Get your chopsticks ready for something fantastic! Now open in the Buckhead Village District (previously known as the Shops of
Buckhead and before that Buckhead Atlanta and before that, the Streets of Buckhead) is
a stunner of a new Japanese restaurant, Brush Sushi.
Coming from Chef Jason Liang, this former concept came from Decatur and is now transported and transformed from a more casual izakaya to a sexy, bougie experience situated on the first floor of the former American Cuts
Steakhouse location.
This
menu centers on a la carte sushi and prix fixe sushi options, ramen, savory grilled dishes cooked on a robata grill with
Binchotan charcoal and Japanese "Sandos" which are sandwiches. Some of the sushi is made with dry-aged fish—yes
dry-aged fish—where some types of fish are cleaned and treated with a salt solution
and then hung in a special refrigerator for a few days, locking in a smooth
flavor. It's common in Japan and LA but this is the
first time I have experienced it. Besides the nigiri and sashimi that were magnificent and almost #tooprettytoeat, I loved their colorful yellowtail jalapeno, the sando made with Wagyu beef encrusted in panko, fried and then served on a delicious
house-made milk bun and a brothless seafood ramen dish made with scallops, shrimp and a poached egg. All the plates were exquisite and delicious.
For
dessert, a stylish cart was wheeled to the table featuring a kaleidoscope of mouth-watering house-made pastries and I discovered my favorite non-chocolate dessert in
the city—a soft-serve matcha ice cream served in a house-made cone with matcha brownie
and mochi.
The restaurant design in and of itself a masterpiece—matcha-colored seating surrounded by dark woods and Japanese cypress wood panels carved into soothing, yet mesmerizing patterns. Wrap-around windows usher in plenty of natural light at lunch and the rush of the city at night. There is also a small restaurant-within-the-restaurant called O By Brush, offering an intimate omakase experience (chef's choice) tastings all led by Liang with price points at $185 to $485 per person without tax and tip. Yes, the Omakase arms race is on, and Liang makes a compelling argument to consider O By Brush among the best. Michelin inspectors take notice!
I would put Brush Sushi up among the top of my Mount Fuji of Japanese concepts in Atlanta, but the ownership has much more to come. Not
only do the partners own two of my favorites--Momonoki and Momo Cafe in Midtown—they will also be
opening a reboot of their other Decatur concept, Cuddlefish, in Dunwoody and are tracking
to open Lucky Star in the Star Metals development
on Howell Mill Road.
