Review: Hatsuhana in Chicago, IL.
dlog...@my-deja.com
online, I decided to try the one that showed up in most of the reviews
and pages, Hatsuhama.
The place is located at 160 East Ontario St, in downtown Chicago.. not
far from Lake Shore Drive (which is how I got there after getting lost
for an hour). Take whatever parking you can find, since I had to walk
four blocks from where I parked.
From the street, the store front seemed very small. But once I walked
in, I saw the place had depth and an upstairs for private groups and
overflow. The sushi bar was long and bent in three places. There were
four sushi chefs madly working behind the bar.
I waited about 15 minutes for a seat at the sushi bar, along side
another single gentleman, who I will call John. Two seats opened at one
corner and he and promptly took them. I asked if he had been here
before, to which he answer last year. Seems I had arrived at the same
time a Radiology Convention took place every year. He said it was great
last year.
We were promptly greeted by the waitress who took our drink orders and
gave us A La Carte Menus. John started up with sashimi, while I dove
right into the nigiris. The A La Carte menu was quite extensive, with
a section for imports from Japan with no English names. I saw a few
that I recognized and asked with ones they had. I quickly ordered the
Kohada and Sayori nigiri, along an order of toro, uni, saba, and
hamachi.
The chef quickly studied our orders and then placed a large (bamboo?)
leaf down on the edge of the bar where he would serve our sushi. The
chef started out with the toro and uni. The uni was some of the
freshest I've ever had.. and the most in one gunkan. The nori wrapper
was also the most crisp and flavorful. The toro was great, and pretty
good sized pieces.
I watched the chef as I finished my second uni, he was pealing the skin
off of a piece of saba. I've seen them do this once before, and it was
to a raw piece of mackerel. I was right in my suspicions.. raw,
unmarinated saba. MMmmmmmMMmMmmm. Then came the Kohada. I have had
this before and didn't enjoy it, since it was overly marinated. This
time, the Kohada was like great saba. It was sublime, yet strong
flavored. John asked me what I had there, I told him if he liked saba
he's like this. He ordered it and loved it!
Again, as I finished my pieces I watched the chef. He pulled out a
piece of Albacore, that I didn't see listed on the menu. I asked the
chef if that was bincho maguro. He said yes, and I order some. John
asked what that was like, and decided to try as well. It was fantastic.
I also had some ika, amaebi, hamachi that were great.
John order his finishing makis, negitoro, negihama, and eel maki. I
ordered my desert sushi, uni and ikura. I thought something was weird
when I picked up the ikura and some eggs dropped right out. These eggs
were full, not half deflated like most I've seen.. and they didn't have
any sticky good holding them in a mass. They were also clear and
uncolored, extremely good. You truely get the burst of flavor from
this.
We both relaxed after such a great mean, though John warned me about
the sticker shock (the bill). We had talked about it during the meal,
seems the price on the A La Carte menu is for single pieces. The most
expensive item, toro was $5/piece or $10 per order. Most items fall
in at $2.50 - $4.50 per piece. With one beer at $3.50, and the sushi
I ate, the bill came to $78. I've never been able to sock away $78 by
myself around Boston. Fearlessly, I reach to my wallet and pull out the
old cooperate card. HA! The company will pay for that!
It was my second best sushi experience. I wish I had taken one of the
A La Carte menus, cuz there were a few things I've never seen before.
I will definately go back, on business of course :)
If you can afford the high prices and don't mind the crowds, this place
has some of great sushi. Next time I'll have to remember to have some
sake (salmon).
--
Dan
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Gerry
> If you can afford the high prices and don't mind the crowds, this place
> has some of great sushi. Next time I'll have to remember to have some
> sake (salmon).
Jeez, Dan. If you remember my absolutely *scathing* review, you'd
think we ate at different places. We might have.
What time did you arrive and on what day of the week?
Lucky you.
--
\\\--- Gerry
---------------------------------------------------
Music is an abstract that we love in the concrete.
Women are a concrete that we love in the abstract.
-- Walker Percy
dlog...@my-deja.com
Gerry <sp...@primenet.com> wrote:
> In article <8244p0$l2$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, <dlog...@my-deja.com> wrote:
>
> > If you can afford the high prices and don't mind the crowds, this
place
> > has some of great sushi. Next time I'll have to remember to have
some
> > sake (salmon).
