Momo Sushi Shack- No Fuku, Just Momo

Momo Sushi Shack has no affiliation with those other Momo’s in Manhattan.  I might be the only person who immediately associates “Momo” with David Chang, but I just wanted to make that clear.  First of all, Momo Sushi Shack is even farther east than the other Momo empire- across the East River, in Bushwick.  The surrounding area is straight from the set of Girls, and Momo Sushi Shack would be a place they would eat if Hannah ever stopped whining long enough to go out for dinner. It is Girls-friendly also because you can eat and drink like a king for $40 a person. This place is ambitious and effortless all at the same time- the food is creative and fresh, but the Bushwick location makes the prices lower and the music better than it would be in Manhattan.

It should be noted that the menu is extensive and like many other sushi places, there is a large selection of daily specials- and there are also a lot of options for people who might not necessarily like sushi. My only issue with this place was the service- they brought all of our dishes at once, literally eleven plates on the same stretch of table at the same time.  When we asked to slow things down, our server told us that we agreed to “tapas style”.  Tapas style does not mean bombardment, FYI, go to Spain.  Anyway, adding to the stress of the pace was the delicate crispiness of the nori that wrapped the hand rolls- we were instructed to eat them quickly to get the full effect of the crunchy seaweed (which I LOVE), but it was hard to shove everything down with so much going on.  The hand rolls were served in shot glasses, which obviously I like.  Below is a break down of what we ordered, but there are enough yummy choices that we could almost go back and not repeat the same meal, except we would want to because we ordered the best stuff…

Lotus root-The Pants are huge fans of this vegetable, and everyone should try it; this  dish was the perfect use of lotus root as a vehicle for flavors, using its unique texture to carry the sauce

Salad-good crunch and variety of veggies, large

Pork Betty-(Feel free to sing along to Ram Jam, we did) Delicious, buttery slices of pork belly in a light sauce the details of which are escaping me right now; best thing is that when we ate all of the meat, they dumped white rice into the remaining sauce for a real treat; very cool

Gyoza- we got the pork gyoza, but there was also lamb available; they were served attached by a crispy covering, which added extra crunch; these were truly tasty, if just a little big smaller than the jumbo gyoza we are used to

Spicy scallop hand roll; Soft shell crab hand roll- these were true stars- the crunchy nori really makes a difference,and the softshell crab was really outstanding; the spicy scallop was tasty, but no match for the spicy scallop hand roll at Gari

Salmon guacamole roll-there was actually a mix up with this and we ended up getting a salmon and herb roll as well; I was so excited for salmon guac, but it could have used a little more kick

Tempura- tempura vegetables, what is not to like; batter not too greasy, veggies were hardy enough to support the frying

Fried chicken-this serving size was also substantial, but can there ever be enough fried chicken?

Uni- I have recently become obsessed with uni, and Momo does it proper justice- huge heaping serving, crispy nori, rice, heaven

Pork sushi thing-this is not something I would ever pick to order, and I actually thought that we were getting more uni; silly me- this is actually some sort of cooked pork over rice, with two different sauces on it; the sauces packed a lot of punch, but like really, pork sushi? Do I need this?

Hotate Punch-Ehhhhh..not my fave, a ceviche of scallops and pickled Japanese wasabi stems; its a personal thing, I am pretty picky about the texture of raw scallops, but others seems to scoop this up with gusto

P.S. Momo sushi shack is cash-only, so bring your Hamiltons