Oysters and pearls
Kinjo (Dumbo)
RESTAURANTS • First Person
It’s almost impossible at this point to write about a new New York City omakase in a way that doesn’t flatten its qualities into a few binaries: Is it painfully expensive, or “if you have to ask” expensive? Is it a self-serious three hours wordlessly conducted with all the gravitas of a eunuchs’ monastery, or does the chef actually talk to the clientele? And from whence did the counter emerge: a private forest of regionally unique cedar, or a millenia-ancient single hinoki timber, logged under the chef’s personal guidance explicitly for its destiny in Manhattan?
That isn’t to say that these places are without their merits, but each successive new omakase seems to take New York City’s culinary landscape further and further past cliche, careening towards parody. Meanwhile, we continue to lack the kind of exceptional middleground for sushi (and especially omakase) experiences that Los Angeles has in spades.
Thank god, then, for Kinjo. Situated in a dramatically Dumbo spot in the shadow of the Manhattan Bridge’s colossal eastern anchorage, the entrance is discreet, a small black door in one of Brooklyn’s oldest waterfront factory buildings, once home to the Bliss Torpedo Works. On entrance, a dark, sultry lounge space unfurls dramatically, with a horseshoe bar, banquettes lining bistro tables for two and four, and a few single-line deconstructed chandelier bars providing light from above.
The lounge serves a rotating à la carte menu of rotating small plates, upscale bar bites like snow crab dip with kettle chips. It’d make a great date-night stop or pregame for Kinjo’s main event, an omakase for which there are three seatings per night (5:30, 7, and 9p). This is a meal no fewer than three members of Team FOUND have raved about, with one having already clocked multiple visits. (To be fair, they live in Dumbo.) But also, Kinjo’s name translates to “neighborhood,” and it may be the perfect neighborhood omakase, if such a thing can exist.
The 13-seat blonde wood counter is separated from the lounge by a glass window covered in curtains, with billowing linens hanging above the bar in parallel. Chef Johnny Huang is a Masa alum and his style is luxe without being bombastic, trending towards his talent for enhancing flavor over a more purist pursuit.
Our meal started with a Kumamoto oyster dotted by ikura and topped with blood orange ponzu and scallion oil, followed up by scallop crudo dressed with yuzu, honeydew, cucumber, and mint. Both were excellent, but the nigiri was phenomenal: otoro crowned with caviar and chives, sweet shrimp practically glowing with a slick of curry glaze topped with shredded fried leek, and an especially buttery king salmon with a hidden touch of yuzu kosho and finger limes. The omakase ends with a composed dish — in our case, chazuke (steeped, soupy rice) with gindara (sablefish) — and a dessert (pandan panda cotta).
The 11-piece omakase is $95 (okonomi bolt-on handrolls cost around $10 per), well below most of the city’s current omakase pricing. It takes an hour and a half to two hours and is carried out by a Masa alum in beautiful (and beautifully chill) environs. It’s a low-key bargain on par with the early, epic, sub-$100 days of Torrisi Italian Specialities or Momofuku Ko, and hopefully represents the start of a shift in New York’s sushi landscape. –Foster Kamer
→ Kinjo (Dumbo) • 11 Adams St • Tues-Thur, 5p-11, Fri-Sat 5p-12a, omakase seatings at 530, 7, 9p • omakase $95 per • Reserve (lounge walk-ins welcome).