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 The Albany Sushi Meetup Group
I had the pleasure of trying the One of a Kind TEA HOUSE, opened for only 2 months and enjoyed the food and the service.
This little place is located on Central Avenue, close to KITSU, SHINING RAINBOW and other new restaurants with the Oriental touch. My first time there, I never got to the entrees. I tried the Calamari appetizer (highly recommended for calamari lovers), the dumplings (delicious and color coded, Purple-shrimp, red-beef, yellow-chicken, white-pork and green-veggie.) The appetizers and soup alone are worth the trip. The next time at the recommendation of my server I chose the first item on the menu, the duck (or chicken or beef) with ginger and it was out of this world.
The menu is very reasonable and is certainly to cost less than our traditional sushi fares and I thought that an "off-grid" place would be a refreshing change of pace. This place is very unique as it offers a wide variety of oriental smoothies and "bubble" teas. The prices are very reasonable and you won’t be disappointed with the food. Here are some of their offerings:
Visit their website HERE
Albany, NY 12206 – USA
Wednesday, May 12 at 6:30 PM
Attending: 20
Details: http://sushi.meetup.com/121/calendar/13248495/
Overall Rating – 2.8 / 5
A little while back now, I went to Orlando for a few days on a work trip. Seeing how Florida is a peninsula, I imagined that the sushi there would be quite good, and may vary a little from the standard, using fresh fish from the Gulf of Mexico and mid-Atlantic. Unfortunately I was without a car and a little outside of Orlando proper (I was at a hotel more or less sandwiched between Disney and Sea World) and because of that I didn’t have quite the variety of restaurants to choose from that I had hoped. As far as sushi went, there were two restaurants within a manageable distance – Benihana, and Benihana (yes, there were two of them, and they were within about 3 miles of each other). Given the choice, my fellow sushi pioneer /BH and I went to the one that wasn’t in a hotel.
Disclaimer: Benihana is a chain, however I have not been to any other Benihanas. I cannot attest for the quality of any but the one I went to in Orlando.
On the outside and in, Benihana looked just about as stylish as it attempted to be. Don’t confuse stylish with “classy” or “nice” – it still had somewhat of a chintzy chain restaurant feel to it, but far less so than would an Applebee’s or Macaroni Grill, and I didn’t feel like I was being looked at strangely for showing up with a button-down vest and tie (although one of the sushi chefs did confuse /BH with Rain from the movie Ninja Assassin). Speaking of sushi chefs, I found it somewhat odd that neither were remotely Japanese – not to say that only the Japanese can make decent sushi, but it did strike me as a bit out of the ordinary to see a Hispanic individual behind the sushi counter. Regardless, we had places to be and inquiring about the career paths of our chefs fell to the wayside (as did taking pictures of the ambiance, a faux pas for which I sincerely apologize).
In a land where one would imagine you could get a fair amount of good fish, we went to a chain. Why? Simple. On certain days of the week, Benihana had $25 all-you-can-eat sushi. The only catch is that you have to sit at the sushi bar, which means no hibachi, so don’t bring a mixed crowd of sushi lovers and those who are not so keen. In the eyes of myself and /BH, however, sitting at the sushi bar was a blessing, as we got to merely mark off what we wanted on the sushi list and hand it straight over the counter. No waiting, no hassles, just sushi. Not a bad setup. Oh, and did I mention that the menu included nigiri? Because it did.
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The all-you-can-eat sushi menu at Benihana. Click to enlarge.
Of course, they give you a generous portion of edamame, a miso soup, and a small salad, all of which are much less expensive than fish. I eschewed the edamame, which I’ve never been a huge fan of, ate the soup and salad while waiting for the main course, and shortly thereafter we proceeded to stuff our faces. See below:
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My first plate of nigiri – Albacore, Salmon, Surf Clam, and Yellowtail
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Benihana’s Las Vegas Roll – Salmon, avocado, and cream cheese, deep fried and then each piece topped with spicy mayo and jalapeno.
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Part one of the meal of Capital Sushi’s /BH.
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Rainbow Roll & Spicy Tuna Roll
…and that was only the first order. There were two more, albeit smaller, after that.
