Nicole B.
Yelp
For those of you who are new here: the ONLY place I want to get to when I can manage a few days off is NYC. I ALWAYS stay at The Moxy Times Square, which is actually right in the middle of The Garment District, which is SO UNLIKE anything that existed here back when I was coming up, in The Actual Day, in the 70s and 80s. Today's Garment District? Amazing. Fabulous. All. The. Things!
Also? I am here for Omakase, in all its iterations and Manhattan is the Capital of The Entire World for Omakase. I know what I'm talking about if we're going to talk sushi or Omakase or Japanese cuisine.
I stay at The Moxy on W 36th St and I always take the late bus back to Vermont so I can get in the most leisurely of leisurely lunches before attempting to sleep the entire 6 hrs trip north...
The thing "post Covid" is that there is an ENDLESS number of super high quality Omakase spots in Midtown. And I have been on a personal mission to try most of them.
I've got my contacts, in the Omakase Community. But I also like to peruse Yelp for suggestions and that is how I found Gosuke. Because I wanted something new and delicious and CLOSE to the hotel.
Gosuke showed up in my Yelp search, but I didn't see any Omakase on their menu. What I did see was a full, traditional Japanese menu and I was kind of psyched for that. And it is on West 35th street. I'm going to guess the entire walk from The Moxy is one block.
I am SO EXCITED I found this place!! Gosuke is located inside the Henn Na Hotel. Which is a Japanese chain known for robot housekeepers...??? But also there is a fully animatronic T Rex in the lobby. AMAZING.
The lobby is small and the entrance to Gosuke is just to the left past the front desk.
Sushi restaurants come in all sorts of "types." Gosuke is an actual Japanese restaurant with sushi and Omakase and full bar and Japanese staff and owner.
IN FACT, the owner of Gosuke is Itsuke Yamasaki. A woman That right there is HIGHLY unusual, to find a Japanese woman owning a Japanese restaurant/sushi/omakase spot. The Patriarchy is STRONG in Japan and you can see it in Japanese restaurants in NYC, because it's hard for women to break into the industry. On any level.
I am HERE to support EVERY SINGLE WOMAN out there owning/operating an independent restaurant. I mean I'm one of them. The work is IMPORTANT and it is HARD.
There's something else about Itsuke. She is a retired professional wrestler. I'm not even kidding. Itsuke came to the US and wrestled for the WWF.
Which. Is. So. Cool!!!!!!!
OMG. HARDCORE.
So there's that. The fact that I would try to support Itsuke Yamasaki and Gosuke just because. But I didn't actually know any of that until I was WELL into my meal/visit. It was like the most amazing icing to the cake that was Gosuke.
I sat at the sushi bar. I discovered on the menu (which is EXTENSIVE, since they're hitting all the traditional Japanese stuff) that there IS Omakase. A smaller and a larger. Obviously I ordered the larger Omakase and a bottle of excellent Sake (they have a very good selection!). Conveniently Wendy hauled her luggage over to share some sake with me before she got on the early bus (ALWAYS take the late bus!!).
The Omakase is very traditional and excellent quality. The standouts are the first, sashimi course (large, beautifully fresh) and the dessert; which, honestly, was the best Omakase dessert I think I've ever had: vanilla ice cream with red beans and chestnuts. WONDERFUL!
Of course I was not done with just the large Omakase, I ate a few more things after that!
I had to get Uni Pon (Uni, quail yolk, pnzu) because it's pretty much ALL the things I LOVE and all the umami!!
I ordered a "Salmon Flight." One piece each nigiri of each Salmon on the menu. Beautiful. Delicious.
Then! I ordered the crispy rice, which I had watched them make earlier. A good crispy rice "roll" is really wonderful. And this one is PERFECTION! The rice is perfectly crispy/crunchy and flavorful as your base and then topped with chopped salmon, paper thin slices of jalapeño and just enough sauce. I WILL be eating this again...
Honestly I can't wait until I can get back to Gosuke on my next NYC visit. My only question is: will I eat there once or twice that week??