauce.  The best was the roasted eggplant.  It actually looked like butternut squash that way it was served.  Excellent.  Sweet and soft. 

Then came the sushi.  All fresh and delicious.  Everyone ordered their own here.  Frankly I was impressed that the waiter got everyones order right.  He had even dropped a bit of our sake on the floor and gave us a huge free class on the house.  Really good service.

We believe that if the sea urchin is good then it is a place to return to.  Sea urchin is one of those pieces that it must be really good or it is really bad.  There is no inbetween.  It was delicious.  Rich, creamy and the perfect ending to our meal.

I’ll certainly return.  Good food but not the price of Masa.  Can’t beat that.

Comments (Archived):

  1. fred

    the sake was great too