You can’t judge a book by its cover. I did, and now I’m eating my Chinese rice hat as a result.
Well, I had my reasons, or at least I thought I did. With its plain, pebble-dash exterior and “Grand Opening” banner still fluttering hopefully in the breeze a full month after the restaurant had officially opened, I didn’t have high hopes for Aki, the new Asian-fusion restaurant on West White Plains Post Road in White Plains.
And what about that “Asian-fusion,” which now feels terribly 1990s. It isn’t a term I much care for either. I think “Con-fusion” usually describes this style of restaurant cuisine, with national and regional dishes watered down or otherwise traduced.
But oh, how wrong I was. Aki, an offshoot of the well-established restaurant of the same name in Port Washington, New York, was about to knock my spotted socks off.
Sitting regally alone in a family booth large enough for six or seven, guided by Peter Xiang –Aki’s genial owner and host – I commenced my fusion feast with the enigmatically named Christine bite, two slices of peppered tuna topped with seaweed and avocado, a slick of sesame in the house dressing on top. Next came the house eggplant special, two trimmed and hollowed-out eggplant “boats,” filled with chopped shrimp and scallops, tangy with Chinese spices, a gorgeous umami hit. Two dishes in, the precision and sophistication of the meals were already patently clear.
Quite how we were eating Kumamoto Japanese oysters, as I understood them to be, in September, when the season typically runs from November to April, is perhaps a question best left unanswered. In any event, they were perfect, small and firm, with a sweet, almost melon-y flavor in counterpoint to their natural brininess. They came with two separate dressings, one a wasabi yuzu drizzle and the other a house special, more mayonnaise in texture than mignonette. Usually, I like to leave my oysters naked, alone and unadorned. At Aki, I would make an exception every time.
The chef’s talent – virtuosity would not be too strong a word – was on dazzling display again in the humorously named pizza sandwich, which is neither a pizza nor a sandwich but an eggy assembly sliced in triangles, which imitates both a pizza slice and a more delicate, English teatime sandwich to some degree. Comprising spicy tuna, avocado, tomago (a Japanese omelet), crab and lobster and bound with a beautifully judged sweet wasabi sauce, this was a masterful dish, bursting with creativity along with its tease in the name. It further affirmed my view that Aki’s kitchen is up there with the best. I’m thinking of the innovative greats, like Nobu and Hakkasan.
Technically superb, the kitchen pulled off another great dish in a featherlight shrimp tempura, tossed in a kind of Russian dressing and yet another in an exceptional tartare, half lobster, half crab, arranged in a circle, the top covered like a mosaic in four different colors of tobiko (roe) – black, orange, copper and gray. A real stunner.
And then there’s the quality of the fish and shellfish. A lunchtime sashimi platter, comprising three slices each of red tuna, white tuna, salmon, striped bass and yellowtail fairly squeaked with freshness. This was a real palate cleanser and an elegant, typically Japanese way to bring a bountiful meal to a close.
For close, or call a halt, you must, because the human frame can only bear so much. I will be back another time, though, to try Aki’s cold sesame noodles, Szechuan dumplings, assorted gyozas (Japanese potstickers) and Thai soups and curries.
There’s fine drinking here too, with great cocktails dispatched from the small bar, where they will mix you a mai tai or a dirty martini or, if you’re brave enough, a Tokyo tea – melon liqueur, vodka, rum, gin, tequila and triple sec. I was not. I stuck to beer. (There are Kirin and Sapporo.) There’s also a good list of hot but mainly cold sakes, including the well-known Shirakawago Sasanigori, a sake I love – cloudy in color but astonishingly clean on the tongue, with notes of steamed rice and elderflower.
I honestly can’t say enough good things about this place. It’s an absolute gem, with its spacious Zebrano booths and dramatic, rather beautiful murals of Asian scenes in rich, iridescent colors lining the walls. Xiang is always on hand to assist, the food, as you know by now, is superb, and – what I have so far failed to mention – the portion sizes are presidentially large. Talk about a sense of plenitude.
Worth not just a detour in the terminology of Michelin, but an entire journey, I would happily drive 100 miles round trip for food of this caliber.
For more, visit akiasianfusion.aiyaorder.us.
