Omakase at Cagen

We celebrate Mr. T's birthday with an omakase every year.  It used to be our annual meal at Sushi Yasuda but since he went back to Japan we've been trying out new places and this year it was Cagen; the cozy sushi den located inside the old East Village Kajitsu space.  We sat at the eight person sushi bar right in front of Chef and owner Toshio Tomita and let him work his magic.

Cagen offers both a Kappo Omakase and Sushi Omakase of which we went the latter.  To begin a cool summer Gazpacho with shrimp and cucumber.

Red Snapper with plum paste and yuzu

Fluke with chimichurri

Tai (Sea Bream)

Engawa (Halibut)

Kasago (Red Perch)

Japanese Mackrels

Baby Snapper

Fugu (Blowfish) with fresh wasabi

A trio of Squid preparations

Kumamoto Oyster with kelp sauce and salt

Seared Shrimp

Scallop with Japanese Red Sauce

Wagyu Beef with chili flake

Toro

Marinated Tuna

Hokkaido Uni Hand Roll

Japanese Karage (Jellyfish) Hand Roll

Anago (Sea Eel)

Toro Hand Roll with Japanese Pickle

Handmade Soba Noodles- plain, yuzu and pepper

Sobayu (soba dipping sauce with soba seeds, negri wasabi)

Green Tea Ice Cream with chocolate sauce and frozen berries

It was an amazing experience.  Chef Tomita expertly sliced each piece of sushi from the whole fish with such swift precise knife skills.  He apparently grinds the buckwheat for his soba noodles every morning and even grows his own fresh wasabi.  I was so excited to finally have fugu (although I was not a fan of the rubbery texture) and loved the little additions to each piece of fish like the chimichurri on the fluke and the yuzu on the red snapper. It was an absolutely incredible meal from start to finish and I highly recommend to anyone who loves sushi as much we do.

The $140 Sushi Omakase is only available at 6:00 or 6:30 Monday- Saturday and reservations must be made at least 48 hours in advance. 

Cagen

414 East 9th Street between 1st & Avenue A

New York, NY 10009