24 Years of Hating Seafood

Sushi Yasuda is considered by many to be the best sushi in New York City–indeed, much of their website is devoted to the formal customs and proper ways of eating it–and my boyfriend has been eyeing their omakase for years now.

The problem is that the omakase–which literally means “it’s up to you”–is a tasting menu of the chef’s choice, and while I’m down for anything an American or European restaurant might serve as part of their tasting, there’s some concern with Asian restaurants that I may get a whole squid or a live baby octopus.

And it’s not that I don’t want to be able to eat everything the chef offers, because obviously he’s not going to put anything in front of me that’s not intended to be mindblowing, but having spent the first 24 years of my life fish-free, I still have a little bit of a mindblock that keeps me from really enjoying the slimiest of seafoods.

Still, I’ve had a lot of advances in the eating of seameats thanks to seriously delicious dishes like the Chilean sea bass at Tao, the lobster at Seasonal Restaurant and Weinbar, and the scallops, shrimp, and lobster at The Wright. So it’s kind of funny to look back at our one and only trip to Yasuda in 2008 and see these pictures:

Here’s Kamran shoveling in uni (sea urchin gonads!) like he hasn’t eaten in weeks. Meanwhile, I ordered things like . . . cucumber rolls.

Despite still being scared of live baby octopi, I think I’m ready for another round at Yasuda! I just have to remind myself not to look at all of the freaky stuff on Law & Food‘s review before I go.