So there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

If you're anything like me you've been reading all the news, raves, updates and trials about Brushstroke, David Bouley's long in the works, recently opened shrine to the art of Japanese cuisine (wait, you mean you don't wake up every morning and check the press about the new sushi restaurants in the city?). Anyway, I have been excited to try Brushstroke ever since it opened a few months ago and we finally had a special occasion to bring us there.

Unbeknown to us the main dining room, which is the zen minimalist oasis of light wood and clean lines that everyone talks about, is reserved only for tasting menu diners and the dim, afterthought of a bar is where a la carte diners are relegated. We of course opted for the tasting menu main dining room and prepared ourselves for everything a $135-a-head meal would buy us. For starters the room really is lovely and complete with chef's tasting bar where we had a front row seat to the orchestra that is the kitchen staff and sushi bar. We soon learned that when we opted for the tasting menu we were signing on for almost 4 hours and what amounts to 13 courses of amazing, unbelievable, elevated Japanese art cuisine like we've seldom had. And one course was better than the next. There was the succulent duck in miso mustard sauce, the soft boiled egg with uni, truffle oil and nori, the delicately seared wagyu, the pear and pistachio black cod, the sushi course, the sashimi course and all the glorious courses in between. There came a certain point during the evening after the japanese eggplant with summer vegetables but before the cape cod lobster with lobster scallop dumpling when i found myself saying "No more! Please! My stomach can't take much more elevation!" but just as i thought it was ending 3 more small plates arrived at our places. Oi vey.

To say that dining at Brushstroke was one of the best and most memorable meals we've had in a long time would be right on. But now that we've been there and soaked it all in my desire to go back is pretty low...but check back with me in a month...after all they do change the menu :-)

Brushstroke
30 Hudson Street (at Duane)