But we did get a reservation at Nobu 57. It was only a block and a half from the Peninsula Hotel where we'd be spending time at the spa so all seemed good. We got there just in time for our 12:30pm reservation. They escorted us upstairs to be seated in the main dining room and a roomy booth near the sushi bar. I love the decor - bubble motif on the walls, wood and lots of muted orange and brown colors. It's a large space that comes off as intimate...you can hold a conversation with your friends without either an echo or having scream.
We ordered a bottle of Schramsberg 2007 Brut Rose to start as well as appetizers. Susan & Mary ordered a couple of Nobu tacos - single bite raw fish wrapped in a small crunchy tortilla. They choose assorted fishes - Big Eye tuna, lobster and Yellowtail. I ordered the lobster Inaniwa pasta salad. The tacos were very good - fresh little bites. The cold lobster salad was fantastic. The noodles had such a nice, bright flavor and the lobster was cooked just past opaque. The entire dish had a citrus component that I loved and went very nicely with the rose.
For lunch we all ordered the same thing - Bento boxes. Served as three courses with a Miso soup first and then the box broke into two courses with six total components, this was the most sophisticated Bento I've ever seen. In the first box was Yellowtail Tartar, Sashimi Salad and Assorted Sushi. In the second box was King Crab Amazu Ponzu, Black Cod with Miso and Ribeye Anticucho.
I really liked the sashimi salad, seared and served as a salad with a ginger dressing. The fish was excellent. The middle course in this first box, the Yellowtail tartar with caviar was the only component I didn't like. It was overwhelming and hard to taste the fish. I'm not sure what the sauce it was sitting in was but I didn't care for it at all. And lastly was the sushi (fatty tuna, white tuna and salmon) plus a spicy tuna roll. The sushi was excellent as well - loved the white tuna. And the roll was as expected, good.
The second Bento course had the king crab amazu ponzu that I loved. Lightly crisped, so sweet - fabulous! The black cod seared with Miso was good - flaky and savory. The last component was the Ribeye sitting over sticky rice with pepper and lime. This one was also very good. Great flavor, some spice and the rice became saturated with the spices.
During our Bento boxes we ordered a bottle of red wine. Pinot Noir, Hamacher 2008 from the Willamette Valley. It was quite light and perhaps not overly memorable on it's own, it did got well with our lunch.
It was a fun lunch - not pretentious or stuffy in any way. Service was good, the pace unhurried. The food was good and in some cases, great. It wasn't cheap - $195 a person (with two bottles of wine). I'd consider it more of a special occasion place to go but wouldn't hesitate to recommend Nobu 57 to someone looking for upscale Japanese in midtown.
Jenn's Rating: 85
Zagat: 26-23-23
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