Tomoe

While walking down Thompson towards Houston Street, you might wonder if a celebrity is nearby; a long line of people stretches down the sidewalk. But in New York, people are more impressed by great sushi than celebrity status, and great sushi is exactly what you will find at Tomoe.

First, you must wait. You may longingly peer at the contented diners inside or peruse the list of daily specials. If you are ahead in the line, you may even be asked by the hungry person behind you to share your table with him. That is exactly what happened to yours truly yesterday evening; desperate hunger apparently overtook the New York reserve of the gentleman behind me, and he requested to sit at my table. Not wanting me to get the wrong idea, he nervously promised to read during dinner instead of making conversation. Once he saw that I was not going to ask him out or steal his appetizer, he overcame his taciturnity and offered that he was about to meet his Japanese fiancée’s parents for the first time. He didn’t speak very much Japanese, but he ordered two natto maki, so I think his meeting will go just fine. (Natto is a Japanese fermented soybean paste that I enjoy very much, but which many people find objectionable.)

But enough about the social circumstances of dinner, and on to the contents! I decided to forgo all of the delicious appetizers of the day (among them, grilled sea bass and spicy tuna tartare) and settled on my old standby: the sushi/sashimi combination. The preceding miso soup tasted satisfyingly of smoky bonito flakes, and the green tea was strong and grassy. The main course was a cornucopia of glistening salmon, tuna, yellowtail, sweet shrimp, fluke, octopus, squid, mackerel, flying fish roe and clam. Scallions decorated a dollop of tuna tartare, seaweed tumbled out from under a piece of sashimi, and three slices of spicy tuna roll completed the assortment which graced my wooden tray. It was a garden of marine delights.

One of my pet peeves about some Japanese restaurants is the dessert selection: ice cream with red beans, or red beans with ice cream. In contrast, Tomoe offers unique treats such as a tantalizing green tea mousse. Alas, I was too full. (But I still went over to The Yoghurt Place afterwards to buy a fig apricot whole-milk yogurt and apricot-almond granola for later munchies.)

Tomoe: 172 Thompson St. (212) 777-9346.