The rolls were, all in all, very well made. I tend to be a little rough on my sushi at times and both the rolls and the nigiri held up very well. My only complaint would be that they didn’t cut the rainbow roll into evenly sized pieces, instead they followed the width of the fish and avocado so some pieces were strangely thin and some were blatantly wide. The Las Vegas roll was surprisingly good (public notice: I slather sandwiches in may so a bit much of the stuff doesn’t offend me at all). The mix of textures and flavors was both pleasing and complex – more than I would have expected from a chain. Then there was the nigiri. The nigiri highlighted just how wrong I had been in making one incorrect assumption… Being on a peninsula surrounded by ocean on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other, I had presumed that the fish would be top-quality. After all, one would imagine that Florida of all places would have easy access to fresh fish, right? Okay, Florida’s not exactly salmon country but they still should have a good fresh selection, right? Seemingly not. The nigiri seemed largely drained of flavor, the telltale sign of frozen fish. It really wasn’t any better than the average sushi in upstate New York, if even that good. Honestly it was fairly upsetting. Not that it was bad – it was decent, but for a place so close to so much water, they should be able to do better. … Still, it was decent, it was cheap, and it was neverending, so all in all I couldn’t complain.
Would I go to another Benihana? Yes, under one of two circumstances: 1) if I wanted to stuff my face beyond recognition for what is, in all fairness, pretty cheap, or 2) if I saw one in a place not really known for its sushi, Biloxi, Missisippi for example, and I wanted a “safe bet”. I might even go to it on occasion if there was one in the Albany / Troy area, but when I’m travelling, it’s simply not worth trading the novelty of going somewhere completely new for the merely satisfactory experience of Benihana.
/CH
Benihana
12690 International Drive, Orlando, FL 32821
Tel: (407) 239-7400
Eat-In only
Hours:
Mon-Sat: 12pm-2pm / 5pm-11pm
Sun: 12pm-3:30pm / 3:30pm-10pm
The Albany Sushi Meetup Group
WOW!
Joel, Josie and I were invited to a Grand Opening teaser at NIKKO’s, Albany’s first sushi seafood buffet. There were some familiar faces there, including Bill Chow, who asked the Organizers to dinner and a critique of the restaurant.
We just returned as I am getting this Meetup together. It was nothing short of fabulous. $21.99 is the cost of this all you can eat feast. Joel took some photos that you can see here.
Sushi, sashimi, hot items, Oysters on the half shell and so much more. There were 5 Sushi chefs working behind the line and kept fresh sushi, sashimi, and a variety of rolls coming out to the line. Everything was fresh and delicious. We all agreed as we were getting filled that we wished we had more room.
This idea and the food quality had all 3 of us unanimously recommending that we open this Meetup to other local Meetup groups so you may see friends from sister groups dining with us.
This is a NO LIMIT event. There will be NO waiting list, NO limit. Bring your friends. We are going to try to fill one side of the restaurant with just Meetup members. This is one you don’t want to miss.
Albany, NY 12205 – USA
Tuesday, May 4 at 6:30 PM
Attending: 61
Details: http://sushi.meetup.com/121/calendar/13164003/
Overall rating – 1.2 / 5
It’s no big surprise that you can get sushi at a grocery store. Most grocery stores have been offering pre-made rolls for a few years now. I would, however, imagine that most genuine sushi connoisseurs stay far, far away from grocery store sushi, as I have … until now.
It may be a cardinal sin for a sushi lover, but I did it. I caved. I was grocery shopping at Hannaford in Latham late one night and wanted a snack for when I got home and thought “Hmm… How about some sushi?”
Hannaford’s incarnation of the Rainbow Roll.
Warning signs were everywhere, and they were clearly visible from inside the thin plastic container. They didn’t use the correct type of rice (one roll had BROWN rice, another used standard long-grain white rice), the sushi wasn’t tightly rolled, they used a somewhat odd mix of fish (tilapia? … really?). Nevertheless, it was in front of me, it was sushi, and something inside me said “maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised”, so I picked up a rainbow roll (salmon, shrimp, or tilapia outside, with avocado and cream cheese inside) and a “shoreline combo” (salmon & tilapia nigiri with a crab stick, avocado, and cucumber roll that used brown rice sprinkled with sesame seeds). We took it home and laid it out nicely with our sushi set and some soy sauce.
