Little Piece of Paradise: 15 East

15 East is my current sushi restaurant of choice. My all time favorite sushi restaurant is still Sushi Yasuda, mainly because prior to Sushi Yasuda, sushi was just sushi to me. After dining at Sushi Yasuda, I became a "sushi-snob". It was Yasuda-san who showed me what a real piece of oh-toro is (screaming inside my head: Ohhh! Toro!!!). After my first dinner at Sushi Yasuda, I concluded that "Oh wow this is amazing"; after the second time I dined at Sushi Yasuda, it was a foregone conclusion - I LOVE SUSHI. Subsequently, whenever I went and got seated by Yasuda-san, we would chat about anything but the food. I sat there, he brought me whatever, I ate the whatever he put on my plate, but it's the best whatever ever!

Ok, I am digressing. My point is, 15 East is a close second to Sushi Yasuda in my opinion. Do try to get a seat at the sushi bar by Masato-san, he's a pretty fun guy. 15 East is not just a sushi restaurant, they serve cooked food as well, but for cooked food, I personally prefer an izakaya. I did try the Squid Ink Risotto on the dinner menu before, it was very delicious and delicate, but the portion is rather small. You can also do an omakase (chef tasting menu) if you are up are comfortable with the unknown. The decor of the restaurant is minimalist chic, and service is very attentive.

Executive sushi chef - Masato-san

15 East is owned by the same people who opened Tocqueville (which is two doors down). The first time I showed up at 15 East, the table wasn't ready yet so we were sent to Tocqueville for a drink. Note that 15 East has no bar, and only a few seats by the window as their "waiting room". When we showed up at Tocqueville, my dinner companion got a drink, and they brought us some mini cheese puffs (Brazilian pao de queijo) except smaller and oh so delicious! It was warm and the perfect bite-size, I must've eaten about 12 of those before I forced myself to stop. Note to self: must go to Tocqueville, if the menu fails me, I'll load up on the cheese puffs.