Sasabune is a Japanese sushi restaurant located at 401 East 73rd Street (between First Avenue and York Avenue) on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, in New York City.[1][2][3]
The décor of the tiny, simple, Spartan, bright restaurant consists of white walls that, as The New York Times put it, have "an almost severe lack of adornment".[1] The restaurant has six seats at the blond sushi bar, 14 seats at nearby tables, and 12 in a back room.[1][4] The sound level is quiet to moderate.[1][3]
Menu
Sasabune serves only an omakase menu – its chef and owner, Kenji Takahashi, decides what each patron will eat, the order in which the patron will eat it, and whether soy sauce should be applied.[1][2] It has a sign that states its philosophy: "Today's Special – Trust Me".[4] The wasabi is known to be spicy.[5]
The restaurant, opened in 2006, is named after a restaurant by the same name in Los Angeles.
[1][6]
Reviews
The New York Times wrote in 2006, in a review in which it gave Sasabune one star:
The kanpachi ... was as silky and buttery as the kanpachi I've had anywhere else; the toro was the fatty stuff of head rushes. Mr. Takahashi obviously takes pains to find top-tier ingredients, and he takes pains to mold nicely proportioned beds of rice, the warm temperature of which is what often distinguishes a serious sushi restaurant from an assembly line.
In 2013, it was rated "New York City's best for sushi" and the best restaurant in the East 70s by Zagat's, with a food rating of 29 (the highest food rating on the Upper East Side).[7]
