If you’re a follower of the kosher food scene in the tristate area, you know that there are quite a few places to get omakase experiences these days. But for me, almost all of the restaurants that provide omakase also have a clear answer one way or the other on whether you should go that direction.

In other words, either you’re in an omakase place and that’s the reason you’re there, or you’re in a restaurant where omakase is an option and you’re probably better off selecting the interesting items from the menu instead.

Otoro is the exception. The new addition to the Queens restaurant scene has a menu of really interesting cold and hot bites to go along with a full sushi menu and omakase. If somebody asked me which route down the menu was a better one, I’m not sure what I would say.

Usually, I lean on what is the most unique. Which means that I’d likely take the interesting menu options over the omakase. But in Otoro’s case, the omakase is actually different from others because of the presence of dry aged fish.

My only choice is to lay both paths in front of you and let you make the choice.

When I was invited to Otoro, I went down the hard road first. That is, I looked at the menu and made my own decisions. As I noted earlier, Otoro seems to do things a little differently. The first example of that is the Crispy Potato. Basically, they make mini crispy latkes and top them with fish (spicy salmon with scallions or spicy tuna with jalapeño). I chose to get two pieces of each and both were great, so choose based on whether you like tuna or salmon more. The crunch of the latke was similar to the usual bar of sushi rice that this is often served on, but the change was welcome, especially given that potatoes taste better than rice.

Next up is the Lobster Roll. While plenty of places have imitation crab, Otoro goes for imitation lobster. Using a blend of curry spices on some branzino confit, the chefs at Otoro mimic the filling and serve the “lobster” blend inside a toasted milk bun. I can’t say that it tastes like lobster (not because it doesn’t, but because I’ve never tasted lobster), but I can say that it tastes great. I can certainly recognize the textures that a lobster roll is supposed to accomplish and this hits that note.

The Tuna Menrui is also something you probably aren’t finding elsewhere. “Menrui” is Japanese for pasta, but there’s no pasta in this dish. The name is in reference to the tuna being cut to resemble a bowl of pasta. Long thin pieces are twisted together, the sauce is a blood orange ponzu with great acidity, grapes are present for a sweetness, and a furikake seasoning blend gives some crunch and saltiness.

If you’re looking for a menu item where the fish is hot, try the Crispy Cod. It’s not a very complicated dish, but the strips of cod are battered, fried and served with both a dill tartar sauce and fermented hot sauce. The dill really comes through as part of the tartar sauce and the fermented hot sauce is a nice change of pace as it’s spicy, but with a funky taste that some might appreciate a little more than others. The fish itself is delicious and the breading is just the right thickness so as to not be too heavy or worse, missing in action.

What if you’re just looking for a great roll of sushi and don’t want to deal with all the intricate dishes or commit to an omakase experience? In that case, let’s stay with cod and talk about the Black Cod Sear Roll. With cucumber and avocado on the inside, black cod is laid across the top. It is then brushed with a miso yuzu sauce, torched and topped with scallions. Cod might not be the most common fish for sushi eaters, but it shines here. The taste is enhanced by torching the sauce to it and adding the slight bite of the scallion, while the rice and veggies provide a great base to deliver the goods.

Obviously, going down that road sounds incredible. And you could order all of those things for the same price as the 12-course omakase. But if you decide to order the 15-course omakase, that’s when you get exposed to more of the dry aged fish that Otoro specializes in.

The 15-course menu comes with soup, an appetizer, 11 pieces of nigiri, a hand roll, and dessert. The Sumac Miso soup was so powerful that it will warm you up and wake you up simultaneously. My favorite bite of the night may have been the appetizer of aged (14 days) kampachi with yuzu soy and fried garlic crumbles. It was heavenly. The fish was so delicate and tasty, while the garlic added just enough earthiness to remind me what planet I was on.

Using raw dry aged fish for sushi is a trend that has been creeping into the non-kosher restaurant world (specifically in Los Angeles) in the last few years. “Dry aged fish was non-negotiable for me,” owner Isaac Babaev said about incorporating the trend into Otoro. “I knew it would bring kosher sushi to a whole new level.”

Well, he’s right. Three of the nigiri pieces I had were unbelievable. The seven-day aged sea bream (with shaved egg yolk) and striped jack (with pico di gallo) were both good enough to take the top spot on most nights. But most nights you don’t have 24-day aged otoro tuna with ground truffles, chives and gold flake. The fish melted in my mouth in an explosion of flavor that is hard to describe. The fattiness of the fish absorbed the flavors and carried them home in unbelievable fashion.

By the time the omakase ended with a toro scallion hand roll and the chocolate olive oil ice cream for dessert, I was beginning to understand why the restaurant was packed to the gills (pun intended) on a random weeknight.

So make sure you find your way to Otoro in Queens if you are the kind of person who loves to try new things.

You might just get hooked.

Otoro

Dairy – Sushi – Waiter Service

Sunday-Thursday: 6-11 p.m.

Saturday: 90 minutes after Shabbat-midnight

(917) 683-7713

Otoronyc.com

179-24 Union Turnpike

Flushing, New York 11366

Vaad Harabonim of Queens (VHQ)

Nati Burnside is a freelance writer living in Fair Lawn and a man of many interests. He can be reached at [email protected].