Sushi Seki, NYC

In New York, there is no shortage of sushi options, spanning all price points.  It takes a lot for a place to stand out, but somehow, Sushi Seki did for me as I was browsing menus for delivery options on Door Dash.

Sushi Seki drew me in with the extremely large range of nigiri/sashimi options, with an entire section just for different tuna pieces (9 options, your standard chu toro, o toro, maguro, etc, plus a seared option, one topped with uni, and more), the same with salmon (5 options, inlcuding belly or king salmon, or seared, etc), same with yellowtail (7 options), shellfish (another 7), and so on.  The choices were extensive, and, key for me, I appreciated that you could order singles.  They also do offer a variety of of hot and cold appetizers, soups and salads, cooked entrees (such as miso cod, different teriyakis, katsu, tempura), a slew of rolls, and even carry Lady M crepe cakes (which I've reviewed before in Seattle) for dessert (along with others they make).

"Chef Seki along with his family of NYC’s finest sommeliers and sushi chefs are committed to the “never stop learning” attitude by creating and balancing the flavor of the fish with simple ingredients, a classic style, and expansive sake and wines, paired perfectly to each meal."

Chef Seki has a great story, starting in the industry as a dishwasher, and working his way up to cook, kitchen chef, and eventually, sushi chef, all in Tokyo.  He moved to NY city to further his craft.  He really does seem to embrace his mantra of "never stop learning".

Sushi Seki's first location opened in 2002 on the Upper East Side.  12 years later, the chef opened the second location in Chelsea, which is where I ordered from.  A year later, his third branch opened, which includes a 6-seat counter for omakase only dining.  

I ordered on Door Dash for delivery, and was quite impressed with the quality (and speedy service).  I'd love to try more of the lineup, and to visit in person sometime.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

Hijiki Salad. $10.

"Cooked brown sea vegetable, watercress, tomato, cucumber, bean curd, carrot, daikon, and onion dressing."

There is a Japanese deli near me in San Francisco (Delica) that has a hijiki salad I adore.  I rarely see hijiki on menus elsewhere though, so I was excited to try Sushi Seki's version of the salad.  They also have a more traditional seaweed salad on the menu, along with a basic green salad and a snow pea salad, all with different dressings.  Salad didn't seem to be an afterthought here, which I took as a good sign.

I asked in the notes for the dressing on the side, I'm not sure if they normally do that for takeout or not.  The base of the salad was watercress, fresh, crisp, peppery.  Mixed in was a bit of shredded carrot, a few thin bits of bean curd, and of course, the hijiki.  All sprinkled with sesame seeds.  Mine didn't seem to have any tomato or cucumber, but I didn't mind.  I also didn't really find diakon, and I'm not sure about the cooked brown sea vegetable ... maybe that was lost in the mix?

It initially didn't look like it would be very hijiki forward, but the hijiki flavor was strong, and I enjoyed it.  I didn't find it needed the dressing (which was really quite thick, somewhat sour, and sorta an odd consistency, but did taste of onion as said it would), and just drizzled a little soy sauce over it.  Overall, very tasty, and I'd get again.  ****. 

Uni ($15), Lobster ($8), Anago ($10).

Uni:

Although this piece fell over in transit, it still stayed well put together, the nori wrapper holding it together tightly.  The uni portion was good, I think 4 lobes.  It tasted quite fresh, no funk to it, and was all an even color.  Sushi rice was an appropriate portion (not dominating), well seasoned, lightly sticky.  Overall, a very nice uni nigiri, and $15 price seemed appropriate.  ****.

Lobster (steamed): 

The lobster is the only piece that let me down.  The flavor was actually quite nice, and it was a big chunk, but, it was extremely chewy.  It was steamed, so fully cooked.  Great flavor, but hard to get past the chew.  **+.

Anago: "Wild seawater eel."

Sushi Seki offers 3 different types of eel sushi, the more common unagi (barbecued with sweet sauce), a chopped version with tempura crunchies, and this, anago.

It had been a long time since I had anago!  I've gotten sushi a dozen or so times this past year, but everywhere always has unagi, and not anago.  Sometimes I love unagi, but sometimes, I just am not in the mood for the heavy unagi sauce.  I was thrilled to see anago on the menu, and even more thrilled when I tasted it.  Great flavor, great texture, not slimy, just, really nice anago.  Sushi rice good, as with the other pieces.  I'd get this again in a heartbeat.  *****.

