Tonight our wonderful family friends from Augusta, Cookie and Abram, were kind enough to invite me to dinner at Nobu 57 in Midtown.  I hadn’t seen Cookie and Abram in several years, and it was really lovely to catch up with them, and especially wonderful of them to ask me to dinner.  Much much gratitude and major thanks.

Dinner was fabulous.  Nobu 57 is definitely a New York “mega restaurant”–all chic decoration and dim yet fancy lighting and really skinny women in ridiculous heels.  They encourage you to order dishes to share, which we did, and we ordered a ton of food, which I will recap for you via pictures.  Most of it was delicious.  Service was a little spotty at times–our waitress would occasionally disappear–but overall the experience was positive.

Cookie and I split a small jug of sake, which was smooth and a little sweet and a little dry.  I actually really like sake, but I don’t drink it often, so this was a special treat.  Foodwise we started with cold appetizers of ceviche tacos (tuna, lobster, and king crab) and these odd little chip things topped with delicate slices of scallop and tuna.

Both appetizers offered the same appeal: a crunchy base for smooth, delicate seafood.  The tacos were amazing: really flavorful and crunchy, little mini fish tacos of joy.  The chips were also unusual, and the tuna and scallop were excellently prepared.

We followed these dishes with Nobu’s signature item, the miso black cod.  The fish was perfectly prepared, tender and flakey, and gentle sweet with miso.  The fish was even better when you dipped it in the sweet dressing dotted on the side of the plate.  I was a really big fan of this dish, and can understand how it was such a winner.

The black cod was served with a ceviche of shrimp, squid, oysters, and scallops (I think).  The fish was tender and clearly cooked through but the ceviche was unusual in that it was extremely peppery and not really limey or cilantro-y.  I didn’t dislike the extreme peppery nature of the dish but it also wasn’t my favorite item on the menu.  Not a failure, but not a complete success either.  Still, I’ve grown to really like ceviche, so it was fun to try a variation on a theme.

We then received an array of well prepared sushi–two different rolls involving yellowtail and blue fin, respectively, and the house special which involved many different items including avocado and roe and I’m not sure what else.  Loved the house roll, and the other two rolls were well prepared as well.  Still, the house roll wins.

Of course we ordered dessert.  Cookie ordered (and I am referring to the menu here) “banana caramel soy toban yaki” which is described as “soy sauce caramelized bananas with roasted pecans and malaga ice cream.”  This dish was extremely sweet but really rustic and light, a southern-meets-asian dessert.  I ordered the more classic bento box dessert which came with a warm chocolate fondant cake, goma tuille, and green tea ice cream.  My cake was really rich and chocolatey and oozed wonderfully when I put my spoon into it.  The green tea ice cream was magnificent, some of the best I’ve ever had, with a really smooth consistancy and a rich, sweet green tea flavor.  The tuille was a little crunchy thinger beneath the ice cream which…tasted sweet and crunchy, I’m not sure why it was there.

And then we were done.  A really excellent meal with really excellent company.  I was so thrilled to see Cookie and Abram, it is wonderful to reconnect with old friends.  I’ll be seeing Cookie again to give her a tour of the Whitney, and will be sure to thank her profusely (again) for a lovely evening.