Last updated on August 28, 2015
Since Former 15 East alumni Chef John Daley opened Ko in LES, it has been a tough to get into place. The eleven-seat restaurant with only the sushi bar and a small table, Chef Daley do it all by himself. There’s only one other waiter/ server/ host as staff. On a rainy, windy, late September evening, we arrived early for our reservation, but was turned away by the host.
“We’re not open yet” he said.
“Can we come in and get a drink first?” we asked politely.
“You can get a drink at the bar down the street” he replied.
Had it not been their long waiting list for reservation or the $75/pp cancellation policy, I might have walked away.
Both Chef and waiter were attentive, but seemed unfriendly. Perhaps offended by my camera (no flash, I promised), during the 2+ hours meal, both of them have managed not to crack a smile. We had the more expensive $190 full Omakase oppose to the “a little less, still expensive” Sushi Mono. As we approached the sushi part of our dinner, Chef Daley asked to have my camera put away. Something about “food are meant to be enjoy, not photograph…” I honestly don’t remember his exact words, but that was a first. May be Ko would like to adopt Corton’s practice and put their policy on their website?
After the sashmi and the cooked dishes, we had 11 pieces of sushi: Kanpachi, Shima Aji belly, Aji, Saba, smoked Attic Char, Kimedai, Botan Ebi from canada with smoked sea salt, baby sweet shrimp from Japan, Uni from California, Chu Toro from Boston, and Otoro from Boston blue fin. Notice, aside from uni and ebi, all pieces are fish, no shellfish.
Overall, I’d say the sashmi was better than sushi piece. The sushi rice was missing something, the balance was off, and it was falling apart as we picked it up. Yasuda said “rice is the most important part of sushi”, as my dinner coming to an end at Ko, I truly understand the meaning of those words. (Sep, 2014)
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