The Shoreline Combo. Yes, that really is brown rice you see.
Sitting down and starting in, the number one problem became immediately apparent: whoever rolled these things had no idea what they were doing. They fell apart the moment they hit soy, and they fell apart anyway if you didn’t move them in a beeline from the plate to your mouth (you had about a second and a half). The number two problem was what I thought it would be: the rice. It just wasn’t the correct rice, it probably wasn’t cooked correctly either, and the ice really can make a huge difference. Sesame seeds did not help – this is sushi, not Chinese take out. Aside from that (and mind you those are some pretty serious things to overlook) it actually wasn’t that bad. The tilapia wasn’t as fresh as it could be but it was certainly edible. The salmon was a little dry but otherwise totally acceptable. The shrimp was cooked shrimp – it is what it is. I could’ve done without the cream cheese, but it certainly didn’t break my fairly low expectations. The avocado was firm and buttery.
Our late-night sushi snack, all laid out. That reminds me, I need a real soy bowl.
All in all it wasn’t anything that I’d ever even remotely think about recommending to anyone, but as far as taste and freshness went it would suffice if I was in a grocery store and had a yearning for sushi then and there … except for the whole rice thing and the falling apart thing. Those are simply inexcusable errors, and eschewed any hopes of me buying sushi from a Hannaford again.
/CH
Hannaford
Take-Out
Multiple locations
Most locations open 24/7/365
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The Albany Sushi Meetup Group
A few of you have suggested KITSU, the new kid on the block. Kitsu is located on Central Avenue where Saso’s once stood. So with a new place to check out Joel and I decided to give it a try and what a pleasant surprise.
We started with the same Tic Tac Toe and Pink Panther found at Shogun and from there it was all new. Every Roll was fresh and tasty. The sushi gave a choice of sushi rice or brown rice, although our chef discouraged the use of brown rice in the rolls but suggested we try some with Nigiri. I leave that to your personal palates.
Being somewhat adventurous we pulled the old GIVE US SOMETHING NOT ON THE MENU. It was our best choice of the night. The first roll had fish on the inside and banana slices on the outside and was served with a Mango sauce. It wasn’t overly sweet and the combination of flavors was so delightful that we thought it would be our best of the evening. Our host, Owner James Chen, our Meeetup’s newest member, created that delight. His chef on duty, Johnson, decided to provide a bit of competition and created a masterpiece of his own. Inside was Tempura Shrimp and cream cheese, sprinkled with "crunchies" and outside was a combination of eel and avocado. WOW!! Neither has yet to be named but James has promised to have a MEETUP ROLL on the Special menu while we are there.
Check the time carefully. Our normal 6:30 PM dinner hour has to be moved up to 6:00 PM for this event. James has offered a 15% discount on your dinner bill for our evening. He has also offered a Sunday MAKE YOUR OWN SUSHI program that we are going to try to schedule in June.
This is definitely one to attend.
Albany, NY 12206 – USA
Thursday, April 22 at 6:00 PM
Attending: 25
Details: http://sushi.meetup.com/121/calendar/12836853/
 The Albany Sushi Meetup Group
Remember the delightful Hibachi Master from Tokyo Steakhouse? We discovered his new home. He is at Ichiban on Western Avenue where they have just recently added ONE Hibachi table. It seats 18, not one person more, so RSVP now and monitor your schedule closely. If you can’t make it, remember the people who will undoubtedly be on the Waiting List.
We haven’t had a Hibachi night in a while and this looked perfect. Everyone knows the drill, pick your entree, enjoy the show, suck up sake and LET’S PARTY!!!!
Albany, NY 12203 – USA
Tuesday, April 6 at 6:30 PM
Attending: 10
Details: http://sushi.meetup.com/121/calendar/12835998/
The Albany Sushi Meetup Group
This will be our third event at the little known yet tasty bistro known as the Shanghai Grill. In our first event, there was the unfortunate report of 12 RSVPs and only 5 attendees. One of the key reasons why honoring your RSVP is of the UTMOST importance …
In our second event, the owner was justifiably skeptical. But the Albany Sushi Meetup Group WOW’d the crowd with 100% of our 25 RSVPs attending the Shanghai Grill. So let’s knock this one out of the park for a terrific round 3 event!
