Tuesday, May 06, 2008

O Ya? Oh Yeah!


It's tough to keep up with all the new restaurants constantly opening in New York and Boston, but close reading of various blogs and review sites helps. Sooner or later, the same names begin to show up across the board. And it becomes apparent that certain places are garnering special attention. Deserved or not, depends on which source one trusts or, even better, on personal experience.

When the New York Times restaurant critic, Frank Bruni, shocked me by naming his Number One restaurant outside of New York City as a little place called O Ya in Boston, I decided it was time to check in on it myself. I'd seen the name pop up here and there; up to that point I basically only knew that it was an expensive sushi place in downtown Boston with some good reviews from diners. But I hadn't had much of an urge to try it out because there were already a tier of good sushi restaurants that I regularly turned to. When it comes to sushi, I find that after a certain price point (where I know the fish is fresh and safe, and I've found it to be tasty) my palette cannot distinguish a large difference in the quality that makes me feel it is worth paying much more. I'm going to put it out there now that, hands down, the food at O Ya is worth the price.