In Moon and Back‘s own words, “This is Thai food with volume, attitude, and flavor you can feel”. Honestly, I completely agree.
Omakases are one of my favorite dining experiences. It’s one of the many reasons I love New York as I’m very much spoiled for choice here. Each experience is a unique story telling experience, like a masterfully composed orchestra hitting specific highs and coordinated contrasts on cue. At the same time, each one is rather similar in that you will be sat at a counter seating a handful of people, while you watch a master at work.
However, I recently went to Sushi by Bou’s new location in the Lower East Side where the usual counter is enclosed by a wall covered in Rock n’ Roll memorabilia and flanked from behind by old fashioned diner booths. I’ve never had Sushi in a place littered with this much Americana before. The best part though was the Wayne’s world replica set situated just in the backroom. It wasn’t some cheap flimsy gimmick put together overnight, but rather a well thought out and enthusiastically assembled experience. A great set which then led to a karaoke room of all things, with a bona fide stage equipped with amps and guitars. Of course I tested it out and to my shock, the guitars were all perfectly tuned as well, which is a testament to the incredible staff at this establishment.
All of that effort would be for naught if the food wasn’t good and rest assured, it was. The meal began with yellowtail threaded with chives, a subtle flourish that immediately set the tone. The fish was supple and clean, the chives lending just enough aromatic lift to brighten the bite without distracting from its natural sweetness. It was a smooth overture.
The lean tuna followed, paired with ginger in a way that reminded me why certain combinations endure. The tuna was vibrant and pure, the ginger offering a gentle heat that sharpened the edges just enough. Classic, yes—but classics become so for a reason.
Then came the spotted prawn which as I had hoped was impossibly creamy in texture. It dissolved across the palate with a sweetness that felt indulgent yet restrained. Close behind were salmon roe eggs—each one a bright, briny burst. They popped delicately, releasing tiny explosions of freshness that cut through the richness of the preceding courses.
Albacore with ponzu radish introduced a meaty depth, the tang of the radish slicing cleanly through the fish’s natural fattiness. It was balanced and thoughtful. But the surprise of the evening may have been the chopped tuna with radish and wasabi. Unassuming on paper, it delivered a layered bite—cool, sharp, and quietly complex. One of those moments where expectation gives way to delight.
The scallop was, as I hoped with the prawn, endlessly creamy. Miso cod arrived next, offering something slightly unexpected. Its sweet, savory glaze clinging to delicate flakes of fish. It was a welcome departure in the progression, adding warmth and familiarity before returning to the purity of nigiri.
Fatty tuna draped in truffle sauce brought the kind of indulgence that omakase devotees anticipate. It was rich without tipping into excess, the truffle adding earthiness rather than overwhelming perfume. Salmon with spicy yuzu followed, bright and energetic, the citrus heat awakening the palate once more.
Perhaps the most decadent bite of the night was the wagyu topped with sea urchin—luxuriously creamy, deeply savory, a convergence of land and sea that felt unapologetically opulent. It lingered.
And then, to close things off, was the eel. Sweet, glossy, and comforting. A strong final note—controlled, polished, assured. Like the last sustained chord of a performance that knows precisely when to end.
With this new opening, Sushi by Bou offers what I find to be an incredibly interesting and captivating omakase experience. Instead of bringing a date or significant other, gather a group of your friends. Have a nice dinner and then head into the back for a karaoke night quite unlike any other. You’ll have a uniquely photogenic time coupled with some great food and hopefully some great company.
“A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one”. It’s a quote whose second half is often cut in order to present a specific view of the world that is contrary to reality but easier to digest. If that wasn’t the case, society wouldn’t type cast people into one defining role with rather unsung nuance, save for the most complex of cases. Restaurants are often no different. When you recommend a place, you’ll quickly define it by its genre in order to convey what it is quickly. I’m guilty of this as well. However, with Blu Ember, describing them is difficult to sublime into a single statement and if I had to be reductive, it’d be this: It’s really good food.
Blu Ember, nestled in the ground floor of The Westin in Flushing, is the newest culinary concept from Balance Hospitality Group (MOLI, HINOKI, MIKU Sushi). The team here has truly created something that defies easy categorization. It’s not quite a steakhouse, though the meat program rivals many. It’s not just a sushi spot, though the toro alone could argue otherwise. And despite a menu sprawling with East Asian influences—Korean tartare, Thai-inflected pork cheek, Japanese binchotan grilling—it’s not a fusion free-for-all. Instead, it’s a restaurant that seems most at ease when it’s drawing no boundaries at all.
Before the meal started, I was genuinely taken aback by the ambience. I’m not one to award points for a nice interior, however, the elegant and incredibly polished conditions highlight the experience and dedication to quality that the team behind this have for the work they do. Stepping in Blu Ember is truly like walking into a Michelin-starred restaurant.
We began with the pork jowl, sweet and salty in a way that felt old-fashioned and familiar—like something you’d be served by an uncle who’s been braising pork for decades. Then came the Korean steak tartare, which arrived with slices of hearty, expertly buttered toast. It’s easy to mishandle raw beef—either under-seasoning or overwhelming it—but here, the dish struck a balance that felt genuinely refreshing. It even flirted with illusion: the beef, somehow, carried the clean, saline brightness of good tuna, leaving a refreshing taste on the palate. A rare sleight of hand.
Speaking of tuna, the toro here is wonderfully indulgent, just the way I like it. Served over crisp nori, the fatty richness of the fish is left mostly alone, needing no dressing up. The seaweed supports rather than competes, like a stage hand keeping the spotlight fixed on the star. This should come as no shock, especially considering they offer an Omakase tasting menu which I’ll need to come back to try at some point.
And then there’s the burger. Two smash patties, thoughtfully composed, somehow managing to be all flavor with none of the greasy aftermath. It’s the kind of dish that could have easily been a throwaway menu filler but instead feels like a sleeper hit. You could build a whole lunch menu around it and is the dish that will keep you coming back on a weekly basis.
Blu Ember’s ambition lies not just in what’s on the plate, but in how much ground it tries to cover. A sushi bar tucked into a serene alcove offers omakase with fish flown in from Toyosu. The open kitchen sends out charcoal-seared wagyu and octopus. There’s a seafood pasta, there’s a Thai-style sea bass, there’s a steakhouse menu complete with chimichurri and foie gras sauce. It’s a place where you could go with a table of six and all order something vastly different—and it would all somehow make sense.
What impressed me most, though, wasn’t any one dish. It was the cohesion amid the mix and the ease with which Blu Ember moves between culinary traditions without diluting any of them. For a group of friends with wide-ranging tastes or simply those prone to indecision, this might be the perfect table to gather around. Flushing is not short on restaurants worth visiting, but Blu Ember distinguishes itself by daring to be everything, and remarkably, pulling it off.
There are so many Thai restaurants in New York that you can eat at a new one every week and never have to visit the same one twice. On top of that, each of them is pretty solid.
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