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Story by Barbara Penny Angelakis
Photography by Manos Angelakis
CHADO Sushi
4 East 36th Street
New York, NY 10016
www.chadonyc.com
It happens, but not often, that in the world of culinary arts a long held traditional food style is revolutionized… and even less often when it is successful. You can name the few that have made it; Nouvelle, Slow-food, Fusion. In the case of the hundreds of years old inviolate manner of preparing Sushi, against all odds CHADO a newly opened sushi restaurant and bar in the Murray Hill section of Manhattan, is succeeding in sushi with a twist.
Omar Balouma, a young entrepreneurial French-Algerian restaurateur and his partners, have built Chado around the culinary skills of Chef Mike Lim. It can be said that CHADO is where the eastern and western worlds meet at the crossroads  of the world… Manhattan. Look for the white sail awning that announces the entrance just east of Fifth Avenue on 36th Street. Mr. Balouma has designed a simple black and white themed restaurant where the food, not the décor, it is the star. You enter into a long narrow room that contains a bar and than a series of half moon black banquettes that could easily seat 10 or more persons per table. A stark white wall just opposite the banquettes hides the kitchen and leads you into the inner sanctum where Chef Lim holds court. The sushi bar is at the rear of the room, which holds a few more tables for smaller parties. The only color in the restaurant is a slash of Chinese red which crosses the “A” in CHADO and a series of corresponding red light in the lamps over the sushi bar… simple and elegant.
Chef Lim has developed a new edgy approach to placing raw fish and vegetables over rice without the use of large amounts of hot mustard (wasabi) and soy sauce,  the well-known traditional method of eating sushi. He has replaced those less than healthy items with a multiplicity of sauces and toppings in a much more beneficial way and at the same time, he has added variety and mystery to the mix. When soy is used, it comes from Chef Lim’s own kitchen, home-brewed and refined, not the usual high sodium liquid ubiquitous at any sushi parlor. Chef Lim created a series of 60 different secret sauces to replace the soy sauce and wasabi combo that is as much a part of sushi as huge quantities of butter and cream were to traditional French Cuisine and in the process added an entire new range of items for us, sushi lovers, to enjoy. The kitchen also offers a selection of innovative hot dishes but this evening we were here to eat sushi and eat we did.
We began with a series of three non-sushi appetizers, Red Snapper Ceviche marinated in yuzu juice and white soy and topped with shredded radish sprouts;  Seafood combo of Shrimp and Crab Harumaki (Spring Rolls) with baby leeks and woodear mushrooms with spicy kalamansi (Philippine lime) nectar dip; and melt in your mouth duck meat salad with cucumber, radish, field greens and shredded carrots, with a jalapeno plum vinaigrette dressing. All three were eye candy as well as had explode in your mouth flavor; but the spring rolls were a stand-out with the thinnest crispy skins filled with a delicious mix of ingredients that left me yearning for a much larger portion. As we had ordered the Omakase or Chef’s selection tasting menu, our cheerful waitress smiled knowingly and said the Japanese equivalent of “you ain’t seen nothin yet”. So we sat back and patiently awaited the procession of small plates that were to follow.
Each of the dishes presented the highest quality, freshest fish, cut to perfection, and placed on a 1 ½” length of short-grained rice. The rice was similar to an Italian Arborio grain rather than the longer grain rice normally used for sushi. This balance of rice to fish allowed for the utmost enjoyment of each piece of rich, fragrant  sushi, and enjoy we did. While we savored a large variety of dishes, there were some that were such knock-outs they bear special mention, such as the red tuna with avocado sauce – a guacamole-like puree dollop on top of the richest red silken tuna; or the sautéed Spanish mackerel draped over rice. One of the highlights for me was the innovative crispy rice disk topped with spicy tuna and avocado sauce and the salmon cut on the bias, marinated and served with the skin on. Also outstanding was the yellowtail with tahini sauce and the masterly red tuna over a crispy fried slice of firm tofu with avocado sauce. Less successful to my taste was the ginger/mustard sauce on salmon; while the salmon was luscious, I felt the ginger and mustard fought each other; and the tempura fluke with thinly sliced pimento was bland. One of the most unusual and satisfying selections was spicy Aquatic Roll which consisted of spicy tuna with crunchy flakes and rice with chopped cucumber pickle filling topped with scorched salmon. Our feast ended with a crisp hand-held seaweed (nori) roll of cucumber, Japanese yellow pickle (osinko) and mint leaf (siso).
The meal was accompanied by a good quality green tea that did not have the biting aftertaste of lesser quality brews, and before we began our meal, we sampled some of the house specialty cocktails. I particularly liked the Geisha with Ketel One Vodka, Soho Lychee Liqueur and Lychee Juice, although the Moulin Rouge with Stoli Raspberri Vodka, Chambord, and Chandon Champagne or the Chado Martini of Ketel One Citroen Vodka, Domaine de Canton Ginger Liquor, Lime Juice and Japanese Green Tea sounded alluring. Wines were limited but all the selections were targeted to compliment the menu and offered good choices.
© July 2010 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
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