The Shanghai Grill is tucked away in Newton Plaza. Offering a delightful menu of sushi and non-sushi japanese fare, the staff are pleasant accommodating and graciously dedicate their services to our needs. In our second meetup, wait staff was DEDICATED to our table and ours alone. How’s that for service? In addition, the Shanghai Grill is offering our group a 10% discount. Our reputation preceeds us 
Let’s show them why opening their doors to the Albany Sushi Meetup Group a third time around will be one of the wisest decisions made thus far this year 
Hope to see you all there!
PS
Always a reminder to keep your RSVP up to date. If you RSVP yes, then it’s expected that you WILL attend. Shogun’s wait list is another example of how popular these meetups are.
Albany, NY 12210 – USA
Wednesday, March 24 at 6:30 PM
Attending: 6
Details: http://sushi.meetup.com/121/calendar/12803940/
Yes, this is the best flash game ever. At least, that is, until my ADD kicks in and I move on to the next best flash game ever. But this one is totally awesome because it involves (*drumroll*) SUSHI!!! … and a cat.
In Sushi Cat you are the cat and you have to win the attention of your feline romantic interest by getting fat on sushi!!! If that doesn’t make sense in the context of this post, the game does may obvious references to sumo, so it’s not completely off-the-wall. The game itself is simple, fun, and silly enough to waste hours on. Put very basically, you play Plinko with yourself, trying to eat as much sushi as you can as you fall through each level. Definitely worth one of those spare moments when you’d rather not flip through never-ending channels of reality shows.
/CH
Overall rating – 4.1 / 5
Conveniently located for just about anyone – a mere stones-throw from exit 4 of the Northway – one will find the much-hyped Koto Japanese Steak House. With it’s expansive yet often full parking lot and shiny neon sign, it lets all those who drive past Colonie on I-87 know of it’s popularity. And it certainly is nothing if not popular.
Going on a Thursday at about 7, my group of three was lucky enough to have reservations. Without them, we certainly would have faced a significant wait … on a Thursday … in the Albany area. But busy is good, right? That means people like it, and if people like it then it must be well worth it.
The Hibachi Room at Koto. The mix of lighting styles is interesting, as is that mural on the far wall.
Koto is certainly a beautiful place inside – the coy pond with wood bridge that you cross upon entering, the slate-and-wood decor sushi bar, the wall murals – it’s all very attractive. It is a hint on the crowded side, but they successfully mitigate that with dim lighting which makes those not in your immediate company seem a bit more distant than they really are.
Koto’s attractive Sushi Bar.
As you would expect from a place that offers sushi, hibachi, and more “normal”-style food, the menu is quite large. Sushi occupies one very full page and the selection isn’t bad at all. (Note that the sushi menu that Koto has on its site is not routinely updated, is only a partial list, and does not contain prices. I have the sushi menu current to this post available here.)
Our group of three started off with a bottle of sake (I forget which, it was good but nothing to write home about) which came served cold in its black bottle with red lettering and had an undeniable “you’re a yuppie at an Asian fusion restaurant” flair. Perhaps the most notable thing about it was that it was one of their cheaper bottles yet was $40 for a 750. I also geared up for some Japanese cuisine with an Ebi Shumai which was also good but nothing remarkable, and my date got a Miso Soup which was very standard. Then there was the sushi…
Sushi at Koto – from bottom to top, the Black Out Roll, the Andy Roll, the Fantasy Roll, the Sky Beauty Roll, and some Toro Sashimi on the side
The sushi, as a whole, was excellent. Koto seemed to master the art of pairing flavors, both knowing what goes well together and nailing the proper ratios leading to a very balanced flavor in each roll. For example: the Andy roll – tuna and cucumber inside, and beef tataki outside. The tuna and the tataki not only went excellently together, but the tataki was only lightly marinated and therefore didn’t dominate the flavor of the roll. The fantasy roll, shrimp, crab, and avocado topped with white tuna and tobiko was also very good and well-matched with itself. The fantasy roll – an amalgam of tuna, salmon, yellowtail, and avocado – was delicious and not overly sauced, but I had issues with it falling apart on me. Of the nine rolls that the three of us collectively ordered, this was the only roll that did so, and it may have been an anomaly but it still shouldn’t happen. Almost every piece that I picked up started to fall apart, being saved only by me tossing aside all manners and just grabbing it with my hand. The sky beauty roll was the least notable on the plate, but it was a nice 8-piece roll that wasn’t a “chef’s special” and therefore was a little over half the price of the rest. Topping off the plate were two pieces of toro sashimi. They were not fishy at all, thankfully (you never know how long they have it hanging around since at $8 a piece few people probably order it) and the taste and texture was magnificent – as toro should be.