>
> Jeez, Dan. If you remember my absolutely *scathing* review, you'd
> think we ate at different places. We might have.
Thats where I remember hearing about the place. I had read some of the
ISS websites for help.. and Hatsuhana was the only place that sounded
ok.
What was it that you didn't like about the place, other than the sky
high prices. That didn't bother me because I knew I could charge
whatever I wanted on the corperate card.. this was a business trip
and they owed me for this last minute crap.
> What time did you arrive and on what day of the week?
>
> Lucky you.
I flew in on Saturday 11/27, arrived at about 8:30pm - 9pm. I flew
out at 7:45am the next morning after my clandestine network upgrade.
That was the only lucky part of that day.. good sushi and good company.
John was very please I introduced him to kohada and bincho maguro.
Michael Barnett
occasion seeing cockroaches climb the walls in one of the tatami rooms.
I also have to do duty for a show in Chicago and have settled on a family
style place named Yannasee for Japanese food. Also a trip to Chicago isn't
complete without a dinner at the Berghoff (Illinois liquor license # 1),
fresh brewed beer and German food. Try Charlie Trotter's if you want an
"expense account" dinner.
After ten or so meals at Hatsuhana in Chicago over the past eight years the
only consistant item is the large check.
Now, Hatsuhana in NY @ 48th and Madison, that's a different story. Always
the highest quality and highest price. My dinner there two weeks ago was
for two and the tab (after a $40 tip) was $280. And I'll be back the first
chance I get.
mb
Gerry
> What was it that you didn't like about the place, other than the sky
> high prices. That didn't bother me because I knew I could charge
> whatever I wanted on the corperate card.. this was a business trip
> and they owed me for this last minute crap.
The service was the worst anywhere at anyprice. I took me almost two
hours to get enough to eat. It took me 30 minutes to get my tab. I
eventually walked up to the maitre d''s podium and waved my visa card
at him and told him that if they didn't use it now I was leaving. They
used it. I stiffed them. That makes maybe the 3rd time in life I've
done that. The food was okay. No better or worse. I ordered from the
table. 20 minutes went by. The waiter returned. Nope, we're out of
that. I ordered again. This continued ad nauseum. Once he came back
in 15 minutes and said, "You said how sashimi. How many pieces?" 10
minutes later: We no have.
A. Brain
Town"--excellent in all respects, and open late every night. One of the
best places in my experience. The upstairs "after hours" place is open
late; downstairs closes at 10 or so.
--
A. Brain
Remove "nospam" when replying via email
Gerry <sp...@primenet.com> wrote in message
news:021219991755480496%sp...@primenet.com...
dlog...@my-deja.com
Gerry <sp...@primenet.com> wrote:
> In article <826n7k$sjs$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, <dlog...@my-deja.com>
wrote:
>
> > What was it that you didn't like about the place, other than the sky
> > high prices. That didn't bother me because I knew I could charge
> > whatever I wanted on the corperate card.. this was a business trip
> > and they owed me for this last minute crap.
>
> The service was the worst anywhere at anyprice. I took me almost two
> hours to get enough to eat. It took me 30 minutes to get my tab. I
> eventually walked up to the maitre d''s podium and waved my visa card
> at him and told him that if they didn't use it now I was leaving.
They
> used it. I stiffed them. That makes maybe the 3rd time in life I've
> done that. The food was okay. No better or worse. I ordered from
the
> table. 20 minutes went by. The waiter returned. Nope, we're out of
> that. I ordered again. This continued ad nauseum. Once he came back
> in 15 minutes and said, "You said how sashimi. How many pieces?" 10
> minutes later: We no have.
Thats right, I remember that post. It took my 15 minutes to get a seat
a the sushi bar (which I probably did due to your posts.. remembering
bad service at tables).
I was greeted right away by a waitress who checked in on me enough.
The chef was right in front of me, so I was able to interact with him
and find out what they had. I was there from 8:30pm - 11pm, seemed
like they were closing, so my check came right away when I was finished.
As for the sushi, everything was very fresh that night and the pieces
were good sized. The prices were sky high, and I'd probably not eat
there if I didn't have the corperate card. There's just so much you
can charge for a piece of fish..
I guess I was lucky. My experience was good.