Restaurant Review: Yamaguchi

Yamaguchi
63 Main St
Port Washington, NY 11050
516-883-3500

To some, Yamaguchi is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chugoku region of Honshu island. To those in the know, it's a crazy good Japanese restaurant located just steps from the LIRR in Port Washington, NY.

After months of hearing about this great place from our friends Sorry-hime and You-sama, we were finally able to hook up with them to see for ourselves what was so fantastic about this place.

To start off, we had kaki age (fried oysters)
and beef tataki.

The beef tataki was served with some kind of ponzu dipping sauce, while the kaki age was served with both BBQ and tartar dipping sauce options. They were both comparable to what we've eaten at other Japanese places.

We followed this with nasu hasami age:

You're probably wondering "Well, what the heck is that?" Nasu hasami age is fried eggplant stuffed with crabmeat and fish paste, served in a special sauce with ginger. Before I say anything else, let me clearly state that I-HATE-EGGPLANT. I dislike everything about it - the color, the taste, the texture - it's pure UGH! And yet, the nasu hasami age was one of dishes I liked the most at Yamaguchi. So I'll amend my hate statement to I-HATE-EGGPLANT-EXCEPT-FOR-YAMAGUCHI'S.

For our main course, we had 2 orders of the Chef's special. The special is $40 per order and comes with 1 sushi roll - it is not listed on the menu. We also ordered some uni (sea urchin) on the side since Sorry-hime and You-sama are uni crazed!
Keep in mind that since we ordered TWO(2) specials, the amounts of sushi and sashimi are roughly doubled. I couldn't name everything in a technically correct manner, so what you see is what you get! I will, however, call attention to the ike nestled underneath the clam and the scallops that you cannot see in this picture behind the clam.
Our orders came with an unagi (eel) roll and a scallion & fatty toro (tuna) roll.

The fish was some of the freshest we've had in New York City and the menu was reasonably priced - slightly upscale, but not overly so. But the real endorsement comes from my fellow blogger. She normally refuses to eat anything raw, but she happily scarfed down everything. I think she's close to making a real breakthrough and soon I won't be ashamed to be seen in a Japanese restaurant with her!

I would definitely recommend this place and hope to return soon (*psst* Sorry-hime!).