Icca Lunch

THERE’S A DEVELOPMENT AFOOT IN NEW YORK CITY SUSHI

At the top end of the food chain, prices are coming down – sort of.

Take Noz 17, the Ant Man of the Noz Cinematic Universe. After a brief trial with an apprentice-led side room (reviewed here), they revamped their main room entirely. Out was the $425, 30 course, otsumami-heavy omakase. In was a $195 nigiri-led menu.

Joji ($450) has introduced a lunch menu ($325).

And just two weeks ago, Icca ($450) debuted its Friday/Saturday lunch for $150.

The catch?

It’s with an apprentice.

I FIRST VISITED ICCA FOUR YEARS AGO

I wrote about my experience here; you should read it, especially since writing and road hockey are my only skills (“skills”. I have two ejections from Zog Sports floor hockey, a record unlikely to be broken).

The headline back then was that Icca is a fantastic sushiya. Google originally didn’t agree. A 3.9 rating was insane, and foreshadowed the garbage that Google Reviews eventually became.

Oh, you didn’t get an extra puff pastry for your birthday? Try Magnolia.

What makes Icca special is what you might expect – the itamae (Kazushige Suzuki), the ingredients, the technique –  but also what you might not. Icca has the sushi throuple; modernity-traditionality-originality (this word salad will make sense when you go).

THAT DOESN’T MEAN SUZUKI-SAN ISN’T THERE

His physical presence hangs over the entire affair. He prepares the Kuruma-ebi, schmoozes with patrons, and is quick to offer a word of encouragement – and correction – to Sou as necessary. The real nerds may enjoy this aspect of the meal in particular.

NOT THAT I MINDED

With only four seats available, no music, and an – I don’t use this word lightly (or properly) – evocative atmosphere, Icca is still an oasis. If you, like me, rely on Ben Bohmer’s Beyond Beliefs to relax after a stressful week, might I suggest the Friday 12:30 seating at Icca instead?

THE LUNCHTIME OMAKASE IS HEAVY ON THE NIGIRI

No otsumami beyond a delicious, in-season, kuro-awabi chawanmushi. Not only that is more appropriate for a lunch, I know many of you have complained that your dinners in New York don’t have enough nigiri. Enjoy.

 

THERE’S THE SHIMA AJI AND OH SHIT….YA, IT’S AN APPRENTICE

Credit to the legend-in-training, Sou, for preparing every neta on the spot (except Kuruma-ebi, more on this later). Mitani, which I recently reviewed (and enjoyed), is also full-apprentice and yet the neta was pre-sliced when we arrived. If you’ve ever wondered which method is preferable, all I’ll say is that it’s complicated. Everyone agrees neta needs time to reach its optimal temperature. Some say pre-slicing it all pre-service makes that easier. Skeptics consider it mostly an operational move.

On the other hand, pre-slicing can also protect against poor knife work. Exhibit A:

“He’s just an apprentice” I silently whispered to myself over and over.

COURSE FOUR EPITOMIZES EVERYTHING I LOVE ABOUT ICCA

Remember that throuple I mentioned earlier? Makjiki (swordfish) is a fatty summer neta, traditional yet absent from most new york city sushiya menus. There are varying reasons why; some people consider them dangerous to serve because of parasites. Woopdedoo. Consider me Odysseus. If I go out, I died doing what I loved (eating expensive sushi alone).

SWEET BEAUTIFUL SHIRAUO

Shirauo (icefish) is rarely on menus here. Sure, we’re way beyond its typical season, and sure I couldn’t taste the shiso it was prepared in, but let’s ignore all that and focus on the eyes. I would have ordered this again, but unclear if there was an “okonomi” portion post-meal.

I recently watched a video on the economics of modern omakase. They called it the “first accurate snapshot” of the American sushi scene. They gathered their data via something called “web scraping”. Now, I’m no Boris Grishenko, but I think “web scraping” is when you ask AI to ‘collect’ (not steal, never steal) information other people spent years gathering.

They said they scraped 400,000 sushi restaurants in 6 cities. Now, it’s been a while since I was in business school, but some rough math would peg that at 13,000 new sushiya coming online each year since AOL shipped their first floppy. NYC, San Fran and LA have 50,000 restaurants total.

But I digress.

Part of their thesis was that a smaller space and set menu cost less. Uh, no shit.

That’s the cost lever. But on the revenue side, sushiya like Icca can thrive by adding lunch service. I think you’ll see this trend really start to emerge here. It reduces downtime and provides a vessel for the previous night’s ingredients. Case in point, Sou scraping – 🙂 – the last vestiges of this uni.

Is it New York’s best omakase? Of course not. The shari is uneven, especially at the start, and the Torotaku was cut unevenly, though tasted fantastic. Suzuki-san delicately preparing the Kuruma Ebi was a emergency beacon-level reminder that there are levels here.

But that offering at that price point? It’s absolutely worth a visit.

And yes, an apprentice won’t quench some people’s never-ending thirst for a glitzy superstar chef. But consider this a chance to see the next generation before some finance bro offers him $300k and 10% to open Omakase By Sou in Murray Hill.

Recommended.