The second plate had two pieces of fluke sashimi – a good fish, and something you can’t find everywhere, but unfortunately for the poor fluke it was a follow-up act to the toro, which it obviously could not compare to. The fairy roll had a nice little kick to it imparted by the sauce, but in a slight deviation from the rest of the rolls, it was a bit imbalanced. I found the salmon to be a bit overwhelmed by the avocado, although my date who ordered the roll is an avocado addict and didn’t mind in the slightest. The Koto House Special Roll had no such problem, the avocado returning to a more modest role, along wiht some crabmeat, as a sidekick to the delcicious lobster tempura – all glazed in a slightly sweet sauce. While it may not be the best roll on the menu, it’s certainly something they can be proud to put their name to.
More Koto Sushi – the Fairy Roll, the Koto House Special Roll, and some Fluke Sashimi
To finish off the evening, my date and I shared a dessert special which was, effectively, a cheesecake egg roll. Both of us are quite the fans of cheesecake (we actually went to Cheesecake Machismo just yesterday), and this thing was good. It was creamy, perfectly sweet cheesecake inside a delicious crispy shell. Certainly worth the spike in our cholesterol levels.
In the end we all were very satisfied with our meals – everything was, by and large, very tasty. However, a dinner for three – 9 rolls, 4 pieces of sashimi, a soup, an appetizer, and a dessert, with tax and a fair tip, was $230. The contribution from my date and I was $170. That’s $85 per person, and I take issue with that. You see, once you cross the $100 per person barrier you get to the point where you can have a meal at some of the top-quality restaurants in the area, excluding extravagance such as the restaurants at the Gideon Putnam or Angelo’s 677 Prime. I then ask myself if Koto really comes all that close to comparing with some of those across-the-board top-end restaurants. For that matter is it even any better than, say, Yoshi’s or Sake Cafe. The only reasonable answer I can find to any of these questions is, very frankly, no. Not to say you shouldn’t go to Koto. Quite the contrary. It is very good, certainly worth a few visits, and the elegant beauty of the place makes it a great place for a date (and your date may be somewhat impressed with your willingness to reach into your wallet as well). For everyday, “I just want some sushi” purposes, it does price itself out. Still, some marvelous food can be had at Koto, and I do recommend it.
/CH
Koto Japanese Steak House
Eat-In
260 Wolf Road Extension
Latham, New York 12110
Phone: 518-869-8888
Fax: 518 –869-6282
Monday – Thursday 11:30am-10:00pm
Friday and Saturday 11:30am-11:00pm
Sunday 3:30pm-10:00pm
Note: Monday-Saturday Closed for Dinner Preparation 3:00pm-4:00pm
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The Albany Sushi Meetup Group
We’ve been here before and the members who came have begged that we come back, so here we are. This unique restaurant under the leadership of our host Frank, has presented delights unknown to other Sushi locations. If it’s not on the menu, ask. If you like surprises, just ask the chef to surprise you.
I had lunch at Shogun recently with a colleague who came from Schenectady to enjoy sushi that I had highly recommended. He asked why I liked the place and I called Frank over. I asked Frank for a Roll that was not on the menu. Mike loved it and promised to return. His paralegal joined us on the spot and many of you will be meeting her soon.
Frank is again offering a 10% discount on the bill.
Those members who have been there will surely sign up and those who haven’t had better get on the list fast. We have a limit on this Meetup that is pretty much sealed in stone. So keep your RSVP’s current and if you have signed up and can’t make it, change the RSVP to make room for someone on the waiting list.
Delmar, NY 12054 – USA
Wednesday, March 10 at 6:30 PM
Attending: 20
Details: http://sushi.meetup.com/121/calendar/12657227/
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