Jin East
988 Franklin Ave.
Garden City
516-877-0888
www.jineast.com
3 out of 4 stars
Years after our taste buds have accepted cold raw fish, we’re being introduced to cold sake-and it’s all good, especially on a night when storms leave the outside air feeling like the steam room at the gym. New arrival Jin East in Garden City has cool styling with a five-seat bar up front, a five-seat sushi bar with a rock wall as backdrop, wood-slatted walls and well-spaced wooden top tables. The menu holds some surprises, service is tightly wound and everything is well executed. This spot, joining a line of eateries near Grimaldi’s, follows in the steps of two-year-old Jin on Broome Street on the Lower East Side. Techno lounge music plays quietly, giving it that slight cosmopolitan vibe.
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With only the descriptions on the sake list to guide us, I chose an icy bottle of Ohkagura ($18). It was a good choice, light and smooth, that wouldn’t overpower the subtle flavors of the sushi. They even slipped it into a mini ice bucket.
We sampled pieces of Tuna ($4), Mackerel ($3) and Toro ($7), all what you’d expect. We chose an American Dream Roll ($12), and our friendly waiter (“Thank you for trusting me”) recommended that we try the Angel Roll ($14), one of the most expensive. I liked the contrast of the warm tempura inside with the cold of the rest of the roll. The Angel was good but not that special. A roll with the attention-grabbing label Yellow Submarine ($12), with red seaweed, white tuna, spicy tuna and draped with salmon slices, was better. It got its name from the mango salsa sprinkled on top. We moved on to two hot entrees from the kitchen. Miso Blackcod ($18) was as good as many I’ve had around the Island, but Seafood in Lemon Butter ($18), with shrimp, scallop and a chunk of lobster, was something different and recommended. Ocean Hot Pot ($12) was an interesting affair. A ceramic tea kettle, a ramekin and a spoon was laid before me. A prawn head peered out from the opening of the kettle. My server poured steaming broth into the ramekin and cautioned me to wait for it to cool down. With chopsticks and spoon, I fished out (yes, I said that) tiny sweet shrimp (that’s the kind, not the flavor), pieces of scallop and imitation crab. I dipped them in soy. I poured myself another pool of broth and slurped it. The menu said it has fish cake, clam and squid, but there were none in my pot. Sitting there alone that afternoon, I felt like I had been invited to a tea party.
Crispy Duck Roll ($10), an appetizer, wasn’t crisp-but it was a crunchy wrap cut into four sections, stuffed with good duck breast and crunchy shredded carrots and frisée. Another appetizer, Rock Shrimp ($12), was very good, deep fried but not breaded, and the sweet Thailand sauce worked well with it. I knocked back another tiny cup of cold Ohkagura and wondered where I could score a six-pack of this stuff.