I appreciated the generous portion of nice pickled ginger (not the pink kind!), and plenty of wasabi, no skipping on those.  ****+.

BBQ Catering by Back Forty Texas BBQ

I have no idea if the origin story of Back Forty Texas BBQ is true, but, its quite the tale.  Founder was playing poker, his opponent bet half his BBQ joint, founder won, and got half the BBQ joint.  Opponent gave him the back room of the restaurant, rather than the expected half-ownership, so founder set up his own competing bbq restaurant in that space.  It sat 40 people, and customers started requesting to be seated there, in the "back forty".  And so the tale goes.  But anyway, Back Forty Texas BBQ is a Texas style BBQ joint in Pleasanton, CA now.

"When you visit our BBQ Restaurant in Pleasant Hill, we’ll treat you like a guest invited to our home. Your food will always be prepared fresh-from-scratch, using the freshest and finest ingredients for our authentic Austin, Texas recipes."

I didn't visit the restaurant (er, "roadhouse & saloon"), but rather, got to sample their food at a catered company bbq.  They seem to specialize in large format dining, both through their catering, and banquet facilities.

Our hosts opted for the $24 per person basic menu, which included choice of 3 proteins (options were ribs, hot links, pulled pork, beef brisket, bbq chicken), and 3 "Fixin's" (choices of tossed green salad, caesar salad, garlic mashed potatoes, macaroni salad, beans, coleslaw, potato salad, fresh vegetables, corn on the cob), along with dinner rolls, pickles, red onions (?), and extra bbq sauce.  Tables, cutlery, etc, included.

The catering seemed well run, but the food was very mediocre.  Perhaps I am just ruined now, after visiting Truth BBQ in Houston several times last year?

Rolls.

I didn't try the rolls, as they looked fairly generic, and online reviews of even the dine-in experience mention how lackluster they are.

The decor was cute though, including in the serving baskets, very picnic vibes.

Creamy Potato Salad / Mixed Greens Salad / Pickles & Onion.

For sides, our hosts picked the baked beans (served warm), mixed greens salad, and potato salad.  Reasonable diversity, but I would have preferred macaroni salad, slaw, and mashed potatoes (or corn on the cob, if it was in season).

Mixed Greens Salad: 

This looked mushy and watery and way over dressed, so I didn't try it.  It seemed to really be just greens, nothing else.

Creamy Potato Salad:

This was a fairly mushy style of potato salad, or as they call it, "creamy".  Not really hunks of potato, very soft mush.  It had a acidic flavor to it that I didn’t care for, and a weird aftertaste.  **.

The random slices of red onions were fresh and crisp.  Pickles were tasty, generic, but tasty.  ***+.

Hot Foods: bbq baked beans, bbq chicken, pork ribs, hot links.

For proteins, the hosts picked ribs, bbq chicken, and hot links.  I was reasonably happy with their picks, although would have preferred pulled pork over the chicken, I know white meat chicken is the general crowd pleaser.  All were served over grill pans to keep warm.

Baked Beans:

The baked beans were fine.  Fairly soupy, and just small white beans, seemingly no different from what you'd get in a can, but the flavor was pretty decent.  I certainly would have preferred some onions in here, some bits of bbq meat, or a smoky flavor, but, they were fine.  Average for canned beans, below average for a bbq joint.  ***.

Sampler Platter.

In addition to the beans, went for some of nearly everything, skipping only the soggy salad and chicken as I don't eat chicken.

Hot Link Sausage: "Spiced pork link sausage with a mild kick."

The hot links were served already sliced, which was helpful for the outdoor picnic setting.  The casing was thicker than I like, was kinda tough to bite through.  Inside was unremarkable ... dense, compact sausage meat, slightly more akin to a thicker hotdog than a quality sausage.  A bit gristly.  Very mildly spicy.  Very average, no different from what you can get at a grocery store.  **+.

Pork Ribs: "National Award Winners! Slow-smoked and lightly basted with sauce."

And finally, the national award winning ribs.  They were the best part of the meal, but, only in that they were on the higher end of average, and certainly not anything that I'd expect to be award winning even at the local level, and certainly not nationwide.  The ribs had a relatively flavorful dry rub, a hint of smoke, and had a reasonable amount of meat on them.  Not too tough.  Again, just, slightly above average, what you'd expect from a mediocre restaurant, not on par with what you'd want from a place specializing in bbq.  ***.