Restaurant Yuu brings polish to Greenpoint

RESTAURANTS • First Word

The Skinny: Six weeks in, chef Yuu Shimano and team are quietly delivering some of the most impressive, technique-driven French fare in the city in the form of an 18-course, $250 omakase that highlights pristine Japanese ingredients.

The Vibe: In a word: polished (in Greenpoint!), from the featherweight glassware to the gleaming open kitchen to the precise, à la minute cooking.

The Food: Shimano (formerly of Guy Savoy in Paris, Mifune in NYC) imbues refined French cuisine with Japanese ingredients and ethos: custardy vichyssoise crowned with Hokkaido uni; crispy fried baby ayu (sweetfish) bundled in spring roll skin and served alongside a bonito liver and egg yolk sauce; the signature duck, foie gras, and seasonal mushroom en croute. 

A perfectly timed nectarine soufflé would have been enough dessert to win the night. But first, peak-season Yubari melon foam spooned over vanilla ice cream, white Port jelly, and a Pernod and melon ice (above). 

The Verdict: Paris three-Michelin-star-level cooking in North Brooklyn. –Kat Odell

→ Restaurant Yuu (Greenpoint) • 55 Nassau Ave. • Book on Tock.